A Shang-Chi movie was planned alongside movies for Captain America, Hawkeye, Doctor Strange, Nick Fury, Black Panther and others. Work began on a Shang-Chi movie back in 2005, when Marvel first partnered with Paramount Pictures for a shared universe of superhero movies. His absence in Marvel's movies isn't for a lack of trying, however. Surprisingly, despite his martial arts prowess he's never appeared in any of the numerous Marvel-branded fighting games. To date, his only non-comic book appearance has been as a playable character in the free-to-play mobile game Marvel Future Fight. Shang-Chi has seen very little action outside of Marvel's comics. It was revealed that Fu Manchu was actually just a cover identity for Zheng Zu, an immortal sorcerer.
The 2010 series Secret Avengers even overhauled his background and connection to Fu Manchu. Shang-Chi has also served on multiple incarnations of the Avengers. He became a martial arts mentor to Spider-Man, helping the hero develop a new form of spider-themed martial arts after Peter temporarily lost the use of his Spider-Sense. That's to say nothing of the growing backlash to Fu Manchu as a racially insensitive caricature.įortunately, Shang-Chi has experienced a resurgence in recent years. It didn't help that Marvel eventually lost the rights to Fu Manchu, making it difficult to continue exploring Shang-Chi's family history or even reprint the older Master of Kung Fu stories. Shang-Chi began to appear more sporadically after that point. Unfortunately, his popularity began to wane in the '80s, with Master of Kung Fu ending at issue #125 in 1983. Shang-Chi also began routinely appearing in other Marvel titles, teaming up with everyone from Spider-Man to The Thing. Two issues after his debut, Special Marvel Edition was renamed "The Hands of Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu" and became the permanent home for the wandering fighter.
Shang-Chi proved to be an immediate hit for Marvel. Shang-Chi was introduced as the previously unknown son of Fu Manchu, and the greatest threat to Fu Manchu's plans for world domination. Fu Manchu and his Sherlock Holmes-like nemesis, Sir Denis Nayland Smith. When that failed, the company instead acquired the rights to the work of pulp novelist Sax Rohmer, including infamous Chinese villain Dr.
Initially, Marvel attempted to license the rights to the TV series Kung Fu. Like Iron Fist and the Daughters of the Dragon, Shang-Chi was conceived out of a desire to tap into the martial arts movie craze of the time. With the popularity of superheroes waning in the '70s, Marvel increasingly branched out into other genres like fantasy (Conan the Barbarian) and horror (Tomb of Dracula). Shang-Chi debuted in 1973's Special Marvel Edition #15. Recently, Marvel did overhaul Shang-Chi and give him a new superhuman ability - the power to create numerous copies of himself, each just as skilled in the martial arts as the original. And because of his total mastery of his body's chi, Shang-Chi is strong enough to shatter metal and quick enough to dodge and even deflect bullets. He's skilled in a number of different forms of armed and unarmed combat. But despite lacking Daredevil's heightened senses, Captain America's super-strength or Iron Fist's unbreakable hands, Shang-Chi has developed a reputation for being quite possibly the best hand-to-hand fighter in the Marvel Universe. Traditionally, Shang-Chi is depicted as being an ordinary fighter with no true superhuman abilities. But wherever he goes, Shang-Chi inspires hope in the hearts of the innocent and dread in anyone foolish enough to challenge him in battle. Other times he fights alongside heroes like Spider-Man, Daredevil or the Avengers. Rather than using those talents for fame and fortune, he travels the world and rights wrongs.
Shang-Chi has devoted his life to perfecting his martial arts abilities.
Shang-Chi may be the son of one of the worst villains in the Marvel Universe, but he himself ranks among its greatest heroes.