Marvel is Finally Developing ‘Shang-Chi,’ Their First Asian Superhero Movie
![Marvel is Finally Developing ‘Shang-Chi,’ Their First Asian Superhero Movie](https://nextshark.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/shanchi.jpg?width=1536&auto_optimize=medium&quality=85&blur=80)
![Marvel is Finally Developing ‘Shang-Chi,’ Their First Asian Superhero Movie](https://nextshark.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/shanchi.jpg?width=1536&auto_optimize=medium&quality=85)
Marvel is finally making its first Asian superhero movie, centered on the “Shang-Chi” comic book.
According to Deadline, Marvel studios has put Chinese-American writer Dave Callaham in charge of writing the screenplay and is currently looking for potential Asian and Asian-American directors to head the film. Callaham’s past work includes creating the “Expendables” franchise, Legendary studio’s “Godzilla” franchise, and most recently, co-writing DC’s upcoming “Wonder Woman 1984” with Patty Jenkins and Geoff Johns.
![](https://nextshark.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Shang-Chi-Marvel-cover-1-e1543886315992.png?width=1536&auto_optimize=medium&quality=85)
Shang-Chi, which is also Chinese for “rising of the spirit,” was written by Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin and released in 1973 at the height of the “kung-fu” popularity of “Enter the Dragon,” which was released the same year. Initially, Shang-Chi was the unknown son of Dr. Fu Manchu, an Asian villain centered on racist stereotypes during a time when the Yellow Peril was spreading across North America in the early 1900s (Marvel had acquired the comic book rights to Fu Manchu at the time).
![](https://nextshark.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Mysteriousfumanchu.jpg?width=1536&auto_optimize=medium&quality=85)
The general plot holds that Shang-Chi was born in Hunan Province in communist China. His father, a powerful mastermind set on global domination, has him raised in a compound where he is trained in martial arts until he is ready to go out into the world to do his father’s bidding. He soon meets his father’s arch-nemesis (and the enemy of Fu Manchu, Sir Denis Nayland Smith), who causes Shang-Chi to question who his father really is. Ultimately, Shang-Chi devotes his life to stopping his father and fighting crime, and does, at some point, also become an Avenger.
Of course, “Fu Manchu” and “Shang-Chi” were both created at a time where Asian culture was, at worst, made into racist stereotypes that still exist today. Fortunately, the script will “modernize” the tale of Shang-Chi to avoid retelling a story that could set Asians back by almost a century. The script hopes to mimic the same success that “Black Panther,” directed by Ryan Coogler, experienced.
Images via Marvel
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