Marvel's upcoming Shang-Chi series will rewrite the history of the entire Marvel Universe by introducing the Five Deadly Weapons. The Master of Kung Fu is soon to become bigger than ever before, with Simu Liu cast as the starring role in an upcoming MCU movie. As such, it was only ever a matter of time before Marvel Comics launched a new Shang-Chi series as well, hoping to take advantage of his new prominence.
Gene Luen Yang, Dike Ruan and Philip Tan are teaming up on a new series that will launch on September 30, and that is expected to transform Shang-Chi's comic book mythology. The story will pick up from the death of Shang-Chi's father, a powerful and quasi-immortal sorcerer named Zheng Zhu, in Secret Avengers #7-10. It seems Shang-Chi will be offered the chance to take a place of honor left vacant by his father's death - and now Marvel is beginning to reveal just what that will look like.
Marvel Comics has just provided Games Radar with exclusive information on a mysterious group called the Five Deadly Weapons Society. There are apparently five separates "Houses" in this secret society, each of which has a champion; Zheng Shu was the champion of the House of the Deadly Hand. The other four champions are Sister Dagger, Brother Sabre, Sister Hammer, and Brother Staff, each named after the House they represent. Marvel seems particularly excited about Sister Dagger, the champion of the House of the Deadly Dagger, an organization based in France with a mansion secluded away behind a waterfall. "As one of the most talented martial artists in the world, Sister Dagger is the youngest House Champion in the history of the Five Weapons Society," Marvel revealed. She's seen in a superb variant cover, by artist Rafael Albuquerque, and a cool sketch by Dike Ruan.
Readers had previously assumed Marvel was simply tweaking Shang-Chi's origin story, potentially to align it to his upcoming MCU incarnation. But it's now becoming clear Gene Luen Yang's relaunch is far more ambitious than that, with the writer instead seeking to introduce a major new element into the history of the Marvel Universe. Shang-Chi's father, Zheng Shu, was the ruler of one ancient - and evil - secret society. It's therefore reasonable to assume all the other champions are leaders of similar groups, who have been operating in the shadows of the Marvel Universe for centuries. The dagger was a favored weapon in French society during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, suggesting that particular House may date back to the 15th or 16th century.
It will be interesting to learn more about the other Houses and their champions, and to see how subtly Marvel weave this story into their shared universe. They may well be able to retcon the Houses into different stories from across the history of the Marvel Universe, successfully making it seem they have always been there. If they can pull this off, the upcoming Shang-Chi series could be one of the most important released this year.