Fu Manchu ≠ Mandarin. What do you think of the Marvel Chinese hero movie "Shang-Chi"?

On July 13, Justin Kroll, a reporter from Variety, tweeted that Marvel is selecting the male lead for the first Chinese superhero movie Shang-Chi, and the requirement is that the actor must be Chinese or of Chinese descent between the ages of 20 and 29. This triggered a strong response, and Marvel fans rushed to spread the news of the birth of the first Chinese superhero.

But soon after, the Internet started to speculate that Marvel had other motives in filming Shang-Chi. The reason was Shang-Chi's father, Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu, a villain created by British novelist Sax Rohmer, is a typical image of the demonization of Chinese people in the Yellow Peril theory in the West, and has appeared in many works. In the Marvel Universe, Shang-Chi, as the son of Fu Manchu, is naturally not immune from the relationship.

However, when netizens give examples to prove their point, they often make a mistake, that is, they equate "Mandarin" with "Fu Manchu". Although they look similar, "Mandarin" and "Fu Manchu" are not the same thing at all in the Marvel Universe.

The Mandarin made his debut in Tales of Suspense #50 and is Iron Man's arch nemesis.

Fu Manchu made his debut in Special Marvel Edition #15. His real name is Zheng Zu, the father of Zheng Shangqi (Shang-Chi).

Of course, it is undeniable that the creation of the character of Mandarin did refer to Fu Manchu. The settings of Mandarin's mustache and mixed Chinese and British origin are similar to Fu Manchu. The difference is that Fu Manchu, who was an official of the Qing Dynasty, had a father who was a British aristocrat and a mother who was a Chinese woman; while Mandarin, who was born during the Republic of China, had a father who was a descendant of Genghis Khan and a mother who was a British aristocrat.

One of the viewpoints in many articles is that "Fu Manchu's 'evil' only prevented Western archaeologists from excavating the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huangdi", which is very ridiculous.

The Marvel Universe's Fu Manchu is similar to the original Western setting, as a super villain who attempts to control the world and provoke war. Even his son Shang-Chi calls him "always a terrorist."

The second is that Shang-Chi destroyed his own father. In this regard, many articles mistakenly cite "Mandarin" as the English name of Mandarin, and Fu Manchu's English name is "Fu Manchu".

In addition, although the word "Mandarin" now means "Mandarin", it used to refer to "senior political officials". The meaning of Mandarin's English name may also be more focused on this aspect.

As for destroying Fu Manchu, isn't the idea of ​​sacrificing one's own relatives for the sake of justice already there? The Case of the Chopped-off Beauty is a typical example. Considering that the prototype of Shang-Chi is Bruce Lee, a Kung Fu superstar who broke the stereotype of Chinese people overseas, it is more appropriate to say that he "rebelled against the evil old forces" rather than forcibly saying that he "betrayed the culture of his motherland" by sacrificing his own relatives for the sake of justice.

However, in this period of intense trade frictions between China and the United States and extremely sensitive relations, choosing to film a superhero with a similar setting like Shang-Chi will more or less cause some trouble. So, what do you think of Marvel's decision to film the Chinese hero "Shang-Chi"?