Ironically, Marvel originally tried to acquire the rights to Kung Fu, the popular 1970s martial arts television drama.
When Marvel failed in its bid, it instead bought the rights to Fu Manchu, as part of its ambition to create a superhero based on martial arts legend Bruce Lee.
Lee missed out on the leading role in Kung Fu in favour of a non-Chinese actor named David Carradine.
Fu Manchu wasn’t the hero, he was the villain. Dennis Neyland Smith, the good guy, was the hero.
I never knew that! I knew when Gulacy took over the art for MoKF, Shang Chi began looking more and more like Lee, but didn’t know the backstory. Thanks!
As for “offending”, people nowadays forget the impact some of those movies and shows had on kids back then. “Kung Fu”, “Green Hornet”, “Master of Kung Fu”, “Sons of the Tiger”, Sax Rohmer’s writings... kids didn’t see anythings racist in those things, but more than a few of us became interested in Asian history and culture. My friends and I tried to learn shogi because we saw it in a comic.
Of course, that’s cultural appropriation now, I guess.
Who, ironically, died in Thailand of 'self asphyxiation'.................
Holy crap.
I guess villains can’t be anyone but white people.
“everybody was kung fu fighting...Those fists were fast as lighting...”
If they don’t like this, they’re gonna hate the all Chinese ‘Dukes of Hazard’.
They’d better change the father to Charlie Chan to settle things down, I guess.
Whatever.
The original writers of most comics were Jewish and enjoyed casting Jews as villains: Magneto, Lex Luther (sometimes Episcopalian or sometimes nothing), the Joker (sometimes), and Harley Quinn (observantly so, refusing to commit crime on Yom Kippur , etc.
Somehow we survived the pain (sarcasm).
You know the old joke, which we can’t tell these days:
“Many man smoke, many man drink, but Fu Manchu.”
And the Chicomms can drop dead. Maybe we can help arrange it.
So change his back story. Make him the son of Tai Nee Wong and Wun Dum Ho.