Short Term 12 director Destin Daniel Creston to helm Shang-Chi for Marvel

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

With AVENGERS: ENDGAME set to be unleashed next month, the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is beginning to reveal itself, and it's one which will be exploring some of the lesser-known characters in their vast stable. It was reported last December that Marvel was fast-tracking a film centered around martial arts master Shang-Chi, and now Deadline has revealed that the studio has tapped Destin Daniel Creston to helm the film.

Destin Daniel Creston is best known for writing and directing SHORT TERM 12, THE GLASS CASTLE, and the upcoming JUST MERCY, all of which happen to star Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson. If, like me, you're not overly familiar with Shang-Chi, here's what Deadline has to say about the character: "Shang-Chi is the son of China-based globalist who raised and educated his progeny in his reclusive China compound, closed off to the outside world. The son trained in the martial arts and developed unsurpassed skills. He is eventually introduced to the outside world to do his father’s bidding, and then has to come to grips with the fact his revered father might not be the humanitarian he has claimed to be and is closer to what others call him: The Devil’s Doctor. He also might be centuries old. The deceit makes them bitter enemies." Marvel Studios has already set Dave Callaham (WONDER WOMAN 1984) with penning the screenplay and it's said that the script will "modernize the hero to avoid stereotypes that many comic characters of that era [1973] were saddled with."

Destin Daniel Creston's upcoming JUST MERCY is based on Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson's 2014 memoir of one of his first cases, which dealt with Walter McMillian, a young black man sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit. In addition to Brie Larson, JUST MERCY also stars Michael B. Jordan (BLACK PANTHER) in the leading role. The film is set for a January 17, 2020 release.