is Marvel's first film with an Asian-led cast. Liu had asked about playing the role on Twitter in December 2018 when the movie was revealed to be in development. After several production and release delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was released in theaters on 3 September 2021, garnering positive critical reception and achieving commercial success. A sequel is planned. In September 2021, it was revealed that Liu will lead the English-language voice cast of Bright: Samurai Soul, a Netflix anime film which premiered on 12 October. In February 2022, Liu joined the cast of Greta Gerwig's Barbie film for Warner Bros. and thriller film Hello Stranger directed by April Mullen. Both Liu and NBA player Jeremy Lin had guest appearances as caricaturized versions of themselves in Malaysian comedian Ronny Chieng's Netflix short Ronny Chieng Takes Chinatown (2022). In December 2022, Liu was a guest narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional. Other work and public image In 2014, Liu was paid $100 to model for a set of stock photos for FatCamera; the photos appeared in subway stations, advertisements, storefronts, pamphlets, and textbook covers. The photos received widespread media coverage upon Liu's mainstream acting breakthrough in 2021. Liu is also a filmmaker, producer, and writer. Liu's first work in this area was Open Gym, a short film he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in that debuted at the 2013 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. He has directed, produced, and written several other shorts, including Crimson Defender vs. The Slightly Racist Family (2015). In 2016, Liu helped write Blood and Water, during which he helped break the story for the show and wrote an episode for its second season. In 2017, Liu worked with Wong Fu Productions on their short Meeting Mommy (2017), which he wrote and produced with Tina Jung. It was released in February 2018 on the Wong Fu Productions YouTube channel. In 2018, he founded his own film production company, 4:12 Entertainment, and began developing long-form film projects under it. In December 2017, Liu wrote for Maclean's magazine about his experiences growing up in an immigrant family. The article appeared in the January 2018 issue. His memoir, We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story, was published by HarperCollins on 17 May 2022. In March 2021, Liu published a column in Variety detailing the effects of Asian hate crimes and how "rhetoric like 'the China virus'