Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu drummed up some buzz last week when he made some bold claims about his Master of Kung Fu in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Liu claims his martial artist could best the Hulk, Black Widow, Iron Man and other Marvel characters. “I win! Shang-Chi,” Liu told Toronto Life. “I could debate this as a fan for hours, but now that I’ve got some skin in the game, I have to think I could take any of these guys on. Shang-Chi can definitely throw a punch. As for his other skills and powers, you’ll have to wait and see.” Now, Shang-Chi co-creator Jim Starlin has weighed in while appearing on ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero podcast, explaining how Shang-Chi could come out on top of such fights.
“This is a conditional answer. There is the Shang-Chi that Steve Englehart and I created,” Starlin said ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero live show (which is available now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify). “And, as I understand it, in which I only learned about it recently, he has additional powers now, which is he can duplicate himself. If this duplication’s endless, well he could take on anybody. On his own, he’d have to be very lucky to take on the Hulk. He could t out of his reach. He does have pressure points and nerve endings. Shang-Chi might have to rock to hit one of those pressure points enough to get an impact, but he’s basically a creature, a basic human, just big and green and all powerful. So Shang-Chi would have a shot at it, if he was being able to break into infinite copies of himself, well, that sounds like he could take on the world.”
Shang-Chi versus the Hulk sounds similar to Kong versus Godzilla in the sense that one is more agile and quick-thinking while the other is more powerful and ready to smash. One thing which Starlin says puts Shang-Chi a cut above the rest is his leadership ability which stems from his morality. “They have a lot a possibilities with him that I think are really kind of interesting,” Starlin said. “With the departure of the Captain America, Chris Evans’ character, the Marvel Universe is without a moral center. He was always acting as that part. Shang-Chi on the other hand, even if he is an assassin to start off with, a moral character, at least the way Englehart and I created and worked with him and I think most writers after that. So he may be in some ways, Captain America’s replacement in the Marvel universe.”
Although Starlin appeared in Avengers: Endgame, earning some recognition for creating Thanos, he did not get to head down to Australia to appear in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings due to the many difficulties which arose in 2020.
Who do you think wins in a fight between Shang-Chi and the Hulk? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram! ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero podcast records new episodes every Friday at 12pm ET on ComicBook.com’s official Twitch channel before being made available on all major podcast platforms.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is currently set to hit theaters on July 9, 2021.