Black Pantherwas no one-off. While Marvel Studios has kept mum about any and all upcoming projects so as to keep the secrets ofAvengers 4intact, word is starting to leak about what they have on tap for the post-Avengers 4MCU. We already know theScarlett Johansson-ledBlack Widowmoviehas a director and a script and is due to start shooting next year, and earlier this year Marvel tapped indie filmmakerChloe Zhaoto directanEternalsmovie, marking the first woman of color to helm a Marvel Studios film. Now, Marvel is looking to get even more diverse in front of and behind the camera with aShang-Chimovie.
Deadline reports that Marvel Studios is fast-tracking an adaptation of the Shang-Chi comics character for a feature film franchise, which will mark the studio’s first Asian protagonist. Asian-AmericanDave Callaham, whose credits range fromThe Expendablesto creating the TV seriesJean-Claude Van Johnsonto co-writingWonder Woman 1984, has been tapped to write the screenplay. Marvel is also reportedly already looking at a number of Asian and Asian-American directors who could take the helm, looking towardsBlack Pantheras the model.
Indeed, not only isBlack Pantherone of Marvel Studios’ most successful films thus far, it’s by far their most critically acclaimed. The studio is in the midst of a major Oscars push forBlack Panther, with most pundits predicting the film to land a Best Picture nomination, among others. The key toBlack Panther’s success was in hiringRyan Cooglerto co-write and direct a personal, thematically rich story and giving him the freedom necessary to do so instead of dictating story points that would only serve to benefit future MCU films. Here’s hoping that continues withShang-Chi.
The Shang-Chi character was created in the early 1970s by writerSteve Englehartand artistJim Starlinand was born out of Marvel Comics’ desire to acquire the rights to the TV seriesKung Fu, which they were denied. Instead, they acquired the rights to the villain Fu Manchu and created Shang-Chi as a son of Fu Manchu. In the comics, Shang-Chi was raised and trained by his father in martial arts, but when he learned his father was actually evil, he tuned against him.
That’s about all the details we have at the moment, but good on Marvel Studios for learning the right lessons fromBlack Pantherand not simply returning to the mine of “Good-Looking White Dude” protagonists. One imagines thisShang-Chimovie, with an Asian protagonist, will go over a bit better than Marvel TV’s now cancelledIron Fist…
