Simu Liu knows precisely what you want to talk about when you spot him in the wild, and spoiler alert: it’s not Barbie (though Barbie was a banger). Four years after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (available with a Disney+ subscription) hit theaters and became an instant fan favorite, the character has been completely MIA from the slate of new Marvel films. No sequel, no cameos, no Ten Rings popping up in mid-credits stingers. And now the man behind the MCU martial artist is finally opening up about how often fans ask him about a Shang-Chi 2.
In a new interview with People, Liu opens up about what it feels like to step back into a new entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, while his fan-favorite solo hero has been completely missing from the franchise for the past four years. The 36-year-old star revealed just how often passersby bring up the absence of his character:
You’re not the only one that's kind of felt that absence. Somebody tells me in some way, shape, or form — I’m not kidding you, I’m not being hyperbolic — every single day of my life and oftentimes multiple times in a day.
That emotional connection with the character and the fans is precisely why the missing sequel has become a running bit in the Kim’s Convenience star’s real life. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings hit theaters in 2021, delivered one of Marvel’s best-reviewed origin stories of the post-Endgame era, and then… nothing. No sequel announcement, and the actor knows fans feel that gap because they remind him daily.
That’s not social media noise; it’s his day-to-day, becoming a kind of ambient soundtrack. And yet, he’s clearly not resentful. If anything, he frames it as proof that the first movie landed the way he always hoped: as a film that meant something to audiences who had never seen a Chinese superhero in a massive Disney tentpole before.
But fans won’t have to wait much longer to finally see Shang-Chi back in action, with Liu putting the rings back on in Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel’s next mega–team-up now scheduled for the 2026 movie schedule. The movie is basically a victory lap for the MCU’s deep bench of heroes. The cast for Doomsday includes the likes of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Anthony Mackie’s Captain America, Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, Letitia Wright’s Black Panther, Danny Ramirez’s Falcon, plus characters from Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, and the X-Men movies. Oh, and Robert Downey Jr. is back — not as Tony Stark, but as Victor von Doom, the main villain.
If you were worried that the Shang-Chi family had quietly drifted apart in the years since, Liu is happy to shut that down. He reveals that the core cast — Awkwafina, Meng’er Zhang, Michelle Yeoh, Fala Chen, and more — are still very connected, adding:
I would say the Shang-Chi group text is still very active just because it was such a unique experience, what we went through…So is something like [Avengers: Doomsday], which is just a gargantuan production, and the scale and the bigness of it is something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
As we wait for Simu Liu to suit up once again, he isn’t exactly sitting around waiting for Kevin Feige to text. The actor has a new animated film, hitting streaming for everyone with a Netflix subscription. In Your Dreams sees the Chinese-Canadian performer voicing a dad opposite Cristin Milioti and Craig Robinson. It’s lighter, family-friendly fare, but even there, the shadow of Shang-Chi isn’t far behind. Every new project comes with at least one question about when he’s putting the rings back on for a solo act.
Avengers: Doomsday, the next cinematic outing for Shang-Chi, hits theaters on December 18, 2026.
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