Avengers 5 Reportedly Would Have Featured Shang-Chi in Lead Role

If a new report is to be believed, Shang-Chi was set for a major role in Avengers 5. Before the Marvel Studios panel on the Saturday night of San Diego Comic-Con, the status of the fifth Avengers movie was up in the air. Previously titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, the film was set to feature Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror as the main villain and centered on the multiverse. However, after Majors was found guilty of reckless assault in the third degree and guilty of harassment of his ex-girlfriend, Marvel Studios dropped the actor and retitled the film Avengers: Doomsday, with Robert Downey Jr. playing Victor Von Doom. But before all that took place, Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi was going to be one of the big leads in Avengers 5.

According to Inverse, Simu Liu’s character Shang-Chi was going to be one of the main leads of Avengers 5, aka Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Of course, this was back when Avengers 5 was leaning on Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror. With it being retooled to Avengers: Doomsday, there’s no way to know if Shang-Chi will still be one of the central characters of the film. 

What is the status of Shang-Chi 2?

Destin Daniel Cretton is still set to helm the sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, with Simu Liu returning to reprise his role as the titular Marvel hero. However, Shang-Chi 2 is not on Marvel Studios’ official release schedule as of 2025 films. Luckily, Liu recently gave an update on the film, stating that it is still in the works.

“A lot of it is above my pay grade, but it’s definitely happening,” Liu told The Press Trust of India. “[I’m] just very excited to kind of work on it and it’s going to be amazing. I really can’t say anything beyond that.”

This is similar to a previous statement Liu gave ComicBook outside of the premiere for Arthur the King. “When I get a call of like, ‘Hey, this is what you’re in, and this is where you’re going to show up, and this is when you’re going to be need to be blacked out for.’ That’s kind of generally what tends to happen,” Liu told ComicBook on the Arthur the King red carpet. “Destin is such a special filmmaker and we’re very happy to have him on the sequel. So he’ll be working on that, and we’re really excited to see what he comes up with. I think he’s going to do a brilliant job.”