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Ready for the understatement of the year? Well, here is it: our lives would be much different on this Friday in February if the COVID-19 pandemic had never come to fruition around the globe. Aside from the millions of deaths and insurmountable loss of jobs, public gatherings, specifically trips to the movie theaters, have become a rarity throughout 2020 and 2021. If not a single theatrical release date had shifted, today would be the opening day Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, starring Kim’s Convenience actor Simu Liu.
Simu Liu, who is now getting ready for his Marvel debut this summer, commemorated the Shang-Chi release date that got away with a post on Twitter. Check it out:
In a clever tweet, Simu Liu called the pandemic another timeline, in reference to Avengers: Endgame’s time travel antics that created multiple timelines in the MCU. Although fans will have to wait a bit longer to see the Kim's Convenience actor take on the Marvel universe with Shang-Chi's origin story, he did wish everyone a Happy Lunar New Year and suggest that we turn our attention to WandaVision over on Disney+. And considering what went down on the latest episode, that’s very solid advice, sir.
The original timeline (as we’ll call it) consisted of Black Widow coming in spring 2020, Falcon and the Winter Soldiera premiering in summer 2020 and Chloe Zhao’s Eternals landing in fall 2020. Shang-Chi would have kicked off 2021’s Marvel offerings, and WandaVision would have followed this spring. Instead of this, we’ve yet to see a new MCU film since 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. Thankfully, WandaVision moved up in the calendar and Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be premiering on Disney+ just a week after Wanda and Vision’s as-seen-on-TV world somehow concludes.
Shang-Chi’s original date was more relevant to the importance of the film, considering it’s the first day of the Chinese New Year and the character is from the Middle Kingdom as well. Of course, we’d rather wait to see it on the big screen in summer (if its date sticks this time), and Shang-Chi seems like a fitting blockbuster for the summer too! But with the movie just five months away, we’ve yet to see a single bit of promotion from Marvel to give us an idea of what to expect from the movie other than casting information.
Just like many fans, Simu Liu was bummed to see the movie left out of Super Bowl Sunday, which had the studio teasing Disney+’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. You can get caught up on Marvel’s streaming endeavors with a subscription to Disney+ using this link.
For the time being, the first Marvel movie to open up Phase Four will be Black Widow, which is expected to come out this May. Disney still reportedly expects to debut the movie starring Scarlett Johansson in theaters on May 7, 2021, but will be checking the global climate very closely until then. Shang-Chi will come just two months later on July 9, 2021. Are you still excited for Shang-Chi? Vote in the poll below!
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