Could Ludi Lin or Ross Butler become Shang-Chi?

Though Marvel Studios hasn’t laid out a detailed timeline of its upcoming projects– that information is expected to be announced later this summer– we do know that ‘Shang-Chi: Master of Kung-Fu’ is one of the next projects likely to begin production.  Destin Daniel Cretton is attached to direct ‘Shang-Chi’ with a script from Dave Callaham.  Now it seems like a lead is being sought, and the word is that Ludi Lin might be in the running.

 

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Ludi Lin

Lin was most recently seen as the embodiment of a video game character, Lance, in the “Striking Vipers” episode of ‘Black Mirror’.  Last winter, he had the small role of Murk in ‘Aquaman’, but perhaps his biggest break was portraying Zack the Black Ranger in the 2017 reboot of ‘Saban’s Power Rangers’.

Reportedly, Lin is just one of a few actors that Marvel wants to meet with in regard to this picture and is by no means THE choice to play the role or even necessarily the frontrunner.

However, in December, Lin verbally expressed his desire to star in ‘Shang-Chi’ saying:

“It’s definitely something I want to do. To do an Asian-centric superhero. To tell that story. I mean ideally, I’d like to design my own superhero, make my own creation. But I think the Marvel world is pretty incredible as well. Especially in honor of Stan Lee, the person who created this entire, I mean like an entire universe. You know what I mean? It’s pretty incredible. And I think it would be great because it would take another big step towards representation.”

The only other name that was mentioned as someone that Marvel would like to meet with is Ross Butler.

Ross Butler

Butler was recently seen in ‘Shazam!’ as the grown-up version of Eugene.  He is also a regular cast member of the Netflix drama ’13 Reasons Why’, on which he plays Zach Dempsey, and he was part of the cast of Disney’s ‘KC Undercover’.  He also played Reggie Mantle in the first season of ‘Riverdale’, and recently wrapped the Netflix sequel ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before 2’.

 

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While Butler is kind of a heartthrob and is recognizable from his many recent works, he isn’t a martial artist, whereas Lin is a proficient martial artist, trained in Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu.  In most cases, I’d say an actor can train for an action role, but Shang-Chi is the MASTER of Kung-Fu and his movements should look like second nature.

What do you think?

 

Source: That Hashtag Show