Simu Liu Shares How Shang-Chi Role Changed His Life, Wonders If Marvel Assures Job Security

Simu

Liu has had a pretty amazing Hollywood story, going from an extra and stuntman to the lead of a Marvel movie. Being cast as the warrior Shang-Chi changed the course of his career, landing him roles in films such as Greta Gerwig's Barbie, the Netflix film Atlas, and Paul Feig's Jackpot. The actor, who will next be seen in The Copenhagen Test, revealed how he turned his life around, moving from Canada to Hollywood for the Marvel role. Simu also explained why it's been so long since audiences have seen him as Shang-Chi. He is set to reprise his role in 2026's Avengers: Doomsday alongside an all-star cast.

How a call from Marvel's Kevin Feige changed his life

During a press conference for his next role, the spy series The Copenhagen Test, Simu Liu spoke a bit about how being in Marvel changed his whole career. He recalled, "So, I moved from Toronto to LA, basically it's what you think. Shang-Chi really changed my life. It changed the course of my life and really just everything in my career. I was in Toronto, shooting a show called Kim’s Convenience, and then, in 2019, got a call from Kevin Feige, and then, went to Australia to shoot Shang-Chi for 12 months, but because of the pandemic, we shut down in the middle." He continued, "That wound up being the demarcation point that then brought me to LA afterwards. So, it was a pretty wild journey of how I got there. Obviously, it doesn't happen overnight. Before even Kim's Convenience happened, it was a lot of years of just auditioning and trying to make something happen in Toronto, which in and of itself, is a small market. Once I got Shang-Chi, it was about then being a very medium-sized fish in a massive ocean. And so, the game changed."

Returning in Avengers Doomsday as Shang-Chi

Simu made his MCU debut with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in 2021. But since then audiences haven't seen his character again. The actor has voiced Shang-Chi in a few episodes of the animated series What If...? and Marvel Zombies. He spoke about how meaningful it is to see children come up to him in Shang-Chi costumes and that he was hopeful superhero films would overcome the current fatigue at the box office.

Speaking about Marvel's impact on his career, Simu said, "Look, this isn't exactly a line of work with the best job security. And so any situation where either there's a promise of follow-ups or whether it's sequels or team ... I mean, look, it's a rare thing to have any sort of job security in this industry. And being a part of a franchise or just a universe that's been as culturally relevant and successful as the Marvel Cinematic universe, I mean, that's not nothing. I know there's a lot of cynicism and a lot of it is rightfully so. A lot of it is valid, whether it's Marvel or the entire genre of superhero movies. But I think there's something to be said for the global reach of these films and the way that audiences connect sometimes to these characters in unexpected ways." Avengers: Doomsday, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, is releasing in theatres on December 18, 2026. In the upcoming film, the Avengers, Wakandans, Fantastic Four, New Avengers, and the X-Men team up to take on Robert Downey Jr's Doctor Doom.