It took Marvel long enough but they have finally cast an Asian lead in one of their movies. Also I should note that I do feel kind of weird phrasing it like that, because a lead is not enough, we do need more diversity all over, though for now, it is a great start. At this point many of you will still be wondering on who Shang-Chi is?

As origins go his is pretty unusual and I am not talking about how he is gained his abilities, I am talking about how the character was conceived. His creation involves 1970’s pop culture, David Carradine, Fu Manchu and some legal issues. This lead to messy, racially insensitive creation that legally Marvel had issues using, though in recent years that has all changed and Marvel have taken great strides to make this character far more accessible.

The basic low down is that Shang is the bastard son of a criminal mastermind. He was raised to be an expert fighter and raised to believe that his father was a great and benevolent man. Little did he know about his fathers nefarious schemes, it was only when he was dispatched to kill one of his fathers enemies that he learned the dark truth. Armed with this knowledge and some powerful new allies Shang-Chi became an agent of justice and took the fight back to his father.

With Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings coming out in 2021 we can speculate that his origin will be altered more to fit in line with the current MCU. Mentioning The Ten Rings makes me think of the 1st and 3rd Iron Man films. Perhaps he will be a son of the true Mandarin, someone trained to kill Tony Stark, who now lacks a purpose so must find one and does so by becoming a real hero.

As for powers and abilities well Shang can just about kick anyone’s ass. He was a proficient Martial Artist who is skilled in several forms or armed and unarmed combat. If anything this will make his upcoming film entertaining.