UPDATE: The gallery below has now been updated with a few more photos.
Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings is currently shooting in Australia and will be a key part of the MCU’s fourth phase. The project will be the first Marvel Studios movie led by a superhero of Asian origin and Kevin Feige reportedly sees the film as a crucial part of the MCU’s future. Though, let’s face it, he says that about every MCU movie.
Security has been pretty tight on set to date, but now some pictures from the shoot have leaked online that may show Simu Liu in costume as Shang-Chi. As you can see below, the scene being filmed is a blue-screen helicopter stunt, with a character dressed in a costume that’s half superhero/half ninja hanging from the side door.
Though the photo is certainly blurry, we can see some kind of red/orange logo on his chest. This doesn’t quite resemble any of the comic costumes for Shang-Chi, which lately have been a red and black jumpsuit, but his look isn’t that iconic (yet), so the costume designers may feel they can do something more original with the design. Or, this could simply be some kind of henchman.
Whatever the case, we know that the film will see Shang-Chi going up against Tony Leung’s Mandarin, with the pic doing a minor bit of retconning to sidestep Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery in Iron Man 3. We’ve also heard that much-loved (and brilliantly named) alien dragon Fin Fang Foom may also be making his debut appearance in the MCU (though there was actually a super subtle glimpse of him way back in 2008’s Iron Man).
Whatever the case, Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings looks set to rock our worlds come 2021. My one hope is that the fight choreography doesn’t pull its punches in the movie, as the last time Marvel Studios attempted a martial arts based character it didn’t exactly pan out so well…