Ten rejected outfit designs for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ title character, Simu Liu, were featured in a recent art book.
Destin More than a year has passed since the release of Daniel Cretton’s MCU kung-fu epic, and fans are already eager to find out where Liu’s Shang-Chi and the Ta Lo universe will appear next.
The rumors of a Shang-Chi sequel are still rampant as Cretton starts work on Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. When fans last heard from an insider, KC Walsh, he said that Shang-Chi 2 had “been added to the Marvel Studios production calendar,” indicating that it might not be long until viewers see Marvel’s martial arts prodigy return to the big screen.
Yet, the past year and a half have been a fantastic time to reflect on the Marvel Studios epic due to the resounding success of the first Shang-Chi.
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Shang-Chi Designs were abandoned
Following the publication of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: The Art of the Movie by Marvel Studios, 10 previously unseen outfit concepts were made available.
In these brief views, several of the discarded outfits for Simu Liu’s superhero from the MCU movie are highlighted. Simu Liu plays a super-powered martial artist.
Andy Park, Visual Development Supervisor at Marvel Studios, said in the book how much he enjoys creating these hero looks:
“The most exciting time is usually when we begin production on a movie introducing a new character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”
He accepted the challenge with Shang-Chi and had the opportunity to create a “whole different genre and angle of representation:”
“Especially in the instance of Shang-Chi. With the first titular Asian hero in the MCU, the genre and perspective of representation are very different. It’s incredibly thrilling, especially for an Asian American like me.
In addition to “the comic book source material,” Park also “deep dived” into “historical symbolism, Chinese historical attire, and traditions.”
“As far as Chinese culture was concerned, I made a thorough investigation… It was vital to look into historical symbolism, traditional Chinese dress, and, of course, the comic book’s original material. During the 1970s kung fu martial arts boom, Shang-Chi was developed.
The Marvel Studios team had the “opportunity” to “explore ideas with more latitude and not be as exclusively wedded to the original material,” he said, noting that Simu Liu’s MCU hero was a little trickier to design for simply because “there was a lack of true comprehension” within the source material.
“It was challenging to avoid preconceptions in the past since there was a lack of actual understanding. With the help of this film, we were given the ability to explore concepts without being restricted by the original source. There are numerous difficulties as a result of the absence of the anchor. But that’s exciting to me. We are allowed to research and create our own Shang-Chi, right down to how we pronounce his name!”
According to Park, he “drew inspiration from the Chinese hanfu,” a classic Chinese robe used during the Han era, for some of his creative work.
Korean-American Park bemoaned having “grown up with something called the hanbok,” which resembles the Hanfu in some ways. A lot of his early work was therefore based on that:
“As a Korean American, I was raised in a garment known as the hanbok, which resembles both the hanfu and the Japanese kimono in certain ways. A lot of the early work I produced was based on that, combining the left-to-right crossing, several lines, and the functionality and fit of the collar.
Several of these early pieces, he continued, were “exploring many traditional Chinese aspects” while also “merging them with a more modern sensibility:”
“I experimented with many ancient Chinese aspects while working on several robes and coats, fusing them with a more contemporary sensibility and a Super Hero appearance. When the Visual Development team first begins working on a picture, as is common with many of these movies, we frequently don’t know the actual story. But as the narrative progresses, our ideas are improved.”
This inspired the team to think that Shang’s jacket might be “made up of the elements of Ta Lo as a present from his mother,” as they put it. What Park and the team created for the Marvel superhero was “essential” to this maternal bond to the costume:
“As a result of the numerous back-and-forths between me, the director, and the producers, the notion that it was composed of components of Ta Lo as a present from his mother eventually came to dominate the discussion. I created a wide variety of clothes, ranging from traditional Chinese garb to his comic book aesthetic, which was influenced by Bruce Lee’s many different movies looks, including shirtless appearances and his iconic jumpsuit from Game of Death.”
The idea of “having certain components of dragon tattoos wrapped around him” was another idea explored by Park.
Additional ideas included the team considering “jackets and hoodies” with “quite current, streetwear” sensibilities:
“I also created a ton of additional, very contemporary streetwear variants, including jackets and hoodies with historical Chinese aspects incorporated into the way the garment is worn as well as diverse patterns, colors, and symbolism. A significant portion of the investigation also focused on colors, as they each have distinctive cultural meanings. Red in particular, which is employed in the culture more frequently than any other color, is significant. It represents fortune or good luck.
The Shang-Chi costume was linked by the Marvel Studios artist to “a story,” which was “told from the mother to her son.” Later on in the film, “his father freely lends his rings to his son,” which contributes to the hero’s appearance:
“The entire costume tells a tale. He inherits the mother’s armor and protection, and at that point, he transforms into Shang-Chi. Later in the film, his father freely offers his son his rings, which form a part of Shang-appearance.” Chi’s
The shoes were the last component of the costume that Park mentioned. He described Shang-footwear Chi’s as “extremely deliberate,” saying:
“His shoes are a further component of the costume. They were quite deliberate. Even though I didn’t make those specific Jordans, I did create sneakers. The ones I created were plain-looking sneakers. The Jordans, however, was flawless. The notion I had in my brain was that they would give him the suit and perhaps even the shoes, but he would push back and say, “You know what, I want to keep one thing that’s me.” This is not canon. As an Asian American who spent ten years living in America, the shoes serve as a reminder of that time in his life.”
The Jordans being a component of Shang-Chi‘s American ancestry would have made the costume complete:
“Thus, with the shoes, he represents his own individual adventure in addition to his parents in this costume. Every time we design a character, we are telling a tale. It may not always be explicit, but it tells the reader something about the character. The tale of the entire film comes to a close when Shang-Chi dons his suit.
How is a Marvel costume created?
It’s always fascinating to see how much effort goes into each and every costume when one of these breakdowns is released.
There is a reason Shang-Chi looks amazing when he initially appears on screen wearing that crimson dragon scale armor. It is a result of the countless hours that designers like Andy Park and his colleagues have poured into every detail.
Also, Marvel Studios has done this before. Recently, a series of Black Widow costumes that were never used from the 2021 film Black Widow were made public. These outfits featured Scarlett Johansson’s MCU hero with short hair in addition to a number of other significant modifications from what fans finally saw.
The Red Guardian played by David Harbour and Letitia Wright’s brand-new Black panther appearance were both made public.
Marvel Studios is among the finest when it comes to bringing these comic book outfits to life on screen since it draws inspiration from the source material and makes creative use of it.
The version of Shang-Chi that was ultimately chosen feels like the ideal fusion of the traditional and modern style Park highlighted in his post-mortem. Others seemed to choose the futuristic “streetwear” pastiche Park mentioned or slightly older Chinese clothing.
The final movie outfit is a synthesis of both, flawlessly balancing two opposing sensibilities.
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