Actor Lewis Tan has made a name for himself in Hollywood for knowing how to handle himself in a fight. The star of Into the Badlands, Mortal Kombat, Wu Assassins, and Cobra Kai knows how to take and deliver a punch, and so far has managed to do it as two different Marvel heroes. In Deadpool 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine, Tan appears as Shatterstar for only a few scenes. Though the inclusion of this deep cut character was a big surprise for Marvel comic readers, the full potential for the hero, however, was never really explored, not to mention his backstory with the wild X-Men villain Mojo.
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Speaking with Comic Book for his new film Safe House, we asked Tan about his appearances in the Marvel movies and what he’d like to see done with the character if he returned (he’s still alive in the universe of Deadpool & Wolverine after all).
“Realistically, the best way to approach it would be similar to how they are approaching Channing Tatum’s character as Gambit,” Tan revealed. “You did a cameo, people liked it and they are going to do a more fleshed out version of him in a more serious way. I read in an interview he was saying it was going to be less comedic now. I feel we could do the same type of thing with Shatterstar.”
He continued, “I have had cameos in both Deadpool and Deadpool & Wolverine, but they never really fleshed out that character much. It would be nice to see Mojoworld. It’s so timely now with AI and obsessions with screens and social media. That is Mojoworld. That planet is basically this giant Mad Max Universe, where they are obsessed with seeing people die on television. They have these gladiator matches as entertainment. It’s a very timely subject that could be a cool world.”
Tan’s other Marvel appearance was another shortlived one, starring in one episode of Marvel’s Iron Fist as Zhou Cheng, a warrior in service to The Hand that manages to go toe-to-toe with Danny Rand in their brief encounter. Though only appearing in one episode, Tan’s character made a major impact, with many Marvel fans wishing he had been cast as the Iron Fist instead. Tan confirmed in our talk that he got close to landing the part
“You never know in the film industry,” he revealed. “You do an audition, you do a callback, and a director’s meeting. When they start to ask about your schedule, that’s usually when you are getting down to the final mix. I would say it was close. I don’t know how close, but it was close. Everything happens for a reason. The timing just wasn’t right for some reason. It ended up being a blessing because the character I did end up playing got a lot of attention. I know some fans were pushing for me to be that character and some fans were pushing against it. For me, it was like, ‘When can we finally get an Asian superhero?’ This was way before Shang-Chi and Crazy Rich Asians, before it was trendy to allow those types of things. I think I spoke up before it was a trend, but I stand by what I said.”
Tan then went on to note that he got very close to playing Shang-Chi as well, adding, “I auditioned for the first Shang-Chi and I got close to getting that role, too. It came down to me and Simu Liu and maybe one other person. Simu got the job, and that’s his baby. I haven’t really thought about (being in the sequel) too much. They did such a killer job on the first one. I know a lot of those guys on that action team. Andy Cheng, who I worked with on Into the Badlands… Shang-Chi is Simu’s baby. I will let him handle that.”
Safe House is out now.
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