Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings stars Simu Liu as Marvel’s first lead Asian superhero
Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is a Marvel project unlike any other.
On Monday, Marvel dropped the first trailer for the upcoming action-packed film, which stars Simu Liu as Marvel’s first lead Asian superhero, Shang-Chi, as well as an all-Asian cast. Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12) directed the anticipated film.
In the trailer, Liu’s Shang-Chi trains in martial arts as he prepares to battle against the villainous Ten Rings organization, which is led by Wenwu/The Mandarin (Tony Leung), Shangi-Chi’s father.
“Son, it’s time for you to take your place by my side,” says Wenwu as he attempts to recruit Shang-Chi into the terrorist organization.
“That’s not going to happen,” Shang-Chi responds.
Shang-Chi’s pal Katy, played by Awkwafina, also appears in the trailer, as does his sister Xialing (Meng’er Zhang), Jian Li (Fala Chen), Razor Fist (Florian Munteanu), Jon Jon (Ronny Chieng) and Jiang Nan (Michelle Yeoh).
Filming on Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings wrapped back in October, with Liu celebrating the milestone moment with a triumphant post on Facebook.
“Nine months from now we will break records and make history as the first superhero movie to feature an ALL-ASIAN cast that kicks so much ass it’s not ever funny. Well – that’s a lie, actually, it’s quite funny too,” Liu wrote in a Facebook post captured by Yahoo. “For all of those who hated us because of the color of our skin, or been made to feel less than because of it; NO MORE. This is OUR movie, and it will be IMPOSSIBLE for Hollywood to ignore us after this.”
The character of Shang-Chi first appeared in Marvel comics in 1973. He was trained as a martial arts assassin by his father, the villain Fu Manchu, but rebelled against his father’s lessons and became a hero.
Marvel has made a push in recent years to diversify with Marvel Studio president Kevin Feige saying in 2018, “When you have diverse voices, you get better stories and you get more exciting stories, you get more surprising stories. And that is something that is very clear.”
Marvel’s upcoming slate includes films from several filmmakers of color, including Chinese filmmaker Chloé Zhao, who’s helming The Eternals; Cretton, who is of Japanese descent, and directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings; as well as Ryan Coogler, who’s returning for the sequel to Black Panther.
Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings hits theaters on September 3.
[People]
