WEBVTT - Episode 68: Origin of Blade 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.119 Hello, and welcome to another edition of a Nerdificent and 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:15.000 one half of your host, Danny Fernandez, sitting across from 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:17.600 me in very bright pink. No, yeah, that's me. If 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:21.200 you away, it's a flame and hot pink. Uh, you know, 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:23.680 ready to rock at all time. What is that shirt 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.720 from Undefeated? Oh yeah, so it's a nice shirt. What 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:30.560 am I wearing? I'm wearing this dope Marvel shirt. I'm 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:34.960 rubbing the ladies. Yeah, holding it down for lads and Marvel. Yeah. Yeah, 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:39.480 it's a rainbow shirt, you know, very very on brand now, 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:44.440 very on brand, and Marvel's Marvel's embracing it there. They're 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.280 like it's time. I think Tom Holland said something about 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:49.920 like that Spider Man could be queer in the future. 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:53.760 I'm down for it. We're ready if he we We 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:56.760 normally start our podcast with what we're seeking out about. 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:00.000 I know, yeah, I feel like we dedicated a whole 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:03.280 episode to that, which was the Comic Con episode. But 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:06.679 if I was to add anything else to what I'm 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:10.080 speaking out about, You're gonna be able to tell by 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:12.880 what I'm seeking out about just simply based on the 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:15.400 episode that you're listening to right now, which is Blade. 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:18.280 We decided what the next step was. I was like, 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.640 we gotta do Blade. I'm super excited and this one's 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:24.240 going to be like an O g Ner difficent Word's 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.920 just me and Danny, I know. Um, Before we move on, 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.440 I want you to know a personal story that when 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:34.039 I was like six, Um, I think we're flying to 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.880 Disney World. Uh, and Wesley Snipes was on my plane? 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.959 So what front of my parents? And my parents asked um, 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.160 because they were this, by the way, kind of annoys 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:47.800 me whenever, Like I guess maybe like when people book, 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.440 sometimes you can't get seats near you. I don't know, 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:53.960 I just know. UM. Side note, I was trying to 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.520 sit with my partner and we had like specifically paid 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.240 to sit together going to Hawaii, which is a you know, 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.040 not a short trip. And then somebody was like, hey, 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:04.480 can my kids sit here? And I was like, we 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:08.360 literally paid extra so we could sit together to go 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.160 to Hawaii together. But sure, UM, I'm going to sound 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:14.720 like a complete um a whole, but you have kids, 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.680 so I can say that, um because I'm saying it 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:20.079 literally to someone that has a kid. Could be like 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:22.840 that lady who's mad at women who go to Oh, 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:27.800 that's hilarious. It goes both ways. She was like, I 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.799 can't believe all these people that don't have kids are 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.360 taking up space. And that is such a very specific 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:40.160 parental entitlement that I often see in every parent forum 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.840 or board or Facebook group where it's like the world 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:45.880 has to stop because I have a child, And I 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:49.120 was like, no, that's not how things work. Also, again 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.519 just to remind everyone, Brad Bird, who you know makes 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.760 up a large portion of Pixar peer um, said that 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:58.320 it's not just for kids. His movies are not for kids, 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:00.800 like there for everybody, and he hate when you call 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:03.840 them kids movies. So but I don't know what to do. 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.519 Just I don't know what to do. What if he 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:09.920 answer this question for me? If you did pay extra 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.040 so that you could sit with your partner and then 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.959 someone wants their kid to sit in that seat who 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:19.160 didn't pay extra, And then I felt horrible. Um, I 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:22.519 also had like massive anxiety and um would I would 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:26.200 sometimes fly with Molly, my dog, who's also uh an 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:30.440 yes a, and um it just was I was just 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:32.080 like I did all the things I was supposed to 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:35.080 do too. Yeah, oh no, there's nothing wrong with that 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:37.800 because as a parent who has flown many times with 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:42.160 their child, you sholl out the money to make those arrangements. 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:44.880 Like that sounds like somebody who went on with the 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:50.240 hopes of like oh, no one's gonna which is uh, 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.920 which is a jerk move trying to I was trying 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.040 to replace the word that I originally wanted to say 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:00.240 uh with something that we can say on the pot. 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.800 But yeah, that's a jerk move to like expect because 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.600 there and there are parents like that, like I'm look 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.280 like when I read everyone was laughing about that parent 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:11.680 and I was so unsurprised. I was like, oh no, 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:14.840 there's this parent. Like if you ever want to even 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.880 look into the eye of the mall or the Gateling 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:22.320 mall of like entitled parents, look into the l a 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:28.239 mommy's group or it is a fight club of mothers 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:32.279 ripping each other apart with you know, like I remember 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:38.640 um uh Naomi's mom uh Aurora like was on the 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:42.440 the the page and it was like asking like one 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:47.160 one mom was like, hey, I'm having trouble breastfeeding. I'm 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:51.680 thinking of putting her on the formula And that started 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:56.000 the biggest fight. Yeah, they're like you should keep trying. 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.200 And some moms were like, no, if you're uncomfortable and 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.440 you're having a hard time, nothing's wrong with formula. And 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:04.359 it was just a war zone. I bet yeah, that 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.839 one that that topic in particular really gets something, gets 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:09.680 a lot of feisty ese that have a lot of 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:13.640 opinions about kids that aren't there's um if you want 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.159 to go into a feisty area. I I don't know 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:17.720 if you know this about me, but I ran I'm 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.880 such a Disney nerd even before I was in Disney. 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:24.600 But I ran a Disney half marathon and a full 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:28.280 marathon because if you run both, this is something geeky. 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:31.279 If you run both in the same year, you get 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:36.080 a big medallion of Walt and Disney, Walt and Mickey, 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:37.839 which is the statue that you see when you walk 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:41.760 into Disneyland. Um so I ran one in Disney World, 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:43.400 I ran a full marathon and then I ran a 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:46.520 half marathon at Disneyland. It's called the Coast to Coast Challenge. 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.039 And because of that, I was a part of a 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:52.160 group called Run Disney, which has like thousands of followers, 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.200 and they are so caddy, they are so like they 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.240 have nothing better to do with their time. And if 0:05:57.240 --> 0:05:59.160 they find this out, I'll probably be kicked out. But 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:03.200 like they it blocked, they block each other. I saw 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:06.280 one post that was like, you cannot block admins out 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.919 of this group. Like it was just wild. It'll be 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.080 stuff like someone will be like, hey, I ran the 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.039 Twilight Zone Tower of Terror thing and I didn't like 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:15.880 the border that they gave me. Can we like change 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:17.440 the border of the picture. And people will be like, 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:19.880 can we change the border of the picture like the 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:23.360 SpongeBob thing? And I'm like, you guys are grown adult 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:28.800 what the heck? Also, how annoying must you be to 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:33.120 like just constantly run like marathons? Okay? Um, that was 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:34.840 something I did when I was younger because I was like, oh, 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:37.479 I wonder if my body can do this? Um, and 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:42.040 I probably damaged my body forever. May also wonder if 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.880 it can be both a human and a vamp. No, 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.200 I didn't geek out about the thing I was geeking 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:50.799 out about. Well. I forgot to mention in our comic 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:54.720 Con episode that um, dragon ball Z actually broke a 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:57.280 Guinness World record. Did you see that? Yeah, so they 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:01.120 had one for the biggest kam attack they got. I 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:03.560 don't know, let's see what they what they had, it 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.160 was nearly um, eight hundred fans that gathered to beat 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:10.040 the record. I think that was two fifty. But they 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:11.720 also did it on a Wednesday, so I think if 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:13.960 they had done it on Saturday, it would have been 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:17.679 like thousand, well over, like maybe two thousand, three thousand, 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:22.920 who knows. Uh. But yeah, so they broke that, which 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:27.000 is cool, and congrats to them. And you know what 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:31.560 else there might be vampires and drama. I don't know. 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.600 I was trying to Yeah, yeah, today we're talking about Blade. 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:36.960 That's that's that's the will cut straight to that chase. 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:39.480 I'm hyped for the new movie. But we're gonna go 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.520 down the history of the character. Definitely going to talk 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.600 about those Wesley Snipe movies and you know, you know, 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.200 you know, just in just all about it, just in 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.280 our in our brains, in our life. We never got 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:55.080 to finish my story, which was that Wesley Snipes. My 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:58.960 parents were those people who asked us to move, which 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:01.560 I can't not speak for them. I do not support 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:04.440 that now, I'm just kidding. Uh. They asked us to 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.680 ask Mr Snipes if he could trade I think we 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:09.840 were like very close though we were like sitting like 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:11.640 two rows back. They just wanted to keep their eye 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:15.080 on us, and so he switched with us. And my 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:17.840 parents are bad people, and Wesley Snipes is a good person. 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:22.800 Um Blade Blade known as Eric Brooks CEE. I didn't 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:25.840 know his name was Eric, and I let's just forget 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:28.160 that and just call him Blade like that ruins the 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.120 ruins the fantasy for me. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like, 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:35.080 you know, most people know him as Blade. I feel 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:37.320 like Eric Brooks is a name you throw around when 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:40.320 you want to like flex or like if you're doing 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:44.400 like a Vampire Hunter character on Final Fantasy fourteen and 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.839 you make the character Eric Brooks and and I nerds 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.880 would be like, oh, Eric Brooks sounds like somebody that's 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.679 constantly trying to friend me on LinkedIn. Yeah, Brooks wants 0:08:54.720 --> 0:09:00.400 to connect as a former coworker. Yeah no, uh yeah. 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:05.640 Blade is such an interesting, fun character and essentially kind 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:09.679 of was the first successful comic book movie. I mean, 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:13.040 that is an arguable thing, but I'd say of this 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:17.280 current generation because I feel like the early like Superman 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:22.120 was pretty pretty darn successful, but I feel like Marvel 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:27.600 the first successful Marvel movie is often as credited to Blake. 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:32.559 Is he the first black superhero film? The film? Yes, 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.760 I believe so if you don't count mystery Men. I 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.960 don't know if mystery Men came before after Blade, but 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:41.760 that was my mystery Men. Shout out are We County 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:45.320 and will Smith an Independence Day? Because that so we 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:53.920 had meteor Man, Blank Man, Steel are Spawn, So so 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:58.040 technically it would be Steel if we went comic book. 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:02.560 Steele came out before Spawn, and then Blade came out, 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:08.400 but also Wild Wild West came out. Technically it's not 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:11.960 a superpowered, but definitely a hero. So yeah, when it 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:15.560 comes down to black super they definitely get the title. 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:20.240 Blade gets the crown as the first black Marvel superhero movie. 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:24.120 Sorry Black Panther. Wait, I thought it was Spawn. Well, no, 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:30.960 Spawn is image. Oh you're uh so it'll go to 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:36.800 um yeah, yeah, yeah, so it'll be Marvel. But the first, 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:43.079 if we're going straight, technically first black superhero movie, it's 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:47.760 gonna go to Robert Townsend's meteor Man. Then blank Man 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:51.040 came out after that, which I've wanted to. I've in 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:53.480 my head wanted to come out with a blank Man 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:57.760 reboot and make a cinematic universe with Blank Man and 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:01.200 Meteor Man. But I'm giving all the goods up on air. 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:06.160 Then after that we if we want established comic book characters. 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:13.319 Steele came out in and then Spawn, then we have Blade. Yeah. 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:17.600 So Blade appears in Marvel. It was created by Marv 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:22.000 Wolfman and Gene Colin. His first appearance was actually in 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:27.120 the Tomb of Dracula number ten that came out July three, 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:31.199 and he was a supporting character, so he appeared in 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:34.719 another comic before he got his own. Nice. I mean, 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:36.640 that's that's kind of how they kind of launched a 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:40.240 lot of heroes early on. In two thousand three. The 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.880 artists uh recalled. He said, Marv told me Blade was 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:45.600 a black man, and we talked about how we should 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.719 dress and how we should look very heroic looking, and 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.319 that was my input. The bandalier blades, that was Marv's idea. 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:54.720 But I dressed him up. I put the leather jacket 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.200 on him and so on, which just totally lets you 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:59.680 know this was seventies, because that's that was there there, 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:05.320 that their idea of cool leather jacket, bandelier blades. They 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:09.840 based the character's feature on a compositive black actors, including 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:15.000 NFL football star turned actor Jim Brown. And that's why 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:21.320 I had the nineteen seventies afro and uh and bladed knives, 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:25.000 you know. Um, back when I was married my husband, 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:27.680 which if y'all didn't know, I was married several years 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.600 ago when I was too young to get married. Um, 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.440 I don't know a lot about Jim Brown because my 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.920 husband was a Browns fan. Oh yeah, and um I 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.520 had to watch them, yeah lose over and now they're 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:47.760 the most loyal. He never cheated on me once. Yeah, 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:50.600 they can stick through the Browns. You know, you're safe, 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:55.560 you know, and they're humble, they're great and yeah, I 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.959 went to go ahead and look up some of these 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:03.320 Blade first arrances and I like this. I mean, I 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:09.480 like the green jacket just popping through the nice bandalier blades. 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.320 You know, I just love it. It's such a it's 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:16.480 it's such a fun evolution of this character, um, which 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.600 we'll talk about. I hope they break out this old 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:23.920 school outfit he's in, which one the red jacket. Oh yeah, 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:27.240 I really like that. Yeah, that's real cool. I'm just 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:31.199 used to Wesley's blade, I know, And it's and it 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.680 kind of If you look at the newer Blades, it 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:37.680 really does feel like his Blade influenced the comics, or 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:41.040 maybe the comics. Outside of Touma Dracula. He fought the 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:45.920 scientifically created vampire Morbious in the latter serious in Adventure 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:49.360 Interfere number twenty four that came out in October four, 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:52.120 and it was a story written by Steve Gerbert and 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.640 penciled by Pete Craig Russell. And Blade's first solo story 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:59.600 came in Marvel's black and white horror comics magazine Vampire 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:03.040 Tales number eight, which came out in December of nineteen 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:06.480 seventy four, in an eleven page story by Wolfman and 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.760 penciler InCor Tony dez Yeah. This feature continued in the 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.720 following issue in nineteen seventy five, with Wolfman and Chris 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:16.520 Claremont co scripting, and then Blade appeared in a fifties 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:20.400 six page solo story in the black and white showcase 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:24.200 magazine Marvel Preview that was ninety five that was September 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.760 of nineteen seventy five, written by Claremont. A six page 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:31.120 backup story by Wolfman and Colin followed in Marvel Preview 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.760 number eight. I love that they put him. I love 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.800 their horror comics section, which they're doing they still do 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.680 and are doing more of. But yeah, I love their uh, 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:43.360 I love their horror like series. Oh yeah. So then 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.200 Blade came in the prominence in nineties, beginning with Ghostwriter 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.480 number twenty eight and the Midnight Suns in print that 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.120 included the issues of Dark Old Pages of the Book 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.560 of Sins, Ghostwriter, ghost Writer Blazes and so on and 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:57.240 so forth, And then he appeared with that team in 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:00.920 a story, and then the anthology Midnight Suns Limited number one, 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.520 which came on in April. Then he finally appeared in 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.720 two solo stories in Midnight Suns A Limited number two 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:14.200 and seven, which came out on July and October, respectively. 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.240 So then, following the cancelation of Night Soccer's, Blade debuted 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:22.640 in his first color comics series, Blade Vampire Hunter numbers 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:27.280 one to ten. So we had finally got his own comic. Uh, 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:31.560 and our friend popped in Our our good friend Mark 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:39.040 and Draco wrote Blade Sins of the Father back in Yeah, 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.320 I was gonna do a friendly dig, but I'm gonna 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:47.320 wait till concerned. We'll have to ask him for commentary. Um, so, yeah, 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.880 so let's talk about Eric Brooks. Uh he was born 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.280 in this is uh quoted not from me, in a 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:59.240 whorehouse in the Soho neighborhood of London, England. In I 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.360 did not really lies that he was English. Is that 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:05.520 in the no, but it's not in the movies and 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:07.720 the movies it was the same thing where like his 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.320 mom was pregnant with him but bitten by a vampire 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:15.160 and she died as well while giving to him. But 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:17.440 it's so so they kind of imported him to America, 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:22.920 which I mean this this obviously is a very dated backstory. Yeah, 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:25.440 this is different than the film. Yeah, it says Eric's mother, 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:30.280 Tara Brooks was or Tera Brooks was a prostitute at 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:34.800 Madam Vanity's brothel when Tera experienced severe labor complications a 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:38.760 doctor with someone who is an actuality, Deacon Frost, a 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.240 vampire who feasted on her during Eric's birth and killed her. 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:46.480 Which a fun fact about that. Deacon Frost does appear 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.520 in the Blade movies and he was played by Stephen 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:54.280 Steve Dorf. Yeah, fun fact, y'all. Stephen Dorff is the 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:59.400 connecting between our two blades. We have Stephen Dorff and 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:02.560 the original Blade with Wesley Snipes, and we also have 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.760 them in True Detective season three with our new Blade 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:09.919 me herschel Ali, which means if we're going off of 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.440 his appearances, then he also popped in the two thousand 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.600 and four Every Time music video by Britney Spears, which 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:19.719 means Britney Spears will canonically be in Blade. Thank you. 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.480 This is my This is my theory. Stephen Dorff is 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:27.119 a good wingman, so this passed along certain enzymes in 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:30.320 his own blood to the infant. This resulted in Eric's 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:34.119 quasi vampiric abilities, including a greatly prolonged lifespan and the 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:37.159 ability to send supernatural creatures, as well as an immunity 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:41.920 to complete vampiresm Brooks fellow prostitutes drove off Frost before 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:46.160 he could kill the infant as well. Teamwork, teamwork there um, 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.600 so this is kind of fascinating in this story. In 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:52.760 the comic, he grew up living at Madame Vanity's uh 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.880 and by age nine, returning home from school one December, 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:58.359 he saw an old man being attacked by three vampires. 0:17:58.400 --> 0:17:59.760 I love that they were just out and about in 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:04.080 this world. Very true Blood. Eric helped the old man 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:07.879 who used a silver cane to kill the vampires and 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:11.399 fight off the attackers. The man was Jamal Afari, a 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:15.399 jazz trumpeter and vampire hunter, who then moved into Madam 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:18.880 I mean, I am down for this backstory, who then 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:22.000 moved into He also moved into Madam Vanity's. Who how 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.320 many people are living at this brothel? Um? This is 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.800 I'm learning new things along with you, dear listener, who 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:31.200 some of you already know this, but I only knew 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:34.919 Blade from the movies, So all of this back coomic 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:38.840 knowledge is super dope. He trained the young Eric love 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:42.120 that he's being trained U in both music and combat 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.840 in a brothel. Who else has this backstory? You know? 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:51.000 Captain America doesn't know. He sure doesn't. Blade was soon 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:54.800 able to defeat many of the week younger vampires that 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:57.480 he and Afari found. Eventually, as he got older, he 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:00.240 became an Olympic level athlete and forbidable and and to 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:03.399 hand combat with an expertise and edged weapons such as 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:06.720 knives and daggers, so notable. That's how he gained the 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:09.920 nickname Blade, and both his fellow hunters and the vampires 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:14.200 they opposed began to fear the young Hunter. Blade's victories 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:16.320 made him cocky, and he joined the street gang the 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:20.240 Blood Shadows, headed by Cyrus Cutter, later killed by Blade 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:22.920 and a knife fight caused by Blade's disapproval of Cutter's 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.879 actions as leaders. So like, it's crazy to read this 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:28.959 because I also I came on to Blade from the 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:33.280 Spider Man cartoon series because when Morbius was introduced, Blade 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:35.639 popped in the show as well, and that's why I 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:37.959 went back to check. It's fun to read this and 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.919 see all these little nuggets that they were dropping for 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:46.600 like Blade fans. We have to take a really quick break. 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.200 We're going to come back and talk more Vampire Hunter, 0:19:50.440 --> 0:20:02.520 but after this we're back talking about Blade. Yeah, we're 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:06.720 talking about Blade. We've just been going um through the 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:13.160 comic books history, which has been great, lots of fun, 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:17.000 exciting stuff that went down. Did you know that he 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.800 joined a street gang called the Blood Shadows. Yeah, yeah, 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:23.240 that's uh. That was that was really cool. Also because 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.960 I like like comic book team ups, and mostly because 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.840 I like the idea, and I you know, I would hope, 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.679 I hope. Because we talked about how Marvel still does 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:36.040 a lot of the horror stuff. Uh d C did 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:39.119 this thing a while back called Justice League Dark. It 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:41.480 took all their magic heroes and like kind of like 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:46.840 the darker heroes like Constantine, Swamp Thing, Zatana, and it 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:49.159 all put them on their own. It was called Justice 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:52.600 League Dark, and they all kind of existed within that world. 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:54.760 And it would be fun to see a Blade run 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:57.240 like that where you have like you know, Blade and 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:00.919 his like vampire hunters and we just find kind of 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:07.639 other supernatural heroes and you know, pat them against supernatural foes. Yes, Okay, 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:11.840 so Afari who trained Blade later fell prey to the 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:16.480 ultimate vampire, Dracula, the young dreg god he got. You 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:20.440 know what if I was like the County count I'm 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:25.720 waiting for that Sesame Street Marvel crossover, I know. But yeah, 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:27.960 then you know, just kind of went down the usual 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:32.160 route of different Blade comics and it was great. And 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:36.520 they've eventually had an ongoing series that was published by 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:40.440 Marvel Max, which is usually the more kind of adult themed, 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:43.200 So that's definitely probably one that will be fun to 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:45.640 check out. I'm probably gonna check that out after this 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:48.880 because yeah, like like we both said, I'm not two 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:51.919 versed in the comics like my Blade fandom existed with 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:55.920 the Wesley Snipe series starting at that and now that 0:21:56.040 --> 0:21:57.880 you know he's back, I'm all on the Blade hype. 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:00.280 So I'm gonna be buying a few Blade books and 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:02.840 I'll drop it into Discord, you know, the ones that 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:05.360 kind of resonate with me. Um. And I say all 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:08.320 that to say, we're done talking about the comic. We're coming. 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:10.720 We're all hyped about what we're here for. Sorry, all 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:14.000 my Blade comic book stands, we're talking about the Blade movies. 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:19.920 So let's get the rundown Blade, which is American superhero 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:24.040 film directed by Steven Norrington and written by David S. Goyer, 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:26.720 based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:29.600 The film stars Wesley Snipes in the title role, with 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:34.000 Stephen Dorff, Chris Christofferson, and In Bush right and supporting roles. 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:37.000 In the film, Blade is a Damn Fear, a human 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:41.720 vamp with vampire strengths but not their weaknesses, who protect 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:50.760 protects humans from vampires. Released on August twenty one, Yeah, 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:54.320 Blade became a commercial success by gross seeing seventy million 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:57.000 at the U S box office and a hundred and 0:22:57.040 --> 0:23:00.359 thirty one point two million worldwide. Isn't in saying that 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:03.119 that would be considered a failure today? Yeah, I know, 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:06.120 it's wild, like seventy million would be like wow, that 0:23:06.160 --> 0:23:08.760 did not do good. It's it's crazy the world we 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:12.760 live in in film right now, and despite remixed reviews 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:15.880 from film credits, the film received. The film received positive 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:19.280 reception from audiences and has since garnered a cult following. 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:21.919 It is the first film and the Blade franchise, followed 0:23:21.920 --> 0:23:24.639 by two sequels, Played Too and Blade Trinity, both written 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:27.960 by Gayer, who also directed the latter. Blade was a 0:23:28.040 --> 0:23:30.280 dark superhero film of it for its time, and the 0:23:30.359 --> 0:23:34.120 success of Blade began Marvel's film success and set the 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:37.760 stage for further comic book adaptations. You know, everyone thought 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:40.359 it was iron Man, but here we go. Yeah, iron 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:44.080 Man was the result of Blade. Without Blade, Blade crawled 0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:48.840 so iron Man could fly, Fly so Mark, so iron 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:51.600