From playing Spider-Man at children’s birthday parties to being the face of Marvel’s first Asian superhero in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Simu Liu’s career has taken some pretty extraordinary turns. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the star shared the story behind one of the biggest when he recalled the moment Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige called him to say he was being offered the role of Shang-Chi. According to Liu, he was in his apartment, eating shrimp crackers in his underwear, when he took the call that forever changed his life:
It was July 16th, 2019, about 6:30 p.m., early evening. I had just woken up from a nap, and I was in my underwear, eating shrimp crackers. My dog was napping in my apartment, and I just remember getting a call from an unknown number in Burbank, California. And just hearing Kevin Feige’s beautiful, booming voice on the other end, telling me that my life was going to change forever, was pretty memorable.
We are now a week out from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings theatrical release, and based on first impressions and the fact that the star is already eyeing more projects to take on with fellow MCU cast members, the idea that Liu’s life is “going to change forever” could almost be putting it lightly. In the Marvel comics, Shang-Chi is one of the universe’s fiercest fighters, eventually earning a spot in the coveted Avengers. It seems only likely that following the departure of some of the the MCU’s biggest stars (such as Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther, and Chris Evans’ Captain America), fresh faces, like Liu’s Shang-Chi, will start to fill the spots left behind by the former legends.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings hits theaters exclusively starting on September 3 and marks the first cinematic entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “phase four.” The film is to be followed up by both Eternals on November 5 and Spider-Man: No Way Home on December 17.
