Shang-Chi Reportedly Adds Creed 2 Star Florian Munteanu

Now that production for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is underway in Australia, it looks like the production is growing. According to a new report from the Australian-based Dark Horizons, Creed II star Florian Munteanu has locked down a “secondary villain” role in the flick, potentially playing into the long-standing rumors of Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) taking on several fighters in an underground tournament. Munteanu is most known for playing Ivan Drago’s (Dolph Lundgren) son Viktor in the Creed sequel. In the Rocky world, the elder Drago was directly responsible for killing Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in Rocky IV and Creed II features Creed’s son Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) setting up a rematch with the younger Drago.

It’d appear the reports can be confirmed by a simple Instagram search. Munteanu’s latest Instagram geotagged Sydney, Australia — the location where Shang-Chi is currently filming. Better yet, Liu has the top comment on the thread, telling his apparent co-star to “stop slacking.” Prior to his work on Creed 2, the Romania actor was a professional boxer and fitness model.

Shang-Chi, which hits theaters just under a year from now, has been a movie Marvel Studios has long wanted to do, according to producer Kevin Feige.

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

The producer added, “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.”

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings hits theaters February 12, 2021.

Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier this fall, The Eternals on November 6, WandaVision in spring 2021, Loki in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If? In summer 2021, Hawkeye in fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 in May 2022. Moon Knight, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel series have also been announced.