Shang-Chi
| Supporting characters | |
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| Marvel Cinematic Universe | |
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| Jiang Li | |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Shang-Chi (vol. 2) #4 (September 2021) |
| Created by | Gene Luen Yang and Dike Ruan |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Human |
| Place of origin | Ta-Lo |
| Team affiliations | Qilin Riders |
| Abilities |
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Jiang Li is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Jiang Li is the mother of the hero Shang-Chi. Jiang Li made her comic book debut in Shang-Chi (vol. 2) #4 (September 2021), created by Gene Luen Yang and Dike Ruan, based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) character Ying Li, played by Fala Chen in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021).
In the early 1970s, writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin approached Marvel Comics to adapt the television series Kung Fu into a comic book, as DC's parent company, Warner Communications, owned the rights to the series. The duo then approached Marvel Comics with the idea to create a kung fu-focused original comic. Editor-in-chief Roy Thomas agreed, but only if they would include the Sax Rohmer's pulp villain Dr. Fu Manchu, as Marvel had previously acquired the comic book rights to the character.[1][2] Englehart and Starlin developed Shang-Chi, a master of kung fu and a previously unknown son of Dr. Fu Manchu.[3][4] Shang-Chi's mother was a white American woman, per mandate by then editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, who was genetically selected by Fu Manchu to be the mother of his progeny.
After Marvel's license with the Rohmer estate expired, Master of Kung Fu was cancelled in 1983.[5] Despite subsequent issues either mentioning characters from the novels cryptically or phased out entirely, the Si-Fan still kept its original name in its appearances.[6][7]
In 2010's Secret Avengers #6–10, writer Ed Brubaker officially sidestepped the entire issue via a storyline where the Shadow Council resurrects a zombified version of Dr. Fu Manchu, only to discover that "Dr. Fu Manchu" was only an alias and that Shang-Chi's father real name is Zheng Zu (Chinese: 鄭祖)[8][9]
In 2020, Shang-Chi starred in a self-titled five issue miniseries written by American Born Chinese author Gene Luen Yang with art by Dike Ruan and Philip Tan.[10] Initially set for a June 2020 release, the first issue was delayed to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11]
The film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) featured Shang-Chi's mother as an Asian woman named Ying Li. When the cast for the film was announced by Kevin Feige, the character was originally named Jiang Li before being changed to Ying Li.[notes 1]
Shang-Chi starred in a new ongoing series by Yang and Ruan in 2021, with Marcus To replacing Ruan by the 9th issue.[14] Following the release of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Yang incorporated several concepts introduced in the movie into the Shang-Chi mythos, including the character Jiang Li as Shang-Chi's real mother, who was based on Shang-Chi's mother Ying Li,[a] retconning Shang-Chi's white American mother and his mixed-race heritage; the heavenly realm Ta-Lo, which was previously introduced by writers Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio and artist Keith Pollard in Thor #310 (1980);[17] and the Ten Rings weapons.[18]
Jiang Li was born into one of Ta-Lo's few communities of mortals known as the Qilin Riders who were appointed by the Xian as guardians of the gateway connecting Ta-Lo to Qilin Island in the East China Sea. While on patrol, Jiang Li rescued a shipwrecked Zheng Zu from pirates. Jiang Li nursed Zu back to health and the two fell in love. However, Jiang Li's father, Chieftain Xin, was outraged over her harboring an outsider and ordered her to return to Ta-Lo with Zu's head. Instead, Jiang Li and Zu fled to Zu's House of the Deadly Hand in Hunan, where Jiang Li discovered Zu's true identity as the leader of the Five Weapons Society, a criminal organization. Jiang Li attempted to leave him, but Zu pleaded with her to stay, promising to change his dark ways. True to his word, Zu rediscovered his own humanity from Jiang Li and the two married and had two children: Shang-Chi and Shi-Hua.[19] However following an attack by Hydra against the House of the Deadly Hand, Zu became cold and distant towards his family, as he felt that his love for them made him weak. Out of loneliness, Jiang Li sent a letter to her father and a few weeks later was drawn to a confrontation between Xin and Zu in the latter's personal tower, where it was revealed that Zu had constructed a makeshift portal to Ta Lo to steal the realm's sacred weapons to bolster the Society. While Zu fought his wife and father-in-law, Shang-Chi happened upon the scene, just as the portal's connection to Ta Lo became disconnected and Jiang Li was accidentally pushed through to her presumed death.[20]
Instead, Jiang Li was sent to the Negative Zone, where she used her psionic abilities to mentally link with the native mantid creatures, who protected and sheltered her. Jiang Li resided in the Negative Zone for many years, occasionally using her psionic abilities to reach out to her children. After Shang-Chi took over the Five Weapons Society following Zu's death and began reforming it as a heroic organization, he began receiving Jiang Li's messages through his dreams and travelled to the Negative Zone with his half-siblings to rescue her. While she recuperated at the New House of the Deadly Hand in Chinatown, Manhattan, she is secretly visited by her father. Despite claiming to being overjoyed to see her again, Xin is consumed by his rage towards Zu and his bloodline since his earlier confrontation with them and believes Shang-Chi to be as evil as his father, vowing to put an end to his grandson.[21]
Due to being mentally linked to insects for many years, Jiang Li takes a while to recover her mental health but spends time with her son and his half-siblings.[22][23] After she fully recovers, Jiang Li begins telling Shang-Chi their family history but the two are attacked by several enemies of the Society. Jiang Li uses her psionic abelites to realize that they are being led by Xin.[19] Although Shang-Chi and the Society are able to defeat the would-be assassins, Jiang Li is taken hostage by them, forcing Shang-Chi to let them escape. Although Xin is outraged over their failure to kill Shang-Chi and for kidnapping his daughter, he allows his allies to escape with Jiang Li through a portal to Qilin Island and through the gateway to Ta Lo.[20] After failing to acquire Shang-Chi's corpse to complete his magic, Xin forcibly extracts Jiang Li's psionic energy to locate Shi-Hua for his ritual.[24] Xin returns with Shi-Hua's severed right hand, which he uses to create taotie masks for himself and the Qilin Riders. Jiang Li escapes by psionically bonding with a nearby qilin and travels back to Earth to help the Society defend the House of the Deadly Hand from the mask empowered Riders.[25] Jiang Li briefly faces off against her father, who is empowered by his own mask and several of the heavenly Ten Rings but helped by the arrival of Shang-Chi and his siblings. When Shang-Chi succumbs to his inner darkness to take the Ten Rings from Xin and defeats him and the Riders, he attempts to sever Xin's hand in retaliation for what he did to Shi-Hua but Jiang Li and his siblings talk him down, bringing him back to his senses. Jiang Li and Shang-Chi return to Ta Lo for Xin to face justice and to return the Ten Rings to the Jade Emperor, who appoints Jiang Li as the new Chieftain of the Qilin Riders, which requires her to remain in Ta Lo.[26]
As a Qilin Rider, Jiang Li is blessed by the Xian with the power of innate archery and to psionically link with qilin. Jiang Li can also extend her psionic abilities to other individuals, including humans and aliens. She is also proficient in martial arts.
Ying Li appears in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, portrayed by Fala Chen. In the film, Li is a guardian of Ta Lo, a mystical realm inhabited by Chinese mythological creatures, including its guardian dragon, the Great Protector, who blesses Li with the power to manipulate wind. In 1996, the immortal warlord Xu Wenwu attempts to invade Ta Lo but is defeated by Li. The two fall in love but when Wenwu is rejected by Ta Lo's inhabitants for his dark past, Li leaves with him. The two marry and have two children: son Shang-Chi and daughter Xialing. Wenwu abandons his organization and weapons while Li forgoes the blessing of the Great Protector to be with each other and their children. While Wenwu is away, Li is murdered by the Iron Gang, old enemies of the Ten Rings. Li's death prompts Wenwu to violently murder the gang in retaliation and reverts to his dark ways by reclaiming his Rings and organization. Years later, the Dweller-in-Darkness uses Li's voice to make Wenwu believe that his wife is still alive and trapped within a gate in Ta Lo, so that Wenwu can use his Rings to destroy its seal. Wenwu attempts to convince his estranged children to help him free their mother and destroy her village in retaliation for imprisoning her, but the two side with Li's people. Shang-Chi and Xialing are gifted suits of armor crafted from the Great Protector's scales that Li entrusted to her sister Ying Nan. After the battle, Shang-Chi and Xialing light paper lanterns in memory of Li and Wenwu, who was killed by the Dweller.
