When Marvel Studios set out to bring “Doctor Strange” to the big screen, there was one massive question about the character’s history that needed to be answered—how do you translate the role of The Ancient One to the modern setting? For decades, the character has shown up in the comics as a stereotypical mystic Asian man that shows Stephen Strange how to wield magic. Clearly, as a society, we’ve moved past that sort of portrayal. Well, the answer that Marvel Studios had was to make The Ancient One into a sorta nebulous, non-binary character played by Tilda Swinton. That casting wasn’t met with the appreciation the studio wanted, but still, it happened and Swinton ended up showing up in that film and “Avengers: Endgame.” However, it was obvious that Marvel Studios still had a lot to learn about bringing Asian characters to the big screen.
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In a new interview with Men’s Health, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige admits to that shortcoming and actually mentions the thought process behind Tilda Swinton coming to the MCU. All of this is news, once again, as Marvel Studios preps for the release of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” which is the first major superhero film featuring a mostly-Asian cast. And when you are trying to explain why it’s important to have Asian representation in superhero films but don’t talk about the Tilda Swinton version of The Ancient One, people are going to have questions.
“We thought we were being so smart, and so cutting-edge,” Feige explained about the idea of making Tilda Swinton turn into a new version of The Ancient One.“We’re not going to do the cliché of the wizened, old, wise Asian man. But it was a wake-up call to say, ‘Well, wait a minute, is there any other way to figure it out? Is there any other way to both not fall into the cliché and cast an Asian actor?’ And the answer to that, of course, is yes.”
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Interestingly, ‘Shang-Chi’ also features a sort of do-over for Marvel Studios when it comes to casting an Asian comic book character. Early on in the history of the MCU, in “Iron Man 3,” the character of The Mandarin was shown to be both Ben Kingsley and eventually, Guy Pearce. And in the comics, the character was clearly shown to be based on stereotypical Asian villains such as Fu Manchu. So, to right that wrong and as a way to make The Mandarian an Asian character, yet again, Marvel has brought in Tony Leung to play another version of the character.
But the real excitement for ‘Shang-Chi’ comes down to the actor who was cast in the title role, Simu Liu. Since his announcement, fans have been incredibly excited to see an Asian actor lead a Marvel Studios superhero blockbuster, and Feige believes he’s the exact right person to do so.
“It’s about having a foot in both worlds,” the Marvel Studios boss said. “In the North American world and in China. And Simu fits that quite well.”
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” arrives in theaters on September 3.
