Shang-Chi and the MCU's long road to Asian representation
The trailer for Marvel’s long-awaited Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings dropped last week and people are feeling some strong feelings about it.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings introduces the legendary martial artist Shang-Chi to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), along with the Ten Rings crime syndicate. We’ll see Shang-Chi do the usual business of battling the demons of his past and so on, but this time there will also be a whole heap of kung fu. In the trailer we are treated to some gorgeous fight choreography, including a staircase air-walk reminiscent of kung fu classics such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And, while the epic martial artistry is eye-poppingly exciting, it still isn’t the thing fans are most excited about.
Marvel fans are losing their minds over finally seeing an Asian superhero heading up a big budget movie, and not just the main character, the supporting cast and production crew are predominantly Asian as well.
Shang-Chi is Marvel’s first big screen film centred on an Asian super-hero and to say it’s been a long time coming is an understatement. We’re twenty-two MCU films deep, and with Black Widow set for a mid-year release Shang-Chi will round out two dozen feature films in the franchise’s short history (Iron Man, the first MCU film was released in 2008). Thirteen years and almost two dozen films is a long time for fans to wait for an Asian superhero. Fans and critics alike are hailing the upcoming release of Shang-Chi as a historic moment for multi-cultural representation not just in superhero movies but in Hollywood at large.
Marvel haven’t had the best track record when it comes to Asian representation, having been accused of white washing on two notable occasions in the recent past. Tilda Swinton’s casting as The Ancient One, a Tibetan monk, in 2016’s Doctor Strange, and Finn Jones' casting as kung fu master Iron Fist in the Netflix series of the same name, both drew the ire of the Asian community along with all Marvel fans hoping for a more progressive future for the franchise.
Following the success of Black Panther (2018) and Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel seems to have finally taken on board the cries of fans to see more BIPOC and female superheroes on their screens. In fact, it was right after the success of Black Panther that Shang-Chi’s eventual star, Simu Liu, first petitioned Marvel for a Shang-Chi movie via Twitter. I suppose the age old saying “Tweet for the job you want” is true after all.
Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings is slated for a September 2021 release and will feature a largely Asian cast including the likes of Awkwafina (Oceans 8, Crazy Rich Asians), Ronnie Chieng (Crazy Rich Asians), Tony Leung (Infernal Affairs), the legendary Michel Yeoh (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), and Simu Liu (Kim’s Convenience) as Shang-Chi himself.
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