Simu Liu was scammed by a Spider-Man on Hollywood Boulevard on his first L.A. visit

“I didn't have $20 to give him,” the “Shang-Chi” star said.

Simu Liu is reflecting on an enemy he made during his first visit to Los Angeles: a not-so-friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

During an interview with Jesse Tyler Ferguson on Dinner's On Me, the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings actor recalled an unfortunate encounter with a swindling web-slinger on Hollywood Boulevard. “I remember I was taking photos of the Chinese Theater and a Spider-Man came up to me and was like, ‘I'll help you!’” the actor remembered.

Alas, Liu’s spider-sense didn’t alert him to the insidious plot that was about to unfold. “And then he took a bunch of photos of me, and then he took some selfies of himself, and then he was like, ‘That'll be $20!’” the actor said. “And that was mortifying for me, because I didn't have $20 to give him. Core memory, clearly.”

Ferguson interjected to contextualize Liu’s history with the wall-crawler. “Didn’t you also, for a bit of time while you were still in Canada, weren’t you a Spider-Man at kids’ parties?”

“Yeah, I was,” Liu confirmed. “So I knew his life. I had empathy for him, except I wasn’t going up to random strangers and asking for money. It was an agreed-upon rate, and I was being hired. He should really look into that. You do what you’ve gotta do.”

In the same interview, Liu also recalled getting in shape for Shang-Chi. “I was in the best shape of my life, Jesse, I swear to God, I was in the best shape of my life,” Liu said. “I had gotten to Australia in October of the year before and basically just worked out. I did nothing but work out. I basically lived in the gym until we started shooting.” Unfortunately, production began in February 2020, which meant disaster when COVID-19 hit the set. “I'm not even kidding you, the day before my big shirtless fight scene, we shut down,” he said.

Hopefully Liu can overcome his difficult past with Spider-Man when Shang-Chi inevitably meets Peter Parker in one of Marvel Studios’ upcoming crossover movies.

Listen to the full Dinner’s On Me episode above.

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