Hot off of Captain Marvel’s $500 million box office domination, Marvel Studios is already hard at work assembling the future phases of their Cinematic Universe. After announcing Shang-Chi as the next hero to get a feature, Marvel Studios has tapped director Destin Daniel Cretton to helm their first ever Asian American-led superhero film.
Cretton is best known as an indie filmmaker whose projects have included Short Term 12 starring Brie Larson, The Glass House starring Brie Larson, and the upcoming biopic Just Mercy, co-starring Brie Larson.
What I’m saying is the guy works with Brie Larson an awful lot and this better mean Captain Marvel is at least getting a cameo in Shang-Chi, right?
In addition to Brie Larson, Cretton also has history with another fellow Marvel alum, Ryan Coogler, who was given free reign to follow his own vision for Black Panther and hire a nearly all-Black cast and crew, which in turn led to $1 billion and multiple Oscars. Since Marvel has already stated that they will be taking a similar approach to Shang-Chi, here’s hoping Cretton is similarly allowed to populate his film with as many Asian Americans as possible. Here’s also hoping Cretton will also follow suit by including a number of Asian American women in key roles both in front of and behind the camera.
No release date has been set for Shang-Chi, though Wonder Woman 1984 scribe Dave Callaham is currently writing its script. Cretton’s next project — Warner Bros.’ Just Mercy, a film based on the memoirs of activist Bryan Stevenson starring Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, and Brie Larson — will be released in 2020.
