This time last week, Simu Liu was a relatively unknown actor best known for starring in Canadian sitcom Kim’s Convenience, but the 30 year-old’s profile has skyrocketed after he was announced to be playing the title character in Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and he’s won an army of new fans thanks to both his role as the star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first Asian-led film and his winning social media presence.
Thanks for getting back to me https://t.co/FFRuM03p20
— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) July 21, 2019
Liu was only officially cast as Shang-Chi five days before appearing on stage at San Diego Comic-Con in front of 8,000 fans and the world’s media, something the actor revealed in a recent interview that he struggled to get his head around:
“It really felt like Cinderella. Like a fairy godmother waved a magic wand and all of a sudden… I’m at the ball. It’s beyond anything I ever could have imagined or dreamed of. It all came to pass in the span of a week which is the craziest part. You spend your whole life reading about superheroes and maybe one day being one and in just like a day, they’re like, ‘okay’… I just saw all of the characters I had watched on screen over the last 11 years just passing by. There’s Black Widow, there’s Hawkeye, there’s Loki, there’s Thor, and I was one of them. That was kind of when it hit for me.”
It seems as though Liu is still struggling to comprehend that he’s now officially a part of the MCU’s roster, as the actor has continued geeking out on social media over his newfound role as one of the MCU’s key superheroes in Phase Four and beyond, as well as a stablemate of Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston:
OH MY GOD HE’S TOUCHING ME
OH MY GOD HE’S TOUCHING ME
OH MY GOD HE’S TOUCHING ME
OH MY GOD HE’S TOUCHING ME
OH MY GOD HE’S TOUCHING ME pic.twitter.com/9D5l6VTyI6— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) July 25, 2019
I have stared into Tom Hiddleston’s eyes and forgotten how to form sounds with my mouth.
— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) July 21, 2019
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has now been around for so long that even the newly-hired stars of the franchise are in complete awe of joining such an important part of popular culture. Once Liu’s excitement dies down though, he’ll need to get to work alongside co-stars Awkwafina and Tony Leung, with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings expected to start shooting next year and set for release in February 2021.