There are plenty of perks that come with playing one of Marvel's heroes in the ever-growing MCU. It can be a great stepping stone for young, lesser-known actors to make their mark, and newcomer Simu Liu is no exception. After his star-making turn in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Liu has been catapulted into the public consciousness.
The Canadian actor has already been having a lot of fun during the film's promotional stage, including getting to see his face on a billboard in Toronto. This weekend, he was also given the honor of throwing out the first pitch during a San Francisco Giants home game. While celebrities throwing out the first pitch has sometimes yielded embarrassing results, Liu was one of the more impressive examples, throwing a perfect strike right over the plate.
While the pitch might have been easily blasted out of the park by a professional baseball player, it was still an impressive showing. However, the Marvel star didn't stop at throwing a truly impressive pitch. He capped it off with a flawless backflip on the pitcher's mound, just to show the world that his and his character's skillsets probably aren't that far off. Video of the pitch was shared by the official Major League Baseball Twitter account, but Liu had his own commentary to add in a separate tweet, writing "That pitch was like 500% faster in my head."
It was appropriate that Liu was throwing out his first pitch at Oracle Park in San Francisco, as that is the city where Shang-Chi starts his journey. However, it isn't long his past catches up to him, and he is thrust back into the world of the Ten Rings, leading him to Macau, his father's compound, and eventually the mythical village of Ta-Lo. Liu himself has been on quite the journey as well, going from a starring role in Canadian sitcom Kim's Convenience to leading The latest MCU film, a massive shift that he was able to sum up in one tweet.
Liu may not have broken any records with his first pitch, but Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has already set a new Labor Day Record, with the highest box office for the long weekend since 2007's Halloween remake. There's no telling when Shang-Chi will next appear in the MCU, but if the film is anything to go by, he still has plenty of adventures ahead of him.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is currently in theaters.