Marvel and Kung Fu

Chapter Three discusses the Asian stereotypes that Marvel Comics carried into the 1970s, from Yellow Peril imagery to that of the hypersexualized Dragon Lady. Marvel’s effort to capitalize on the popularity of Kung Fu films was closely entwined with Yellow Peril stereotypes. The star of the new title Master of Kung Fu, Shang-Chi, was the son of Sax Roehmer’s infamously racist villain Fu Manchu, rights to that character having been secured by Marvel. The white writers and artists often lacked self-awareness about the implications of the book’s trappings. The hero was presented as ashamed of his heritage, yet was always an outsider to the white supporting cast, a phenomenon called “perpetual foreigner syndrome.” Marvel’s next offering was even more problematic: Iron Fist was a white character, guilty of both appropriation and white savior syndrome. One Chinese-American fan, William F. Wu, engaged in a letter-writing campaign that eventually influenced Asian representations.