Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

[mickey]

I've been waiting for Marvel to get the go-ahead for a Sub-Mariner movie, and IMO an Asian-American actor would be perfect to play Prince Namor who, for whatever reason, always had Asiatic-looking features, even way back in the '40s. Unfortunately, with DC's Aquaman already a franchise, I find it doubtful that Marvel will ever make a Sub-Mariner movie.

WAIT A FREAKIN' MINUTE!!!!

I said it first! I suggested an Asian for the part of Sub Mariner several years ago. The person I suggested was Jet Li. If Donnie Yen is still in good shape at this time, I will have to suggest him. Russell Wong really had the Sub Mariner look under lock. I do not know how healthy he looks now days.

mickey

[Jimbo]

WAIT A FREAKIN' MINUTE!!!!

I said it first! I suggested an Asian for the part of Sub Mariner several years ago. The person I suggested was Jet Li. If Donnie Yen is still in good shape at this time, I will have to suggest him. Russell Wong really had the Sub Mariner look under lock. I do not know how healthy he looks now days.

mickey

Hi, mickey.

For years I've advocated for Russell Wong to be considered for the role of Namor, but IMO the time has passed, as he would be too old now. Unfortunate, because he would have been perfect. If we wait 'til Marvel gets the go-ahead (assuming they care to do it), Russell would probably be 60 by then.

Brian Tee (Chicago Med, No Tears for the Dead, and a brief appearance in Jurassic World, among others) says he wants to play Namor. He would probably do well, if he can bulk up a bit.

[GeneChing]

I actually have faith that the MCU will do this right. We worried about the Mandarin in Iron Man 3, but they spun it well. And despite the whitewashing accusations for the Ancient One in Doctor Strange, I felt Tilda was excellent in that role. And Wong was great - he stole every scene he was in - luv Benedict Wong (he's actually the first MCU Asian superhero, when you think about it).

Our Senior Graphic artist Patrick Lugo touched on the racial issues with the SubMariner in his last review - AQUAMAN: DC’s most MARVELous movie (he actually had more to say about this but didn't want to get too off topic).

Boris Karloff in “The Mask of Fu Manchu” (1932).

CULTURE
Marvel wants to do an Asian superhero movie, but it has to reckon with his racist past
Venus Wu
DEC 10, 2018

An Asian superhero is finally going to kick some ass in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The latest news that Marvel Studios is fast-tracking a film centered on Shang-Chi, a Bruce Lee-inspired kung fu master, comes on the heels of Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians blowing up at the box office.

It also comes as China has grown to become Marvel’s No. 1 overseas market.

But before the studio can make cinematic history with Shang-Chi, it must reckon with the character’s origin story—and tackle an Asian supervillain first.

That’s because in the old comics, Shang-Chi is the son of Fu Manchu.

Yes, that Fu Manchu, the supervillain with squinty eyes and a tentacle-like mustache whose name is synonymous with racism, orientalism, and pretty awful facial hair.


A poster for “The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu” (1929). / Photo: Paramount Pictures

The fictional character was created by an English novelist in the early 20th century against the backdrop of yellow peril, a racist ideology that casts Asians as real-life villains in the Western world.

In fact, this is how the novelist, Sax Rohmer, described Fu Manchu:

“Imagine a person tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan...invest him with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race...imagine that awful being, and you have a mental picture of Dr. Fu Manchu, the Yellow Peril incarnate in one man.”

It’s no wonder that Chinese commentators are already up in arms, questioning whether Marvel’s move is a “suicidal” one.

Other online comments also point out how Shang-Chi and Fu Manchu’s backstory mirrors a white savior narrative.

The kung fu warrior was raised by an evil Asian overlord to become an assassin, only to be “shown the way” by white people.

No longer evil, Shang-Chi returned to kill his father for the greater good.


In the old comics, Shang-Chi turns on his father, Fu Manchu. / Photo: Marvel Comics

Putting the original Fu Manchu on the big screen in this day and age would be unimaginable without provoking outcry. Marvel would either have to scrub him out or reinvent the character.

And Hollywood is no stranger to altering scripts that could “hurt the feelings of Chinese people,” to cite a common refrain in Chinese state media.

This is especially the case when Chinese money increasingly helps finance big productions, including Marvel’s Venom, which has already grossed more in China than in the United States and Canada combined.

Marvel had experience with this when it made Doctor Strange (2016).

In the original comics, Doctor Strange’s mentor, the Ancient One, is a Tibetan sorcerer who is said to be 500 years old.

Instead of casting an Asian or Tibetan actor to play the role, the movie reinvented the character and gave it to Tilda Swinton.


Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One in “Doctor Strange” (2016). / Photo: Disney/Marvel Studios

Director Scott Derrickson said he didn’t want to reinforce “a very old American stereotype of what Eastern characters and people are like,” but added that the film couldn’t afford to weigh in on Tibet and risk getting banned by one of the biggest markets in the world. (He later backtracked on his comments.)

Fu Manchu’s reinvention could prove to be much more difficult than the Ancient One, given the size of his baggage.

Even Shang-Chi himself will probably need some updating. The character is an American invention born out of the 1970s kung fu movie craze, which is arguably out of date.

There are signs that Marvel is already working on it. Shang-Chi used to have no superpowers beyond his kung fu prowess, but in recent years, he’s gained the ability to replicate himself.

Both Shang-Chi and Fu Manchu are products of their time, but as a globalized world grapples with more sensitive approaches to cultural nuances, what do you do with one-sided, stereotypical characters who do not age well with time?

This essay was originally published in the Goldthread newsletter. To get this and other great content first, subscribe here.

Venus Wu
Venus Wu is a senior reporter at Goldthread. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she wielded a video camera at Reuters for five years before swapping it for a pen.

[Jimbo]

It shouldn't be that hard for Marvel to delete the Fu Manchu character and update Shang Chi. In fact, it should be fairly easy. They've already altered old characters, some substantially, for the big screen.

Even though I liked the Shang Chi comics way back when I was a kid, the Fu Manchu angle bothered me even then. And that was WAY before the days of political correctness.

[GeneChing]

SHANG-CHI, FU MANCHU, AND MARVEL’S ASIAN PROBLEM
JESSICA PLUMMER
01-02-19

Recently, Deadline reported that Marvel Studios is fast-tracking a Shang-Chi movie, based on the comic book character of the same name. In an effort to recapture the lightning in a bottle that was Black Panther, they’re seeking to hire Asian and Asian American filmmakers to give it the cultural authenticity that has been lacking in their meager Asian representation thus far. They’ve already hired Chinese American screenwriter Dave Callaham for the script, and are on the hunt for a director of Asian descent.

With so many superhero movies and TV shows in the works these days, it would be easy to let this one slide by as just another project that may or may not materialize in the next decade. But I’ve been fascinated by Shang-Chi as a character for a while, and there’s a lot more going on here than bringing one of Marvel’s most prominent Asian characters to live action.


The first issue of Shang-Chi’s long-running solo series. Note the monstrous Fu Manchu behind him.

Shang-Chi was created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin in 1973 to capitalize on the then-current kung fu craze—in fact, Marvel’s original intention was to adapt the David Carradine show Kung Fu. When they couldn’t get the rights, they settled on Fu Manchu instead, the infamous villain created in 1913 by Sax Rohmer for a long-running series of pulp novels.

Marvel’s new hero Shang-Chi was Fu Manchu’s son, trained to be the greatest martial artist alive, who discovered to his horror that his father was actually an evil mastermind and dedicated his life to opposing him. Rounding out the cast was an assortment of characters both borrowed from the Fu Manchu franchise (notably British secret service agent Sir Nayland Smith, his associate Dr. Petrie, and Fu’s daughter Fa Lo Suee) and Marvel originals. The series, Master of Kung Fu, ran for a decade, and Shang-Chi was also prominently featured in Marvel’s black and white martial arts magazine The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu alongside similarly kung fu–based characters like Iron Fist and White Tiger.


Shang-Chi’s first appearance. He was originally designed to resemble the then recently deceased Bruce Lee.

In the mid-’80s, with the kung fu craze well past over, Shang-Chi faded from the limelight, and has appeared only sporadically since. Somewhere in there, the Marvel license to Fu Manchu and associated characters expired, but since Shang-Chi was an original creation, Marvel can still tell stories about him, as long as they don’t call his father “Fu Manchu.” It’s kind of like getting a temporary license to publish stories about James Bond’s son, Tim Bond, but then the Fleming estate takes the rights back so you can still publish the Tim Bond stories but you have to call him Tim Frond now. (Fun fact: one of the supporting characters in Master of Kung Fu, Clive Reston, is heavily implied to be both James Bond’s son and Sherlock Holmes’s grand-nephew. It’s actually super annoying in execution.)

The problem is, even though Shang-Chi is no longer canonically Fu Manchu’s son, he’s still essentially, well…Fu Manchu’s son.

I had only a vague sense of who Fu Manchu was before I stumbled down a Deadly Hands of Kung Fu rabbit hole about a year ago, since the character is thankfully no longer omnipresent, but holy crap, you guys. Here’s how Rohmer describes him in his first appearance, The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu:

“Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat-green. Invest him with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race, accumulated in one giant intellect, with all the resources of science past and present, with all the resources, if you will, of a wealthy government— which, however, already has denied all knowledge of his existence. Imagine that awful being, and you have a mental picture of Dr. Fu-Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man.”

As long as we’re imagining, imagine reading that fully 60 years later and thinking, “Yeah, this sounds like a great franchise to get into bed with!” I mean, Rohmer allegedly created Fu Manchu when he asked his ouija board what the greatest threat to the white man was (!!!) and it spelled out “C-H-I-N-A-M-A-N.” (In another version of this story, Rohmer claimed he’d asked the board how he could make his fortune.) Come on, Marvel!


The original cover for Fu Manchu’s first appearance, and a contemporary one.

Fu Manchu, with his imperial costuming and iconic mustache, is a poisoner and a torturer, a manipulator seeking world domination. He exhorts his followers to “kill the white man and take his women” (in the 1932 film The Mask of Fu Manchu, which led to a formal complaint by the Chinese embassy), and, alongside his more fantastic plots, runs complex webs of drug trafficking and “white slavery.” Between the Elixir of Life that has made him nearly immortal and just plain Otherness, he’s usually portrayed as barely human.

And his reach extended everywhere. He starred in 14 books written by Rohmer (one posthumously) between 1913 and 1973, plus 4 authorized continuations, one published as recently as 2012. He’s been in over a dozen movies, a TV show, and several radio serials (always played by a white man), comic strips, and comic books from DC and other publishers as well as Marvel. There was even a candy called Fu Man Chews (not to be confused with the fake cereal by the same name from Nightmare on Elm Street 2).

continued next post

[GeneChing]

Boris Karloff and Myrna Loy donned yellowface for 1932’s The Mask of Fu Manchu.

That’s just the authorized stuff, of course. Plenty of properties have done what Marvel did after they lost the license and used the character without referring to him by name, like “the Doctor” in Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Both the Mandarin and the Yellow Claw from other Marvel comics are Fu Manchu copies, as is Flash Gordon’s Ming the Merciless and James Bond’s Dr. No, particularly the animated version. And of course, the mustache that he eventually wound up sporting (though he was originally clean-shaven) is today known simply as a Fu Manchu.

What’s more important than Fu Manchu’s omnipresence, though, is his effect. Rohmer was writing while completely ignorant about Chinese people and culture, for an audience equally ignorant, and played on xenophobic fears to create his villain. He depicted the tiny Chinese section of London’s Limehouse district as a nest of vice when those two blocks were in fact some of the most law-abiding in the city during the World War I and interwar periods. Anti-Chinese and anti-Asian sentiment had been prevalent in the West since the late 19th century (see, for example, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers to the U.S., and the earlier Page Act of 1875, which prohibited “undesirable” immigrants but in practice mostly barred entry to Chinese women in order to prevent Chinese population growth), but Rohmer’s creation shamelessly stoked the fires of those fears, portraying the East as sinister, unknowable, and ever-encroaching.

We haven’t gotten as far away from these pulp stereotypes as we’d like to think. In 2012, both How I Met Your Mother and the children’s show Big Time Rush depicted white actors in Fu Manchu mustaches for laughs. A year later, General Motors pulled a commercial from airwaves after public outcry over its use of the mind-bogglingly racist 1938 song “Oriental Swing” and its reference to “the land of Fu Manchu.” (Content warning: that link goes to a CNN clip that also discusses car commercials featuring suicide attempts, sexual assault, and human trafficking; the song’s lyrics also contain racial slurs.)

And comic books, given their love of nostalgia, are even less removed than other genres. Just the fact that Marvel continued to use their Fu Manchu obliquely after the rights lapsed, eventually renaming him “Zheng Zu,” is proof enough, but they’re still churning out new iterations of the trope, too. Check out Charles Soule and Ron Garney’s creation Tenfingers, a Chinatown crime boss who harvests body parts for power, from a 2016 Daredevil storyline:


Yikes.

Which, of course, brings us to the MCU and their portrayal of Asian and Asian American characters up to now. As Asian characters are nearly completely absent from the films (an issue in its own right, of course, especially when they’re absent because they’re being played by Tilda Swinton instead), criticism has mainly focused on Marvel’s Netflix offerings, particularly Iron Fist and Daredevil. Many critics, especially those of Asian descent, have detailed the issues with Daredevil, Iron Fist, and Defenders better than I can, but the short version is: every single Asian character is a ninja; all of them are evil except for Elektra and Colleen, who start out evil but are redeemed by the love of good white men; numerous characters who speak English perfectly well don’t, in order to more effectively Other them on screen; all of these Asian characters tie into a vast immortal conspiracy to destroy New York and K’un-Lun (that is ultimately led by a white lady because of course Asian people couldn’t really have agency); Daredevil, who refuses to kill, kills the Japanese villain Nobu not once but twice and doesn’t seem to think it counts; even though all Asian characters are ninjas, they are not as good at being ninjas as white guys like Daredevil, Iron Fist, and Stick; and the Defenders writers 100% cannot tell the difference between China and Japan.


The Punisher, Daredevil, and Elektra fight a sea of faceless ninjas, clearly lethally, in this Netflix ad for Season 2.

This mindless regurgitating of stereotype after stereotype isn’t all that shocking when you consider that Marvel TV’s executive producer, Jeph Loeb, after ignoring the widespread campaign to cast an Asian American actor as Danny Rand, decided it would be a great and funny idea to show up to the Iron Fist panel at this year’s SDCC wearing a kimono. (This was apparently for a bit where he talked about Karate Kid for a bit and then Jessica Henwick, who plays Colleen, told him to take the headband and kimono off, so the joke was…that it was offensive to Asian people? Ha ha? Making Henwick play along feels especially icky.) And even though he has no control over their multimedia properties, it’s worth pointing out once more that Marvel Comics’s editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski wrote for several years under the pen name “Akira Yoshida.”


And then there’s…whatever this is.

At best, then, we’re looking at a company obsessed with both fetishizing and vilifying the whole of East Asia—one that continually appropriates its stories, culture, artistry, and even names, but refuses to treat it or its diaspora with human dignity. Which begs the question: Is this a company that can tell a non-offensive story about Fu Manchu, even if Fu Manchu is never named as such? Can any company tell that story?

Right now it’s hard to say. On the one hand, it’s certainly a step in the right direction that Marvel has hired a Chinese American screenwriter and is planning to continue hiring Asians and Asian Americans. On the other hand, not!Fu Manchu has apparently been reimagined as a “China-based globalist,” which is about as dog whistle-y as you can get. The South China Morning Post reports that there’s already been pushback on the Chinese social media network Weibo. One user was quoted as saying: “You used Fu Manchu to insult China back in the day, now you are using Fu’s son to earn Chinese people’s money, how smart.”

Obviously China is a massive country and not every Weibo user is opposed to the film (or, presumably, even cares about it), but it will be interesting to see Marvel’s response if Chinese pushback grows. Especially since Chinese audience’s deep pockets and presumed narrow-mindedness are so often held up as an excuse for whitewashing, as with Tilda Swinton in Doctor Strange. In the face of actual feedback from China, will Marvel listen?


Shang-Chi in his most recent lead role. I dig his new costume.

I’ll be honest: I actually really like Shang-Chi as a character. As much as he emerged from stock Orientalist character types of the last century, I enjoy his quiet thoughtfulness, his compassion, and his subtle sense of humor. He’d be refreshingly different from the Marvel heroes we’ve been getting lately (i.e. not a variation on the Tony Stark Template), and it’s potentially a tremendous, star-making role. I plan to see the movie, if and when it releases, and I hope it’s everything to Asian audiences that Black Panther was to black audiences.

But Marvel has a lot of making up for past mistakes to do before they can get there. Let’s just hope they’re up to the task.

"tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat-green. Invest him with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race, accumulated in one giant intellect, with all the resources of science past and present" Ya know, if I had green eyes and shaved, I could totally fit this description. They just missed 'sexy AF'

[GeneChing]

MARCH 13, 2019 5:01pm PT by Graeme McMillan
How Marvel's 'Shang-Chi' Can Escape a Cliched Comic Book Past


Ron Wilson/Marvel Entertainment

Director Destin Daniel Cretton and screenwriter Dave Callaham have the opportunity to take what works about the character and reimagine what doesn't.

The news that Short Term 12 director Destin Daniel Cretton has signed on to direct Marvel’s Shang-Chi is something to be welcomed for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that Cretton’s resume is an impressive one (and, perhaps not coincidentally, features collaborations with Marvel stars Brie Larson and Michael B. Jordan). More importantly, perhaps, is the fact that bringing an Asian-American director onto the project brings the likelihood that the movie will be able to sidestep some of the character’s more… troublesome elements.

Shang-Chi debuted in 1973’s Special Marvel Edition No. 15, a series that would be retitled The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu two issues later (and, later still, retitled simply Master of Kung Fu). The character was intended less as a push for greater diversity and more as a consolation prize; creators Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin had hoped to make a comic book version of the television series, Kung Fu; when that failed due to rights issues, Shang-Chi was created to — in the words of Englehart in the book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story — “do the Eastern mystical philosophy.” His name was chosen, apparently, by “throwing the I Ching and mixing and matching hexagrams.”

Things got arguably worse with the decision by then-editor-in-chief Roy Thomas to tie the character to Sax Rohmer’s racist pulp character Fu Manchu, which Marvel had the comic book license to at the time; as a result, Shang-Chi became the son of Fu Manchu, dedicated to fighting his father once he discovered how evil his parent actually was. (While this predated Star Wars and the relationship between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, it came after Jack Kirby’s New Gods, where the heroic Orion fought against his villainous father Darkseid; given that Englehart would take on the writing of sibling title Mister Miracle soon after, he was likely aware of the Orion/Darkseid similarity.)

Adding insult to injury, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story also revealed that the character’s design was the result of Starlin drawing a “generic [Asian] face” in early designs as a placeholder, only for Stan Lee to insist that it be kept, topped by simplistic color separations meaning Asian characters were given cartoonishly yellow faces in the series, something especially true of Fu Manchu. It was something so noticeable that letter writers to the series commented upon it, provoking apologies and explanations from editors.

Shang-Chi, then, was originally the result of recycled ideas, racist pulp characters, limitations of technology at the time and editorial mandates that made the character… less than he could have been, perhaps. (To illustrate the idea that the character deserved — and could be — better, the Master of Kung Fu series stuck around until 1983, becoming a critical hit under the pen of writer Doug Moench and artists Paul Gulacy, Mike Zeck and Gene Day as the series moved away from cliche — and Fu Manchu — and towards a more film noir-inspired take.)

A Shang-Chi movie offers Marvel a chance to basically reinvent the character and keep little beyond the name and the martial arts theme — something that, ironically, offers Marvel a second do-over, as the chance to redeem itself after accusations of cultural appropriation and insensitivity over the Marvel TV/Netflix series Iron Fist arose. Cretton has the opportunity and, as his past work demonstrates, the sensitivity, to ditch everything that doesn’t work about Shang-Chi’s past and, taking lessons from Marvel Studios’ treatment of characters like Hawkeye, the Falcon and Star-Lord, basically start afresh from all-but-scratch. Insiders say this is the approach screenwriter Dave Callaham is taking with the character.

Sure, it might upset the hardcore fanboys, but if the success of Black Panther and Captain Marvel should have taught Marvel executives, there’s significant financial upside in offering powerful representation to under-served audiences in the MCU. Let Cretton rebuild Shang-Chi into the hero Asian and Asian-American audiences want to see. There’s no worthwhile argument against it.

Just make the movie already. Or at least cast the lead...

[GeneChing]

Jin Hyun·July 22, 2019·7 min read
Simu Liu Became Marvel’s First Asian Lead With a Tweet



The Asian American community has been dreaming of getting our very own Asian superhero for years, especially after the success of Marvel’s “Black Panther”.

This past weekend, we saw the official cast announcement for the highly anticipated film, “Shang-Chi”, with Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu revealed to be portraying the titular martial arts master.

Liu opened up to The StarThe Star in en exclusive interview on the announcement:

“I honestly hope this will help to change perceptions of the way Asian Americans and Canadians perceive themselves. Millions of children will watch this movie and feel like they belong in the larger part of the conversation, that they can accomplish anything themselves.”



As it turns out, Liu has been campaigning for an Asian American superhero long before plans for “Shang-Chi” were even announced.

Back in 2014, he tweeted at Marvel, writing, “Hey @Marvel, great job with Cpt America and Thor. Now how about an Asian American hero?”

Simu Liu
✔
@SimuLiu
Hey @Marvel, great job with Cpt America and Thor. Now how about an Asian American hero?

18.2K
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Liu has been showing interest in playing a superhero for quite a while now, making this an even more exciting moment for him and his fans everywhere.

Simu Liu
✔
@SimuLiu
People ask why I go shirtless a lot; look, I’m just waiting for Hollywood to make me a superhero suit. #stillwaiting #sunfire #namor #terrymcginnis #amadeuscho



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Four years after his initial tweet to Marvel, the Disney-owned company officially announced its plans for its very first Asian-led superhero film, to which Liu once again tweeted, “OK @Marvel, are we gonna talk or what #ShangChi“

Simu Liu
✔
@SimuLiu
OK @Marvel, are we gonna talk or what #ShangChi

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The 30-year-old “Kim’s Convenience” star’s tweets have clearly charmed the creators of the film as months after his second tweet to the studio, Liu was finally revealed as the actor portraying the character of Shang-Chi.

Last night, Liu jokingly responded to his own old tweets, thanking Marvel for getting back to him.

Simu Liu
✔
@SimuLiu
· Jul 17, 2014
Hey @Marvel, great job with Cpt America and Thor. Now how about an Asian American hero?

Simu Liu
✔
@SimuLiu
LOL

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Well ****.

— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) July 21, 2019

See also

January 5, 2015

Simu Liu
✔
@SimuLiu
Thanks for getting back to me https://twitter.com/SimuLiu/status/1069696323056586752 …

Simu Liu
✔
@SimuLiu
OK @Marvel, are we gonna talk or what #ShangChi

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While fans are celebrating this announcement, it hasn’t been lost on Liu that the role of Shang-Chi is a huge responsibility to take on, and is a great opportunity for all Asian Americans. “There is so much at stake here; we are fighting for our identity, for our right to be seen, to BELONG,” he wrote. “Eternally grateful to Marvel, to Kevin, Jonathan and Destin for this gift. @awkwafina LET’S GET TO WORK BABYYYYY!!!”

Simu Liu
✔
@SimuLiu
Now that the craziness is over, the work begins.

There is so much at stake here; we are fighting for our identity, for our right to be seen, to BELONG.

Eternally grateful to Marvel, to Kevin, Jonathan and Destin for this gift. @awkwafina LET’S GET TO WORK BABYYYYY!!!

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10:39 AM - Jul 21, 2019 · San Diego, CA
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Alongside Liu, “Crazy Rich Asians” star Awkwafina and legendary Hong Kong actor Tony Leung have also joined the cast.

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” is set to hit theaters on February 12, 2021 as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four.

I only looked into Liu cursorily. Does he have a martial background?

[GeneChing]

‘Shang-Chi’ Director Destin Daniel Cretton on His Vision for the New Marvel Film
BY MATT GOLDBERG OCTOBER 14, 2019



Marvel made another excellent hire when it brought on Short Term 12 director Destin Daniel Cretton to helm the upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Marvel hopes that the film will be able to take off with Asian-American audiences like Black Panther was able to with African-American audiences, and they definitely have a talented director for the job.

Christina Radish recently spoke to Cretton for his upcoming drama Just Mercy (click here for my review from TIFF) and asked what it was like pitching the movie to Marvel:

What’s the process like, when you go in to pitch for a movie like that? What is the experience of pitching to Marvel and Kevin Feige like? Is it terrifying?

CRETTON: Yeah, it’s terrifying. I didn’t think I was going to get it, so that helps you feel not as terrified. The process of pitching is like anything. You just go in and speak your heart, and speak what you feel is important, and what you would love to do. And if they respond to that, then that’s going to be a good relationship. If they don’t respond to it, you don’t get the job, and it’s probably good that you don’t get the job.

How did you then find out that you got the job?

CRETTON: They just called me back in and told me I got the job.

When they brought you in and actually told you in person, did you try to play it cool?

CRETTON: No. They’re all so warm there. It’s a really warm family. So, it was a lot of hugs, and then it’s just, “Let’s get to work.”

Image via Marvel Comics

Cretton noted that they plan to start filming early next year. He also talked about hiring The Matrix cinematographer Bill Pope for Shang-Chi and how his style will fit with what they’re going for on the film:

What made you choose Bill Pope as your cinematographer? Is there something that he brings to that kind of world that you were specifically looking for?

CRETTON: Yeah. He has a really beautiful style, that’s both naturalistic and grounded, but also heightened, in the best way. And anybody who can shoot The Matrix is probably gonna do great with this one.

Is that within the kind of tone that you’re looking to bring out with the story?

CRETTON: Yeah. I think particularly for our first Asian/Asian American step into the MCU, that tone feels right.

Image via Lionsgate

Finally, Cretton talked about how exciting it is to give young Asians and Asian-Americans the chance to see themselves up on screen with a superhero who looks like them:

If you could go back and tell the child version of you d that you’d be making this movie, what would that have meant to him to know that?

CRETTON: It would have been amazing because I would have been able to have a superhero that looked like me, rather than choosing the superheroes that I could imagine looking like me, under the mask. I was really into Spider-Man, or even the Incredible Hulk, because they I could picture myself under the Spider-Man mask, or as The Hulk because, when he was The Hulk, he was not really specific to any ethnicity. So, it’ll be nice to give that kid somebody who he can at least say, “Oh, that one looks like me.”

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings opens February 12, 2021. Look for more from our interview with Cretton closer to the release of Just Mercy, which opens Christmas Day.

Matrix eh?

[GeneChing]

It's really impressive how she is parlaying her talents into a successful career.

Shang-Chi Star Awkwafina Arrives in Ahead of Marvel Filming
By NICOLE DRUM - January 23, 2020 12:15 am EST

As one of the most-anticipated of Marvel Studios' upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe films, there has been a lot of speculation about precisely when Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will commence filming. Earlier this month, Kevin Feige confirmed that the film would head into production soon with work taking place in Australia and now it appears that "soon" could be sooner than we think. A post from star Awkwafina on Tuesday revealed that the actress is in Sydney, Australia, potentially to begin work on Shang-Chi.

On Tuesday, Awkwafina posted brief clip on her Instagram Story in which she opened up curtains in what appeared to be a hotel room to take in the view of the Sydney Harbour. She captioned the short clip "Good morning Sydney!"

While the post doesn't directly indicate that she's there to work on Shang-Chi, as was noted previously, Feige has indicated that Australia is a location where production on the film will take place.

"I went to my then assistant Jonathan Schwartz, who is now in Australia producing Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings that goes into production in a few months," Feige said during a talk with the New York Film Academy. "Shang-Chi is going to be so much more than a kung-fu movie, but it has elements of that which we're excited about."

Feige's not the only one who has talked about the potential of Shang-Chi, either. Simu Liu, who recently joked about the rumors of when the film would start filming himself, told the South China Morning Post that the film could "change the world."

“To take a quote from Stan Lee, the legend himself, ‘With great power there must also come great responsibility’,” he said. “But I think the reason I have the platform I do is because I’ve leaned into my Asianness. If you are going to ask an entire population to support you, to rally behind you and give you a platform, I won’t shy away from that responsi*bility. I feel like we’ve been shying away from it as people for too long, especially the children of immigrants who are taught to keep their heads down. We have reached the limit of that philosophy.”

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in the fall, The Eternals on November 6, WandaVision later this year, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios Disney+ series without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.

[GeneChing]

Simu has a pretty good handle on social media. That'll serve him well.

Marvel's Shang-Chi Star Praises Birds of Prey but Blames Suicide Squad for Creating a Nightmare for Him
By MEGAN PETERS - February 11, 2020 03:22 pm EST

Simu Liu has had a busy six months. Last summer, the world learned the actor was cast to bring Shang-Chi to life at San Diego Comic-Con, and he has been riding a high ever since. However, that doesn't mean Liu has to forget about superheroes outside of Marvel. In fact, it turns out the star has a thing for Birds of Prey, but he isn't so generous towards Suicide Squad.

Recently, Liu took to Twitter to share his thoughts on Birds of Prey. The DC Film went live over the weekend, and it earned rave reviews from fans. And as you maybe guessed, Liu is a big fan of the movie.

"Watch Birds of Prey - it's a great film w/ strong comedy, great action and incredible performances - PLUS features kick-ass female heroes," the actor shared.

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@SimuLiu
Watch #BirdsOfPrey - it's a great film w/ strong comedy, great action and incredible performances - PLUS features kick-ass female heroes!!

Also unlike Suicide Squad they DIDN'T block off my condo entrance to film for a week, making my commute a living nightmare... #StillSalty

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Before logging off, Liu did have to make mention of another DC film. A few years back, Warner Bros. was all about Suicide Squad, but it turns out the film had a personal hardship on Liu despite him not being involved with the much-debated movie.

"Also unlike Suicide Squad they DIDN'T block off my condo entrance to film for a week, making my commute a living nightmare...," the actor wrote before adding a salty hashtag.

Clearly, there are still some hard feelings between Liu and Suicide Squad. While the film was a financial success, it was greeted with criticism from fans. These days, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn is giving his spin on the franchise with a film. He is currently working on The Suicide Squad which has been described as a reboot sequel to the original film, so here's to hoping Liu has better luck with this film than the first!

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NEWS MARCH 12, 2020 9:48PM PT
Marvel’s ‘Shang-Chi’ Suspends Production as Director Self-Isolates
By JUSTIN KROLL
Film Reporter
@https://twitter.com/krolljvar


CREDIT: INVISION/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Following a number of release dates moving and premieres being cancelled, Marvel and Disney have decided to temporarily shutter production on “Shang-Chi.”

The delay comes due to director Destin Daniel Cretton being asked by a doctor to self-isolate. Cretton was not feeling symptoms of COVID-19, but chose to be tested as a precaution since he is a new father. He is self-isolating as he awaits his test results.

The movie had been shooting in Australia since February. The second unit will continue production at this time.

Marvel’s note to the crew read:

“As many of you know, Destin, our director, has a new born baby. He wanted to exercise additional caution given the current environment and decided to get tested for Covid-19 today. He is currently self-isolating under the recommendation of his doctor. While he waits for the results of the test, we are suspending 1st unit production in an abundance of caution until he gets the results this coming week. Second unit and off production will continue as normal. We will reach out to everyone by Tuesday for the latest update.

This is an unprecedented time. We appreciate everyone’s understanding as we work through this.”

It is unknown when the shoot was going to end and if it will impact the February 2021 release date at this time.

The film stars Simu Lu, Awkwafina and Tony Leung with Cretton directing.

The original Marvel Comics “Shang-Chi” follows Shang, a half-Chinese, half-American superhero created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin. In the comics, Shang-Chi is a master of numerous unarmed and weaponry-based wushu styles, including the use of the gun, nunchaku, and jian. Shang-Chi first appeared in Special Marvel Edition #15 in 1973.

Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige is producing the film. Marvel’s Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Jonathan Schwartz are executive producers on the project.

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Marvel's 'Shang-Chi' Smashes Labor Day Box Office Records With $71.4 Million Debut
September 6, 2021 12:26 PM ET
SHANNON BOND
Twitter

Simu Liu, star of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," attends the film's Toronto premiere on Sept. 1.
Ryan Emberley/Getty Images for Disney
Hollywood's newest superhero is saving the day on-screen — and off.

The Marvel epic Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings rang up an estimated $71.4 million at U.S. theaters between Friday and Sunday, according to tracking website Box Office Mojo.

Disney, the film's distributor, expects Shang-Chi to sell another $12.1 million in tickets on Monday. But the film has already more than doubled the previous $30.6 million record for the full Labor Day weekend, including Monday, set by the horror flick Halloween in 2007.

Labor Day weekend is usually slow for movie theaters, industry analysts say, with most blockbusters released earlier in the summer — and attention shifting to the new school year and the start of college football season. The pandemic has made it even tougher to sell movie tickets, especially with the rise of the delta variant keeping some viewers home and forcing several movie openings to be delayed.

The weekend haul gives Shang-Chi the second-highest box office opening for any film released during the pandemic, behind another Marvel Cinematic Universe installment, Black Widow, which topped $80 million on its opening weekend in July.

Shang-Chi's theatrical success is "the ultimate confidence-builder" for the industry, Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Comscore, told the AP.

The film is Marvel's first epic to star an Asian hero. It tells the story of the eponymous kung fu master who's hiding from his warlord father by living undercover as a normal guy named Shaun in San Francisco.

Unlike Black Widow, which was released simultaneously in theaters and on the Disney+ streaming service, Shang-Chi can only be watched on the big screen until October, when it's expected to make its Disney+ debut.

Wonder how it's doing in PRC...

[GeneChing]

Sep 25, 2021 8:32am PT
Box Office: ‘Shang-Chi’ Surpasses ‘Black Widow’ as Highest-Grossing Film of 2021
New release 'Dear Evan Hansen' is expected to take the No. 2 spot with $7.3 million.

By Ellise Shafer

Courtesy of Marvel Studios
It’s official: “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” has surpassed fellow Marvel film “Black Widow” as the highest-grossing film of 2021 — and the pandemic — at the domestic box office.

On Friday, the superhero adventure starring Simu Liu captured $3.59 million from 3,952 theaters, which was enough to push it past “Black Widow” with a total gross of $186.7 million. “Black Widow,” which premiered in July, has earned roughly $183.5 million in theaters since its release. It has earned at least $125 million more on Disney Plus.

“Shang-Chi” breaking this record is a significant landmark for the movie theater business, as it was released solely in theaters with 45 days of exclusivity — as opposed to “Black Widow” and many other new releases, which have opted for a hybrid model.

This weekend, “Shang-Chi” is poised to top the domestic box office charts for the fourth weekend straight, adding an expected $12 million to $14 million to its haul. The film should end the weekend just shy of the $200 million mark.

New release “Dear Evan Hansen” is expected to come in second place with a subdued $7.3 million from 3,364 theaters. The Universal Pictures movie musical, starring Ben Platt as an isolated teenage boy who struggles to belong in the age of social media, took in $3.2 million on Friday.

Ryan Reynolds’ box office hit “Free Guy” is set to move down a spot to No. 3, but is still holding on with a three-day estimate of $4 million from 3,175 theaters. Meanwhile, slasher film “Candyman” and Clint Eastwood’s newest movie “Cry Macho” are poised to round out the box office chart in fourth and fifth place, respectively. “Candyman” should earn another $2.4 million this weekend for a cume of $56.79 million, and “Cry Macho” is expected to add $2 million for a total gross of $8.2 million.

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