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Assuming things get back to normal by 2021, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will debut in May 2021.

This will be an important Marvel Cinematic Universe movie for many reasons, as Shang-Chi is not only an Asian superhero, but he’s also set to be part of the Avengers, or whatever team comes after them. Asians have been, by and large, absent from the MCU, and Shang-Chi hopes to fix that by introducing plenty of Asian characters.

Simu Liu will play the lead role of Shang-Chi, but other talented Asian actors have been cast as well. One of those actors is Michelle Yeoh, and Marvel fans are already excited about seeing her in a Marvel movie.

A look at Michelle Yeoh’s early career

Michelle Yeoh
Michelle Yeoh | Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Yeoh isn’t an American, and like many Asian actors, she got her start in local Asian movies. Hong Kong movies were booming back then, and she got herself a big role in Police Story 3: Super Cop, where she worked with Jackie Chan. 

Like Chan, she was proficient in martial arts, and she also did her own stunts in many of her films. However, her acting and martial arts talent soon gave her bigger roles in major Hollywood movies.

For example, she starred as a Bond girl in Tomorrow Never Dies, and a few years later, she made the hit movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. 

That movie was a massive success in America and in the rest of the world, and it even won Best Picture at that year’s Oscar’s. The success of this movie catapulted her into Hollywood, where she has continued to work in ever since. 

Everyone loves Michelle Yeoh

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After Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, she’s gotten work on many American shows and movies. For example, she recently had a major role in Star Trek: Discovery, and of course, she had a role in Crazy Rich Asians.

Both are just the tip of the iceberg, but suffice to say, she’s been getting plenty of roles in Hollywood.

Due to her stellar track record, Marvel fans on Reddit simply love her, as she’s not only a great actress, but, even in her late 50s, she’s still doing intense martial arts work for the movies and shows that she works on. Not only that, but fans loved how she talked about why representation matters in Hollywood. 

Time Magazine interviewed her and she talked about how she felt like she was a minority when she started getting Hollywood roles. She talked about how, when she was growing up, she saw people who looked like her in everything, but when she got to America, the opposite was true.

That’s why she thinks that representation in the Marvel movies matter, and that’s one of the reasons why fans are so excited to see her in Shang-Chi.

Who will Michelle Yeoh play in the MCU?

Technically speaking, she’s actually already in the MCU. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, she briefly makes a cameo in a post-credit scene as Aleta Ogord, who’s a character that was part of the original Guardians of the Galaxy comic.

This cameo was more than likely just that, and she’ll probably not reprise her role as Aleta Ogord in any future movies. 

The main reason why fans think she won’t be reprising her role is because Marvel would’ve just announced that she was doing that. As a result, it’s very likely that her role in Shang-Chi is something new.

But, assuming that she gets to play a new character in Shang-Chi, Marvel has been pretty hush-hush on exactly who she’ll play. Regardless of her role, Marvel fans are excited to see her do more than just show up for a post-credits scene. 

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