Watch: Teaser of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, starring Simu Liu as martial arts superhero

The teaser trailer and first look of Simu Liu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was released yesterday on the actor’s birthday.The project marks Marvel’s first project with an Asian lead, starring Chinese-Canadian actor Liu as the martial arts superhero. The teaser sees Shang-Chi coming face-to-face with the Ten Rings organisation, led by the mysterious warlord Wenwu, known as the Mandarin (played by Hong Kong actor Tony Leung). According to The Verge, The Ten Rings was first introduced in 2008’s Iron Man and a its copy cast version was seen in Iron Man 3. The film also stars Awkwafina as Shang-Chi’s friend Katy and Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, as well as Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu and Ronny Chieng. Liu shared the first poster of his project and wrote that he had never viewed himself as a hero and often struggled to find relatable Asian characters onscreen. “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,” wrote the actor. Here is the first look

Shang-Chi, born in China to a Chinese father and a white American mother, first appeared in 1973’s Special Marvel Edition No 15. The character was created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin after Marvel failed to acquire the comic book rights to the television series Kung Fu. Shang-Chi was trained as a martial artist assassin by his father, the infamous pulp villain Fu Manchu, but later became a hero after rebelling against his father’s ways. Here is the teaser-trailer

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and produced by Kevin Feige and Jonathan Schwartz, with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and Charles Newirth serving as executive producers. David Callaham, Cretton, and Andrew Lanham have penned the screenplay. Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings will screen theatrically in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. However, owing to the current COVID-19 restrictions, Disney is yet to announce a release date.