Audiences Are Angry China's Classic Hero Has Been Made to Look Like 'Iron Man'

TRENDING: China’s AI Chip Leaders Ride IPO Wave Amid Drive for Tech Self-Sufficiency; Huawei’s Ren Downplays Chip Shortage, Touts AI for Industrial Value

LATEST: Huawei’s Ren Downplays Chip Shortage, Touts AI for Industrial Value; China’s AI Chip Leaders Ride IPO Wave Amid Drive for Tech Self-Sufficiency; Tsing Micro Raises Over 2 Billion Yuan in State-Backed Round as China Ramps Up AI Chip Push; Synthetic Biology at Scale Could Reshape Food and Materials Systems, Expert Says; ByteDance in Talks With Smartphone Makers to Embed AI Assistant; Lenovo Executive Urges AI Startups to Take On Tech Giants; Infinigence AI Raises 500 Million Yuan to Expand Heterogeneous Computing Platform; Alibaba’s Quark Unit Launches AI Glasses Powered by Qianwen Model; Pony AI Plans to Triple Robotaxi Fleet to 3,000 by 2026 as Revenue Jumps; China’s Semiconductor Software Push Gains Traction Amid U.S. Curbs; Alibaba Scales Back Retail Spending, Dismisses AI Bubble Fears; Huawei Slashes Flagship Phone Price Amid Slowing Shipments; China’s CXMT Takes Aim at Global Leaders With High-End DDR5 Memory Chips; Alibaba’s Profit Plunges 72% on Costly Foray Into Instant Retail; Xiaomi, Founder Stem Stock Rout With $115 Million Buyback; Analysis: Soaring Legacy Chip Prices Spark Windfall — and Risk — Across Supply Chain; Alibaba, Ant Race to Catch Rivals in China’s AI App Boom; New Flight System Targets ‘Blind Spots’ in China’s Low-Altitude Economy; Cover Story: The AI Boom’s Unsettling Paradox; AI Keeps China, U.S. From Decoupling Despite Trade Tensions, Insiders Say

By Dave Yin / Dec 21, 2018 12:12 PM / Society & Culture

How the Monkey King is supposed to look. Photo: VCG

Marvel fans in China are finding this East-West fusion hard to swallow.

The latest of a long line of big-screen reimaginings of the classic Chinese novel “Journey to the West depicts the hero Monkey King in futuristic, AI-powered metallic armor. Sound familiar? Netizens likened the character in the trailer to that of Marvel film “Iron Man,” South China Morning Post reported Friday.

A still from the trailer.

The backlash has been so fierce that Tencent has now pulled the trailer from its video-streaming service, Tencent Video, South China Morning Post reported Friday.

The streaming release of the full-length film, “Armored War God Monkey King,” will no longer go forward. An official Weibo account promoting the film, which was produced by Beijing’s Daishu Movie and Guangzhou’s Grandmet Presentation, has been deleted, according to SCMP. You can, however, still view the trailer on YouTube here.

Share this article

Open WeChat and scan the QR code