Though it hasn’t been officially announced (possibly because almost nothing has been announced for Marvel’s post-Phase Three universe), Marvel is reportedly developing a movie about Shang-Chi, the martial artist hero of its cult series Master of Kung Fu. Late last year came word that the movie was in development; now The Hollywood Reporter says its found its director, Destin Daniel Cretton.

Per THR, Cretton beat out several talented candidates:

Other filmmakers who were in the running included Dear White People's Justin Tipping, Alan Yang, who is behind the upcoming John Cho movie Tigertail, and Deborah Chow, whose credits include episodes of Reign, Jessica Jones and the upcoming Star Wars Disney+ series The Mandalorian.

Shang-Chi would be Cretton’s first movie of this kind of scale. He previously directed The Glass Castle and the terrific indie Short Term 12, both of which coincidentally featured Marvel’s newest star, Brie Larson, in one of her early breakout roles. Cretton’s actually working with Larson again right now, on an upcoming release called Just Mercy.

Short Term 12 is an amazing movie, one of my favorites of the last decade. What if anything it has to do with something like Shang-Chi, which you imagine will be a frenetic action flick, is beyond me. (Short Term 12 is about the employees and residents of a group home for troubled kids.) And given how disappointing the action has been in so many Marvel movies, if Cretton does eventually make this film, he is going to have a big task ahead of him.

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