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Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Reading Order

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Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Reading Order

In the early 70s in the United States, the United States was bitten by a craze for all things kung fu. It was during that particular cultural time that Shang-Chi was created. At first, writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin wanted to adapt the television series Kung Fu into a comic book. They approached DC Comics with their proposition, as the parent company, Warner Communications, owned the rights to the series. DC passed as they thought that this interest in Asian martial arts will soon pass.

The duo went to see Marvel, still determined to do a comic book focused on kung fu. Contrary to DC, Marvel Comics was more into kung fu and even acquired the rights to Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu stories. So they were interested in Englehart and Starlin’s proposition, with the demand they include Fu Manchu in their stories. They agreed and created Zheng Shang-Chi as the unknown son of Fu Manchu, who would rebel against his father and become a hero in his own right. Marvel would later lose the comic book rights to Fu Manchu and had to downplay the connection between the two characters until they just renamed Shang-Chi’s father Zheng Zu. Unfortunately for Shang-Chi, these copyright issues will result in fewer appearances on his part during a time.

Shang-Chi was introduced in Special Marvel Edition #15 (Dec. 1973) before the title was renamed The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. Thanks to all the martial arts popularity, the title became quite popular and survived the 70s, going into the early 80s, until issue #125 (June 1983). During that time, Shang-Chi is more of an independent hero, as he doesn’t interact a lot with other Marvel characters.

This changed with time, as Shang-Chi became more immersed in the world of superheroes, appeared in several events, joined Heroes for Hire, The Avengers, The New Agents of Atlas, and mentored and trained heroes like Spider-Man. And now, Shang-Chi is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he is played by Simu Liu. 

Discover more about Shang-Chi in our reading order!

Shang-Chi Reading Order

Notes on collections: Marvel Omnibus is a line of large-format graphic novel editions of reprinted comics. They often contain complete runs, either by collecting multiple consecutive issues or by focusing on the works of a particular writer or artist. The Epic Collection line is a numbered collection of sequential issues of one title (large, full-color trade paperback), sometimes including crossovers from related titles, starting from the beginning of a character – not always released sequentially.

Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu (1974-1983, 1988 & 1990)

Master of Kung Fu went from 1974 to 1983. It was first written by Englehart (with Starlin on artwork) before Doug Moench took over the writing duties by issue #20 and stayed to the end of the title. Marvel published concurrently The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, a black and white martial arts magazine. it ran 33 issues through 1977, centered on a cast of recurring characters including Shang-Chi. He was not the focus but appeared next to White Tiger, Iron Fist, The Sons of the Tiger, and The Daughters of the Dragon (Colleen Wing and Misty Knight).

Following the cancellation of those two titles, Shang-Chi almost disappeared except for Marvel Comics Presents (1988) and Master of Kung Fu: Bleeding Black #1 (1990).

Shang-Chi Master of Kung-Fu Omnibus Vol. 1 Reading Order

Omnibus line:

Epic Collection:

Wolverine LogoThough published in 2008, Wolverine: First Class #9 tells a story taking place in the early 80s where Wolverine takes on Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu!

Shang-Chi (1992-1998)

As the 1970s boom in martial arts appearances in pop culture passed and until the resurgence in 2000 (with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Shang-Chi kind of faded into obscurity. He did pop up on occasion on several titles as a guest star or even as lead for a short arc.

Shang-Chi, Team member (2000-2011)

The noughties were a time of events and partnership for Shang-Chi, as the Master of Kung Fu first teams up with the Marvel Knights before joining Misty Knight and Colleen Wing as part of their Heroes for Hire team of investigators during the Civil War.

Author Doug Moench is reunited with Shang-Chi for this out-of-continuity MAX Series which offers a more modern take on the character.

From one event to another. After Civil War and World War Hulk, Shang-Chi is one of the heroes fighting the Hands in Shadowland and plays a more important part during Spider-Island. Between the two, Shang-Chi joined the Secret Avengers to take down his father, now named Zheng Zu.

Shang-Chi is an Avenger in Marvel Now (2012 – 2015)

As Marvel entered a new era, Shang-Chi became a more important character, as a member of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers, as part of Avengers World, and finally as the star of his own miniseries written by Mike Benson. For more details about the superhero team, check out our Complete Avengers reading order.

Time Runs Out for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the Illuminati in the last part of Jonathan Hickman’s run on The Avengers, leading us to Secret Wars (see reading order) and the end of a Marvel era.

All-New, All-Different Shang-Chi (2015-2017)

Shang-Chi appears in a few issues of Secret Empire (see reading order), and becomes a member of the Protectors, a group of Asian-American heroes consisting of Hulk (Amadeus Cho), Agent Jake Oh, Jimmy Woo, Ms. Marvel, and Silk.

Shang-Chi Fresh Start (2018-)

The Protectors make their comeback during The War of Realms (got to the full Reading Order). More specifically, the same characters teamed up in Asia and formed The New Agents of Atlas. Shang-Chi is, again, part of the team, though his role is minor.

In 2021, Shang-Chi made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No doubt about it, it helped to offer more visibility to the character with a new miniseries by Gene Luen Yang and Dike Ruan in 2020 to reintroduce Shang-Chi as a leader of the kung fu clan, the House of the Deadly Hand. It is followed by an ongoing series by the same team.

Discover the true origin of the Ten Rings starts here from Gene Luen Yang and Marcus To in:

The story continues…

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