So Where's Shang-Chi? - According To Square Enix The Avenger's Are Back - Case In Point?

Until Butterfly Dragon joins either the Marvel Universe or the DC Universe, alongside Lady Deathstrike and Kabuki, she will continue to be the ONLY Asian female superhero. If I mix the Shhhh! Digital version of A Lady's Prerogative: The Yearning And Learning into that, then so far, Shhhh! Digital has a monopoly on diversity.


One that has long been in the hands of both Marvel and DC comics for as long as I can remember. I'm 54, so like Han Solo, I can imagine quite a reward for rescuing a Royal Alderaan Princess from a planetary class battle station.


I can imagine quite a bit.


Like Marvel, DC and Roddenberry's Star Trek, Square Enix have been innovators where it involves  inclusive cultural story telling. Sleeping Dogs being a prime example of their ability to foray into the mythos of East Asia in the guise of an undercover Police story. I consider Sleeping Dogs to be one of the greatest storyline driven open world video games of all time and I'm certain there's a great many players out there who'd agree with me.

Could you imagine if Zhang Yimou got into directing video games with as much passion as John Woo or Ang Lee has?


Ironically, Square Enix are one of my favourite developers as a result of their production of Sleeping Dogs.  An immensely incredible story that takes place in Hong Kong, China. It has one of the best third person martial arts systems I've ever seen in a game, that portrays authentic Kung Fu and Wing Chun moves and tactics in close quarters combat. One of few North American or European produced titles that took such risks.


The Marvel Cinematic Universe is really known for pushing this social boundary forward. The cultural boundary, especially considering that movies like the Black Panther were box office hits, introducing the world to the (rightful) idea that superheroes are abundant in every culture the world over.


Ms. Marvel, one of Marvel's youngest heroes, is not unlike Molecule Man. Molcule Man is one of Marvel's powerhouse characters who is even beyond Captain Marvel or Thanos insofar as the cinematic universe goes. So Square Enix, being the incredibly innovative people they are have opted to include culturally important characters to the Marvel video Game: The Avengers, which is not unlike the movie franchise at all.


They've even included T'Challa (the Black Panther) for everyone to play, making this game one of the most diverse and exciting games to play in the world. When I need a regular dose of Marvel, I play Square Enix's Avengers, a streaming option isn't available.


However. There's been one very disappointing aspect of Square Enix's Avengers. For one, being the producers of Sleeping Dogs, perhaps one of the best written and Asian cast supported video games of all time, there is no equivalent Asian character in the Avengers. Asia has largely been ignored when it comes to video games and movies (except by Quentin Tarantino, John Woo and Zhang Yimou), however there's a huge opportunity here. Hear me out despite my whining about racial inclusion.


After the ground breaking acress Kelly Hu (who went a long way to inspiring the modern version of Butterfly Dragon as she was my first choice to play a cinematic version of the character) paved the way for many Asian actors globally in the post 2K era, Simu Li, better known for his roles in Kim's Convenience (one of my favourite series) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is available to represent the Asian community as a voice actor for the Shang-Chi character in Square Enix's Avengers. 


I mean, if Black Panther, then why not Shang-Chi?


We have abundant representation of women superheroes in said game: The Avengers, yet no representation by South-East Asian characters like Lady Deathstrike or Shang-Chi.


I would say that this is an opportunity for both the Marvel Cinematic Universe (to return Lady Deathstrike to the screen with Kelly Hu as an older version of that character). I mean, Both Andrew Garfield and Toby Maquire had the chance? Why not an Asian woman? If I had production money, Kelly Hu is my one and only choice to play Jinn Hua. If Butterfly Dragon had been ready in 2000, then she would have been the lead role of the Butterfly Dragon. Simple as that.


Currently, the woman I have in mind for Butterfly Dragon is Constance Wu, with Kelly Hu as Jinn Hua if ever a movie was made of Butterfly Dragon. You've gotta have dreams, no matter how big they are and far removed from where you currently are. Not to mention, those women, and what they represent are very much worth it from my perspective. They, and women in general deserve to have such representation. Women who command their own being, culture and sexuality.


Time however, unlike Doctors, has no patience. That's a Barris-ism pun by the way, but the point is right on track. Doctors? Patience? Get it? Ha. Ha ha. Ha. Oh boy, that didn't work quite like it was supposed to.


So here we are in the midst of a wonderful video game developed by Square Enix, who've given the most wonderful of opportunities for the Asian community to have exposure through the artistic medium  of entertainment software. 


Yet we have no Shang-Chi, a key Marvel character in the upcoming phase 5 cinematic universe. A universe that there is plenty of room for in the world marketplace.


As Constance Wu said in an interview, it really makes a big difference in the life of a child, to see someone up there on the screen as a character, representing their culture. I think that Constance has really hit upon an incredible opportunity in the entertainment industry to see that representation is a very important aspect of the future development of cinema, as it is for civilization itself.


So that we all have heroes. 


Heroes of our own.
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Heroes that work together rather than against each other.


Oh, and by the way. I recently watched one of the most incredible movies I've ever seen called Bone Tomahawk, mind you definitely adult entertainment and very disturbing at times. It really tells a story from an incredible perspective that is very relevant today, and asks us what is it to live with anything other than civilization?


Updates?

Soon. More to come as Act II of the Two Dragons finishes, leading the way to the final act, an act that will be nearly three times as long as Act I and II.


Leave It To A Beaver will be finished before August 1, 2022 6 AM by the way.


Happy weekend ;-)


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