4 Reasons Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Will Be the MCU’s Next Standout Film

Marvel recently dropped the first trailer for its upcoming film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which tells the story of a young man who is thrust back into a world of martial arts that he never wanted to be in to begin with. To survive and keep his friends safe, Shang-Chi must use his abilities to defeat anyone who gets in his way, including his own father.

If that description alone wasn’t enough to get you excited for the movie, don’t worry, as that was just the introduction. These are the four reasons that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will be the MCU’s next standout film.

Martial Arts in the MCU

Reasons Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Will Standout

Marvel movies are filled to the brim with lots of incredible superpowers, resulting in a boatload of awesome fights that feature flying, lasers, and even sticky spider webs. When it comes down to it, though, the most memorable ones usually involve close-quarters combat. 

Whether it was Captain America and Bucky vs. Iron Man in Captain American: Civil War or Thor vs. Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok, there is just something extraordinary about these intimate fight scenes. 

With Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, fans can expect many more of these types of fights, as its main character’s entire premise revolves around being a martial arts master. The trailer alone already shows off plenty of cool hand-to-hand encounters that could steal the show with stunning choreography. 

It’ll be fun to see how Marvel approaches adapting a superhero into the MCU who has superpowers based in martial arts for the first time, as the combat techniques could result in a lot of dope fight scenes. Here’s hoping they learned from their mistakes that were made in the television universe with Danny Rand and Netflix’s Iron Fist.

Simu Liu

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

While Simu Liu may not be the most acclaimed actor to grace the MCU, there is no doubting that the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star is passionate about this role. 

As soon as the film was announced to be in development, the actor was already petitioning to play the character via his social media. A few months later, Liu landed the role of Shang-Chi. 

It wasn’t too long after getting cast that the actor gleefully appeared on the film’s San Diego Comic-Con panel to explain how excited he was for the movie. And while we don’t have too much to go off of within Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ first trailer, fans can rest assured that Liu has plenty of range as an actor. 

He is best known for his work on Kim’s Convenience, playing Mr. and Mrs. Kim’s son, Jung Kim, a character that knows how to be both comical and dramatic. Liu was also nominated for the Oustanding Performance category of the ACTRA Awards in 2017 for his work in Blood and Water. 

Big-Name Stars

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

While it is definitely going to be exciting to see Simu Liu get a chance to shine in the spotlight as Shang-Chi, there is also no denying that the movie’s supporting roles are stacked with big-name stars as well. Those names include Awkwafina, Ronny Chieng, and Florian Munteanu to name a few.

Each of these actors has been on the rise throughout the entertainment industry as of late, with important roles in Raya and the Last Dragon (Awkwafina), Godzilla vs. Kong (Chieng), and Creed 2 (Munteanu). Arguably the most important announcement, though, is the casting of Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. 

Widely considered in Asia as one of its most successful and internationally recognized actors, Leung will play Shang-Chi’s father, the villain known as the Mandarin.

The Actual Mandarin

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Yes, that is right, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will actually feature the real Mandarin, aka the villain Trevor Slattery was pretending to be in Iron Man 3. Now, I know you’re probably thinking, “wasn’t Guy Pearce’s Aldrich Killian revealed to be that character at the end of the movie?”

That was true up until the Marvel One-Shot, All Hail the King. In this short film, it was actually revealed that Killian was also lying, as he simply took what he heard about the legend of the Mandarin and claimed it as his own.

In reality, the Mandarin is a man named Wenwu who has controlled a powerful item called the 10 Rings for centuries. These rings have allowed him to do all sorts of insane things, from making his strikes more powerful to prolonging his life via matter rearrangement. 

It’ll be interesting to see the evolution of his character in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, especially considering he is both the protagonist’s father and seemingly the movie’s main antagonist. Either way, it’s nice to finally get a straightforward answer as to who the character really is after over a decade of waiting. 

(Featured Image Source: Marvel)