Marvel’s first Asian superhero 'Shang-Chi' has caught controversy

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‍Marvel's first Asian superhero film "Shang-Chi" is in development, Deadline reported recently. Chinese-American writer, Dave Callaham, who co-wrote the sequel for Wonder Woman 1984, will be responsible for the screenplay.

It was supposed to be a piece of good news that made marvel fans around the world happy, but the character's background of the role "Shang-Chi" has attracted a lot of controversies.

Who is this guy?

The character first appeared in comics in December 1973 and was created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin. According to the official explanation given by Marvel, "Shang-Chi" literally means "rising of the spirit."

As the official said, the archetype of Shang-Chi is Bruce Lee, often referred to in comics as "Master of Kung Fu" by other superheroes, who excels at using nunchakus and other Oriental weapons.

Bruce Lee in a movie still from the motion picture, Fists of Fury, 1971. /VCG Photo

The earliest character setting of Shang-Chi is the son of Fu Manchu, a fictional villain character introduced in a series of novels by British author Sax Rohmer during the first half of the 20th century.

Shang-Chi is not a new character, but fans who don't read comics may be unfamiliar with the name. For most of the past few decades, he has been active only in marvel short stories, mostly playing with other superheroes and occasionally appearing alongside the familiar role - Spider-man.

Shang-Chi even joined the Avengers team, but audiences didn't get a chance to see him in series before.

As soon as the news came out, netizens began to speculate and recommend on the Shang-Chi's casting, including Eddie Peng, also known as Peng Yuyan in mandarin, and Daniel Wu.

Negative characteristics of his father

But before the script was released, Chinese social media Weibo began to discuss that the film reflected the stereotypes of Western countries towards China, and some netizens indicated the setting of "Fu Manchu" is discriminated against Chinese people and said that they would not watch it.

Many Chinese are unfamiliar with the image of Fu Manchu, a name that became a household name in the Western world in the last century. The West has made a total of 13 films on the "Fu Manchu" series in earlier years. His presence has deepened the stereotypical view of the Chinese people in the West, for 90 years.

Christopher Lee's character in a scene from the film "The Brides of Fu Manchu," 1966. /VCG Photo

Besides, the image has also made audiences associate some villains with a discriminatory connotation, such as Marvel comics' "Mandarin" and "Yellow Claw."

Along with the increase of cultural exchanges in the world, wild imagination like "Fu Manchu" began to fade; audiences began to desire to see something other than Fu Manchu in the film.

Hollywood began to reassess the value of yellow, until Bruce Lee's appearance in the 1960s, and with the deepening of cultural exchanges between the East and the West, Westerners have gradually eliminated the fear of "yellow peril."

So when the character's set of Shang-Chi was revealed, it began to cause controversy among netizens.

Some netizens have stressed that in the original novel, Shang-Chi broke with his father in anger and finally destroyed him, which is an image of justice.

However, some netizens believe that the appearance of the character "Fu Manchu" in a movie that tries to show on the world's screens is a malicious act.

But for now, the script is still in the writing stage, and according to NetEase entertainment, to avoid some Western stereotypes of Asian, Marvel is also looking for Asian crew and directors to polish the story.