It’s safe to say Simu Liu had a pretty good birthday. On Monday, the latest Marvel Studios superstar turned 32 and started his morning off by releasing the first poster for his upcoming film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Moments later, Marvel Studios went ahead and released the first teaser trailer for the movie, giving fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and apparently Liu himself — their first look at the movie. The fun didn’t stop there, however, as Liu also happened to get a physical present from the House of Ideas.
Monday afternoon, the actor shared a goodie bag he received from Marvel and Hasbro, consisting of a handful of Shang-Chi toys coming out in the coming months in support of the feature. In a quick video shared to his Instagram account, a Shang-Chi Funko POP can be seen, as can the Shang-Chi Marvel Legends figure, and some assorted toys in the background.
Liu previously said the movie will very much serve as an origin story for the Master of Kung Fu, a character perhaps not as well-known with movie-goers — especially when talking about the likes of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans).
“The most exciting thing about stepping into this character was that his backstory has never been told before,” Liu told EW on Monday. “We know so many different versions of Batman’s origin story, how his parents were murdered when he was very young. We know Peter Parker, who was bitten by a radioactive spider, and he loses his uncle. Shang-Chi’s story is very much unknown to most of the world, so we had a lot of freedom and creative liberty to make it the way that we wanted to.”
“I think this is the best action [Marvel has] ever done,” Marvel Studios producer Johnathan Schwartz previously told the magazine of the film. “Every punch is meaningful, every fighting style is meaningful, and the story is told visually in such a great way.”
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is currently set for release on September 3rd.
What other characters do you think will end up popping up in Shang-Chi? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!