We may have to wait a little longer for the premiere of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, but at least we’re learning more about the upcoming film. With the COVID-19 pandemic, Shang-Chi got moved to May 7, 2021. While we wait for production and filming to pick back up for this film and other Marvel projects, we’ve learned new casting details via Fandom Wire.
Awkafina’s Role
First, is that Awkafine will be playing Fah Lo Suee. Fan Lo Suee is Shang-Chi’s sister in the comics, but it seems the movie is changing that. Instead, she’s the Mandarin’s daughter and has gone from being a sister, to a potential love interest of Shang-Chi’s.
The Real Mandarin
Speaking of the Mandarin, it was already previously announced that Tony Chiu-Wai will be playing the well-known character. This will be the first time the MCU properly portrays the character, as a “fake” Mandarin was showcased early in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Ben Kingsley playing the character in Iron Man 3. This later turned out to be a fraud and Kingsley’s character was instead just an actor named Trevor Slattery. If you haven’t seen the Marvel One-Shot, All Hail the King; the Mandarin sent a member of the Ten Rings to break Trevor out of prison, so to punish him for donning his name. Whether or not this will be touched upon in Shang-Chi, we don’t know.
New Plot Details
On top of this casting news, we’ve also learned some plot details. Fandom Wire provided a description of that plot, which you can read below.
Shang-Chi has a special power in this film, and because of it, he was raised in an orphanage for kids that are trained to fight. This special orphanage is run by The Mandarin. Shang-Chi eventually escapes the school/prison and begins living on the run, trying to stay out the Mandarin’s clutches his entire life.
The Mandarin does eventually find the grown-up Shang-Chi again, and offers him a chance. The Mandarin promises Shang-Chi money and power, along with a promise that he’ll finally stop chasing him if he will fight in an epic and magical tournament that every kid in the orphanage has been training for their entire lives. Whoever wins this tournament gets the legendary 10 Rings, which grants even more power, which clearly The Mandarin wants. However, The Mandarin is currently too old to fight so he enlists Shang-Chi.
The plot continues…
The tournament will have new characters from all corners of the MCU that include wizards, aliens, fighters, and well known comic book characters which we don’t want to spoil. Imagine a Marvel-infused Mortal Kombat movie!
The Differences in Shang-Chi’s Power:
In this film, Shang-Chi’s special power is the ability to clone himself while fighting. This is a slightly different approach to a power he had in his more recent comics run.
While in the comics Shang-Chi can create clones of himself to do anything, in this film, Shang-Chi only projects versions of himself during fight sequences. This gives the character something special to do, but also gives the filmmakers a way to Marvel-ize fight sequences. When we asked our sources on this story, if the film has more The Raid level hand to hand sequences, or more stylized magical fighting sequences over-using this cloning effect, they informed us it has both.
According to Fandom Wire, the movie will address the Mandarin debacle in Iron Man 3.
Destin Daniel Cretton is the director attached to Shang-Chi, working off a script by Dave Callaham. Are you excited about Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings?
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