Simu Liu couldn’t keep his excitement after getting cast in the titular role in Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Simu Liu was confirmed to be leading the Phase Four movie set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2019 during the Hall H presentation by Kevin Feige at San Diego Comic-Con. Liu was introduced to the live audience during the presentation, which turned the actor into an overnight sensation.
Apparently, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told Liu not to reveal the information about his appearance at Comic-Con or even his casting to anyone before the presentation. Feige wanted him to keep details off the network grid as part of Marvel’s secrecy. But Liu couldn’t keep the information hidden for even a few seconds. Liu admitted that he isn’t a secret-keeper in a recent interview with Variety and ignored Feige’s advice.
I’m not a great secret guy when it comes to this stuff. [Kevin] was like, ‘We’re gonna fly you to Comic-Con in San Diego in four days; just keep your mouth shut until then. We want to be able to surprise the whole world when we announce you at Comic-Con, like, don’t ruin the moment.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, sure.’
He was like, ‘No, seriously, don’t tell your parents, don’t tell your friends. Don’t tell anyone.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ And then I immediately called my best friend. It’s too big of news to keep with you.
Luckily for Simu Liu, the news didn’t make it to the outlets, and his casting remained a secret to the public across the world. The film itself was a huge success, and Liu became the first Asian actor to headline a Marvel movie and play an Asian superhero in a live-action format. The actor, at the time, revealed that he was only told the news a few days ago before the comic con, but as it turns out, even four days were too much for him to wait.
Marvel and Its Secretive Policy
Marvel has been pretty much secretive about its casting process and the development projects of its movies. Over the years, fans and comic book enthusiasts have followed MCU. Several theories, fan speculations, and potential plot lines are deduced long before a film makes its way to the theaters. This already creates issues for Marvel in maintaining secrecy about their projects. And social media leaks add up to that pressure.
Marvel has fallen prey to its actors’ constant slips during press conferences. Mark Ruffalo and Tom Holland have frequently given away spoilers for the films like Avengers: Infinity War and Spider-Man: Far From Home. It has further led Marvel to cleverly pair actors so that one could keep the other in check in interviews. The studio has even gone to the lengths of not telling the actors about the whole script during productions to keep plot details hidden.
And still, the plot and casting details for Spider-Man: No Way Home was leaked extensively. The same thing happened with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, even when Marvel refrained from press screenings before the premier.
Now that Marvel has expanded to television ventures with big plans for the future, the scrutiny behind new casting announcements and plot details has increased. Lucky for Simu Liu, he didn’t have to face Marvel’s wrath for leaking the information he was exclusively asked to keep confidential, and that too by the Marvel boss himself.
Liu will return for the sequel to Shang-Chi, which is in development with director Destin Daniel Cretton.