Marvel Studios Making ‘Shang-Chi’ Movie, Which Will Feature Their First Asian Protagonist
Avengers: Infinity Warwas a financial smash for Marvel Studios this year, butBlack Pantheractually made more money in the United States andcurrently sits at #3on the all-time box office domestic grosses list. Any studio would love to replicate that kind of success, and it looks like Marvel is taking steps to attempt to catch lightning in a bottle again.Kevin Feigeand his team are reportedly developing aShang-Chimovie, which is centered on the martial arts master first created in the comics in the 1970s. The film will feature the studio’s first Asian protagonist. Learn more about Shang-Chi below.
According toDeadline, Marvel Studios has hired Chinese American screenwriterDave Callahamto write the script for a Shang-Chi movie, which is based on the character of the same name. The character is a “Master of Kung Fu” who is quick enough to dodge bullets, and he eventually gains the power to create an infinite number of duplicates of himself. The early comics envisioned him as the son of Chinese supervillain Fu Manchu, a character Marvel acquired from an outside novelist but have since lost the rights to – it seems unlikely Fu Manchu will factor into this movie, although Shang-Chi’s father could still be a primary antagonist.
Jim StarlinandSteve Englehartcreated Shang-Chi in the early 1970s, around the time whenEnter The Dragontook the world by storm, and this movie “will modernize the hero to avoid stereotypes that many comic characters of that era were saddled with.” Marvel managed to avoid those stereotypes inIron Man 3with Ben Kingsley’s interpretation of The Mandarin, but the studio encountered some blowback for hiring Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One inDoctor Strangea few years later. (And the less said aboutIron Fist, the better.)
Marvel Studios is searching for an Asian American director (or one of Asian descent) to tackle this movie in the hopes of following inBlack Panther’s footsteps: to “introduce a new hero who blends Asian and Asian American themes, crafted by Asian and Asian American filmmakers.” Callaham has writing credits onThe Expendables,Godzilla, andZombieland 2, but he’s also written for cinematic superheroes: he’s onWonder Woman 1984and he’s been hired to write the script forSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2.
Since DC beat them to the punch by hiring the first female director of a major blockbuster superhero movie, Marvel Studios has made it a priority to include more diverse voices behind the camera. In addition toRyan Cooglerand his work onBlack Panther, New Zealand-born directorTaika WaititidirectedThor: Ragnarok,Anna BodenandRyan Fleckare behindCaptain Marvel(the studio’s first female-led solo movie),Chloé Zhaois directingThe Eternals, andCate Shortlandhas been hired to direct Scarlett Johansson’s soloBlack Widowmovie.
