Simu Liu Jokes Spider-Man “Cheated” to Beat Shang-Chi Box Office

Spider-Man: No Way Home may have beaten Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings at the box office, but actor Simu Liu says the fight was unfair. The Marvel Studios blockbuster, starring Liu as the master martial artist in his MCU debut, bypassed Marvel’s Black Widow to become the highest-grossing movie of the COVID era when it opened exclusively in theaters in September 2021. After scoring a record-breaking $94.4 million Labor Day opening weekend, Marvel’s Shang-Chi set another milestone as the first movie since the start of the pandemic to gross $200 million domestically.

Then along came a Spider. Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios co-production Spider-Man: No Way Home united three generations of Spider-Men for the first time, bringing together Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland — along with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange and a team of sinister supervillains from across the Multiverse — to beat Shang-Chi‘s global $432 million.

No Way Home webbed up $1.9 billion at the worldwide box office to become the sixth highest-grossing film of all time and the first — and so far only — film since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to gross over $1 billion. 

When a convention-goer asked Liu which Marvel hero he wants Shang-Chi to fight during his appearance at Washington DC’s Awesome Con, Liu playfully shaded Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

“We had such a great run. Shang-Chi came out, we saved cinema, we set a Labor Day box office record. And then Spider-Man came along,” Liu said to laughs and applause. “In my humble opinion, great movie, loved it. I grew up watching [Spider-Man movies], I’ve seen all of them. But in my opinion, [they] deployed a cheat code and brought back nostalgia all the way [from 20 years ago].”

Liu teased, “I would love to have a friendly chat with Spider-Man, I think that would be really fun in the octagon. I get my [ten] rings, though.” 

Box office grudges aside, Liu previously told ComicBook he wants Shang-Chi to crossover with Spider-Man and the “incredibly talented” Tom Holland. “I just want that for the culture, you know?” he said. “I want to see the two of them fighting.” 

Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is now available to own or stream on Disney+.