Zheng Zu

Zheng Zu (Chinese: 鄭祖), originally known as Fu Manchu, is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Based on Sax Rohmer's character of the same name, he is the leader of the Five Weapons Society criminal organization and the father and arch-enemy of Shang-Chi. The character debuted in Special Marvel Edition #15 (cover-dated December 1973) in the Bronze Age of Comic Books, under the name "Fu Manchu", based on the Sax Rohmer character of the same name and adapted into Marvel Comics by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin. Due to Marvel losing the rights to the Fu Manchu character in 1983, the character was referred to simply as "Shang-Chi's father" and by a number of aliases over the following decades, before his name was changed to "Zheng Zu" in 2010. Tony Leung Chiu-wai portrays a character partially inspired by Fu Manchu called Xu Wenwu in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). Publication history The character of Dr. Fu Manchu was created in 1913 by Sax Rohmer. 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. After Marvel's license with the Rohmer estate expired, Master of Kung Fu was cancelled in 1983. in some of his modern appearances, mention is made of his villainous father either in cryptic terms or using a variety of new names. 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 was Zheng Zu (Chinese: 鄭祖); in this arc, Zheng Zu's organization is called Hai-Dai. Shang-Chi's half sister Fah Lo Suee was later renamed Zheng Bao Yu in 2013's The Fearless Defenders #8, written by Cullen Bunn.