“Blade” was the first big budget, mainstream superhero movie with an African-American as the lead role.
Comic books movies weren't as mainstream as they are today. Movies were enjoyed as Entertainment in 1998. Most of the audience liked it as a fun movie first and any discussion about it being a black movie came second.
shareProbably because comic book movies used to be something to be ashamed of and they often hid the fact they were even adapting one.
shareThis is back when Marvel was selling its properties to raise money. No one was trying to make a statement with it.
shareEveryone has to virtue signaling about it now and in the late 90s comic book movies weren't as big as they are today.
shareEasy. Who directed Blade? Who produced Blade? Who were the set and costume designers? Who wrote Blade? Who was the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. leads and majority of the cast of Blade?
The answer to those questions will answer yours.
Because people weren't as retarded as they are now
shareAll this talk about how woke-ism didn't exist back then, and it was normal to have a black lead and no one made a big deal out of it (of course) is silly and irrelevant. Even the more logical points of how it wasn't marketed as being a superhero movie and that it was rated R, was violent, bloody, and wasn't as mainstream of a movie, and movies based on comic books weren't as hyped up back then (while all actually partly true) miss the mark.
Blade is a vampire hunter. This is a vampire movie. This is not a superhero movie.
He has superhuman abilities and fights evil, Vampires, and is based on a comic book. It's a superhero movie. And if Wesley Snipes Blade had been made today at the height of toxic woke culture they would be exploiting the hell out of his skin pigmentation.
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