After 'Captain Marvel' and 'Black Panther', Marvel's first venture into creating female and African-American superheroes for the big screen, Marvel is making history once again.
This time around, Asia is taking center stage.
Marvel has just announced that the critically acclaimed Asian-American director of 'Short Term 12', Destin Daniel Cretton, has come on board to direct 'Shang-Chi', Marvel’s first Asian superhero movie franchise.
The film will be scripted by Chinese-American screenwriter David Callaham, who also co-wrote 'Wonder Woman 1984' as well as 'The Expendables'.
Meanwhile, who is Shang-Chi?
According to the
Marvel website, Shang-Chi, also known as the Master of Kungfu, is "the son of an internationally-renowned and powerful criminal mastermind. His childhood was a lonely one, full of constant training in rigorous mental and martial arts and with only limited contact with his parents."
His powers are not just amazing kungfu. He also has the ability to make multiple copies of himself, much like the Japanese anime character Naruto.
This is an exciting development for Marvel as well as for minority ethnic filmmakers and actors who, for very long, has been left out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Now the multi-million dollar question is - which Chinese or Chinese-American actor will play Shang-Chi?