Simu Liu has just revealed that Shang-Chi will be officially returning to the MCU a lot sooner than we expected, in an upcoming Disney+ project set to release later on this year.

Thank you in advance to The Direct’s Richard Nebens for the source (per AP Entertainment).

The last time we had Simu Liu back in the MCU was in 2024, following the release of the Disney+ series What If…?’s third season.

We haven’t seen him back in live action since 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings however… and you won’t be seeing him back in live action this year either, but Simu Liu will be returning for a new animated Disney+ series this year.

In a recent interview with AP Entertainment at the premiere of Liu’s latest film Last Breath, the actor was asked if he would be reprising his role as Shang-Chi in the upcoming series Marvel Zombies.

“You know, I think, yeah… I think that’s been confirmed,” Liu replied.

“We had a couple of What If…? episodes come out recently and… I had the opportunity to be in the voice booth a little bit for that and also potentially for other things. So, it was a lot of fun and I’m excited for people to see the next one…”

Given that Disney brought almost every single MCU actor back for What If…?’s third season, it’s not much of a surprise that Liu is returning for its spin-off Marvel Zombies – but it is nice to have it confirmed at least.

The real question is whether or not Shang-Chi will be popping up in one of the MCU’s live-action series or films any time soon.

Surely he’s going to appear in either 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday or 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars, considering every MCU actor is rumoured to be in both, but unfortunately we don’t have any confirmation that he will.

And as far as Shang-Chi 2 is concerned, who knows at this point? Bit weird they haven’t followed up one of their best films in the last five years with a sequel, but hey, I’m sure there’s a good reason for it.