Simu Liu IS Shang-Chi

[Rice Eater]

I've been reading some English speaking Asian boards and some are saying Simu looks ugly. I think the people posting rubbish like that (he's clearly an attractive guy) should post pictures of themselves so we can compare and contrast.

I think he's a good looking guy. But I think some people are posting this nonsense because they're probably so use to the typical Korean pop/drama star look. It's a dumb trend that I've noticed in recent years, you either have the look of that perfect, pristine, and ideal Asian face or you're nothing special.

Anyways, as a Asian American(not Chinese though) I've been looking forward how this was going to be cast for a long time. I was afraid a mainlander was going to get the part. But I'm glad Simu got it. I've actually seen him before in Kim's Convenience and a Youtube web series but I didn't really consider him at all for the role. Now that he got it I'm pretty happy about it. Not Asian American, but I'm glad one of our neighbors up north has a chance to do the job. My 1st choice was Ludi Lin who is also Asian Canadian. I also like the inclusion of Awkwafine and love Tony Leung as the Mandarin. Leung is a legend and Awkwafina has been on a hot streak lately and I think she will keep it up in this film.

With all that said I do think they're using the Mandarin to prop up Shang Chi more. His name alone doesn't carry too much weight and he won't have the wow factor like Guardians did and Eternals may have. He's just a really skilled and intelligent and doesn't have powers(although i hope they do give him a power boost of some kind). So I'm glad they're using the Mandarin to get more people interested in this movie. All they have to do is make a great movie and Shang Chi won't have to worry about having another well known villain prop him up for his sequel.

 

[TheUnknownX]

Very excited for Shang Chi. I'm still bummed that the Iron Fist adaptation was so terrible that Marvel will probably steer him away from this movie. Would have loved to see them fight one on one and Shang Chi kicking his ass and they eventually team up. I hope that they give him shadow clone-esque powers to give him a little flare. Definitely hyped for it!

 

[Dark Raven]

Very excited for Shang Chi. I'm still bummed that the Iron Fist adaptation was so terrible that Marvel will probably steer him away from this movie. Would have loved to see them fight one on one and Shang Chi kicking his ass and they eventually team up. I hope that they give him shadow clone-esque powers to give him a little flare. Definitely hyped for it!

Definitely don't want that. If he can pull that out of the bag each time, then he's never in any kind of danger. The fun of these old Bruce Lee movies was him going up against whole armies of people and taking them down all on his own. If there were multiple versions of him, then the stakes are lowered.

I'd rather have Shang Chi outnumbered and outmatched and having to fight his way out of there through sheer martial arts skill alone than relying on doubles.

 

[TheUnknownX]

Definitely don't want that. If he can pull that out of the bag each time, then he's never in any kind of danger. The fun of these old Bruce Lee movies was him going up against whole armies of people and taking them down all on his own. If there were multiple versions of him, then the stakes are lowered.

I'd rather have Shang Chi outnumbered and outmatched and having to fight his way out of there through sheer martial arts skill alone than relying on doubles.

Well yes I agree, seeing as how they gave him clones in the comics i'm ASSUMING they'll adapt that too. But I do prefer Shang Chi as a pure martial artist with no powers.

 

[Dark Raven]

Well yes I agree, seeing as how they gave him clones in the comics i'm ASSUMING they'll adapt that too. But I do prefer Shang Chi as a pure martial artist with no powers.

The clones is only a more recent thing. It's not part of his classic stories from the Bronze Age of Marvel where he was a pure martial artist.

I don't want Shang Chi even doing any gravity-defying wirework like you see in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or House of Flying Daggers. In those, the people barely touch the ground and can run across rooftops or tread across air. I want old school martial arts where the wow factor is in seeing their skill and fight choreography rather than trying to wow with special effects.

Wirework is like the martial arts equivalent of too much CGI whereas people doing proper acrobatics and fighting is like old school practical effects which always looks better.

 

[Rice Eater]

I don't want Shang Chi even doing any gravity-defying wirework like you see in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or House of Flying Daggers.

I don't want wire work either and I don't think that style of combat fits the world of the MCU. But what I do want is for Shang Chi to display superhuman abilities or be confirmed to be somewhat superhuman himself.

The MCU is a world littered with all types of super powered beings and we're going to have mutants and vampires soon. I hope Shang Chi brings more to the table than just being a really good fighter. Steal Iron Fist's powers, or say he can concentrate his chi to give him extra strength and speed. I just want him to be capable of taking on big villains instead of being a cheerleader on the sidelines while characters with actual power handle those fights.

I know his opponent will be the Mandarin who on paper should make this fight look super easy. I'm guessing Mandarin will be brought down in terms of his power level for this movie. Well I hope Shang Chi receives the opposite so this fight makes a little more sense.

 

[WBwins]

I don't want wire work either and I don't think that style of combat fits the world of the MCU. But what I do want is for Shang Chi to display superhuman abilities or be confirmed to be somewhat superhuman himself.

The MCU is a world littered with all types of super powered beings and we're going to have mutants and vampires soon. I hope Shang Chi brings more to the table than just being a really good fighter. Steal Iron Fist's powers, or say he can concentrate his chi to give him extra strength and speed. I just want him to be capable of taking on big villains instead of being a cheerleader on the sidelines while characters with actual power handle those fights.

I know his opponent will be the Mandarin who on paper should make this fight look super easy. I'm guessing Mandarin will be brought down in terms of his power level for this movie. Well I hope Shang Chi receives the opposite so this fight makes a little more sense.

Agreed.

I'd like Shangchis powerset to be the same with Captain America with the addition of Kungfu.Him having enhanced abilities can be as a result of his Chi

I do think mandarins abilities have to be reduced though.probably talk more about this in Mandarin thread

 

[imbruglia]

he was good in Kim's Convenience

 

[samsnee]

I don't want him to be superhuman. He can be peak human form, but shouldn't be Captain America type strength.

 

[Dark Raven]

We're getting a Black Widow movie where the main character isn't superhuman, so no reason that Shang Chi can't be a regular human as well.

 

[spider-neil]

I'm hoping for 'The Raid' level of action. The fight at the end of The Raid 2 is the best fight I've seen in my life. Just hire the same fight choreographers.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Yeah. Basically Shang Chi should just be a well-trained human with skinny-white-girl plot armor.

 

[Web-Head]

 

[Pink Ranger]

This is why I ****ing love my country. A newscaster in a hijab is reading a story about an actor of actual Chinese descent headlining an MCU movie, an actor that Kevin Feige found with great effort (none of that "we couldn't find any Asian actors" nonsense).

 

[Rice Eater]

Agree to disagree then because I want to have powers. I would be disappointed when we have all these other heroes with power and tech and all Shang Chi can brag about is how he knows every single martial art. I'm sure Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will come in real handy when it's time to fight Galactus.

He was a character created a long time ago to capitalize off the Kung Fu craze and carried many racial stereotypes. They are free to change a lot of that and they will. I just also want him to stand alongside the more powerful Avengers instead of sitting on th sidelines with Mantis, Fury, and Aunt May when it time for the next big fight in the next Avengers film.

 

[Dark Raven]

Agree to disagree then because I want to have powers. I would be disappointed when we have all these other heroes with power and tech and all Shang Chi can brag about is how he knows every single martial art. I'm sure Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will come in real handy when it's time to fight Galactus.

He was a character created a long time ago to capitalize off the Kung Fu craze and carried many racial stereotypes. They are free to change a lot of that and they will. I just also want him to stand alongside the more powerful Avengers instead of sitting on th sidelines with Mantis, Fury, and Aunt May when it time for the next big fight in the next Avengers film.

Have Black Widow and Hawkeye had to sit on the sidelines? They don't have powers. Shang Chi is more skilled as a fighter than both of them.

 

[Rice Eater]

Have Black Widow and Hawkeye had to sit on the sidelines? They don't have powers. Shang Chi is more skilled as a fighter than both of them.

I guess I should just say what I really mean. Can someone else besides the first lead Asian superhero be the weakest member of the team? I want him to be capable of throwing down with the next big villain instead of being the support guy.

If this were the next Fast and Furious film then he'd be fine. But this is the MCU and I hope he has more than plot armor and amazing fighting skill on his side.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Shang Chi with too many superpowers isn't really Shang Chi then.

 

[Dark Raven]

I guess I should just say what I really mean. Can someone else besides the first lead Asian superhero be the weakest member of the team? I want him to be capable of throwing down with the next big villain instead of being the support guy.

If this were the next Fast and Furious film then he'd be fine. But this is the MCU and I hope he has more than plot armor and amazing fighting skill on his side.

Invent another Asian superhero then who is super powered or armoured or whatever. But if you're going to change Shang Chi just for the sake of making him able to fight the next big villain, then he is not Shang Chi anymore.

I don't want Shang Chi to suddenly be Iron Man or Cap or Thor. If you want a new hero with those kinds of powers, then they should create one from scratch. Why mess with the existing Shang Chi that people have enjoyed all these years and have wanted to see?

 

[Abudefduf]

Well according to the Marvel wiki he does have superpowers... sort of.

Shang-Chi (Earth-616)

Master Martial Artist: Shang Chi is one of the greatest martial artists on Earth, having been trained possibly since birth to become the ultimate warrior. Shang Chi is skilled in various martial arts with a particular specialization in the Chinese martial arts. He has been shown defeating multiple highly skilled opponents simultaneously as well as superhumans. His great strength and chi (qi) allows him to strike with inhuman force enabling him to break through barriers such as brick, concrete and iron, withstand physical impacts almost to a superhuman degree, and ease all forms of pain and discomfort.

Nervous System Control: Shang can control his nervous system enabling him to deaden his body to physical pain, resist the effects of drugs or poisons, limit the spread of toxins in his blood stream, and even slow down his bleeding rate.

Pressure Point Locator: He can locate different pressure points on a person's body; incapacitate, paralyze, severely injure, or kill a person.

That doesn't sound like a regular man to me. He does have some extraordinary abilities

 

[Rice Eater]

Him having a little bit of super strength doesn't fundamentally changes who he is and shouldn't hurt your enjoyment of the character. Marvel studios is not going to invent a new hero to throw on the big screen and from what I know Shang Chi has changed drastically since his controversial origins.

I'm not a comic reader and only learned of Shang Chi a few years ago. I don't know if you're Asian American, but even if you are we obviously have different perspectives when looking at this subject. No big deal, it's cool. I'm not going to get into that. I'm still really excited and can't wait to see the movie. But I still hope he gets some Cap level super strength or something.

 

[Pink Ranger]

The fact that Shang is a fairly humble, ordinary human who gained his abilities through intense self-improvement is integral to the character. Quite frankly, portraying an Asian male as just a normal guy is fairly groundbreaking in 2019, which is a sad statement in a way.

 

[spider-neil]

 

[samsnee]

He comes off very down to Earth. This movie is still over a year and a half away.

 

[metaphysician]

I don't want him to be superhuman. He can be peak human form, but shouldn't be Captain America type strength.

Why, exactly, do you want to nerf him that badly compared to the comics? Because in the comics, he *is* superhuman on a similar scale to movie Captain America. He has never *not* been superhuman.