Shang-Chi Star Simu Liu Wants a Guardians of the Galaxy Team-Up

Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is about to hit theaters, and the film's star, Simu Liu is already making some bold claims about where he wants his character Shang-Chi to go in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a recent interview, Liu was asked which MCU characters he imagines Shang-Chi teaming up with, and he went with the somewhat unorthodox answer of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Then again, if Marvel Studios has proven anything during the Infinity Saga, it's that sometimes the more unlikely the character pairing the better the results. So maybe Shang-Chi meeting the Guardians isn't so crazy after all?

Speaking to AP, Simu Liu explained his reasoning for why he thinks the Guardians of the Galaxy are the right pick for Shang-Chi's company:

I gotta go with Guardians. I think they would all just get along, you know? I think Shang and Katy love music; I think they love hanging out; I think they're goofballs in their own right; and I just think that they would vibe really well with Star-Lord and they'd all meet each other and be like, 'Yeah, let's all go to space together, why not?'"

As stated, Shang-Chi and the Guardians of the Galaxy may seem like an odd pairing, but it also kind of works. It works for all the reasons that Simu Liu points out above - but also beyond that. Peter Quill's childhood on Earth would be perfectly timed for him to be awed by Shang-Chi as a living embodiment of martial arts heroes from his youth like Bruce Lee. The awkward humor of Quill trying to relate to Shang-Chi on that level practically writes itself. The same goes for characters like Rocket and Groot trying to understand how Shang wields weapons like the Ten Rings, which presumably come from mystical dragons (aliens?). Rocket trying to wrap his mind around how that kind of weapon works is pretty funny to think about.

...And if you don't think Shang-Chi and the Guardians wouldn't be enough, Simu Liu also wants a Shang-Chi and Spider-Man crossover, so maybe all three parties could do a scene together. That would be gold - especially after Spider-Man and the Guardians already have a standing friendship, and Shang-Chi would be the new kid on the block.

Shang-Chi's future with the Guardians of the Galaxy is just one potential development currently hanging in the balance with Legend of the Ten Rings' performance at the box office. The movie theater industry is wildly uncertain in the midst of the COVID-19 Delta Variant outbreak; if Shang-Chi (a Marvel film) can't perform well, it could cause many other big movies to pull up stakes and delay until next year. Marvel's Eternals could reportedly be the first film affected by how well (or not) Shang-Chi does.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings hits theaters on September 3rd.