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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is another bonafide hit for the Marvel Cinematic Universe – one that is opening some big new doors. Legend of the Ten Rings surprised fans with MCU connections reaching all the back to the first Iron Man film (and the ancient past of the MCU) while tying the shadowy espionage organization of the Ten Rings to the otherworldly mysticism of Ta Lo. The Shang-Chi post-credits scenes established (concretely) that the martial arts hero will be a major Avengers hero going forward; at the same time, the story of Shang-Chi only adds to a growing problem in the MCU Phase 4 storyline:
Where the heck were those Ten Rings when Thanos came to decimate Earth?
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings conveniently side-steps any real details about what happened to the major characters during The Snap and The Blip. Whether or not Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) or his father Xu Wengwu (Tony Leung) got dusted remains to be seen.
Clearly, Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige could spin the non-answer about Shang-Chi and The Mandarin’s whereabouts during Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame any way they prefer – especially when it comes to the question of why they didn’t intervene against Thanos in either major phase of the war (Battle of Wakanda, Battle of Avengers Compound). Either they were “dusted” or unaware of the threat would be the easiest answer.
That all said, Marvel Studios has also kind of boxed itself in with the ending and post-credits scenes of Shang-Chi, which firmly establish the Ten Rings as uniquely powerful mystical artifacts, of still unknown origin. Like with Marvel’s Eternals, the Ten Rings have been boasted up to objects of such great power that the idea they were just laying by the wayside while half the universe got wiped out seems somewhat far-fetched (at best) or contradictory (at worst).
The Ten Rings were able to free a demonic beast from an ancient prison, and then able to kill that same monster. The fact that this power was left on the sidelines when the entire universe was at stake (and that the Eternals simply refused to act – because rules), is starting to feel like the sort of talking point that Marvel fans just aren’t going to let go of – no matter how many expository lines or side-steps that we get in these films.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is now playing in theaters.