Blade is a 1998 American superhero film directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name, it is the first installment of the Blade franchise. The film stars Wesley Snipes as the titular character with Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson and N'Bushe Wright in supporting roles. Blade is a Dhampir, a human with vampire strengths but not their weaknesses, who fights against vampires.
Blade II is a 2002 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Blade, directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by David S. Goyer. A sequel to Blade (1998), it is the second installment in the Blade franchise, followed by Blade: Trinity. The film follows the human-vampire hybrid Blade in his continuing effort to protect humans from vampires, finding himself in a fierce battle against a group of mutant vampires who seek to commit global genocide of both vampire and human races. Blade and his human allies are coerced into joining forces with a special elite group of vampires.
Blade is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and penciller Gene Colan, his first appearance was in the comic book The Tomb of Dracula #10 as a supporting character, but later went on to star in his own storylines. Devoting his life to ridding the world of all vampires, Blade utilizes his unique physiology to become the perfect vampire hunter; while originally depicted as a human immune to vampire bites, Blade was retroactively established to be a dhampir following his adaptation as such in Spider-Man: The Animated Series and the Blade film series. He is the father of Brielle "Bri" Brooks (Bloodline).
Blade: Trinity is a 2004 American superhero film written and directed by David S. Goyer, who also wrote the screenplays to Blade and Blade II. It stars Wesley Snipes as Blade, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, who also produced with Goyer, Peter Frankfurt and Lynn Harris, with a supporting cast of Ryan Reynolds, Jessica Biel, Kris Kristofferson, Dominic Purcell, Parker Posey and Triple H in his acting debut.
Deacon Frost is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He appears in The Tomb of Dracula, and is an enemy of Blade. In the comics, Deacon Frost was depicted as a tall, white-haired, late middle-aged gentleman with red eyes, and wearing 1860s Germany period clothing. His doppelgänger sported an accent and attire that suggested a Southern preacher.
Abraham Whistler is a fictional character appearing in the Blade film and television series. Developing the 1998 film Blade, screenwriter David S. Goyer created the character, and named him after Abraham van Helsing, the nemesis of Count Dracula from Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). Whistler is a vampire hunter and Blade's mentor. Whistler is an original character created by Goyer, although some comparisons have been made to Jamal Afari who appeared in the comics as Blade's mentor. Kris Kristofferson was cast in the role and later reprised his role in Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004). Ahead of Kristofferson's casting and the film's release, Whistler first appeared onscreen in Spider-Man: The Animated Series in 1995, adapted from Goyer's then-unfilmed screenplay, where he was originally voiced by Malcolm McDowell and later by Oliver Muirhead. In Blade: The Series (2006) a young Whistler was played by Adrian Glynn McMorran.
Stephen Norrington is an English filmmaker and special effects artist known for his work in the horror and action genres. Beginning his career as a sculptor and makeup artist, he worked under Dick Smith, Rick Baker, and Stan Winston on a number of well-known, effects-driven films of the 1980s and 90s. His directorial credits include the cult sci-fi horror film Death Machine and the comic book adaptations Blade and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He portrayed Michael Morbius in the alternate ending to Blade.
Spider-Man in film dates back to 1977, the rights belonging to Marvel until 1999, when Sony bought them for $7 million. He has been Marvel's most successful character in the cinema industry ever since. After selling the Spider-Man motion picture rights to Sony, Marvel eventually founded its own studio, developing the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) based on the characters they still held the rights to. This would change in 2016, when Sony and Disney entered an agreement to include Spider-Man in the MCU. Despite some disagreements pertaining to finances and merchandising between the two parties, the agreement proved a successful endeavor for both companies. The following two Avengers sequels, finally with Spider-Man, crossed the $2 billion mark at worldwide box office for the first time. Meanwhile, Sony in association with Marvel launched the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), with Sony entering a 3 billion-dollar streaming agreement with Netflix and Disney.
X-Men is an American superhero film series based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. 20th Century Fox obtained the film rights to the team and other related characters in 1994 for $2.6 million. After numerous drafts, Bryan Singer was hired to direct the first film, released in 2000, and its sequel, X2 (2003), while the third installment of the original trilogy, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), was directed by Brett Ratner.
The superhero team Fantastic Four featured in Marvel Comics publication has appeared in four live-action films since its inception. The plots deal with four main characters, known formally as Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm, and how they adapt to the superpowers they attain.
Underworld is an American action horror film series created by Kevin Grevioux, Len Wiseman, and Danny McBride. It follows characters who are caught up in a war between vampires and werewolves. Most of the films star Kate Beckinsale as Selene. The first film, Underworld (2003), introduces Selene, an elite vampire-warrior who defies her orders, and Michael Corvin, a human who gets caught up in the war. The second film, Underworld: Evolution (2006), follows Selene and Michael as they are hunted by their enemies. The third film, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), is the prequel to the series, chronicling the origins of the vampire-lycan war. The fourth film, Underworld: Awakening (2012), is the sequel to Underworld: Evolution. In this film, humans have discovered the existence of vampires and lycans, and are trying to eradicate both species. A fifth film, titled Underworld: Blood Wars (2016), focuses on Selene who tries to stop a new war between vampires and lycans.
The fictional character Frank Castle / Punisher, a comic book vigilante antihero created by Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru and featured in Marvel Comics publications, has appeared as a main character in multiple theatrical, several animated straight-to-video films, and three fan films. Most notably, he has appeared in two self-titled films, the first in 1989 with Dolph Lundgren in the title role and the second in 2004 with Thomas Jane in the title role, as well as Punisher: War Zone, starring Ray Stevenson.
Ocean's is a series of heist films. Beginning with the 1960 Rat Pack film Ocean's 11, the series has seen mixed to favorable critical reception and substantial commercial success. After the 1960 film, a trilogy was released from 2001 to 2007, often cited as defining its genre and leading to a proliferation and commercialization of heist films throughout the world. The most commercially successful was the first film, Ocean's Eleven (2001). It established the ensemble cast of George Clooney as Danny Ocean, Matt Damon as Linus Caldwell, and Brad Pitt as Rusty Ryan. A long list of supporting cast members maintain the trilogy. The first sequel, Ocean's Twelve, was released in 2004, with the final film, Ocean's Thirteen, following in 2007. An all-female spin-off titled Ocean's 8 was released in 2018.
Blade, born Eric Brooks and also known as The Daywalker, is a fictional character primarily portrayed by Wesley Snipes and Sticky Fingaz in the New Line Cinema Blade franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name created by writer Marv Wolfman and illustrator Gene Colan. In his original 1970s comics, Blade had been depicted as a human immune to vampire bites, and had worn a red/green suit, bright green goggles, and an afro-style haircut. Wolfman and Colan updated his look in 1991 to include a dark leather jacket and short hair. The comics had also given Blade vaguely supernatural abilities, while still keeping him human. The character was completely streamlined for the film franchise, where Blade is depicted as a sunglasses and leather-wearing dhampir. In both comics and film, the character gained enhanced abilities after his mother was bitten by a vampire while giving birth to him. A variation of the film's storyline was integrated into Spider-Man: The Animated Series by John Semper in 1995 ahead of the first Blade (1998) film being made, adapted from an early script for the film by David S. Goyer, and Blade's redesigned costume and powers were integrated into comics as well in 1999. Following two further sequel films starring Snipes: Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004), Fingaz was cast to replace him in Blade: The Series in 2006.
Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a group of American superhero films to be produced by Marvel Studios based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. Phase Six features all of the Marvel Studios productions set to be released starting from mid-2025 to mid-2027, with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributing the films. The first film in the phase will be The Fantastic Four, scheduled for release in July 2025. The release schedule of Phase Six was changed several times due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Kevin Feige produces every film in this phase.
