Image via Marvel Studios
1.
Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings had a blockbuster opening weekend. The movie is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which means that it steamrolls its competition on name recognition alone. Its success is largely defined by how it stacks up to other MCU films.
But no less than ten years ago, the success of this film (never mind the budgeting and greenlighting) would be anything but definitive. Imagine pitching a $150 million film about an obscure Asian-American superhero, starring an Asian Canadian (Simu Liu) with a predominately Asian cast, targeting a mainstream, American audience. You wouldn’t even get to finish explaining it.
For this to happen required decades of persistence—of advocating for a spot at the table and demanding creative input. Black Panther softened the ground for Shang-Chi, proving that POC-led films could be mainstream hits. And now, Shang-Chi, a forgotten, “invisible” Asian American icon if there ever was one, is one the most famous fictional characters in the world. The movie outperformed even the optimists’ projections, earning $90 million in its first four days. That it did so in the midst of a pandemic is a testament to it. This movie is the real deal.
I saw Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings twice this weekend, and here are all the tiny details and Easter eggs I picked up on. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments.
2.Crater or Tomb?
In the movie’s opening monologue, we hear some rumors about the origin of the Ten Rings. Some say that Wenwu found them in a crater (alien origin?). Others say that he found them in a tomb. In the comics, the rings are Makluan (alien technology), and each houses the soul of a dead warrior.
3.Iron Man reference
A big part of this movie is retconning Iron Man 3’s reveal of The Mandarin and the Ten Rings organization. We learn in Shang-Chi that the real Mandarin has been surveying the MCU from a distance, keeping a tactical low profile. We see a recording of the terrorist video from Iron Man (2008) on Wenwu’s massive screen.
4.A fight and a dance
The fights in Shang-Chi were choreographed by second unit director Brad Allan, fight choreographer Peng Zhang, and fight coordinator Andy Cheng, a member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. They created the fight scenes in a distinctly Chinese fashion—they tell a story, on a figurative level, that goes beyond punches and kicks. The bus fight, with its jacket spot, doubles as a homage to Jackie Chan and his integration of environmental props into a sequence. The opening fight, between Wenwu and Ying Li, looks like a couples dance; it foreshadows how they fall in love and how Ying Li tempers and channels Wenwu’s worst impulses.
5.Chinese wedding
Ying Li is wearing a qipao to her wedding. A tight-fitting, high-collared dress with a dramatic slit on its side, the qipao originated during China’s Qing Dynasty, and has since become a popular attire at weddings and formal events. Wearing a qipao became associated with the women’s liberation movement in China, which regarded it as a symbol of femininity and sexual self-determination.
6.A Whole New World
Shang and Katy get drunk and sing karaoke after work. In addition to Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” and Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing,” Shang and Katy also sing “A Whole New World” from Disney’s animated feature Aladdin. Securing the rights must have been fairly simple since Disney owns Marvel.
7.Hotel California
The signature karaoke song and running joke throughout the entire movie is “Hotel California” by The Eagles. Released in 1977, it’s a song about struggling to survive and make it in LA, and is famous for its extended guitar solo outro.
8.Amazing Asian driver
Katy is a rejection of both positive and negative Asian stereotypes. Rather than being high-achieving and ambitious, she has a degree from Berkeley that she doesn’t use and a valet job that she enjoys but doesn’t challenge her. Rather than being a bad driver, she has multiple evasive driving sequences throughout the movie, which save her friends’ lives several times over.
9.Livestreamer
The man livestreaming the bus fight is played by actor Zach Cherry. This is the same character who asked Spider-Man to do a flip on the rooftop in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
10.Meet Razorfist
We meet Razorfist, played by Florian Munteanu, during the bus sequence. Like the original Razorfist, he has a blade in place of his arm. He’s one of the few Marvel villains to survive his debut movie. We later see him as an accomplice to Xialing, as she rebuilds the Ten Rings.
11.Extremis vs. Widow
In the underground fight club, there’s a quick sequence where we see a man infected with the Extremis virus from Iron Man 3 (2013). He’s battling Helen (Jade Xu), who Natasha Romanoff freed from the Red Room at the end of Black Widow (2021).
12.Abomination vs. Wong
Abomination (Tim Roth) and Wong (Benedict Wong) are battling on the fight club’s main stage. We haven’t seen Abomination since The Incredible Hulk (2008), but he doesn’t seem to be an all-out villain anymore, especially since he’s fixing fights with Wong. We’ll have to wait and see if this was a one-shot cameo, or if Abomination becomes an established character moving forward.
13.Ancient meets Modern
A key theme throughout the movie is a tension between old and new; Wenwu is over 1000 years old, and the traditions that he follows (the Chinese naming of children, his search for the hidden city of Ta Lo) conflict with his son’s desire to escape his past. The filmmakers make this theme literal with the third major fight, which takes place on bamboo scaffolding (traditional) around a building (contemporary).
[Ed note: For those who want a deeper reference for this kind of scaffolding, check out this scene from Rush Hour 2, which my son instantly recognized while we watched the film.]
14.Blip-Sync
There are a couple of Blip references in the movie. One poster says to call the National Blip Support Hotline, for people who are still wrestling with Blip-related trauma. Another is an advertisement for Blip-Sync, which the screenwriters confirmed is a dating app for people who were Blipped. It gives the MCU greater connectivity and narrative coherence—the events of one movie can still carry significant weight in subsequent films.
15.Meet Death Dealer
Shang Chi’s childhood teacher and adversary is Death Dealer. In the movie, he is an operative for the Ten Rings. In the comics, Death Dealer is a double agent for Fu Manchu and the UK intelligence organization MI6.
16.Meet Wenwu, the "new" Mandarin
Wenwu (Tony Leung) is an original character that retcons Iron Man 3’s Mandarin plotline. It turns out that the Mandarin is a puppet master who secretly orchestrates events from a distance. In the original comic, Shang Chi’s father was Fu Manchu, an old-timey racist stereotype. The substitution of Wenwu/The Mandarin, in a villainous, yet three-dimensional role, is a welcome step forward.
17.Where's the old Mandarin?
The movie also gives the old Mandarin from Iron Man 3—Trevor Slattery, played by Ben Kingsley—something to do. After his stint as the fake Mandarin, the character is captured by the real Mandarin, who keeps him around for entertainment. Slattery is instrumental to our heroes’ search for Ta-Lo and redeems himself after his initial, poor reception.
18.Hard vs. Soft styles
During their sparring fight, Ying Nan (Michelle Yeoh) tells Shang that he has both his mother and father inside of him. Shang asks her how to defeat Wenwu, and she responds by opening his hands, from fists to palms. Martial arts are roughly divided into “hard” and “soft” styles. A hard style generates all of the power from the practitioner. A soft style redirects the energy and force of the target. Yeoh is telling Shang he must have both. On a figurative level, she’s telling Shang that he cannot beat Wenwu in a straight-up physical fight. He must work with him, instead of trying to meet force with force, in order to emerge successfully.
19.The Hidden City
The filmmakers position Ta Lo as analogous to Wakanda—a Chinese civilization untouched by colonialism and Western influences. In the comics, Ta Lo is the home of powerful Chinese gods known as the Xian, and houses many mythical creatures.
20.Meet the mythical Dijang
Trevor’s faceless furry friend Morris is a dijang, a physical representation of chaos. He’s pretty cute; you can buy the above plush doll ($39.99) at ShopDisney.
21.The mythical Fenghuang (Phoenix)
We see several mythological creatures during our introduction to Ta Lo. The phoenix signifies prosperity and good luck and is usually invoked at significant beginnings, like the start of a new year.
22.The mythical Shishi (Guardian lion)
The traditional stone lions outside of homes, restaurants, and places of worship are symbols of protection and wealth. They usually come in pairs: a male lion resting his paw on a ball (symbolizing power over the globe) and a female lion resting her paw on a cub (symbolizing family and home).
23.The mythical Huli Jing
There are iterations of fox spirits in multiple Asian cultures. This particular one, a nine-tailed, shapeshifting fox, can either be good or bad, depending on the context. It is believed that the fox can transform itself into a beautiful woman, and the nine tails symbolize fertility and progeny.
24.The mythical Qilin
A unicorn-like creature that’s a cross between a horse, a deer, and an ox, the qilin is associated with good luck and protection against malevolent forces.
25.The mythical Loong (water dragon)
A symbol of strength and good luck, the dragon is said to have elemental powers over the weather and water. It is often confused with the European iteration of the dragon, which is fire-breathing and monstrous. The Chinese dragon, on the other hand, promotes harmony and prosperity.
26.A chilling costume
Shang-Chi’s dragon scale costume is instantly iconic, and Simu Liu knew it the first time he put it on. In an interview with CinemaBlend, he said, “[i]t just sent chills right up my spine. I looked at myself in the mirror and got kind of emotional just looking [at it].”
27.Dweller-in-Darkness
The demon soul sucker who tricks Wenwu into opening the gate is Dweller-in-Darkness. He’s greatly reimagined from his original comic iteration, where he was an adversary of Doctor Strange and was known for his power to cause intense fear in others.
28.That mid-credits scene
The mid-credits scene depicts Shang-Chi and Katy meeting with Wong, Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), and Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) about the origin of the Ten Rings. Danvers seems to dismiss the idea of alien origin, which is the comics’ explanation. We know the rings are ancient. We know they are sending out a signal beacon, but we do not know to whom or what. Most likely, they have something to do with the Eternals, a race of beings who have watched over the Earth since the beginnings of Man and protect us from the Deviants. That movie, starring Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kit Harrington, and Salma Hayek, comes out on November 5.
29.And that post-credits scene
The post-credits scene shows that Xialing lied to Shang. Rather than dismantling the Ten Rings, she is rebuilding it, with women now on equal footing with men. Whether or not the Ten Rings is still a criminal organization, a force for good, or something ambiguous and in-between, is left up to the viewer’s interpretation.
The framing and presentation is reminiscent of the post-credits scene for The Mandalorian Season 2, which promoted The Book of Boba Fett. Could this be a spin-off TV show? Or is it foreshadowing for a new Shang-Chi movie? We’ll have to wait and see.