When it comes to Cool Factor, let’s be honest: author Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight vampires are far from the top. They aren’t as bloodthirsty as Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire’s Lestat De Lioncourt, nor do they pull off a leather outfit as cool as Underworld’s Selene. Worst of all, and what no doubt made them figures of ridicule even years after the first film was released in 2008, they sparkle. No matter how you look at it, it’s hard to defend vampires that look like a child’s art project.

Hard, but not impossible. Because, as much as Twilight’s vampires pale in comparison to the ones we see in gnarlier horror tales like Bram Stoker’s Dracula and 30 Days of Night, they do hold a unique place in the creature’s legacy. Meyer created the X-Men of vampires.

In nearly every iteration, from outlandish to grounded, vampires possess otherworldly powers, including super strength, heightened senses, and immortality. The Twilight vampires have all that too (yawn) — but there’s a twist. Each time someone is transformed into a vampire, their strongest trait from their human life is carried over into their new life as a vampire. Vampires are essentially “born again” when they transform, similar to how Marvel’s mutants come into their powers as they grow up. For example, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) originally stood out as a human Edward (Robert Pattinson) whose mind he couldn’t read. When she’s transformed into a........

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