Marvel's First Asian Superhero Film Shang-Chi Wraps Filming: 'It Will Be Impossible to Ignore Us'
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The star of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is celebrating the movie's shoot coming to an end.
Simu Liu made a triumphant post on Facebook over the weekend to mark the end of filming on the movie, which will feature Marvel's first lead Asian superhero, as well as an all-Asian cast.
"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.
Short Term 12 filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton directed the movie. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is currently set for a July 9, 2021 release.
RELATED: Simu Liu Asked Marvel for an 'Asian American' Hero in 2014 — Now He Is One!
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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.
Mahershala Ali, the first Muslim actor to win an Academy Award, was recently cast by Marvel to play the superhero Blade in an upcoming film. And The Eternals, out Feb. 12, 2021, boasts Marvel's most diverse cast yet by featuring lead actors of Pakistani, Latin and Middle Eastern origin, as well as the first deaf superhero.
