Marvel producing first feature with Asian superhero lead, report says
Will Shang-Chi, the Master of Kung Fu, become as popular a film star as Black Panther?
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Shang-Chi is the son of the internationally renowned powerful criminal mastermind Fu Manchu.
Marvel Studios reportedly is working on its first feature film with an Asian hero as the lead.
Marvel didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, but Deadline reported Monday that the studio is planning a film about Shang-Chi, also called the Master of Kung Fu.
The character, a master of unarmed combat, first appeared in Marvel comics in 1973, when the ABC TV drama Kung Fu, starring David Carradine, was popular. Shang-Chi was born the son of supervillain Fu Manchu, but later opposed his father's ways. In 2013, he joined The Avengers.
According to Deadline, Chinese-American writer Dave Callaham, who wrote the script for the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984 along with Patty Jenkins and Geoff Johns, will write the screenplay.
No casting or plot information has been released. Marvel delivered a blockbuster with 2018's massive hit Black Panther, which featured an almost all-black cast and black filmmakers. Deadline notes that the studio hopes to blend Asian and Asian-American themes and find similar success.
