Marvel has shared a teaser for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, their first Asian superhero movie out this fall.
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, the trailer features Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, who leaves his “normal” life in San Francisco to confront his past as a trained assassin for the Ten Rings organization. “It’s time for you to take your place by my side,” the leader (Tony Leung) tells him. Later, Liu and Katy (Awkwafina) appear in a stress-inducing bus scene reminiscent of Speed.
The film is scheduled to arrive in “only in theaters” on September 3rd, unlike Black Widow — which will also premiere on Disney+. The teaser arrived on Liu’s birthday, who shared it on Instagram.
“I never saw myself as the hero of my own story growing up,” he wrote. “I struggled to find any Asian characters onscreen, and there were fewer still that made me feel truly proud of my heritage. It’s absolutely insane to think that in just over four months, we will have a Marvel Studios movie featuring an almost entirely Asian cast, each full of rich nuance and dimensionality. Shang Chi is more than just a movie — it is a celebration of our culture and a rallying cry for the forgotten, the unseen, and the overlooked. It is a reminder to take up space, to stand tall, and to be unapologetically ourselves.”