Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu

The Master of Kung Fu had a minor role in the Marvel Knights series, a comic that threw him in with a very loose affiliation of street-level heroes like Daredevil and Black Widow. He had a costume more in line with his contemporary appearances in Heroes for Hire; sleeveless, but now with more black in the outfit. I can’t say there’s a lot of great use of the character and its perhaps telling he only showed up in the background of the cover for issue #2. He’s on the periphery but rarely the focus of any of the stories.

Here's Shang-Chi looking very Matrix in sunglasses and black trench coat on the cover of Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, a 2002 MAX limited series from Moench and Gulacy. Don’t get too excited by the Parental Advisory notice – the adventure is pretty boiler plate Spies Vs. Fu Manchu villainy, though it was nice to see the Master of Kung Fu come back.

There were also apparently some plans to have Shang-Chi pick up firearms as an implement in his arsenal. This is apparently thanks to the early 2000’s fascination with Gun Fu and every hero in multiple universes suddenly deciding lethal force was Cool. I’m personally very glad they didn’t go this direction, but it is interesting to consider as an artifact of the era.

Its fitting that Shang-Chi was a featured guest in Black Panther in 2006; black American audiences were big fans of the kung fu films of the Shaw Brothers and other Hong Kong studios in the ‘70s, and there’s a lot of overlap with the Blaxploitation era with martial arts cinema. That spirit of drive-in movie fun is captured in this cover of Black Panther #11 by Mike Deodato Jr. and Dean White.

Pretty awesome! I also think this period was around when they stopped using the name Fu Manchu for Shang-Chi’s nefarious father – it’s just the start of a long wrangle with the racist history of the character and the last vestiges of the Sax Rohmer elements of Shang-Chi’s backstory.

One of the better uses of Shang-Chi in this era was his role in Heroes for Hire from 2006-2007. This iteration of the mercenary team was led by the Daughters of the Dragon, Coleen Wing and Misty Knight, two female martial artists associated with Iron Fist and Power Man. While he was teamed up with the HFH, Shang-Chi got into a complicated romantic entanglement with Maria Valasquez (Tarantula) and later killed the sometime B-tier villain Humbug after he betrayed the team. Evidence of romance here:

It’s not a whole Hell of a lot but it’s still more character development than Shang-Chi had gotten in the entire ‘90s era. He had some agency, he had some issues to work through, and he impacted the world in a way he usually didn’t get to when popping up in guest roles. His look varied throughout the run, mostly sticking to no-shirt and bloused pants.

In 2009, Jonathan Hickman and Kody Chamberlain presented a one-shot team up between Deadpool and Shang-Chi. Its pretty wacky stuff but the Merc With the Mouth does give props to the Master of Kung Fu, who is presented as a more down-to-earth kind of guy, what with the sneakers and affection for hot dogs.

He had a return in Bleeding Black, a 1990 one shot written by Doug Moench that wrapped up the poisoning subplot that had been left dangling from his Marvel Comic Presents story. Here he is back in his old school costume for the cover, by David and Dan Day.

He co-stars with Moon Knight in this 1992 one-shot, another Moench story with two of his favorite heroes teaming up to deal with the wacky android Brynocki.

This cover by Jeff Albrecht and Art Nichols is very '90s, but Shang-Chi still has his 70's attire.

A year later (1993) he guested in a few issues of Captain America. Razorfist (III) shows up too, albeit briefly. Cover art by Rik Levins.

In 1994, he appeared in Marvel Comics Presents again, this time with a Cool Trenchcoat (tm) and a superhuman depiction of his martial arts abilities in which he spins like a tornado to avoid getting shot. Later on he uses a super shout to blow away a bad guy. Its some wild wuxia stuff, and I don't know if he ever used those abilities again.

He also has a guest role in Daredevil Annual #10 (1994). This cover is very clearly inspired by Frank Miller's work on Sin City. I think his leggings have "S.H.I.E.L.D." on them? Anyway, it features a re-appearance by Ghost-Maker, an old MOKF foe.

Shang-Chi popped up in a short 1997 arc of the X-Men. I remember being annoyed with his depiction in this, chiefly because I couldn't believe Wolverine could quickly win a fight against him (as he does in this). On the other hand, they do let him have a weird chi awareness moment where he notices Jean Grey being nearby despite her using telepathic invisibility. The rest of the arc he mostly hangs out quietly in the background.

Anyway, enjoy the '90s energy just popping off of this cover! Art by Carlos Pacheco, Art Thibert and Liquid.

This is, as far as I can tell, the first time we see him with a tattoo - a dragon wrapping around his left shoulder and upper arm. The tatted-up outfit pops up throughout this arc and later the same year in a brief arc in Journey into Mystery.

Its more of a traditional Hong Kong action tale with references to his dad and sister and some drug running.

Our boy has a guest appearance in Elektra's series in 1998. The tattoo is gone, but the outfit's more comparable to his post-X-Men getup in this era. Art by Mike Deodato Jr.

One of if not his last appearances in '90s comics is a guest role in Heroes for Hire #18-19 (art by Pasqual Ferry) from 1998. He's got a sort of hybrid getup here, a little bit old school, a little bit 90's, a lot Bruce Lee.

As in so many of these stories, Shang-Chi is mostly there to pop up mysteriously, mention the connection the bad guy has to his father's legacy, beat up some ninjas, then quickly fade into the background while the main hero does their thing.

So, yeah - its real good.

I have some observations and critiques, natch, but they come from the place of an old comic dork and can wait. Go see it!

Here's his turtleneck and white slacks getup from Master of Kung Fu #92. Cover by Mike Zeck and Gene Day.

Here's a sort of parachute pants deal from '81, in Master of Kung Fu #115.

Sort of a Miami Vice sports-jacket thing for a dinner party.

I don't know much about fashion, but a brown suit with a blue tie and red headband...? Yikes.

This is an especially unusual costume that Shang-Chi wore during a raid on Carlton Vecro's island base, from Master of Kung Fu #106, 1981. There's a couple of things notable about it.

First off, despite Shang-Chi's Chinese origins, its clearly modeled on Japanese samurai armor. I'm inclined to think this is due to the old habit of Western creators conflating Asian cultures and influences. Orientalism strikes again.

Secondly, in this issue, Shang-Chi and Leiko use swords to cut through a few dozen henchmen of Velcro. While its all depicted pretty bloodlessly, I'm pretty sure this is the most killing either character had done up until that point by far.

Whatever the case, the armor comes in handy against their opposition, proving bullet proof against the weapons of Velcro and his minions. It also leads to a pretty badass moment where Shang-Chi takes off the armor in order to fight and handily defeat Velcro, despite the fact the latter has a bunch of weird cyber-weapons.

As the kung fu craze petered out, so too did Master of Kung Fu, wrapping up with our hero turning his back on the world of action-adventure and espionage that had defined his tenure into the early '80s. After all the deceit and death, he chose the life of a humble fisherman.

By 1983, American movie audiences were more into jingoistic death machines like Rambo and comic dorks were more into gritty mutant tough guys like Wolverine.

It'd be a whole 5 years before Shang-Chi came back in a Doug Moench story in Marvel Comic Presents (featuring the aforementioned Wolverine) #1-8, 1988. His outfit had changed a bit:

We're back to armbands, headband, and a lot of red, but now with a sleeveless disco vest and shoes. I'd forgotten how much Shang-Chi had walked around barefoot through the 70's, even on the streets of New York. It was a simpler and more tetanus friendly time.

This story features some of the most graphic violence in the entire series, including a pretty gratuitous torture scene involving Leiko and the loss of her hand. Gross.

Also - the idea that Shang-Chi had never heard of Bruce Lee by this point...don't get me started.

Early reviews remain great and I strongly encourage y'all to see it on theaters if you can do so safely.

This is his first appearance, way back in 1973, created and written by Jim Starlin and Steve Englehart.

He's wearing his O.G. Red and Yellow outfit, including some armbands. Those armbands will grow in importance in the coming movie...

Cover by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom.

Shang-Chi in a 1974 issue of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine. Cover art by Bob Larkin, story inside written by Doug Moench. Here he is using those metal armbands to deflect some shuriken, as one does.

Shang Chi usually ended up taking off his jacket when things got serious, ala Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. He also sported what one might refer to as a Hippy Mullet. Cover art by Rich Buckler.