Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: What the First Trailer Says

News culture Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: What the First Trailer Says

The Marvel Cinematic Kung Funiverse

The ranks of the MCU include people with advanced technology, gods, extraterrestrial beings, and even wizards. The MCU had never really cared about the martial arts world, even when Black Widow and Consort succeeded in a fight without seeking the purity of a combat confrontation. Disney is trying to seduce the Chinese market, that’s a fact, but seems to want to do it with the way. The Marvel Cinematic Kung Funiverse is quoted in insider circles. OK the name is high but it sets the tone. The first trailer promises high-profile fights inspired by Asian martial arts cinema, keeping in mind the golden age of Hong Kong art. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings fit into the MCU and take place both before and after the Thanos orchestrated BLIP that wipes out half the population of the universe. As a reminder, the film was due to be released in France in September 2021.

Who is Shang-Chi?

Let’s start by answering a crucial question. Who is Shang-Chi? If the answer makes sense to some comic book fans, this hero remains a mystery to fans of the MCU and only the MCU. Shang-Chi is a House of Ideas character created by screenwriter Steve Englehart and cartoonists Al Milgrom and Jim Starlin. The master of Kung Fu first appears in the December 1973 comic book special Marvel Edition # 15. Obviously, the MCU version takes the original character’s freedom. Shang-Chi, played by Simu Liu (actor in the SF series The Expanse), is a martial artist here who was trained at a young age by his father Wenwu aka The Mandarin. We’ll come back to this character a little later. Shang-Chi strives to live his own life and escape his father’s grip. He flees to San Francisco, but it comes as no surprise that his past catches up with him.

The return of the mandarin

The Mandarin is back or should we finally say between ourselves. Fans bitterly remember the version of Iron Man 3, a simple puppet played by Ben Kingsley, and therefore ultimately a pale copy of Tony Stark’s most famous antagonist. Fortunately, under popular pressure, the short film All Hail the King revived the image of the tangerine and set the record straight. It is the actor Tony Leung Chiu Wai, whom you probably know for his roles in Infernal Affair, Hero and The Grandmaster, who gives his features to the real Mandarin, leader of the criminal organization of the 10 rings. Wenwu is therefore Shang-Chi’s father in the MCU, replacing Fu Manchu, an overly stereotypical character who originated in the exploitative cinema of the 70s and 80s. With this iconic villain, the writers and the director want to distance themselves as far as possible from Asian stereotypes and avoid the danger of the one-dimensional character.

The 10 rings

The 10 rings of the title refer to the terrorist and criminal organization of the same name, an organization that is represented in Iron Man 1 and Iron Man 3, but also to artifacts that were originally extraterrestrial in the comics. Let’s get back to The Mandarin and his servants first. The trailer particularly highlights two other villains associated with Wenwu. Death Dealer is a former MI6 assassin who was passed on to the enemy and also a Shang Chi master in his youth. Razor Fist, played by Florian Munteanu (Viktor Drago in Creed II), is a mercenary with a blade instead of a hand, which in all likelihood is hired by the 10 rings to assassinate the hero. Fun fact, the actor of German origin will also appear in the film Borderlands. As for the artifacts, the 10 rings in the comics are the rings that the mandarin wears. You give him a lot of powers. These rings are in the form of bracelets in the MCU and allow control of the water, among other things.

Tribute & Continuity

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings pay homage to the martial arts cinema from which it is openly inspired. It starts with the 10 rings themselves, which reflect the 36th chamber of Shaolin with Gordon Liu through their bracelet appearance. The yellow costume in the trailer refers to Bruce Lee’s outfit in the unfinished 1978 film The Game of Death. We could speculate a bit more and see one of the very first Immortal Iron Fists in this green and yellow costume, be it the first or second version of the Character. Naturally, Chinese mythology and its folklore permeate history. The comics were not deprived of this source of inspiration in their day, and the MCU is taking back its essence. Mention is made of the valley of the sleeping dragon, the legendary dragon Fin Fang Foom, but also the fortress of Fu Manchu, the house of the deadly hand, in the mountains of the Hunan province. Zach Cherry, the New York salesman who asks Spider-Man to turn on Homecoming, is also in the film. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings are an integral part of the MCU.

Three series in the first semester, then four films in the second semester, including Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings, the superheroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will not be idle in 2021.