Time and again, Asian characters have been marginalized, underdeveloped, sidelined or not recognized on-screen altogether. While Disney and Marvel have relied on stereotypes and cultural inaccuracies to depict Asian people in the past, it seems that both studios are now trying to tell more authentic stories about fully realized characters of Asian descent. This is perhaps most evident in Marvel's upcoming film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Although many fans are understandably worried about problematic narratives and discriminatory portrayals from the comics making their way from page to screen, Simu Liu, the actor playing Shang-Chi in the highly-anticipated film, has confirmed Marvel will be handling his character's origin story tactfully and with respect. In a talk with NBC News, Liu assured the interviewers that more problematic elements from the comics, such as the shape-shifting dragon-like alien, Fin Fang Foom, will not appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film. Instead, Shang-Chi will introduce a new dragon that is more authentic to Asian cultures called the Great Protector.
Fin Fang Foom, also known as "He Whose Limbs Shatter Mountains and Whose Back Scrapes the Sun," made his comics debut in Strange Tales #89 back in 1961. His character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby during the Silver Age of comics, when large, angry monsters terrorizing the world were the norm. Foom is a Makluan, a race of telepathic, shape-shifting aliens who resemble anthropomorphic dragons based on Chinese mythology. Hailing from Kakaranthara, a planet in the distant Maklu system, his species possess regenerative healing factors, extreme durability, the capability to fly at supersonic speeds, breath acid mist and live for extraordinarily long periods of time.
When Foom and his crew of insurgent conquerors traveled to Earth hundreds of years ago, their spaceship crash-landed in Tianjin Prefecture, China, during the Qing Dynasty. There, they assumed the form of human beings, hiding their reptilian appearances to better infiltrate society. The Makluans were to patiently wait for an opportunity to overpower the world and rule over the Earth. Ultimately, Foom takes on the role of backup should their mission fail. He consumes a deep-sleep-inducing herb that allows him to enter a state of hibernation while the remainder of his crew secretly worm their way into the general population.
In a magazine interview with Alter Ego, Lee explained how he came up with the fake Chinese name for the character, which many people have since likened to using a slur. As it turns out, Lee took inspiration from Chu Chin Chow, a movie he saw that was based on a popular play of the same name. The play itself was partially inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, aka Arabian Nights, and was written by Oscar Asche, an Australian playwright who also directed and starred in the production. Although Lee remembers little about the film itself, the alliterative title stuck with him and helped him come up with a name for the dragon-like alien. Thus, like the character himself, Fin Fang Foom's name carries a history of misrepresenting Asian cultures.
Along with Simu Liu's statement, a recent Hasbro toy leak verifies that Fin Fang Foom will not be a part of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Instead, the movie will feature a dragon called the Great Protector, who was seen in the recently released second trailer for the film. Despite there being only one shot of the Great Protector in the trailer, a notable detail is that the dragon appears to reside underwater. In most Eastern cultures, including China, dragons are water deities, unlike in Western media, where dragons usually breathe fire as Fin Fang Foom done a few times in the past. It may be a small change, but placing the Great Protector underwater shows that the new dragon is already rooted in Asian culture in a way that Fin Fang Foom never was.
In his NBC News interview, Liu further elucidates the direction Marvel Studios is taking with Shang-Chi. "We knew that we were potentially navigating a minefield, especially when looking at this property that was created by two white men in the 1970s at the height of the kung fu craze . . . We have not shied away from ripping out whatever doesn't work in 2019, 2020, 2021."
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Daniel Callaham, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tony Leung as Wenwu/The Mandarin, Awkwafina as Katy, Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, Meng'er Zhang as Xialing, Ronny Chieng as Jon Jon, Fala Chen as Jiang Li and Florian Munteanu as Razor Fist. The film arrives in theaters Sept. 3.
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