The Very First $400M Marvel Trilogy Is Officially Streaming in One Place
Peacock added Wesley Snipes’s complete Blade trilogy to its US streaming library on 1 October, bringing Blade, Blade II and Blade: Trinity together on one service. The move highlights the franchise’s place in Marvel film history: its R-rated action helped establish that comic-book characters could lead successful films before the X-Men and Spider-Man franchises and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The three films follow Blade, a human-vampire hybrid fighting the undead, as he faces vampire Deacon Frost, joins forces with vampires against the Reapers, and confronts Dracula. Guillermo del Toro directed Blade II; the cast also includes Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds. Critics’ scores were mixed, but the films earned about $417 million worldwide combined: $131.2 million for Blade, $154.3 million for Blade II and $131.4 million for Blade: Trinity.
- Peacock now streams all three Blade films in the US.
- The trilogy earned about $417 million worldwide.
- Critics rated the films unevenly, with Trinity scoring 24%.
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Blade is a Marvel Comics character: a human-vampire hybrid who hunts the undead. The three films, released between 1998 and 2004, followed him battling various supernatural threats, from the vampire Deacon Frost to Dracula. These films were significant because they proved comic-book characters could carry successful, profitable films, paving the way for the superhero boom that followed.
Wesley Snipes starred in all three films, alongside actors including Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds. Guillermo del Toro directed the second film. The trilogy was made with an adult sensibility and R-rated action that set it apart from other comic-book adaptations of the era.
Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the films earned approximately 417 million dollars worldwide. Their commercial success demonstrated there was an audience for grittier superhero stories, which influenced how studios approached the genre for years afterwards.