The Marvel Cinematic Universe is full of all-powerful, much-coveted items and artefacts but, according to the newest teaser for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, they all pale in comparison to the titular Ten Rings. The Infinity Stones, Thor’s hammer Mj&ölnir, The Incredible Hulk, these are all nothing when compared to the Rings, which have now been described as “stronger than anything in your universe.”
The strength of the Ten Rings is alluded to by Michelle Yeoh’s character Jiang Nan, with the teaser then showing the iconic hammer, Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit and The Hulk, before offering some insight into what the Rings are really capable of. Suddenly, Shang-Chi does not seem like as much of an underdog as perhaps first thought…
The 25th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will introduce a newly undiscovered world of martial arts and magic in the MCU. Starring Simu Liu as the title character, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings picks up with the character ten years after running away from his father. Wanting to live a normal life, he is soon drawn back into his father’s clandestine Ten Rings organization, where he is forced to confront the past he thought he left behind.
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton from a screenplay he wrote with David Callaham and Andrew Lanham, the movie also stars Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh, Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, and Ronny Chieng.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will revolve around the relationship between the Marvel hero and his father, Wenwu AKA The Mandarin, (the real Mandarin this time) played by Tony Leung. “The core of Shang-Chi’s arc in the comics is really a family drama,” said producer Jonathan Schwartz of the Shang-Chi story. “That was something that Destin keyed into really early on in our conversations, the idea of taking this broken family and this really dark, even abusive family background and seeing what that does to a child over time.”
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will premiere in Los Angeles on August 16, 2021, and is scheduled to be released in the United States on September 3, as part of Phase Four of the MCU. Unlike Black Widow before it, the movie will make its MCU debut exclusively to theaters and not simultaneously on Disney+, it has now been confirmed. However, the Marvel outing will mark the studio’s first release with the now 45-day theatrical window in place, meaning that Disney will likely release Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to their streaming platform and DVD/Blu-ray as soon as October 18.
The upcoming Marvel outing is just one of several projects on the MCU horizon, with Phase 4 due to introduce audiences to the Eternals, and eventually The Fantastic Four, as well as offer further adventures for some familiar faces in the likes of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Spider-Man: No Way Home.