Getting the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the point where it is today was like skating uphill. Sure, pretty much every one of them is going to put butts in movie theater seats – and many will even show up in costume or their favorite faux-vintage tee – but it wasn’t always a guarantee. Iron Man was a monumental risk in practically every front that, thankfully for the studio, paid off in dividends. But current Marvel head Kevin Feige doesn’t just look to Iron Man as the launching point but rather some perhaps unexpected choices.

Speaking with Deadline, Kevin Feige gave credit to a pair of Marvel movies that came before he stepped into his role in 2007, the year before Iron Man hit theaters. “I said for a long time that the one-two punch for Marvel, pre-dating me, was Blade and then X-Men. Blade was a character that nobody knew from the comics, or very few people knew. It wasn’t advertised as being from Marvel Comics. X-Men was the No. 1 bestselling comic for the 15 years before the movie came out.”

Feige added that Marvel properties like Blade ($131 million worldwide) and X-Men (just under $300 million worldwide and one of the highest-grossing of 2000) gave both himself and the studio confidence that there was so much more to what could work on the big screen than he imagined. “Both of them did extremely well, and that instilled in us the notion that it is less about how many issues did you sell or how famous was the animated show or the live-action series in the ’70s, but how engaging can you make the character, and how much of a new experience of a world can you bring to cinemas with that character.”

Of course, the studio has a lot on their docket right now, but Feige and company are still all-on on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Phase Six – which officially launches with this month’s Deadpool & Wolverine – will even feature a revisition of the Blade character, while the X-Men will make their return with writer Michael Lesslie tapped to pen the screenplay. Hopefully we get some updates – however minor – on both at this year’s SDCC, where Marvel will be taking over Hall H.

Do you think Blade and X-Men deserve more credit for the comic book movie boom? If not, does it belong to Iron Man or another flick?

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