Marvel Studios announced the lead star of Shang-Chi at San Diego’s Comic Con festival. The studio announced that Simu Liu has been roped in to star in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Awkwafina will also star in the film. Tony Leung will be joining in as The Mandarin, an uber-villain introduced in Iron Man 3. Reportedly, Liu was one of several actors who tested last week for the part and was chosen by Marvel just before the studio headed into Comic Con.
The original Marvel Comics Shang-Chi was created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin. Shang is a half-Chinese, half-American superhero who is proficient in numerous unarmed and weaponry-based wushu styles, including the use of the gùn, nunchaku and jian. In later years, he gains the power to create countless duplicates of himself, and joins the Avengers.
Shang-Chi first appeared in Special Marvel Edition #15 in 1973.
Liu’s family moved from China to Canada when he was a child. He worked as an accountant before moving over to act as an extra in Legendary’s Pacific Rim in 2012. He later appeared in small roles in films like Beauty and the Beast and Nikita before his career breakthrough in NBC’s series Taken. After Taken, he landed one of the lead roles in Canadian TV show Kim’s Convience from where he acquired fame and popularity more than any of his earlier stints.
Destin Cretton will be directing Shang-Chi which will be produced by Kevin Feige and executively produced by Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Jonathan Schwartz.