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[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]History: Son of an international crime lord, Shang-Chi grew to young-adulthood at a secluded retreat in Hunan, China. By the time he turned 19, he had mastered multiple mental and martial arts. Only then did his father send him out into the world -- to assassinate an old enemy. The idealistic Shang set out to complete the task, naively believing his father to be a great humanitarian. Fully informed of his family's true nature as events unfolded, a shocked and disillusioned Shang vowed to topple the criminal empire he unwittingly had served.
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ultimately, Shang helped bring about his father's apparent death. The elixir that had allowed the crime lord to retain his youth for decades was no longer sufficient. Rapidly aging, he required Shang's blood to restore his physical vitality. During the showdown that followed, an explosion set off by Shang's compatriots demolished the family's Hunan stronghold. Shang escaped, but it was assumed that his father had been killed in the blast.
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Wracked by guilt, Shang wandered for weeks. Contemplating his future and purpose, he eventually came to believe that he had atoned for his father's murder. Shang rejected the "games of deceit and death" in which he had participated, and retired to a passive existence as a fisherman in the Chinese province of Kwang Tung.
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When rumors surfaced of his father's renewed activity, Shang resumed his life's mission. Disguising himself as member of the Triad, he infiltrated the Asian underworld to learn the crime lord's plans. His quest brought him into the company of the X-Men, a heroic band of outlaw mutant adventurers, and led to his employment with Heroes for Hire Inc., a firm of freelance superhuman operatives.
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]After establishing himself in Manhattan's Chinatown, Shang discovered that the hunted had become the hunter: His father now sought to eliminate his dishonorable heir. Dispatching the warlord's top assassin, Shang fell in with a loose-knit team of costumed crimefighters that included Daredevil, fearless blind adventurer; Black Widow, one-time international spy; Moon Knight, undead avenger of evil; and Dagger, child of light. Since orchestrating the bombing of the group's headquarters, Shang's father believes him dead. However, control in the game of death and deceit merely has changed hands: Shang-Chi survives, ready to counterattack the crime lord's schemes under the cloak of his own demise.[/font]
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