Shang-Chi will release on February 12, 2021.Marvel Studios’ Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 has unveiled a slew of upcoming projects that include not just films but also TV series for Disney+. Shang-Chi was one of them.
The film on the character is titled Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. So not only we are getting a Shang-Chi film, we will also get to explore the shady terrorist organisation called the Ten Rings that has made its presence felt in some of the previous MCU movies.
Add to that, Tony Leung will don the role of the real Mandarin, the leader of the Ten Rings, instead of the impostor played by Ben Kingsley in Iron Man 3. Simu Liu will play the title role and Awkwafina will also star in a yet undisclosed role.
So who is Shang-Chi?
Also called the Master of Kung Fu, the China-born superhero Shang-Chi will be first Asian superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was raised as a master of martial arts by his father but later turned on him after learning he was evil.
The character, while a superhero, does not have any superpowers (beyond controlling the life force called chi), but is the master of hand-to-hand combat. To give you an idea, he has taught the likes of Wolverine in the art.
Now that MCU is teeming with immensely powerful superheroes like Captain Marvel and Scarlet Witch, it is not clear how the character will fit in the universe.
Destin Daniel Cretton will direct Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
We expect Mandarin with his mystical rings to be the main Big Bad. While the character is traditionally an Iron Man villain, he is also eminently flexible. And with his Chinese background, the makers might choose to create a link between Shang-Chi’s origin story and the Mandarin.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will release on February 12, 2021.
