KRIS KRISTOFFERSON
(1936 - 2024)
Did you know...
Blade was brought to screen by John Semper, producer/writer/editor of Spider-Man the Animated Series.
Semper stated, "I did Blade because I'm black and he's black and I wanted to bring this cool black character to the screen for the very first time. " Avi Arad, who often took scripts from Semper to pitch for other series or films, spearheaded the 1998 big screen adaptation.
The character of Abraham Whistler was created for the film by David S. Goyer. However, Whistler appeared on the animated series first as the film was in production.
BLADE (1998) was a huge success and helped bring Marvel back from financial ruin and bankruptcy and in turn kickstarted the Marvel cinematic universe. So, John Semper may not be as big a name as Stan Lee, Avi Arad, or Robert Downey Jr., but he played a huge role in Marvel's history.