Before there was the MCU, there were already two well-known Marvel trilogies that had revolutionised the superhero genre. The Blade trilogy started with Blade (1998). The X-Men trilogy started with X-Men (2000).
Now fans are asking which trilogy was the rightful progenitor to the world’s most successful movie franchise? Is it New Line’s Blade trilogy or Fox’s X-Men trilogy? Let’s find out.
X-Men: Bringing The Mutants Two Decades Before The MCU
The X-Men gave us what the world’s most profitable Hollywood franchise is still not able to – mutants. And they did it almost at the very verge of a new century. More than twenty years later, the Marvel Cinematic Universe still struggles to give us our favorite mutant heroes.
The X-Men trilogy did have its flaws when it came to depicting some mutants. We will blame that on the movie runtime and you cannot possibly put every mutant under the spotlight given it’s a theatrical movie. But at least the mutants did become mainstream thanks to the X-Men trilogy.
Blade: No Spoon-Feeding The Audience
This is how the first Blade movie gave the Day-walker his movie-ready origin story. The year is 1967 and a pregnant woman is taken to a hospital where she gives birth to a baby covered in blood. Before even the baby could grow up, the scene quickly changes to party rave full of vampires.
Blade was totally no non-sense and cut directly to the chase. Be it the first second or third movie, it respected the fans enough to find out on their own, leaving many things in the mist of subtlety. Many fans still watch the movie because every Blade movie cut directly to the chase.
X-Men: An Overarching Story Arc That Fit Right Into A Trilogy
While the Blade movies didn’t do much in the form of continuity, Fox Studios knew they had to ensure their was some connection between the predecessor and the successor entries. Each X-Men film in the original trilogy carries over story elements from the previous movie.
Back then, we didn’t pay much heed to the practice. But that is exactly the weapon MCU used to give us a shared superhero cinematic universe. Without Fox starting the trend of continuity, the MCU may have just been a series of standalone projects.
Blade: The Top-Notch Violence That Doesn’t Hold Back
When Thor beheaded Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, we were like is this really a Marvel movie? But Wesley Snipes was already doing that and much more back in 1998. It’s hard R-rating left the director with so much wiggle room for bloody, gory violence.
Wesley Snipes was a star athlete back then and he completely immersed his character into the aggression his character’s comic book counterpart is known for. Before we got R-rated Marvel movies like Logan and Deadpool, it was New Line Cinema’s Blade that paved the way.
X-Men: Spot On Depiction Of Fan-Favorite Characters
Some of the best Marvel comics characters are mutants. Take for example Magneto, Mystique, Professor x, and Wolverine. All of these characters needed actors who knew the stature of their comic book counterparts.
Fox nailed each character by casting the perfect actor for the role. Patrick Stewart is the best Professor X. Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique is still a sight for sore eyes. Sir Ian McKellen plays a great Magneto. Let’s not even say how awesome it was to see Hugh Jackman portray Wolverine in the X-Men movies back then.
Blade: It Has Incredible Action Choreography
To sweeten the blood and gore the Blade movies were known for, the studio crammed the entire movie with incredible martial arts laden fight scenes. Most of the times, Wesley Snipes did most of the action scenes and sometimes stuntmen were called in to play the part.
Back then, CGI tech was not that well developed so practical effects were preferred. and the results were phenomenal. You could really see the sweat and toil the action choreographers had to go through to nail every action scene in the Blade movies.
