Shang-Chi is on the verge of becoming the next great Marvel movie hero,
but his comic book history spans almost 50 years. But who are the friendly faces who have popped
up to aid the Master of Kung Fu in his many battles? These are Shang-Chi's biggest allies.
When the "Kung Fu Craze" hit the United States in the early 1970s,
Marvel capitalized on the trend by purchasing the comic book rights to Sax Rohmer's character
Fu Manchu and his cast of supporting characters. Marvel chose to create an
original character to lead the series, and Shang-Chi was born.
Established as the son of Fu Manchu, Shang-Chi was trained in the art of kung fu for his entire life,
unaware of his father's villainy — until he sent his son to assassinate an MI6 agent named Dr.
James Petrie in 1973's Special Marvel Edition #15.
During Shang-Chi's mission, Sir Denis Nayland Smith confronted the young martial artist
and exposed the truth: that Shang-Chi's father was evil. As a genuinely good man,
Shang-Chi joined Smith and the rest of MI6 in the war against his father.
Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie were both supporting characters in Sax
Rohmer's deeply problematic and racist Fu Manchu novels. A xenophobic caricature,
Fu Manchu was the quintessential personification of "Yellow Peril," the racist American fear that
immigrants of Asian descent would eventually erase "white culture" in the US. In the novels,
this was the villain's goal, and Denis Smith was the white protagonist who fought him.
Marvel eventually lost the rights to Rohmer's creation, and, likely due to
the deeply racist nature of Rohmer's series, they haven't attempted to get them back. Thus,
Fu Manchu was renamed "Zheng Zu," and Denis has simply been referred to as "Smith" ever since.
Shang-Chi's journey through the ranks of MI6 was not a simple one. After Smith revealed
his father's true nature, Shang-Chi visited his mother in America to find out if it was all true.
After his mother confirmed the news, Shang-Chi broke into his father's New York City compound
and declared that he would not stop until he had ended his father's dreams of conquest.
Shang-Chi wouldn't encounter MI6 again until Sir Denis Nayland Smith decided to send one of his
best agents, Jack Tarr, to apprehend the young martial arts master in Master of Kung Fu #17.
Nicknamed "Black Jack," Tarr was a veteran of the British Army when he was recruited by MI6 to
serve in Hong Kong, and later join Smith's fight against his archenemy. With years of experience
and a wealth of combat training under his belt, Tarr was a natural choice for Smith's team. Though
the pair fought when they first met, Tarr and the young martial arts master would soon develop a
solid friendship, as Black Jack proved himself to be one of Shang-Chi's most trusted allies.
Of the many MI6 agents that Shang-Chi worked with during the war against his father's
criminal empire, Sir Clive Reston proved to be one of the most dependable. Introduced in
Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #3, Reston would aid the young martial artist for many years.
After they finally finished dismantling Zheng Zu's attempts to conquer the world, the pair
worked together to form "Freelance Restorations" in Master of Kung Fu #95 — a private-security
firm established to combat rampant corruption within the intelligence agency they once served.
Though rights-related issues kept the creators from saying so outright,
the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe makes it clear
that Reston was the descendent of two of the United Kingdom's most famous fictional characters:
uber-spy James Bond and master detective Sherlock Holmes. The writers implied that
007 was Reston's father, from whom Clive inherited a "love of terrible puns."
"Don't say it…"
"The writing's on the wall?"
Mr. Holmes, on the other hand, was supposedly his
great-uncle — and the chief reason why Reston enjoyed smoking pipes.
Clive Reston and Shang-Chi's work at MI6 would soon be disrupted by
the introduction of their fellow agent Leiko Wu in 1975's Master of Kung Fu #33.
Reston and Wu used to be lovers, before Leiko left Clive for another agent named Simon Bretnor,
who was secretly a double agent code-named "Mordillo." Leiko discovered his treachery and
helped MI6 defeat Bretnor, whose loosening grip on sanity led him to adopt the name "Death-Hand."
After returning to MI6, Leiko began working directly alongside both Reston and Shang-Chi,
an assignment that soon produced a great deal of tension — as Leiko and the young martial artist
began to fall in love. After MI6 finally defeated Shang-Chi's villainous father, however, the young
martial artist decided to leave the agency and retire to the quiet life of a fisherman. Unwilling
to leave her role as a spy, Wu stayed behind, and the couple broke up. In the years that followed,
Leiko and Reston would eventually rekindle their old romance and finally marry.
Early in his crime fighting career, Shang-Chi met another enemy he would befriend years later.
Introduced in Master of Kung Fu #61, Chao Sima was a Triad assassin who earned the
nickname "Skull-Crusher" thanks to his deadly use of his signature weapons:
steel balls bound to his wrists via long chains. Hired to kill Shang-Chi, the pair would battle
multiple times during the Master of Kung Fu series, with Shang-Chi always emerging the victor.
Their relationship radically changed years later in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, however,
when Shang-Chi discovered that Chao Sima and Leiko Wu had fallen in love. After leaving her estranged
husband, Reston, Leiko was deployed by MI6 as an undercover agent in Skull-Crusher's Triad clan.
Wu worked closely with Sima and inspired a change of heart within him. Unfortunately, the couple's
love proved short-lived, as Leiko was eventually discovered and killed by the White Dragon.
Vowing revenge, Skull-Crusher asked Shang-Chi for help, knowing of the hero's love for Leiko.
Although initially distrustful, Shang-Chi eventually agreed to help the former villain
confront and defeat the White Dragon. In a bizarre series of events, however, Skull-Crusher
ultimately sacrificed both himself and the White Dragon in a ritual that resurrected Leiko Wu,
allowing him one last kiss from his beloved before he departed for the afterlife.
"Hey everyone."
Throughout his career, Shang-Chi has worked with many of Marvel's heroes, but perhaps
his single greatest super-heroic friendship lies with none other than Spider-Man himself.
The two heroes first met in 1974's Giant-Size Spider-Man #2, when Shang-Chi's father tricks
the two crime-fighters into a deadly battle. Both convinced that the other is a murderous villain,
the heroes fought to a stand-still until Spider-Man finally realized they've been duped.
United at last, the pair teamed up to stop Zheng Zu and send the villain packing once again.
This adventure was but the first of many meetings between the two heroes,
kicking off a friendship that continues to this day. During the Daredevil-focused Shadowlands
event, Shang-Chi helped Peter keep Mister Negative from expanding his criminal empire.
Later, during 2011's Spider-Island event, a virus began granting people across Manhattan
the same powers and abilities of Spider-Man, including Shang-Chi.
At one point in the storyline, Spider-Man was robbed of his sixth sense, meaning his fighting
abilities took a drastic turn for the worse — luckily, as early as Amazing Spider-Man #666,
Shang-Chi had been training his old friend in the way of martial arts. Working together,
the two heroes had developed a new fighting style they called the "Way of the Spider," which later
helped Peter to regain his Spider-Sense for good. Subsequently, in Amazing Spider-Man #672, Peter
released a device that destroyed the Spider-Sense of every infected person on the island.
Trained for a decade in the mythical city of K'un-Lun,
Danny Rand seized the heart of a dragon to become the Immortal Iron Fist. Illegally experimented on
by a mad scientist while imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, Carl Lucas used his newfound
super-strength and unbreakable skin to reinvent himself as Luke Cage. Together, they are the
Heroes for Hire, one of the only super-powered private detective agencies in the world.
As Marvel's two premiere martial-arts heroes, it's no surprise that Shang-Chi is often paired
up with Iron Fist. The two first met in 1976's Master of Kung Fu Annual #1, when Daniel enlisted
Shang-Chi's help to rescue Colleen Wing. The two teamed up again in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #29,
in which a villain attempted to force the two martial arts masters to fight to the death.
Hired to retrieve a statue from the lawless city of Madripoor, the Heroes for Hire
recruited Colleen Wing, Wolverine, Shen Kuei, and Shang-Chi in 1998's Heroes for Hire #18.
Together, they successfully retrieved the statue and foiled a warlord's attempt to conquer China,
though the private detective agency would disband after they returned to the US.
Despite this adventure, Shang-Chi wouldn't actually meet Luke Cage
until years later in 2006's Black Panther #11, when the young martial arts master and Luke
Cage helped save T'Challa from an arranged marriage to one of Shang-Chi's siblings.
When his solo comic book series finally ended with issue #125 in 1983, Shang-Chi began a long era in
which his only appearances consisted of cameos and brief stints on super-powered teams. After
working with the Heroes for Hire, Shang-Chi found his next super-hero team alongside Daredevil.
Though initially a simple branding initiative featuring Marvel's more
street-level superheroes in adult-oriented stories, Marvel Knights eventually received
its own self-titled ongoing series. It featured a team of heroes brought together by
Daredevil in order to finally deal with the murderous vigilante known as the Punisher.
Formed in 2000's Marvel Knights #1, the initial team included Shang-Chi, Black Widow, and Dagger,
though other heroes would later join or aid the team. And although Daredevil's team never
received an official name, they continued to work together until the series' end,
fighting a number of other threats even after they finished with the Punisher.
Shang-Chi found his next team in the Avengers,
Earth's Mightiest Heroes — though it took a couple of tries to get there.
"Avengers… A-"
His first encounter with the team took place in 2010's Secret Avengers series.
When Steve Rogers' covert-ops branch of the Avengers discovered that a group of villains
known as the Shadow Council were attempting to resurrect Shang-Chi's villainous father,
the former Captain America asked the Master of Kung Fu for help in defeating them.
Rogers' team of Secret Avengers included Sharon Carter, the Beast, Ant-Man, the Black Widow,
Valkyrie, Moon Knight, and War Machine, and together, they helped Shang-Chi discover that his
father's real identity is Zheng Zu, a powerful and immortal sorcerer. The Avengers ultimately
defeated the Shadow Council and ensured that Zheng Zu could not be resurrected.
Shang-Chi officially joined the main Avengers team in 2013's Avengers #1.
Feeling the need to reform the Avengers bigger and better than ever, Captain America and Iron
Man recruited a large team of heroes that included Shang-Chi among its many members.
Outfitted by Tony Stark with high-tech versions of traditional Chinese weaponry,
the martial arts master would help the Avengers defeat such threats as the Garden,
as well as both the Builders and Thanos during the 2013 event Infinity.
When a group of aliens attempted to kidnap the people of earth to create feeding colonies in
Totally Awesome Hulk #16, FBI Agent Jimmy Woo, SHIELD Agent Jake Oh, Ms. Marvel,
Amadeus Cho, Silk, and Shang-Chi joined forces to protect them. After they defeated the aliens,
the six heroes decided to stay together as a team and officially adopted the name "The Protectors."
Then, after the Dark Elf Malekith invaded earth during the 2019 War of the Realms event,
Jimmy Woo convinced several of his Protectors teammates to join the Agents of Atlas.
Formed in War of the Realms: The New Agents of Atlas #1-4,
the Agents were a team of heroes who worked for the Atlas Foundation, a secret society
based in Asia that Woo inherited and decided to use for the good of mankind. The team quickly
received their own self-titled miniseries that ended in 2020 with Agents of Atlas #5.
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