Kevin Feige: Marvel Wants Cast of Shang-Chi to be 98 Percent Asian

Marvel Studios has made waves for representation in Hollywood, what with films like Black Panther and Captain Marvel. Now they have the first Asian-lead MCU film with Shang-Chi, and Marvel head Kevin Feige gives us an update on what to expect from the cast.

During a panel at the New York Film Academy (via ComicBook), Feige comments that Shang-Chi will have a dominantly Asian cast. He says, "… oftentimes, as you're making and developing the movie, [asking], ‘Who will come into it? Who will fit into it?'… Like Shang-Chi, we've wanted to make that movie for a long time. We want to make a movie with a 98% Asian cast."

So far the movie has Simu Liu as the titular hero with Tony Leung playing the "real" Mandarin. Awkwafina has also been cast in a role, but so far we don't know who she is yet. With the movie aiming for a mostly Asian cast, I'm wondering how many "Token white guys" we'll see in this film; this is just me personally, but I kind of want them to be LOTR/Hobbit actors as well just to keep the running gag of ‘Tolkien white guys' in MCU films.

Though The Mandarin is considered more of a mystic villain, Feige also explains that Shang-Chi is "more than a Kung Fu movie." But that being said, the film is still going to feature some elements from that genre of cinema.

For now, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is set to hit theaters Feb. 12, 2021.

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