Marvel Studios currently has a Shang-Chi movie in development. It is set to be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton who co-wrote and directed the drama The Glass Castle (2017). The film has David Callahan as the writer, he is one of the writers for Wonder Woman 1984 and Zombieland: Double Tap. Marvel was unable to adapt the Kung Fu (1972-1975) martial arts television show, the rights belonged to Warner Communications which owned DC Comics. The ideas of Bruce Lee were of course later turned into the Cinemax program, Warrior, starring Andrew Koji. I wonder about the comic book since Shannon Lee is one of the producers and she was one of the co-writers of Bruce Lee: The Dragon Rises by Darby Pop.
Marvel instead bought the rights to Sax Rohmer’s character, the villain, Fu Manchu. Rohmer created the character in The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu (1913). It was popular at the time. The character also has a long cinematic history with The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) played by Boris Karloff. Christopher Lee made several Fu Manchu movies; The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), and Sax Rohmer’s The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969). The character continued until 1980 with The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu played by Peter Sellers. The legacy of the stereotypical portrayal of the villanous Asian is one of the most persistent icons.
Shang-Chi first appeared in Special Marvel Edition #15 (1973), a reprint series, until the success of the character created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin. He was the unknown son of Fu Manchu and worked to take on his father and his organization. Shang Chi was able to harness his chi for martial arts mastery to dodge bullets. This was later turned into super powers. The character continued in his own title, Master of Kung Fu, by Englehart and Starlin. He was helped by Black Jack Tarr, a former British Army veteran, who was introduced in Master of Kung Fu #17 (1974). Another member of their group is Leiko Wu who first appeared in Master of Kung Fu #33 (1975) by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy taking over the title with issue 29 (1975).
She became his love interest. They formed a group called Freelance Restorations in Master of Kung Fu #95 (1980) headquartered in Stormhaven Castle in Scotland. The series had a long run, but note that some covers and interior artwork does feature absurdly yellow colored Asian characters and racial slurs. There was a later limited series, Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu (2002-2003) by Moench and Gulacy. Shang-Chi was associated with other street heroes like Daredevil and of course Iron Fist. He became part of the group Heroes for Hire formed by Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. It seems like Shang-Chi was the best fit for the Marvel shows that were on Netflix, but it looks like he is intended for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Then, Shang-Chi joined Commander Steve Rogers’ Secret Avengers to take on the Shadow Council. It was during this time that his father’s real name was revealed to be Zheng Zu in Secret Avengers #8 (2011) by Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato, Jr. It is more safer to use Zheng Zu for a rebooted origin. Zheng Zu became Emperor of K’un-Lun, the city defended by Iron Fist. He had won the Thirteen Chambers tournament to become emperor. Shang-Chi joined the Avengers in Avengers #1 (2013). His new uniform was a red and black outfit with bare hands and legs. Shang-Chi gets a pair of electrified nunchucks in Avengers #11 (2013). The nunchucks are not iconic with the character, Black Widow rarely used her Black Wiow’s Bite gauntlet weapon in the MCU, and it may stray into the stereotype.
He developed the power to duplicate himself from the Origin Bomb in Avengers #38 (2015). Shang-Chi was part of a group of Asian superheroes; Amadeus Cho now the Hulk, Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel, Cindy Moon also known as Silk, and Jimmy Woo who also formed Agents of Atlas. This was in Totally Awesome Hulk #16 (2017) by Grek Pak and Mahmud Asrar. The first appearance of Amadeus Cho was in Amazing Fantasy #15 (2006) and Silk first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2014). Silk already appeared in the MCU in the form of Cindy Moon, a fellow student at Midtown High School played by Tiffany Espensen in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). Jimmy Woo was introduced in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) played by Randall Park.
Woo had the Protectors join the new Agents of Atlas in War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #1 (2019). It heralded the first appearances of Wave, Pearl Pangan, Crescent, Dan Bi, Io, and Luna Snow, Seol Hee. The creative team was Greg Pak and Gang Hyuk Lim. It will be interesting if some of the heroes are involved in the Shang-Chi movie. The second largest movie market in the world, China, would probably have some influence in bringing heroes like Aero, Lei Ling, first appearing in Aero #1 (2018)!, and White Fox, Ami Han, she was introduced in Contest of Champions #1 (2015), to the big screen.
In an April 27th interview with the News18 website, Kevin Feige said, “I think every movie that we do is a risk. We only want to do movies that people seem to think are risks. Doing the story of an Asian-American hero of Chinese heritage is something that is very intriguing to us. It will be really different and special.” In 2015, Feige addressed on December 2015 with Entertainment Weekly, the controversy of the casting of the Ancient One in the Doctor Strange film, “I think if you look at some of the early incarnations of the Ancient One in the comics, they are what we would consider today to be quite, sort of, stereotypical. They don’t hold up to what would work today.” The Ancient One is a supporting character and of course Shang-Chi is a lead character. There is Wong in Doctor Strange, he was basically a servant in the comic books assisting Strange, but is given more of a large role played by Benedict Wong in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and this year’s Avengers: Endgame.
An Asian martial arts hero is a trap outside of the excellent films like The Grandmaster (2013) or of course Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). It will be important to bring in HK or other Chinese film companies as co-producing partners which would help in distribution for China. If Marvel Studios charges ahead without considering the market with the subject matter, then it would affect the Shang-Chi movie’s release. The danger is stereotyping with the character. The best course to go is with the screenwriter and director, Gareth Evans, or stunt coordinator, Eka `Piranha’ Rahmadia, from The Raid: Redemption (2011), or Iko Uwais who starred in The Raid films and was action choreographer for The Raid: Redemption and fight choreographer for The Raid 2 (2014). He is in Stuber and also starred in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).
The fight scenes are intense, you don’t think about fighting style, but are just stunned at them. Maybe Shang-Chi is brought into a mission to save Black Jack Tarr, Leiko Wu comes in to save Shang-Chi, and it is uncovered that they have to take down the operation of Shang-Chi’s father, Zheng Zu. The film should be in the mold of a spy action movie like James Bond. Shang-Chi’s martial arts should not be showcased, when we see him use them it should be awesome, but not the It’s Time to Use Kung Fu scenes. The Raid is the best comparison for a Shang-Chi movie. The ratio of fighting should be just a little more than what was in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). The Shang-Chi movie has potential for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
#ShangChiMovie, #DestinDanielCretton, #DavidCallahan, #SteveEnglehart, #JimStarlin
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