Blade (1998)

Cast
Blade - Wesley Snipes
Deacon Frost - Stephen Dorff
Whistler - Kris Kristofferson
Karen - N'Bushe Wright
Vanessa - Sanaa Lathan

Synopsis
Blade is half-human, half-vampire who made it his mission to take out all of the evil vampires. After he rescues Karen, she makes him show her the ropes and that takes them on one crazy adventure.

In order to understand the importance of Blade, you have to understand some things about the Sci-Fi genre. To me, this is the genre where the impossible can be possible. Anything can happen in this genre. When working in this genre, you have the ability to create whatever universe you want. With that being said, it's a shame when I see so few African Americans as heroes in these universes and so few even included in these universes at all. This is why Blade is so important.
Not only are we present in this universe, but we have an African American man as the hero. I mean, there's a scene where an attack happens in the hospital and the police come in and shoot at Blade. Obviously, the bullets bounce off of him. The imagery of that alone makes me go "wow!"
Blade was also a huge box office hit in a time when comic book movies were flops. Now, we often hear the excuse that the reason there are so few movies made with African American leads/casts is because they won't sell at the box office. Blade's success debunks that excuse. It also helped Marvel become what we all know it to be today by being its first real success in theaters. If it wasn't for Blade, we might not have the Black Panther film to look forward to in a couple of years.

Source: An unsung hero
Pic credit