Marvel Rivals omits Shang Chi, sparking speculations. Is it due to Simu Liu’s past comments on China which drew backlash? Let’s find out.

Marvel Rivals is currently one of the most popular hero shooter games in the market. The title made by Chinese developers, NetEase Games absolutely blew up when it was first released in December 2024 and has an average player count of more than 200,000 players per day.

Who is this character that NetEast chose to omit? | Image Credits: NetEase Games

This free-to-play game was published in collaboration with Marvel Games and was released for various platforms like the PlayStation 5, Xbox series X/S, and Windows.

Marvel Rivals has an ever-growing plethora of playable characters, 37 to be exact, each character bringing their own unique abilities to the game. Then why is NetEase refusing to add this one character to the Marvel Rivals who is the counter for the most broken character? Let’s find out.

Is NetEase avoiding Shang Chi because of Simu Liu?

Controversial comments made by Shang Chi actor | Image Credits: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Marvel Rivals took the world by storm when it was launched. NetEase used the constantly expanding fan base of Marvel and gave them a hero shooter so fans of Marvel could play with their favorite characters. Some of these famous characters include Iron Man, Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and much more. There is one hero in the Marvel Universe that gets overshadowed by Iron Fist and that character is Shang Chi.

Shang Chi a.k.a the Master of Kung Fu debuted first in the comic book Special Marvel Edition #15 in December 1983. A film was later adapted in 2021 starring Simu Liu. The film was the first big-budget superhero film that featured an Asian actor and it received generally favourable reviews. Although Shang Chi did pretty well in the Box Office, the movie was not released in China because of a controversy surrounding Simu Liu.

In a 2017 interview (now deleted) with the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), Liu described China as this third-world country where people are dying of starvation. He further commented about how his family left China when he was five and how his parents thought Canada would be a better place for Liu to grow up.

These statements quickly went viral on the Chinese social media app Weibo, drawing significant backlash against Liu. Since then, Chinese netizens have harbored a lingering resentment towards Liu.

Why is NetEase reluctant to bring Shang Chi to Marvel Rivals?

NetEase raised eyebrows by not adding Shang Chi in Marvel Rivals | Image Credits: NetEase Games

Marvel Rivals developer, NetEase Games is a Chinese internet technology company based in the Hangzhou region of China. Although NetEase Games dwell in mobile games and some collaborative games like Diablo Immortal, made in collaboration with Blizzard. The Chinese gaming company has been known to align with national sentiment.

NetEase Games, being a Chinese company that values its national sentiment, might have taken the Simu Liu controversy into account when making character selection decisions for Marvel Rivals. If the company perceived Liu’s comments as controversial or disrespectful to China, it could have influenced their decision to exclude Shang Chi from the game.

While all this remains speculation, it wouldn’t be the first time a Chinese gaming or entertainment company has made decisions based on their political or national sentiment.

Whether this move by NetEase was deliberate or just a creative decision, the fact that Shang Chi is not in Marvel Rivals certainly raised a lot of eyebrows among fans.