Before landing his breakout role as Jung Kim in the award-winning CBC Television series Kim’s Convenience, Simu Liu, HBA’11, swung into action doing birthday parties dressed as Spider-Man. But he never removed his mask because he “was Asian and Spider-Man wasn’t Asian.”

But with great power comes great responsibility, right?

The Western alumnus is literally changing the face of superheroes as he joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe this fall as its first Asian superhero.

Following a pandemic delay, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is set for global release on Sept. 3, 2021 and Liu stars as the titular superhero.

When not kicking butt in the Marvel U, Liu is penning We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story. The forthcoming memoir, published by HarperCollins, is coming May 15, 2023.

A UNICEF Canada ambassador and powerful voice against anti-Asian racism, Liu is developing a number of TV and film projects with his production company 4:12 Entertainment, specifically for sharing the stories of Asian Americans.