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Simu Liu returns to his physics class trying to put words into the power of Shang-Chi and the legend of the ten rings – Marvel’s first Asian-led superhero movie – and how it arrived at that exact moment.
Namely, Newton’s third law of physics: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
“You learn from equal and opposing forces,” Liu tells us in a recent panel discussion alongside co-stars Awkwafina, Meng’er Zhang and Florian Munteanu (see above). “When you see so much prejudice and hate around you, we all want to face it with an equal and opposite force of positivity, joy and celebration. And I really think that’s what this movie is.
Liu has become the most prominent Marvel superhero on the big screen since Brie Larson’s introduction to Captain Marvel in early 2019. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (who co-wrote the screenplay with Dave Callaham and Andrew Lanham), Shang-Chi centers the eponymous martial artist as he is lured out of his mundane life as a San Francisco valet and forced to face his dangerous past, when he has escaped the clutches of his militaristic and all-powerful father , Wenwu, aka the Mandarin (Tony Leung).
The empowering actor arrives in theaters in a year that has seen a deeply troubling increase in hate crimes and violence against Asians and Asian Americans across the United States as the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc in the nation. The attacks have spurred the #StopAsianHate movement on social media and beyond.
“It is a celebration of our culture, of our very diverse perspectives on a whole range of Asian characters, some of whom are from America, others from Asia, but who all embody a small part of what it means. be Asian, Liu continues.
The film also makes very conscious efforts to correct the plagues of the hero’s past. In source material, Marvel’s original 1970s Kung Fu Master comics, Shang-Chi’s father was Fu Manchu, a notoriously racist stereotype of a character, but here is replaced by Wenwu. (Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has said that Fu Manchu “isn’t a character we own or would like to own” in the MCU.) Shang-Chi also intelligently comments on criticism of Ben Kingsley originally portraying Mandarin – sort of – in the 2013s Iron man 3.
“Anything that enlightens groups that haven’t had their moment [is a positive], and I think in the superhero world, what it means to be a superhero like Shang-Chi, is important for kids to see a part of themselves, ”says Awkwafina, who plays Katy, Shang-Chi’s best friend turned sidekick of sorts, and who starred in another major touchstone for Asian-led films in Hollywood, in 2018 Crazy Rich Asians.
“We ask people to see our culture from a specific perspective which I think is universal in many ways. So I think that way it really lends itself to a conversation about openness and understanding, ”she says.
As for Zhang, who makes her film debut as Shang-Chi’s equally talented sister, Xialing, it’s all pretty straightforward: “I think the world is ready for an Asian superhero.”
Shang-Chi and the legend of ten Rings opens in theaters Friday.
– Video produced by Anne Lilburn and edited by Jason Fitzpatrick
Watch the trailer:
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