Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has addressed Simu Liu‘s response to Disney CEO Bob Chapek‘s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings “experiment” comment, calling the situation “a misunderstanding.”
According to reports, Feige shared his thoughts during the premiere of Shang-Chi. “[Liu] is not a shy man. I think in that particular tweet you can see — and I think everyone does — a misunderstanding. It was not the intention,” he said. “The proof is in the movie, and we swing for the fences as we always do. With the amount of creative energy we put in and the budget, there’s no expense spared to bring this origin story to the screen.” He added that that the “impactful feel” of Shang-Chi was similar to that of Black Panther‘s. “When you have the opportunity to showcase a hero that looks like a huge segment of the globe that feels like they haven’t been showcased, the magic can happen if you deliver. I think Destin [Daniel Cretton] and Simu have delivered for this movie.”
The Marvel Studios boss further stated that Liu had a superhero quality after “a lot of reads, a lot of auditions” and that “there’s no magic formula” when it comes to casting a Marvel hero. “It’s a feeling,” he explained, continuing, “It’s a sense of both the ability to be relatable and grounded and, at the same time, take your place in that pantheon of heroes should everything go so well in an origin story they will end up with the other pandemic heroes.”
Liu recently fired back at Chapek after the CEO called Shang-Chi “an interesting experiment” during an earnings call. “We are not an ‘interesting experiment.’ We are the underdog; the underestimated. We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year. We are the surprise,” he wrote on social media. “I’m fired the f**k up to make history…”
Feige also very briefly spoke on the legal battle between Scarlett Johansson and Disney, saying that he is “all for amicable solutions.”
In case you missed, The Walt Disney Company has reportedly found a way to “fairly compensate” its talent after the Black Widow lawsuit.
