'Shang-Chi' hits theaters, showing how Marvel flipped the script on Hollywood

As "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" hits theaters, it's a stark illustration of how Marvel has flipped the script on the pop-culture equation.

In the 1970s, Marvel's efforts to translate its characters to the screen were often tales of frustration. Today, comic books have become the life's blood of movies and TV commercially, with Marvel emerging as the industry's most reliable box-office draw, Warner Bros. throwing resources into DC and streaming services seemingly adapting one graphic novel after another. Marvel introduced Shang-Chi as the son of the villainous Fu Manchu, after having sought to adapt "Kung Fu" into comic-book form. Unable to do so the company moved on, and when artist Paul Gulacy came aboard he rendered the central character as a striking likeness to Lee, who died in 1973.