Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu has evidently seen Moon Knight and does not approve of actor Ethan Hawke's attempt at speaking Mandarin.
On social media, Liu wrote, "Alright Arthur Harrow needs to fire his Mandarin teacher." This is in reference to Moon Knight's second episode, "Summon the Suit," in which Harrow briefly utters a few phrases in attempted Mandarin to one of his disciples, explaining that each member of their community tries to learn three languages.
Where Harrow's disciple can be heard saying (roughly translated from Mandarin), "You're still a loser," many Mandarin speakers found Harrow's lines incomprehensible, with some criticizing Marvel Studios, which notably produced Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, for seemingly being unable to provide Hawke with corrections or guidance regarding his pronunciation and tones. There are other significant grammatical errors present in the dialogue. All that being said, it is worth noting Harrow's community simply aims to learn different languages and is not shown to possess any language teachers.
Since Liu was cast as Shang-Chi in the 2021 film, the actor has been vocal about Asian representation in film and television. He previously went so far as to call being Asian his "superpower." He said at the 19th annual Unforgettable Gala, "There are so many people here tonight fighting the good fight… showing me what it means to be unapologetically Asian... The more I think about it, the more it feels like a super power." He then acknowledged other Asian actors who have been "fighting this war for representation, for so much longer than I have," before urging Asian talent to "show the world how f**king cool it is to be Asian."
The second episode of Moon Knight saw Steven Grant confront his alter, Marc Spector and uncover details of Spector's life-- his past life as a mercenary, his marriage and his deal with the Egyptian moon god, Khonshu. It also marked the first appearance of Mr. Knight, in the show. The alter was shown to be Grant's attempt at summoning the Moon Knight suit, allowing him to possess the strength of the Fist of Khonshu, while also retaining his own mind. However, he was ultimately forced to surrender his body to Marc Spector and Moon Knight, in order to defeat the jackal beast Harrow summoned.
Moon Knight director Mohamed Diab previously spoke about the Mr. Knight suit, revealing that the original plan was to give it to Marc Spector. "Ironically, we started with Steven having Moon Knight and Marc having Mr. Knight, but that's one of the best things about taking your time and developing things," Diab said. "You start realizing no, no, no, this costume is for this guy. This is what works for them."
New episodes of Moon Knight are released on Wednesdays on Disney+.
Source: Twitter
