To whet audiences’ appetites while the highly-anticipated Shang-Chi film is in production, Marvel is releasing a five-issue miniseries comic from the end of September. A new trailer shows animated stills from a battle scene in “China, thousands of years ago,” followed by Shang-Chi in the modern world, jumping across buildings and kicking ass.
In the comments section, besides those who expected a theatrical trailer, fans are thrilled by the big name writers and the continuation of a beloved story.
From Marvel’s official announcement:
“THE MASTER RETURNS! An ancient and evil secret society has stayed in hiding since the death of their leader, Zheng Zu. But now his successor has been chosen to shift the balance of power in the world — Zheng Zu’s son, Shang-Chi! Witness the Marvel Universe’s greatest fighter return to a world of death and destruction he thought he left behind long ago — and discover the secrets to Shang-Chi’s past that will change his world forever.”
The announcement also introduces the Five Weapons Society, made up of five houses, each dedicated to a different weapon.
The comic is written and illustrated by Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese), Dike Ruan (Spider-Verse, Black Cat), and Philip Tan (Uncanny X-Men). This is Yang’s first work with Marvel, but the Eisner-Award winning artist is already well-known in the comic world. Ruan will be in charge of the present day scenes, while Tan will take the flashbacks.
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The miniseries is coming potentially just months before the release of the Shang-Chi film. But with Disney now paying the price for attempting to market Mulan to both Chinese and US audiences amid multiple controversies, it’s unclear how this MCU effort will fair on each side of the Pacific.
Praised for being Marvel’s first Asian-led superhero film, Chinese netizens disagreed with casting choices Simu Liu and Awkwafina, with many even calling the two actors “very ugly” and evidence of the “Western Gaze.” Generally however, the casting of the two actors seems to have received a warm reception from MCU fans and Liu in particular seems highly conscious of the issues afflicting Mulan right now.
BRB though I gotta think about my honour for the fourth time this hour it’s very important to me, as you can tell from movies that your people have written about my people.
— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) September 5, 2020
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Born out of the 1970s kung fu craze, Shang-Chi’s original storyline boasted a young hero proficient in every martial art style and weapon as well as some complicated father figure issues. The 2020 Shang-Chi promises some of the same, but this time with a thorough update for the modern era, and an Asian-American production team at the helm.
