With Shang-Chi's almost certain success, will DC promote its Asian heroes more?

[Robotman]

Cassandra Cain is basically Batgirl again.

I really would prefer it if she went by the name Black Bat. Join Dick Grayson and Jason Todd as Batfamily members who graduated to new and better characters/monikers.

[9th.]

Mulan wasn't MCU, and there was news before it came out about how far it deviated from the original property.

The actress also got canceled on social media iirc, so that didn't help any.

[Vakanai]

I mean, Black Panther and Spiderverse were undeniably successful and DC has yet to find a real answer to either Miles or T'Challa; so they could just as well fumble the ball here. now, granted, that was the old regime, so hopefully the new camp fares better with pushing heroes of color.

I definitely think Cassandra Cain, New Super-man, and Katana are the ideal choices to promote in the wake of Shang-Chi, given they all have distinctive and compelling cultural elements to explore. however, given what Williamson is doing with Damian over in Robin and the asian race bending of Richard Dragon in Soul of the Dragon, I wouldn't be surprised if they pull a Kyle Rayner and just start playing up one of them as their flagship asian character.

Richard Dragon isn't Asian? Huh. Only know him from that movie.

[OopsIdiditagain]

"Almost certain success"

They said the same about Mulan.

People also predicted live action Mulan flopping due to the lack of Chinese writers/directors despite it being a more "accurate" historical take on the cartoon.

[Frontier]

I really would prefer it if she went by the name Black Bat. Join Dick Grayson and Jason Todd as Batfamily members who graduated to new and better characters/monikers.

I don't think they can legally use Black Bat.

[km_sus]

I don't think they can legally use Black Bat.

Black Bat is kind of a dry name anyway. Maybe they should use another bird? How about Crow or something? Or is that opening up another can of legal worms?

[Kaijudo]

I'd love to see DC do something with Tsunami. Good character with a good history/power set and her relationships with Neptune Perkins and Indigo/Deep Blue in David's Aquaman made for a really fun family dynamic.

[John Venus]

The easy answer would be to adapt the Great Ten, get some actual Chinese writers and directors on it, weed out all the problematic stuff and repackage it as at the DC Chinese superhero team.

Of course, this being DC, they will probably do something weird instead, like adapt the YA novel where Bruce Wayne was a 'Crazy Rich Asian' or try to bring back Keanue Constantine. Nothing wrong with race bending but they have been doing that a lot lately but I would rather see them build up their existing base of minority characters.

I suspect the Richard Dragon animated movie they made was in response to the Shang Chi movie. Like the animated Suicide Squad movie I believe they were testing waters for a live action movie if it sold well enough.

DC has quite a few Asian male characters who could be leads: Bushido, Ryan Choi, Rising Sun, Super Young Team, Mr. Unknown/Jiro Osamu and a few others I'm forgetting but developing them for the big screen or the small screen requires them to be more proactive than they are now.

Richard Dragon isn't Asian? Huh. Only know him from that movie.

Richard Dragon first debuted in a novel that Denny O'Neill wrote under a pseudonym. He was Asian in that but when he was brought over into the DCU, he was white. The movie took him back to his roots so to speak. A white martial arts master isn't going to work in today's culture when so few Asian males can get a spot light. DC currently doesn't even have an ongoing with an Asian male lead at the moment.

[John Venus]

I don't think they can legally use Black Bat.

Then how about 'The Bat'? :P

[titanfan]

Katana has always gotten a decent push. Imho, she's one of the "chosen ones" that DC has chosen to market. I could see her coming back for future installments of Suicide Squad (which should have a rotating cast anyway).

Shiva is also a good choice, she's a compelling character. Cassandra Cain was in Harley and there was supposedly an idea for more appearances (where she could slowly morph into comics Cassandra over time) I do think that her best bet might be to eventually dump the Batgirl name if they want Barbara Gordon back in there for media.

Ryan Choi also pretty popular but has the same thing in terms of fighting for fans of Ray Palmer.

Kimiyo Hoshi at one point was a Justice League member, but I also feel Identity Crisis ruined her as much as it did Arthur Light. No one seems to want to touch the character after that.

Dan Didio's OMAC is a sleeper character, especially if he has any influence leftover.

One good thing is that there are now a handful of Asian actors and actresses who are probably now on solidly on the "Hollywood B-List" that have the potential of being bigger draws with the right role.

Knowing DC though, we'll end up with "Surprise! Hal Jordan is an Asian American now!"

[Vakanai]

New Super-Man should get a movie. Avoid the mistakes Mulan made, make a billion dollars in China. Build up to a Justice League of China organically. Basically do like they should have done for the real Justice League. Follow the MCU game plan.

[Agent Z]

The easy answer would be to adapt the Great Ten, get some actual Chinese writers and directors on it, weed out all the problematic stuff and repackage it as at the DC Chinese superhero team.

Of course, this being DC, they will probably do something weird instead, like adapt the YA novel where Bruce Wayne was a 'Crazy Rich Asian' or try to bring back Keanue Constantine. Nothing wrong with race bending but they have been doing that a lot lately but I would rather see them build up their existing base of minority characters.

I suspect the Richard Dragon animated movie they made was in response to the Shang Chi movie. Like the animated Suicide Squad movie I believe they were testing waters for a live action movie if it sold well enough.

DC has quite a few Asian male characters who could be leads: Bushido, Ryan Choi, Rising Sun, Super Young Team, Mr. Unknown/Jiro Osamu and a few others I'm forgetting but developing them for the big screen or the small screen requires them to be more proactive than they are now.



Richard Dragon first debuted in a novel that Denny O'Neill wrote under a pseudonym. He was Asian in that but when he was brought over into the DCU, he was white. The movie took him back to his roots so to speak. A white martial arts master isn't going to work in today's culture when so few Asian males can get a spot light. DC currently doesn't even have an ongoing with an Asian male lead at the moment.

Did not know Richard Dragon was originally Asian. Interesting.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I think there's a lot of potential in Wing and Chop-Chop, who were already completely revamped to great effect by Post-Crisis. Those two characters were ridiculous ugly stereotypes in the 40s adventures, but both were re-contextualized into a pair of really interesting characters.

I think Wing gives you the perspective of an Asian refugee in America while Weng Chang could show you the globe from the earliest days of WW2 alongside the Blackhawks.

I mean, Wing is pretty much Kato in all but name, just as the Crimson Avenger is the Green Hornet.

[Robotman]

It’s a bummer that DC needs to be coaxed financially into pushing POC characters. Marvel finding success with Black Panther and Luke Cage made them hurry and green light the Black Lightning show. Hopefully Shang Chi finds success and DC responds. But it still sucks that they need so much convincing to promote their minority characters.

[HsssH]

I'm kinda baffled by this thread. Why does DC need to have an answer for Black Panther, Miles or Shang-Chi? Why do we need more Asian stereotypes in comics? I did pick up recent Shangi-Chi mini due to Yang writing it, but at no point I felt like I want DC to do something similar or somehow capitalise on his possible success. I'd rather DC focused on what makes it unique instead of trying and failing to copy Marvel.