Marvel had already promised us a Shang-Chi solo movie, so it came as no surprise when one was announced for the MCU’s Phase 4 at this summer’s San Diego Comic-Con, although its announced title – Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – did shed some more light on what the movie will be about.
It’ll revolve around the titular hero’s fight against the Ten Rings, a terrorist organization that has been teased in the MCU since the beginning, most prominently in 2013’s Iron Man 3. So, here are 5 Things That Have Been Confirmed For Shang-Chi (And 5 Fan Theories).
Confirmed: The real Mandarin will appear
The Mandarin is one of the fearsome villains in the Marvel Comics universe, which is what made Iron Man 3’s portrayal of him as an idea, rather than a person, pretty disappointing. Shane Black was making a strong point about terrorist figures being puppets for larger organizations, but it came at the expense of doing the Mandarin justice.
The real Mandarin, the one that Trevor Slattery was impersonating in Iron Man 3, will appear in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. It’s a shame that we’ll never get to see the Mandarin fight his greatest foe from the comics, Iron Man, but seeing him fight Shang-Chi will be a nice consolation prize.
Fan theory: The Mandarin will execute Trevor Slattery
In Iron Man 3, the Mandarin was revealed to be a cover for Aldrich Killian’s Extremis operation. He was portrayed by an actor named Trevor Slattery. But as confirmed in “All Hail the King,” there is a real Mandarin out there, and he’s unhappy with Slattery pretending to be him.
To really hammer this home (and retell that plot point for fans who didn’t see “All Hail the King), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings could open with the real Mandarin brutally executing Trevor Slattery. This would be similar to the original opening scene of Kong: Skull Island, which would’ve seen the film’s larger Kong killing Peter Jackson’s King Kong remake’s smaller Kong.
Confirmed: Simu Liu will play the title character
Marvel Studios has never failed to cast the perfect actor in a major role – whether it’s Chadwick Boseman for T’Challa, Chris Pratt for Peter Quill, or Karen Gillan as Nebula – and they’ve selected a promising young actor, Simu Liu, to play Shang-Chi in his debut solo movie.
Liu has never had a major film role before, previously appearing as an extra in Pacific Rim, but he’s done plenty of great work on television, including a leading role in the sitcom Kim’s Convenience. With his starring role in Shang-Chi, Liu is set to become the first Asian actor to lead a Marvel Studios movie.
Fan theory: Every previous MCU character with a Ten Rings tattoo will appear
Some of the terrorists in the first Iron Man movie had Ten Rings tattoos. One of Darren Cross’ potential buyers in Ant-Man had a Ten Rings tattoo. With the Ten Rings taking center stage in the Shang-Chi movie, there’s a chance that these teases will be paid off and the threads will be tied together by featuring all of these characters, possibly in small roles.
Marvel movies have been known to bring back long-forgotten characters, like the “Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With a box of scraps!” guy, who returned for drone-based revenge in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Confirmed: It’ll be released on February 12, 2021
We have just under a year and a half to wait for Shang-Chi’s cinematic debut, as he’ll be arriving on screens on February 12, 2021. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is third in line for the MCU’s Phase 4, with Black Widow and Eternals arriving before it in 2020.
February 12, 2021 is a crowded release date, with three as-of-yet untitled movies – a Warner Bros. event movie, a Paramount animated movie, and a Universal romcom – due to arrive on the same day. But based on Marvel’s track record, Shang-Chi will have no problem coming out on top.
Fan theory: War Machine will help Shang-Chi fight the Mandarin
Since Tony Stark is dead and therefore unable to face his arch nemesis the Mandarin on the big screen, some fans are expecting War Machine to assist Shang-Chi in the fight. As long as Stark isn’t around to get justice for the events of Iron Man 3, maybe James Rhodes will step in.
As both a major player in the battle to thwart Aldrich Killian and a proud American soldier, Rhodey has a personal reason to want to take down the Mandarin. Rhodey currently has no place in the Phase 4 slate outside of Disney+’s What If...? series, so this could be how he continues his journey after Endgame.
Confirmed: Destin Daniel Cretton is in the director’s chair
Following its tradition of hiring directors for their sharp filmmaking eye over tentpole experience (James Gunn, Taika Waititi, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the Russos etc.), Marvel has hired Destin Daniel Cretton to direct Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Cretton burst onto the scene with the astounding indie drama Short Term 12 and proved he wasn’t a one-trick pony with The Glass Castle. The director’s most recent film was Just Mercy, a courtroom drama inspired by true events, stars Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx in the story of a wrongfully convicted man’s legal battle to get himself off death row.
Fan theory: The Mandarin won’t die at the end
The MCU is often criticized for having a “villain problem,” and part of the reason for that could that while the heroes each have multi-movie arcs in which to grow, few villains get the same luxury. This worked wonders for Ian McKellen’s incarnation of Magneto in the X-Men movies. Obviously, there are exceptions to this, with great one-and-done villains like Erik Killmonger and the Vulture, who each managed to make a huge impact in just one movie.
But a lot of the MCU’s finest villains, like Thanos and Loki, have been given the space to grow over time. Some fans are expecting the Mandarin to be one of the few MCU villains not to die at the end, and he’ll grow over time.
Confirmed: Tony Leung is playing the Mandarin
Marvel confirmed the appearance of the real Mandarin in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings with the casting of Tony Leung, one of Hong Kong cinema’s most talented, renowned, and all-round awesome stars. There’s no doubt that Leung will knock the role of the Mandarin – the actual Mandarin, not the disservice we got in Iron Man 3 – out of the park.
Leung has starred in the iconic John Woo action movie Hard Boiled and the crime thriller Infernal Affairs, which was later remade by Martin Scorsese as The Departed. Despite Leung’s long and storied career, Shang-Chi will surprisingly be his first Hollywood movie.
Fan theory: The Mandarin is Shang-Chi’s dad
In the comics, Shang-Chi is the son of Fu Manchu. He’s raised to do his father’s bidding, but when he’s an adult, he realizes that his father is evil and vows to do everything in his power to stop him, eventually killing him. Some Marvel fans have expected the same storyline to be used in the film, but instead of Fu Manchu, Shang-Chi’s father is the Mandarin.
From Tony and Howard Stark to Thor and Odin to Gamora, Nebula, and Thanos, paternal relationships have always been important in the MCU. And Marvel has been known to change characters’ paternal lineage to fit into their own stories, like changing Peter Quill’s father to Ego.