Blade is one of the coolest superheroes ever created, but his coolness is not shallow. The shades, the sword, the leather, the swagger, the martial arts, the vampire-slaying confidence — all of that is unforgettable. But underneath the style is a deeper truth: Blade is a man born into darkness who refused to belong to it. He carries the blood of the thing he fights, but he does not let that blood define his soul.

The late Stan Lee once said, “The success of Blade opened the door for all the Marvel films that followed. It showed Hollywood that our stories could work on the big screen.” Without Blade, there would be no X-Men (2000). No Spider-Man (2002). No Iron Man (2008) and no Avengers (2012). Blade was the spark that lit the fire.