Geeks logo

Spotlight: Shang Chi

The Master of Kung Fu is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe very soon

By Nick CavuotiPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
2
Simu Liu as Shang Chi

With the Master of Kung Fu, Shang Chi coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and being a lesser known character, it is time to look into his character and who exactly he is. In fact, despite being regarded as one of the top hand to hand fighters in Marvel Comics, he is also one of the least popular characters. More then likely, after September that will quickly change as the trailer Marvel had realized of his upcoming movie looks like it breaks the typical Marvel Studios mold and may end up being one of the more unique films in their ongoing catalog. In the 70's, Marvel created the character largely out of the boom in popularity of kung fu films and more importantly Bruce Lee. At the time, Marvel had the rights to the character of Fu Manchu and made Shang Chi his son. Fu Manchu would hold his son in his Honan Retreat where he would be rigorously trained in both the mental and marital arts by Manchu's most trusted senseis and the end result pleased him. Fu Manchu even goes on to tell his son that his intellect and skill rivals the best of the outside world and more importantly, he is a living weapon. More or less, he became a much more annoying version of Netflix' Iron Fist who constantly felt a need to tell his enemies that he is, "Shang Chi, the son of Fu Manchu." He is then given the task of killing an evil man known as Doctor Petrie. Shang Chi felt that over the course of studying various philosophies have shown him that killing is an act only to be abhorred, but he felt that his father was an honorable and truthful man so he set out to do so only to find that Doctor Petrie was an old feeble man. Ultimately, his training in obedience to his masters took over and despite his best intentions, he killed the weakened Petrie.

After learning more about his mission and Petrie, he begins to realize the true evil was that of his father in a very unsurprising twist. This drives Shang Chi to fight Fu Manchu, who like many other villains, he does not see himself as a villain. The Marvel Cinematic Universe version of this will obviously be changed a good bit, seeing as how in the trailer his father isn't Fu Manchu, as Marvel had lost rights to the character, but instead his father will be that of The Mandarin. The overall story beats will most likely be the same as in the trailer in looks as if The Mandarin had been training him ever since he was a child, only for him to become an adult and have to face the music, even at Shang Chi's behest. The Mandarin has been a character mentioned and teased throughout the films, most notably in the Iron Man franchise and with the Ten Rings being mentioned in the film title it all makes sense. It'll also be interesting to see if they even remove his self duplication power set, as in the trailer it looks like he can control the Ten Rings. The strength of the character will always be his hand to hand combat, but there will probably be some sort of flash to it to make it more visibly appealing. After all, it is a super hero film and not a straight kung fu film.

Tony Leung as The Mandarin

I am also sure that Marvel won't make The Mandarin as he was in the comics as they look to avoid Asian stereotypes, and presumably they are doing the same with the characterization of Shang Chi. The Mandarin can be a bit one note and uninteresting so I am sure that he will be a bit more complex. However, the classic villain doesn't suffer from the same issues as previously Marvel villains. It also seems based off the trailer that Shang Chi will be facing off with other assassins employed by Mandarin, whom he also trained with as a child echoing that of his origin story. Death Dealer, a MI-6 double agent that has a penchant for brutality and Razor Fist seem to be showcased quite a bit in the early trailers. The other interesting tidbit seems to be a sort of fight club that Shang Chi may participate in and possibly fight with Abomination who has not appeared in a Marvel film since all the way back in The Incredible Hulk.

superheroes
2

About the Creator

Nick Cavuoti

An avid movie watcher, and I have been writing short stories and novels on the side for years now. Hoping to hone my craft here on Vocal!

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.