Whether from actual history or the creator's personal lives, many Marvel characters are modeled off real people. For Shang-Chi, the titular character of the upcoming film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, that template was none other than Bruce Lee. To capitalize on the martial arts craze that struck America during the 1970s, Marvel decided to create a new hero that would both fit into the trend and bring in more diverse audiences, and they couldn't think of a more perfect model for their newest hero than the king of kung fu himself.
Created by Steve Englehart, Al Milgrom and Jim Starlin, Shang-Chi made his first appearance in 1973's Special Marvel Edition #15. Similar to Lee, the character is a master of advanced martial arts and is of Chinese descent. According to Roy Thomas, Stan Lee’s successor at Marvel, Shang-Chi was designed to specifically look and feel like Bruce Lee.
Born Lee Jun-fan in San Francisco, Bruce Lee is considered to be the most influential martial artist of all time. Trained in the art of Wing Chun, he rose to fame in 1966 when he played Kato, in the TV series The Green Hornet. After that, he starred in several martial arts films including Fists of Fury, Way of the Dragon and Enter the Dragon. His work in Hollywood took steps in breaking away from stereotypes about Chinese nationality and Asian Americans, sparking a surge of interest in Chinese martial arts that lives on to this day. He is credited with discovering Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid-style of martial arts that is attributed to the creation of modern mixed martial arts, otherwise known as MMA.
Lee passed away at the age of 32 on July 20, 1973 from cerebral edema. According to writer Nigel Clarke, Stan Lee published a special 33-issue black-and-white comic titled The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu in 1974 as a dedication to the legend. “What made Bruce Lee special was the fact that he was a human who did extraordinary things! He was believable, he was a superhero, but the attraction was that he was real! You felt like you could be him.”
“Bruce Lee was a man of peace, he was a man of philosophy, he encouraged people to be the best they could be. He wasn’t violent. In fact, that was the similarity between Bruce and many of the characters at Marvel. They weren’t looking for a fight, they did their best not to get into fights .”
Paul Gulacy, the artist for several issues of Master of Kung Fu, spoke about his desire to honor the legacy of Bruce Lee in his work in an interview for Comic Book Artist Collection. As Lee was the face of martial arts for many people, he hoped that Shang-Chi could fill the hole made by Lee’s tragic passing.
"What I tried to do at that time was bring Bruce Lee back in a sense. When Bruce died, I felt that Master of Kung Fu was the only outlet for a Bruce Lee-type guy—that's how I saw Shang-Chi. It was a continuation of all that fun stuff. We had the spy motif, martial arts, actors, and parody. It was a big stew of all kinds of stuff that made that book. We had Fu Manchu in there... I mean, it was crazy, it was just a mish-mash! And the readers picked up on that...."
The link between Lee and Shang-Chi was so prominent that when plans for a live-action adaptation were in the works, Bruce Lee's son Brandon Lee was the original actor eyed for the role. Unfortunately, Brandon Lee died from an on-set accident in 1993 before he got the chance to portray the character. The role of Shang-Chi in the upcoming film will be played by Simu Liu.