Sophie Turner says DARK PHOENIX will change superhero genre.

Blade was out I theaters in 1998. X-Men went into production as the result of its success, also in '98. You're not actually countering what sam and I have said.

No, it was in consideration before 1998. It didn't get any traction until after the success of Blade. There are no assumptions to be made. The first X-Men film had the exact same aesthetic as the first Blade film. Black leather with a gloomy atmosphere. It's obvious they were riding Blade's coat-tales.

Nope, it was Blade. X-Men was made with the exact same mentally that Blade was approached with. Ground it, make it grungy, and make sure none of the actual comic booky elements find their way in. 

I didn't buy that the first time they claimed it and I don't buy it now. Sure, the designs from Matrix might have helped, but the X-Men costumes were always going to be black leather, no matter what, because that's what Blade did.

I already know they very briefly toyed around with more colorful outfits, but it was never serious. The Matrix was just a matter of convenience because it allowed them a more eloquent response to give in interviews than "We went black with the leather because that's what Blade did." 

Watch the DVD. They claim as much. "We tried the designs closer to the classic costumes, but it was too ridiculous!" Bull and shit. The MCU made all the classic-style designs they've tried for work. Singer and his idiots couldn't get the more colorful costumes to work, because they didn't really try.

I don't have a source, but I have seen both Blade and the first X-Men back-to-back not long ago. They were made with identical filmmaking sensibilities and had very similar stories, themes, and aesthetic. Plus, I've learned that filmmakers talk out their ass during interviews a long time ago.

"But they made those costumes work in First Class."
Over a decade later, with a different director, after the Spider-Man films had defied what was quickly becoming convention and used the classic costume, after the two Tim Story Fantastic Four films also used the team's classic blue costumes, and after the MCU was already doing it. Someone else had to prove to them that it could be done before they made a serious effort at creating the classic costumes. So yeah, you'll never convince me Singer and his crew were serious about trying to emulate the classic costumes.

There's no speculation. Watch the two films back to back and the similarities are so glaring that its impossible they weren't following the same template set by Blade.

1. No one is ever actually going to go through with taking Superman's reds and blues away from him. Not even Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan did that. So that's not an accomplishment.
2. The only thing the First Class instance proves is that Singer had a change of heart after other people showed him how its done.
3. No, I still credit F4 and MCU as well for changing his mind. The Ironman armor does count as "using the iconic costume", because the red and gold look is his most well-known look.

So in the end there is nothing exceptional about the X-Men films. Blade is the film that saved comic book movies. The Raimi Spider-Man films were the ones that broke away from always using black leather on all the superheroes. And the Nolan Batman films and the MCU were the films that took things to the next step. The X-Men never did anything groundbreaking on screen and never will.

Watch the films back to back. You'll notice how similarly made they are.

And yet Snyder and Nolan have done nothing but show back-handed disrespect for the Boy Scout in Blue everywhere else. So yes, it is a very good counter.