Marvel movies hold a special place in our heart, and every movie brings with it tons of excitement and hype. With cinemas getting permission to reopen, we are especially excited for the upcoming Marvel blockbuster - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings starring Simu Liu!
With an Asian-led cast, you would think Asian countries would be extremely proud of the representation and welcome the film with open arms, but China is set to ban the movie in the country. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?
It all boils down to the father of Shang-Chi in the Marvel universe - Fu Manchu, which used to be a mustached criminal mastermind in classic Western films. Even after Disney (who owns Marvel) has replaced the character with Xu Wenwu (played by Tony Leung), the Chinese government still isn't happy with the movie's links to the "racist" villain.
Besides that, Chinese critics and netizens also started to criticize Simu Liu, who has been growing up in Canada since he was 5, to be "not Chinese enough". This comes after screenshots of an interview back in 2017 resurfaced on Chinese blogs showing Simu Liu mentioning "communist China" being a "third-world country".
That said, with the recent rise of "cancel culture" in the country, and the banning of things from "homosexual referenced subjects" to gaming for schoolchildren, it'd be no surprise that China will not treat Marvel, Simu Liu, and the movie well.
