Simu Liu delivered payback to a kid who once said he wasn’t Spider-Man in his opening monologue for his debut as host of Saturday Night Live! The Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star has had quite the busy year thanks to the release of the starring role Marvel Cinematic Universe film, and one thing Liu has been open about is his journey to becoming the first Asian superhero in the Marvel extended film canon. With his opening monologue as host of Saturday Night Live, Liu took the time to open up about one particular surprising struggle.
Not only did Liu reference the new famous tweet of his pitch to Marvel about an Asian superhero, but one final story definitely was his form of payback. Opening up about his previous work as a costume actor at one kid’s birthday party, he was told that he couldn’t be Spider-Man. Liu had gotten emotional as he revealed how this helped him fight harder for his best life, and with it was able to finally tell that kid that yes, he isn’t Spider-Man, but he’s Shang-Chi. Though he put a lot more spice on it. It’s a spice that you should check out for yourself below:
Simu’s Monologue! pic.twitter.com/Yjzyv6aY81
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) November 21, 2021
Liu has opened up in the past about his struggle for not only better Asian representation in media, and in a heartfelt letter to fans talked about another monumental moment in his past of playing a costume hero, “When I was struggling to make ends meet as an actor I took on a side job a superhero performer for kids’ birthday parties. I could be any hero that didn’t directly show their face, because we all know that there we no Asian superheroes out there,” Liu began. “One day a Batman her had to cancel last minute and I was brought in to do the show. I had never shown my face before and was pretty anxious about how the kids would react. I wasn’t prepared for how heartbroken I would be when I was pointed out by, of all people, a young Asian boy who said, ‘You can’t be Batman! You look like me!'”
Liu then promised this same kid, “Kid, I promise you, you will never see your superhero onscreen one day. I am working hard everyday to make that happen.” And as the monologue shows (with a little comedic spice, of course) Liu indeed was successful at making his dream of becoming a superhero true. But what do you think? How did you like Simu Liu‘s opening monologue as Saturday Night Live host? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!