K-Drama and MCU fans, you’ve been waiting for this! Everyone’s favorite leading man and our K-Drama king, Park Seo-joon, officially joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
The first look of the trailer for the new MCU installment, The Marvels, has just been released today and we are more than ecstatic. The Marvels follows the previous installment of Captain Marvel, the film that foreran The Avengers: Endgame in the first phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While very little have been disclosed about his role, the upcoming film is set to be directed by Candyman’s Nia DaCosta, that started filming in 2021 and is set for release this November.
Screenshot from Marvel Entertainment YouTube channel
Park Seo-joon is known for his roles in Hwarang, Fight for My Way, the ever-famous What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?, and another cult-favorite, Itaewon Class. And ICYMI, the South Korean actor has also made a well-received cameo at the game-changing Oscar-winning film Parasite, where he appeared opposite close friend Choi Woo-shik, which easily could have been a breadcrumbs left for us, fans, early on, to mark his upcoming appearance in another globally-released film.
See PSJ make his way to Hollywood screens in this teaser released earlier today:
The Great strides for Asian representation ensues
If this does not make us all cheer (and finger-heart if you will), his upcoming global debut comes on the heels of the efforts made and eventually achieved by those who came before him.
Alongside Park Seo-Joon’s introduction to Hollywood, Squid Game star Lee Jung-Jae, earlier on, was reported to land the male lead in the Lucas Film Star Wars series The Acolyte. Recent momentous wins of genre-bending film, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, which stars the amazing predominantly Asian cast of Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu, also marked a milestone for the community with its runaway success, most recent of which was no less than the Academy Awards.
More Asians have been braving the West, too, just like global superstars BTS who have been sweeping awards left and right in their home country, South Korea, and selling out huge arenas in the United States; and our very own Filipina pride, Dolly De Leon, who was recently nominated at BAFTAs and the Golden Globe Awards.
More recently, Netflix has just released a critically-lauded series, Beef, starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who both act as executive producers to what is touted by many as one of the most effective series to come out of the streaming platform in years. Before all of this, the hit film Crazy Rich Asians, from the novel of the same title by Kevin Kwan, which starred Yeoh, with Henry Golding, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Ken Jeong, and of course, has seen massive box office success from film fans around the globe.
In today’s time, these remarkable icons play a significant part of a great cause: that is Asian representation. The breadth of how Asians are being represented today, more than as laughable caricatures in films and series, greatly impact how people of other races see Asians in different aspects and in life. The growth of Asian visibility goes beyond veering away from harmful one-dimensional stereotypes of how the world sees Asian people.
With racial discrimination continuing to be commonplace, we have seen how Asians have long been subject to harassment, hate crimes, and other forms of violence for their ethnicities, which makes the call for visibility all the more important. Representation—to be seen and to be heard for what we are, where we’re from, and why we’re here is and should be more than just a buzzword and while significant strides have been made, the road for respect for one’s identity is still far from perfect. But trust and believe, we’ll be here.
Additional text: Leo Balante