Marvel has reportedly hired Destin Daniel Cretton to direct the upcoming Shang-Chi film.

Asian Superheroes Who Need Their Own Movie or TV Show 7 IMAGES

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Per The Hollywood Reporter , Cretton is best known for directing the movie Short Term 12, an independent film about a supervisor of a group home for troubled teenagers. Brie Larson, known for her Oscar-winning performance in Room and playing the titular heroine in the recently released Captain Marvel, gave her first leading performance in Short Term 12. Larson later teamed up with Cretton on the film The Glass Castle, and will do so again alongside Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx in the upcoming film Just Mercy.Other filmmakers that were reportedly being considered to direct Shang-Chi included Justin Tipping, Alan Yang and Deborah Chow.Shang-Chi will be Marvel’s first MCU film featuring an Asian lead actor, as well as a primarily Asian-American and Asian cast. Shang-Chi, known as the “Master of Kung Fu,” first appeared in Special Marvel Edition #15 in 1973. Created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin, Shang-Chi eventually gained the power to create duplicates of himself.While many aspects of the character have become dated by today’s standards, Marvel is reportedly aiming to update the character for modern audiences. Dave Callaham, who co-wrote the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984 and is reportedly writing a sequel for Into the Spider-Verse, is working on a script for Shang-Chi.It was revealed that Marvel was developing a Shang-Chi film last December , though the company actually announced it would make a film based on the hero back in 2005 - once the MCU began taking shape, it appears Shang-Chi was put on the back-burner.For more on Shang-Chi, check out our explanation of this martial artist superhero.

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