Simu Liu is officially a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in theaters, and Captain Marvel herself was right there to welcome both the actor and his character into the fold. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, the new movie is written by Cretton, Dave Callaham, and Andrew Lanham. Liu stars in the lead role as the titular superhero, and because he hasn't appeared in any prior Marvel movies, it's Shang-Chi's debut in the MCU.

On Twitter, Simu Liu recently posted a photo of himself posing in front of a large billboard promoting the movie in his hometown, clearly humbled by the experience. Soon after, he was greeted with a response tweet from Larson giving him a warm welcome. In her tweet, the Captain Marvel star said, "Welcome to the MCU, Shang-Chi. Congratulations, @SimuLiu."

The future for Shang-Chi in the MCU looks bright. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has been performing well at the box office with an $8.8 million haul from its Thursday night previews alone, the second highest of the pandemic behind Black Widow. It's doing even better with the critics, currently sitting on a certified fresh score at Rotten Tomatoes with a 93% rating. The audience score is nearly perfect at 99% fresh. Liu has suggested he's happy to return but that decision will be up to Marvel as to when that could happen.

"As a fan, what's most important watching this movie, it's easy to walk out of the theatre thinking there's still more story left to be told, there's still lots more places for the character to go," Liu recently told NME about his Marvel future. "So if you want to ask me personally as Simu, an MCU fan, if I want to see many many more, I would say 'Absolutely yes'. But obviously that decision isn't up to me and I can't stipulate about that but I'm enthusiastic as the MCU fan that I am."

In a separate interview with THR, Liu suggested he wanted to join the Avengers by adding: "In terms of what's next, I know what's on my mind is the same as what's on everybody else's mind, and hopefully, there's an Avengers in the future, somewhere. Obviously, I don't know anything about that, but being such a big fan of the whole franchise, I know that that's the gold star."

Meanwhile, there's plenty to come of Brie Larson in the MCU as well. Following the success of Captain Marvel, Larson will reprise her role as Carol Danvers in the upcoming sequel The Marvels. Along with Larson, the sequel also stars Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel. Nia DaCosta (Candyman) directs using a screenplay by Megan McDonnell. It is set to be released on Nov. 11, 2022, and shooting has recently started.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is now playing in theaters. Unfortunately for those hoping to stream the Marvel movie at home, it's not available on Disney+ upon release, unlike Black Widow --- a decision which is now causing Disney a lot of problems. It will hit the streamer after a 45-day run exclusive to theaters. This news comes to us from Brie Larson on Twitter.