Warning: Spoilers for the Marvel Cinematic Universe Ahead
Eliza Gwin
Staff writer
Marvel’s latest smashing success is a win for fans everywhere. Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings is the newest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Marvel classifies its movies within phases, and after Phase 3 ended with Avengers: Endgame, Phase 4 began with Spider-Man: Far from Home. It was released only two months after Phase 3 ended, and since then, Marvel fans have received loads of content, including a publicized list of upcoming movies and TV shows.
COVID-19 presented Marvel with positive and negative consequences. Black Widow (2021) was supposed to come out in 2020, but theaters shutting down changed everything. The movie did not come out until July 2021.
During the pandemic, Marvel used Disney+ to air new TV series. WandaVision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and Loki brought fans new episodes weekly and provided them with engaging content to watch while stuck at home. All three series were extremely popular, and fans dissecting and discussing each episode were all over the internet.
Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings is not yet available to stream on Disney+, but fans suspect it will arrive in mid-October.
The story follows Shang (Simu Liu) as he and his best friend Katy (Awkwafina) reconnect with Shang’s sister Xialing (Meng’er Zhang) and discover his corrupt father’s plans to overthrow the magical village where Shang’s mother grew up. The movie takes the audience on an exciting adventure full of epic fights scenes and engaging dialogue.
The movie was released on September 3, 2021, and made $257.6 million within the first ten days in theaters worldwide. It received positive feedback from critics and fans.
Shang-Chi first appeared in the Marvel comics in 1971, debuting in Special Marvel Edition #15. Jim Starlin, who created Thanos and many other well-known Marvel characters, created Shang-Chi with Steve Englehart.
Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings is part of Marvel’s attempt to diversify its characters. It is the first Marvel movie to portray an Asian superhero and an all-Asian cast. In The Avengers (2012), all six main characters are white, and only one is a woman. Marvel received a substantial amount of criticism for its lack of diversity and has since tried to rectify the problem by hiring diverse casts as well as discussing issues of racism and sexism in recent projects.
The movie did a great job introducing Shang to the MCU and hinted that the character might appear in future films.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Box Office Mojo. (n.d.). Retrieved September 17,
2021, from https://www.boxofficemojo.com/releasegroup/gr1414156805/?ref_=bo_ydw_table_8.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Rotten Tomatoes. (n.d.). Retrieved September 17,
2021, from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shang_chi_and_the_legend_of_the_ten_rings.
