MARVEL'S SHANG-CHI:
TEN RINGS TO RULE
By Kirsten Howard
Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will be the first of Disney’s movies set after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a deceptively important movie for Marvel Studios.
The film’s first teaser shows just how much thought has gone into this Phase 4 offering.
The film stars Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Michelle Yeoh, Fala Chen, Meng'er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, and Ronny Chieng.
Liu plays Shang-Chi, a man forced to confront a past he hoped he’d left behind when he is drawn into the web of a mysterious organization called ‘Ten Rings’.
Still best known for his role as Jung Kim in the award-winning sitcom Kim's Convenience, Lui is the first Asian actor to lead a Marvel Studios film.
Short Term 12 director Destin Daniel Cretton helmed Shang-Chi. He says he first joined the project to give his son a superhero to look up to.
Marvel has explored a post-Avengers: Endgame world in two of its Disney+ series, but this is the first Disney feature film since Spider-Man: Far From Home to do so.
Phase 4 will be full of big steps for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
With most of the OG Avengers now dead or retired, established characters like Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, Scarlet Witch and Spider-Man will take over.
Shang-Chi is the first character from the pages of Marvel Comics to be given his own solo movie launch since Captain Marvel in 2019.
The year before, Black Panther was introduced. Both movies were massive hits for Marvel and Disney.
Marvel has made an effort to create a more diverse MCU going forward, with Eternals also on the way in 2021.
The cosmic epic, directed by Nomadland director Chloé Zhao, stars Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Lia McHugh, Don Lee and Gemma Chan.
A host of new actors and characters are about to change the MCU and give us new stories and perspectives.
Hopefully, audiences will be ready for something fresh after saying goodbye to the likes of Captain America and Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame.