Marvel’s Shang-Chi Features Specific Martial Arts Move’s First Time Captured on Film

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will mark Marvel Studios first hero of Asian descent leading their own movie in MCU. Not only that but apparently it has a specific martial arts move that was photographed and will be put on the big screen for the first time, an astounding feat considering the decades of martial arts movies that have influenced the film. Actor and stuntman Andy Le revealed the news at the Red Carpet premiere for the film last night, prompted by director Destin Daniel Cretton, noting that one of his signature martial arts moves seen in the film was the first of its kind to be in a feature.

“I’m not spoiling anything because it’s in the trailer,” Le, who plays the “Death Dealer” in the film, told Marvel.com at the premiere of the film. “The full twist sidekick? I was the first to coin, to do it on film. Thank you. That’s what I mean about pushing the envelope.” As Le noted this specific move can be seen in the film’s teaser trailer, none other than Simu Liu’s title hero is on the receiving end of the kick too. We’ve captured a screen grab of the image making contact below but you can see it for yourself in the player above at the 1:10 mark.

“Martial arts movies were my staple growing up,” Le added on the Red Carpet, opening up about his time developing as a martial artist and making the leap into the MCU. “For me being the fat kid who always got picked on a lot, me watching Bruce Lee kick ten guys at once, it does something to you. Later I realized as I got into the MCU how much impact MCU has on the social current and now for me to be here doing martial arts, kick-ass martial arts on the screen and on the MCU platform it’s surreal.”

Destin Daniel Cretton previously spoke up about the films that inspired Shang-Chi, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, as well as the works of the legendary Jackie Chan.

“Authenticity and respect and staying true to this genre was the main objective from day one,” Cretton told Empire. “There’s choreography that’s reminiscent of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and other fight scenes are inspired by Jackie Chan. We also had choreographers from mainland China who created some beautiful wuxia-style fight scenes.”

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is set to premiere in theaters on September 3rd. Unlike Black Widow the Marvel Studios production will only be available in theaters and won’t be streaming on Disney+ Premier Access.