Marvel Studios’ head of visual development Charlie Wen has shared a tribute piece he put together honoring Bruce Lee. The piece, which he clarifies was not created for Marvel Studios, offers a take on Shang-Chi, the martial arts-themed superhero set to make his cinematic debut in the near future. Wen shared the piece with a message discussing Lee’s influence on Shang-Chi and representation in the Marvel Universe. Marvel’s intro of an Asian superhero couldn’t come at a better time (although postponed due to COVID). Shang-Chi’s obviously inspired by the legendary Bruce Lee. Even his comicbook outfit is heavily influenced by Bruce Lee’s yellow bodysuit from #gameofdeath.
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“Bruce’s contribution to the martial arts world and his inspiration to generations of greats in the sport of fighting is unparalleled. But an even greater gift from his life was that he refused to let the establishment prevent him from teaching “westerners”. He taught anyone that wanted to learn. He wanted to share with them the beauty of his culture. And he did just that. His showed #greatness by sharing his culture to the world. Where are we today?
“I pray that we all strive to be better. If the president wants to “make America great again”, that needs start from within. Trying to bring jobs back into the US is necessary, but trying to get there by “inspiring” hatred toward groups of people based on ethnicity is “not great”. In fact, it’s quite opposite.”
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings had to halt production due to the coronavirus pandemic. The crew recently got the call to come back and resume work on the film in Australia.
“As many of you know, Destin, our director, has a newborn baby,” reads a note to the cast and crew of Shang-Chi. “He wanted to exercise additional caution given the current environment and decided to get tested for Covid-19 today. He is currently self-isolating under the recommendation of his doctor. While he waits for the results of the test, we are suspending 1st unit production in an abundance of caution until he gets the results this coming week. Second unit and off production will continue as normal. We will reach out to everyone by Tuesday for the latest update. This is an unprecedented time. We appreciate everyone’s understanding as we work through this.”
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is set to open in theaters on February 12, 2021.
