Was Wesley Snipes' Blade the first Marvel movie? The MCU may be quite strict when it comes to weaving the Multiverse together starting from Phase One, but fans consider Blade as the franchise's real beginning over Iron Man. Here's why it's a tough call.
Blade IS the First Marvel MCU Movie, If You Squint
Before Marvel Entertainment formed its cinematic universe, it was established as Marvel Enterprises in June 1998.
Two months later, Wesley Snipes graced the big screens as the titular vampire hunter, Blade, leaving fans to question whether or not the first Blade movie of its trilogy is now a part of the MCU or not. Because if it is, then that makes him the first MCU movie and hero, not Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man.
According to fans, Wesley Snipes' reprisal of the hero should mean that the initial Blade trilogy is included within the confines of the MCU.
This also comes from the fact that Deadpool & Wolverine star Ryan Reynolds himself posted that there is "no Fox Marvel Universe of MCU without Blade," implying that Blade paved the way for the Multiverse and the rest that followed.
To answer the question — Iron Man was previously established as the kickstarting hero of the franchise.
However, now that Marvel Studios has acquired rights to Fox and brought back the Hunter on screens, it technically does seem that Blade is the first Marvel movie and superhero.
To give some context: Blade is the first Marvel film successfully created under Marvel Enterprises (which was Marvel Studios' former name) when non-comic book fans barely echoed their name. From a budget of $45M, the first Blade film grossed $131M worldwide, $70M domestically and $61M internationally.
Blade was essential in constructing and putting Marvel on the map, after all. Without him, the Marvel Cinematic franchise wouldn't have boomed its victory up to today.
But without Iron Man's first post-credit scene of building the Avengers from scratch through Nick Fury, there wouldn't be an MCU to fight for.
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