Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will be the first Marvel film starring an Asian lead. The film is based on Marvel Comics character of the same name, created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin. A film on the character has been in development since 2001, but things only started taking shape in 2018. David Callaham was brought on to pen the screenplay of the film. Destin Daniel Cretton joined the project in 2019 as director. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will be the third film in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the twenty-sixth film in the MCU since its inception.
Cast of Shang-Chi
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will be the first Marvel film to star an Asian lead. The film’s title and cast were announced at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019. Simu Liu has been cast in the titular role of Shang-Chi. He is a skilled martial artist. Tony Leung has been cast in the role of Mandarin, the leader of the Ten Rings terrorist organization, and Shang-Chi’s main antagonist in the film.
Awkwafina and Ronny Chieng have also been cast in the film. Their roles have not been disclosed yet.
Release Date of Shang-Chi
Principal photography for Shang-Chi began in February, 2020. The film was being shot at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney and in some parts of the state of New South Wales. Los Angeles was also supposed to be one of the locations where filming would take place. However, in March, Disney halted production for most of its films due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming resumed in August, 2020.
The film was earlier scheduled for a release on February 12, 2021, but due to the pandemic, Disney postponed the release dates of most of the Phase Four films. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is now slated to release on May 7, 2021, with its previous release date now taken by another Marvel film, The Eternals.