It’s no secret that virtually anyone who plays a superhero within the Marvel universe gets absolutely ripped on the studio’s dime. Brie Larson went viral for getting Captain Marvel fit, Chris Hemsworth continues to share his Thor workouts on social media, and Hugh Jackman has been hitting the weights in anticipation of Wolverine's return for Deadpool 3. As for Simu Liu, the Shang-Chi actor claims that his superhero diet is rather “lackadaisical,” but clearly his abs haven’t heard the news. In his new film, Arthur The King, he plays a professional adventure racer, so one can assume that his Marvel muscles came in handy. However, according to Liu, they may have actively worked against him.
In Arthur The King, Simu Liu's character Leo climbs, cycles, hikes and runs his way through the jungles of the Dominican Republic alongside Mark Wahlberg’s Mikael. When asked how those Shang-Chi biceps came in handy, Liu said the following:
It is shocking how little that helps, because I think with the Marvel stuff… well, I will say, when we were doing stunt training, that was like really good cardio and good movement. But if you're just talking about lifting weights and doing things for the aesthetics, that stuff doesn't help you at all. In fact, sometimes it works to your detriment because so much of like the biking and the running requires your functional fitness level to be very high. And it doesn't matter if you show up to set looking a certain way, it doesn't help.
Well, there you have it! Simu Liu just insinuated that his Marvel muscles aren’t practical. Chances are that throughout the course of filming, he grew a great respect for the folks who participate in this 10-day trek through the jungle. As such, he likely wouldn’t want to imply that simply by having a strong Hollywood gym routine, he’s the least bit prepared to be an actual adventure racer. But hey, he sure managed to pull it off on film.
Arthur The King isn’t strictly an adventure racing story, as there’s also the titular dog of it all. The film tells the true story of Mikael Lindnord, who adopted a stray dog, Arthur, after the pup somehow followed Mikael’s crew on their treacherous jungle journey. Simu Liu plays opposite Mark Wahlberg as Leo, an Instagram-famous athlete. So really, if they are just glamour muscles he walked on set with, it’s still fitting for the character!
As for Liu’s future at Marvel, it looks bright! He recently revealed that, while he’s not sure exactly when a Shang-Chi sequel will come our way, he’s excited for director Destin Daniel Cretton to be back on board. And hey, with the state of the larger Marvel universe as it is, he could realistically pop up anywhere!
You can see Arthur The King in theaters on March 15! Of course, as with everything on the 2024 movie release schedule, we’ll keep you updated.
