Jiang Li

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). Publication history 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. Englehart and Starlin developed Shang-Chi, a master of kung fu and a previously unknown son of Dr. Fu Manchu. 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. 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. 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)