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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Is Shang-Chi Villain Death Dealer Hiding a Secret?

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe is reclaiming its roots, as evident in the debut trailer for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which showcases a defining return by the shadowy syndicate that tangled with Tony Stark way back in 2008’s original Iron Man. Yet, while Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) is on a collision course with the long-awaited “real” Mandarin (Tony Leung), he will clearly have his hands full fighting a masked villain named Death Dealer, whose hitherto obscurity in the pages of Marvel Comics seems to belie the character’s importance in the film.

Death Dealer, as depicted in the upcoming Shang-Chi movie, appears to be an integral member of the titular Ten Rings organization led by the Mandarin, who is also known here as Wenmu, which makes him a hybrid of comic character Fu Manchu, Shang-Chi’s father, mentor and eventual adversary. Yet, it’s clear that Death Dealer also played a role in Shang-Chi’s upbringing, since the trailer shows a flashback in which the black-clad, white-mask-rocking antagonist is seen standing next to Mandarin, maliciously motivating Shang-Chi—who’s still a child at this point—to repeatedly punch a post. Indeed, the scene provides crucial context to a fantastically frenetic showdown between the mystery character and an adult Shang-Chi later in the trailer. Curiously, despite Death Dealer’s clear prominence in the film (proven by a presence in the film’s first wave of Marvel Legends action figures), we still don’t even have an official confirmation on who’s playing the character.

Marvel Comics

Shang-Chi has clearly given Death Dealer a major upgrade from a limited existence tied to a mostly-forgotten three-issue 1982 comic book arc that started with Master of Kung-Fu #115. The London-set storyline initially depicted the character as a former MI6 agent named Li Ching-Lin, who was ousted from the organization due to his brutal methods. Consequently, Shang-Chi, who was an MI6 agent himself at this point, is tasked with hunting down the rogue agent. The endeavor eventually proves complicated, since Lin turned out to be a secret asset for Fu Manchu, who subsequently endows him with a black costume, skull mask and the name Death Dealer. However, this version of the villain wouldn’t get too many opportunities to pester Shang-Chi, who would eventually hand him a fiery fatal defeat with a brazier. Ironically, unlike most supposedly-deceased characters in the Marvel Universe, the death dealt to Death Dealer was permanent; a notion that lends an air of mystery to the character’s movie resurgence.

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Of course, the MCU has effectively utilized obscure comic villains before, most prominently exemplified by Doctor Strange’s usage of Kaecilius. In a manner akin to Death Dealer, obscure Mordo disciple Kaecilius was plucked from a 1965 issue of Strange Tales and elevated to main villain status of a major blockbuster, played by the great Mads Mikkelsen, no less. Likewise, while Mandarin’s manifestation will likely dominate Shang-Chi, the trailer seems to depict Death Dealer as the titular hero’s primary antagonist in the would-be franchise’s first film; a notion bolstered by the obvious expectation that Mandarin—as a proper version of the A-list Marvel villain falsely teased in Iron Man 3—will remain a prominent fixture in the MCU for the foreseeable future. Thus, if Death Dealer carries the film’s weight as a villain, then deeper motivations would seemingly become attached to the character, whose portrayer remains a mystery, oddly enough.

Indeed, one has to wonder what would be gained by keeping that role a secret. Interestingly, it’s a mystery that mirrors the strategy of another upcoming Marvel movie, the long-delayed, Disney+ destined Black Widow, which has chosen fan-favorite mimicker Taskmaster as its main villain, but still maintains secrecy over who is actually inside the mask. While Death Dealer’s MI6 backstory is unlikely to manifest in the movie, the covered-up character’s arguably androgynous look (and you’ll note my consistent avoidance of gender pronouns,) could point to a Dick Tracy-esque twist identity reveal with the villain. Besides Liu and Leung, the cast consists of Meng’er Zhang as Shang-Chi’s estranged sister, Xialing, Awkwafina as quirky stateside friend Katy, Michelle Yeoh as Jian Nan, Fala Chen as Jian Li, Ronny Chieng as Jon Jon, Creed II’s Florian Munteanu as recurring comic villain Razor Fist, and Dallas Liu (no relation to the star,) presumably as a younger Shang-Chi. The question, though, is one of them a suspect for Death Dealer’s secret identity?

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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is planned to hit theaters (and NOT Disney+) with a spectacular MCU martial-arts showcase on Friday, September 3.

The post Is Shang-Chi Villain Death Dealer Hiding a Secret? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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ahmad-childress · 7 years

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KEN JEONG ON CRAZY RICH ASIANS, COD AND AMUSEMENT PARK

Actor, comedian and licensed physician, Ken Jeong seems to be tackling as many forms of media as possible, film, TV, animation and now video games. We recently talked to the Community and Hangover star about his work on Justice League Action, the upcoming animated film Amusement Park, his recent work on Call of Duty, and why the film adaptation of the novel, Crazy Rich Asians is kind of like The Avengers.

IGN: What can you tell us about your new animated film, Amusement Park? Have you wrapped yet?

Ken Jeong: We’re close. I’ve been working on that for the last two years. It’s amazing. It’s been so much fun because it’s a very personal project project for him (director, and former Pixar animator, Dylan Brown), and what I love about that movie is that it lends itself to more drama. The part I’m involved in is the escapism that the protagonist goes through. Even though I’m comic relief in that one, I just love the script and the story.

IGN: Another project that’s on our radar is the adaptation of the best selling novel, Crazy Rich Asians. Can you tell us anything about the project?

Ken Jeong: [Laughing loudly] Uh, no. [More laughing] I can’t. I can tell you this much, I literally just got back last night from Malaysia and it’s like an 18 hour flight total and I’m hella exhausted. Needless to say it’s great. My wife and I are big fans of the books, by Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend. It’s a trilogy, I think the new book (Rich People Problems) is coming out later this fall or summer. It’s everything I wanted it to be. It’s a studio movie with an all Asian cast. It feels like this Ocean's 11 of Asian actors, not only in America, but around the globe. You have Ronny Chieng from The Daily Show, who is Asian-Australian. You have Jimmy O. Yang, who plays Jian-Yang on Silicon Valley. It’s so star studded, it's insane. And you have Michelle Yeoh from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Gemma Chan from [Transformers: The Last Knight]. You don’t see things like this often.

IGN: It’s like you have your own Avengers thing going on, the best of the best.

Ken Jeong: There you go, I like that, Asian Avengers.

IGN: What was it like working on Justice League Action as the Toyman?

Ken Jeong: First of all, thanks for knowing about that. Those guys are so much fun to work with. There’s something very special about Justice League Action, where it’s like a bit of Super Friends with a sense of humor. My wife and my kids love how I look as Toyman. To have a sense of humor about itself in the DC Universe is not often talked about, compared to the Marvel Universe, but it’s there in the form of Justice League Action.

IGN: What can you tell us about working on the voiceover pack for Call of Duty?

Ken Jeong: I found myself really getting into the spirit of it so quickly. What I really loved about doing the sessions here is that, Call of Duty knows exactly who they are, and they’re allowing me as a guest in their home to demonstrate my own sense of humor. I had no sense of vanity about it, I just wanted to serve the spirit of the game. Seriously, it was a lot of fun.

Ken’s next film, Amusement Park heads to theaters on August 10, 2018, and Crazy Rich Asians is currently being filmed in Singapore and Malaysia.

While you wait for those two films, you can find Ken’s Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare voiceover pack, where he calls out killstreaks and enemy activity. The Ken Jeong VO Pack is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

#Interviews #ken jeong #crazy rich asians

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