Wong & Razor Fist Get Their Own Shang-Chi Character Posters
New Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings character posters debut for Wong, Razor Fist and Ying Li. The latest Marvel film is currently in theaters and continues to dominate the domestic box office. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, the film stars Simu Liu as the legendary Marvel hero Shang-Chi, a boy raised by his warlord father who must return home to confront him years after he escaped that world. The film co-stars Tony Leung, Awkwafina, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Yeoh, Benedict Wong, Florian Munteanu and Meng'er Zhang.
The film opened domestically with $75 million and has kept atop the box office for the last two weeks, pulling in an estimated $262 million globally. Shang-Chi is expected to hold the top spot for its third weekend, especially as positive word of mouth spreads for the film and audiences continue to step back into theaters after a long hiatus due to the global pandemic. With a 92 percent on RottenTomatoes for critic reviews, the film also touts a 98 percent audience score, which is a good sign for the film's box office longevity.
While the film has already been out for a few weeks and early marketing covered a lot of bases, Marvel has dropped three new character posters for the film. The posters feature Benedict Wong's Wong, Florian Munteanu's Razor Fist and Fala Chen's Ying Li, all of whom have a significant role to play in Shang-Chi's story. Wong, who hails from Doctor Strange's corner of the MCU served as the link to bring Shang-Chi into the greater Marvel universe, while Razor Fist served as both an enemy and an ally. Li, of course, plays a significant role in Shang-Chi's journey, which goes deep into his origins in the film. Take a look at the posters below:
While Shang-Chi is dominating the box office, the film still has its share of controversies. Prior to release, Disney CEO Bob Chapek called the theatrical release model for Shang-Chi "experimental", prompting star Simu Liu to lash out at the concept. In addition, Liu's comments about China being a "third world" country from an interview years ago resurfaced, creating speculation that his comments could affect the release of the film in China. Liu, who has been extremely outspoken on social media, has gone on to clarify statements he's made, even sometimes deleting posts, particularly of comments he made about his Arthur The Dog co-star Mark Wahlberg over the actors alleged early crimes as a youth in Boston.
Controversy or no, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is reigniting the box office and a big part of that is because of the diverse amount of characters such as Wong, Razor Fist and Li. While some of the characters will certainly recur in future MCU films, it's not clear when or where that will be for all of them. Wong will be back for Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness next year, but Munteanu's Razor Fist and Chen's Li may have a longer wait. Still, their addition to the MCU makes the franchise expand that much more and continue to build more opportunities for newer characters to find their place in future projects.
Source: Marvel Studios