How Simu Liu's Shang-Chi Will Be Different In Avengers: Doomsday After MCU Debut 4 Years Ago

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Simu Liu is facing someone in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

An avid comic book fan since she first read "Stan Lee's Soapbox," Allison Hambrick is your friendly neighborhood generalist writer. Journalism, editing, media production, copywriting—she does it all. From her very first blog post about Smallville as a primary schooler, Allison developed a passion for superheroes and the entertainment industry at large.

Majoring in writing and film at SCAD, Allison put her skills to work writing, editing, podcasting, and more. Currently, she moonlights as an editor at the ASHRAE Journal by day and Screen Rant by night. Allison also previously worked for Warner Bros. Entertainment and for Disney.

Through her writing, she hopes to inspire, to entertain, and to empower others to be the best versions of themselves, and her mission in life is to make Stan proud. In her free time, she enjoys reading, video game design, traveling, and spending time outside with her dogs, Loki and Elphaba. Allison is fluent in movie quotes, and her favorite film is Superman II.

With a sprawling cast of Marvel veterans and newcomers alike, Avengers: Doomsday is the penultimate chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's multiverse saga. The much-anticipated film will be helmed by Joe and Anthony Russo, with a script from Michael Waldron and Stephen McFeely.

Doomsday will feature both the return of (some of) Fox's X-Men cast and many MCU heroes, including Simu Liu's Shang-Chi. First joining the franchise in 2021, Shang-Chi's role in Doomsday will only be his second outing. Still, Liu shared with Comicbook.com that audiences will see a different, more confident version of the character than in his debut film.

"He’s older," Liu explained. "I’m older, so getting to bring a little bit more of a quality of self-assurance is always great, especially because Shang was such a fish out of water. There’s a little bit of a jump in time, so I think we’ll meet him at a place where he’s feeling a little more lived in with who he is and his responsibilities."

Little is known about how Shang-Chi will factor into the plot of Doomsday, but following Liu's statements and the crossover scene at the end of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, it's a safe, albeit uncertain, bet that he will be a full-blown Avenger. Interestingly, however, Liu has teased working with some of the X-Men cast, further keeping the Marvel fans guessing.

"First getting that call and then learning who else was [going to] be there, some of whom I had the pleasure of meeting and some I had not yet met, but each... one of them just iconic, iconic people," the actor said, careful not to reveal too much but sharing his excitement about his costars. "Like Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Patrick Stewart, just people who I grew up watching and idolizing. And then having gotten maybe, maybe having gotten the opportunity to do scenes with them at some point."

Shang-Chi protecting Ta Lo in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Elsewhere in the interview, Liu also discussed the pressures of a Marvel promotional cycle and not causing leaks. The actor "never know[s] when something [he says] is going to get picked up into a soundbite." For example, he said that Shang-Chi would have a new suit in an interview, and it turned into "an unstoppable maelstrom of messed-up lines."

"I am very reserved about what to say about it now," Liu concluded. Regardless of what details he can or cannot reveal, anticipation for Doomsday is only building, with multiple trailers teasing the X-Men, Thor, Captain America, and other returning heroes.

Avengers: Doomsday releases on December 18, 2026.