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Kevin Feige Says Shang-Chi Is Targeting a 98% Asian Cast

December 30, 2019 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Shang-Chi

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige says that the upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is aiming to keep its cast almost entirely Asian. Feige was speaking at the New York Film Academy (via JoBlo) and talked about Marvel’s upcoming Phase Four films, and Shang-Chi in particular which he says will be “so much more than a Kung Fu movie.”

The film is one of the earlier films out of the Phase Four gate, with a February 12th, 2021 release date set. That puts it after only next year’s Black Widow and The Eternals on the slate, and the cast is already taking shape with Simu Liu playing the lead role along with Awkwafina and Tony Chiu-Leung. Destin Daniel Cretton is directing the film, which was the subject of Feige discussing how they select what films and characters to move forward with:

“Sometimes you’re choosing the title hero, you’re choosing which main character or main team you want to bring to the screen. And often times, as you’re making and developing the movie, [asking], ‘Who will come into it? Who will fit into it?’”

Feigue noted that they’ve been wanting to bring Shang-Chi to the MCU for a long time, saying, “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. And then you talk about, as you develop the movie, what other heroes can you bring into it, if you need them? And in the case of Black Panther [in Captain America: Civil War], it was the greatest thing that ever happened.”