Funny pages are for post-viewing discussion; they assume that you've already seen the work in question, and as such are spoiler-free.
Film
Just the idea that a thousand-year-old conqueror has a Meet Cute with his future wife...in a martial arts battle while he's trying to break into her sacred home. And she kicks his ass.
The Bait-and-Switch that happens after Shang-Chi wakes up to go to work. We're led to assume that he's riding a fancy sports car, but then the driver steps out of the car and is revealed to be an unnamed guest... while Shang-Chi is nothing more than a lowly valet.
Katy stating that she once intervened in a fight that almost happened between Shang-Chi and some jerk (who angered Shang-Chi by calling him "Gangnam Style", when he isn't Koreannote though there's a hidden layer of funny in that Simu Liu played a Korean in Kim's Convenience.) by stepping between them and beginning to sing "Hotel California". She claims that this usually works, because it confuses stupid people.
When the two are in Macau and come across some Ten Rings assassins, Katy starts singing the song before she is attacked, causing the assassin to simply glareat her before attacking her.
"Shaun" and Katy, after a disappointing dinner with their friends, are pretty drunk and note that it's almost midnight and they have an early shift tomorrow, so they should get some rest. Katy says "Yes, we could do that. Or..." Cut to them at a karaoke bar.
Proof that the film was written by Asians; the brief scene with Katy's mother has her complaining about Katy's job and how she's not living up to her potential. Katy's little brother, on the other hand, thinks parking cars all day is cool. Katy half-mockingly says he'll pass his driver's test some day, implying he's repeatedly failed already.
Katy's grandmother is preparing her dead husband's favorite things in the form of the ritual paper offerings. The family notes that he's probably not allowed to take cigarettes and Funyuns with him. She scoffs; it's Heaven, he can have whatever he wants. She even has "proof" in that the bottle of booze she put on his grave last year was gone the next day.
Just the idea that Katy's grandmother is preparing paper replicas of Funyuns to be sent to the afterlife is funny in and of itself.
Katy’s grandmother bluntly asks Shang-Chi when he and Katy are going to get married. He hurriedly replies that the two of them are just friends.
Noticing a girl typing her thesis on the bus, Katy says "That is exactly the daughter my mom wishes came out of her vagina!" The girl just can't help to look back at Katy with a quizzical look. The poor lady is even a target of Comedic Sociopathy later, as Shang-Chi grabs her laptop to block Razorfist striking, returning it in two pieces.
When Shang-Chi starts fighting the goons on the bus, one of the bystanders is Klev, who was the "do a flip!" guy in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and again turns into a funny Audience Surrogate being around a superhero:
Klev: [starts livestreaming on his phone] Yo, what up y'all, it's your boy, Klev, coming at you live on the bus! I actually did take a bit of martial arts as a youth, so I'm gonna try to grade this fight as we're going...
Then when Razor Fist makes himself known:
Klev: [standing up amongst dead silence] Hey, you got this, bro! [Razor Fist unsheathes his blade] Klev: [sits back down] My bad!
Later when the driver is knocked unconscious, Klev decides he isn't going to intervene:
At one point, Shang-Chi ends up on the bus's roof and runs along it, jumping down and using the side mirror to swing into the front door. While the film's director has confirmed that Shang-Chi was intending to dramatically crash through the door, the actual result is him smacking face-first into it, startling Katy.
He then has to resort to smacking the window and telling her to "Open the door, please!"
When Shang-Chi throws Gao Lei out the bus window in the tunnel, the recovering bus driver throws up his hands in surprise. The camera angle makes it look like he's waving goodbye instead.
Shang-Chi is telling Katy his background in the Ten Rings, but his dramatic narration is interrupted by the stewardess on the plane telling them they have a beef or vegetarian special option. The two pick vegetarian...and are then told that they are out of vegetarian.
The stewardess then simply waits until Katy actually says they'll both take beef, despite Katy pointing out it's literally the only option.
Katy laughs on how ridiculous it is that after going on the run, Shang changed his name to...Shaun. "No wonder your dad found you!"
And later Wenwu hints that's exactly how he always knew where Shang was.
As soon as Shang-Chi comes out of the elevator in Macau, he's promptly recognized as "Bus Boy!" And that's the name he's given when entering the ring.
In a hilarious Call-Back to Dr Strange's Aesop on reading things fully, Shang Chi signed his name on the way up to his sister's place, thinking that it was a sign-in sheet - it was actually the fight club's registration contract.
Jon Jon starts talking to Katy in Chinese; she apologizes (in English) that her Chinese is terrible, and he cheerfully replies:
Jon Jon: No worries, I speak ABC!* ABC stands for American-Born Chinese, which Katy is.
While walking past all of the fighting rings, Katy takes a moment to compliment one of the bettors' "spike-face". He turns and enthusiastically thanks her in Bahasa Indonesia. "Terima Kasih!"
Jon Jon is explaining to Shang-Chi and Katy the popularity of Xialing's fighting rings when he briefly stops to watch a Widow fight an Extremis-user and win in a particularly brutal fashion. He offers some cheery support.
The fact that Wong has such a chummy relationship with Blonsky, and is later revealed to still be in contact with Bruce Banner makes you wonder what would happen if the latter found out about their sparring match.
Before the cage match, Jon Jon tells Shang-Chi to ditch the shirt. He complies without argument. He arrives in the ring, and after giving him a gaping stare, Katy asks where his shirt went, and he offers a "I don't know" shrug. It's almost like Marvel lampshading how every guy is bound to have a Shirtless Scene.
Even funnier in that it's a callback to Simu Liu's previous series Kim's Convenience where a running gag was Liu's character Jung constantly finding reasons to take his shirt off.
Shang-Chi's opponent turns out to be none other than his sister, who's really angry at him for ten years of non-contact. Much of their fight consists of her attacking and him doing his best to defend himself while insisting they need to talk. At one point, he starts getting fed up, and puts her in a hold, exasperatedly asking her (in Chinese) to please stop hitting him.
Shang-Chi is recovering from losing the fight to Xialing when Katy comes in, counting a huge wad of money. When an incredulous Shang asks if she bet against him, she claims "no" while pocketing the cash.
After Xialing gives more detail on her life story, Katy gives a disbelieving "You ran from home and created an underground fighting ring at sixteen?!"
Jon Jon mockingly flips Shang-Chi off as he and Xialing escape through a secret passageway while the Ten Rings attack.
Shang-Chi attempts a High-Altitude Interrogation on one of the Ten Rings assassins, only for Xialing to kick the guy off the scaffolding. She looks genuinely baffled over why her brother's unhappy with her about it. "Did America make you soft?"
Wenwu mocks the Mandarin title Aldrich Killian used in his Ten Rings front plan, saying that he probably should have picked a better alias than a "chicken dish" note He refers to Mandarin chicken, a Chinese dish cooked with Mandarin oranges..
Wenwu: He gave his figurehead the name of a chicken dish. And it worked! America was terrified... of an orange.
Trevor Slattery, one of the funniest characters in the MCU, makes his return in this film. As funny as he was in Iron Man 3, he's just as funny in this film.
A tense conversation between Shang-Chi, Katy, and Xialing is interrupted by a low growling noise. The group find the source of the noise, which turns out to be Trevor doing vocal warmups before rehearsing a role.
Trevor was last seen in All Hail the King about to be taken to meet the man he was impersonating, with a grim fate in store. Turns out he escaped execution because his Shakespearean acting skills impressed the Ten Rings, who kept him around for regular performances. Katy bluntly compares him to a court jester, and he cheerfully agrees.
Trevor's very brief recap of All Hail the King.
Trevor: I served time in federal prison, which turned out to be the best thing for me. I got clean, I rediscovered my passion. Shang-Chi: And then my dad broke you out... Trevor: Exactly! Shang-Chi: ... To kill you? Trevor: Exactly!
Even in his captivity, Trevor has somehow convinced his captors to provide, or otherwise acquired, a Liverpool FC scarf, representing his other passion in life.
During his captivity, Trevor became friends with a furry faceless creature he calls Morris. He does point out to the others that Morris is sensitive about not having a face, and is overjoyed that the other characters can see Morris, because he was worried that he'd been hallucinating the creature due to his long imprisonment. Shang and Katy's loud screaming at Morris is wonderful. Also Katy calling Morris a "chicken-pig" is quite funny too.
Morris is able to tell Trevor that Morris can help lead Shang Chi and the heroes through the deadly maze to warn the village of Ta Lo, and that there's a 90 percent chance they can get through safely. Morris then chirps a few more times and Trevor laughs "Oh, he meant NINETEEN percent!"
Katy: Whatever, I've done dumber things with worse odds!"
The fact that a mythological creature that is highly restrictive in who can see or interact with it knows what "percent" are deserves a mention of its own.
Katy finds herself wondering how they're going to get out of the compound. Before she can even finish the sentence, Xialing enters the room... by casually breaking through the stone wall from an adjacent tunnel. She calmly tells them she has found a route out of there, but then does a quick double-take upon spotting Morris on Trevor's lap.
What's better is Shang-Chi and Xialing's facial expressions during the whole time they're inside the car, as if they're seriously questioning Trevor's sanity.
Trevor sees a Qilin for the first time and calls it a weird horse.
In the midst of the final battle, Morris finds Trevor prone on the ground, apparently having fallen in battle. The creature begins to mourn Trevor… who promptly leans up, awake:
Trevor: Calm down mate, I'm not actually dead, it's just a performance. Now get down here and play along. *[Morris gets down and rolls on its back like a puppy playing dead]*
In a subtle moment afterwards, Trevor looks over at Morris seemingly disapproving of his poor attempt to play dead.
Look closely and you'll see Razor Fist's car is electric and parked next to a Charging station: It's a bit odd to think a villainous minion is eco-friendly.
Though with later scenes and Deleted Scenes it turns out that Razor Fist/Mattias is actually a pretty nice guy all things considered, and closer to a Punch-Clock Villain than anything else. The car just serving as a bit of lighthearted Foreshadowing of that.
As they decide to take Razor Fist's car, Shang-Chi explains to Katy how they're going to get out of the garage and prepares to ride shotgun to call out directions. Unfortunately for him, Trevor somehow got there first, claiming that he gets carsick if he sits in the back, forcing Shang-Chi to sit in the back instead.
While driving through people-eating bamboo forest, Xialing and Shang-Chi warn Katy that the trees are closing in on them, with Xialing giving the distance in meters.
Katy: What is that in feet?!note About 16/17, if your're curious. Shang-Chi: REALLY FREAKING CLOSE!
Once Wenwu confronts the phalanx at Ta Lo, he insults one of the elders, Guang Bo, in Chinese, which is subtitled in English as "I've lived ten of your lifetimes." That's already mildly amusing given the visual disparity in age and appearance (Guang Bo even looks down in slight embarrassment), but it's even funnier you know Chinese, as he's actually using a much more traditional idiom that more literally translates to "I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice in your entire life!", often used by the elderly to boast their life experience over people younger than them.
As the Dwellers minions approach the battle between the villagers and the Ten Rings, Xialing and Nan know they're going to be overwhelmed without both forces allying together. Razor Fist needs a little convincing first:
Xialing: If we're going to survive this, we have to work together! Razor Fist: Do you really think I'm going to fall for that? Ying Nan: Your weapons are useless against them! Razor Fist: We don't need your help! We are the mighty Ten Rings! And— [a Soul Eater plucks Death Dealer from the ground and eats said soul; Razor Fist nearly suffers the same fate before Nan intervenes with her dragonscale blade] Razor Fist: [shaken up] We-we should work together!
During the heartwarming montage of the Xu family's happier times, there's a scene of Wenwu and Ying Li playing DanceDanceRevolution with their children on their feet, and Wenwu shamelessly cheating by covering his wife's eyes.
In the beginning of the movie, Shang-Chi and Katy told their joyriding story to their more mature friends at dinner, which ends poorly as Shang-Chi and Katy are called out for not growing up. At the end, they recap their whole adventure to them, in the same restaurant, in the same tone of "this cool thing happened today." Their friends are understandably disbelieving for multiple reasons. The soul-sucking monsters seem to be rather low on the list; their friends don't even believe that Shang-Chi has a sister.
Just as Soo is calling them out for making up a ridiculous story, Wong comes in through his portal in front of the whole bar to summon Shang-Chi and Katy, thereby proving them right.
Wong: Shang-Chi? Is there a Shang-Chi here? Shang-Chi:[awkwardly raising his hand like a schoolchild during roll call] Uh, here, present!
As they walk off with Wong:
Katy: [to Soo] I gotta go, but I'll text you later? Shang-Chi: [motions to their drinks] I'll Venmo you for those.
Also, how Wong has absolutely zero qualms showing magic exists to an entire restaurant. Even funnier considering that Strange pretty much opened a portal in the middle of Central Park in daylight, back in Infinity War. Just another day in the Marvel universe.
Not to mention Wong casually swallowing Soo's drink in one gulp before he leaves.
During The Stinger after Carol has to leave the call for an urgent mission but tells the others that they can get her number from Bruce.
Bruce: I don't have her number. She does this a lot.
After Bruce signs off, Wong somberly tells Shang-Chi and Katy that their lives have irrevocably changed, and now they should get some rest so that they can begin to come to terms with it. Shang-Chi says "Yes, we could do that. Or...", with Katy's face lighting up in an instant - Gilligan Cut to all three of them in a karaoke bar, drunk and singing "Hotel California". The scene becomes funnier to Dark Crystal fans due the mental image of SkekLach and SkekVar singing in a karaoke bar.
Trailers
In the official trailer....
The song going "Oh~" as we see Shang-Chi shirtless.
And after the title, during the underground fight ring Katy tells Shang-Chi that he'll be fine in his round. Cue his opponent, the Abomination whooping Wong's ass in his concurrent match.
Shang-Chi, about to go into a ring match, tells Katy that if it dies it's her fault. Her "Are you kidding me?" look is a riot.
Deleted scenes
A deleted scene in which Razor Fist joins the family for dinner and starts arguing with Xialing and Katy over whether or not his weapon should be called a razor "fist" when fists are usually more blunt objects. Eventually, Wenwu has to play the role of peacemaker, sounding like any annoyed dad who wants his kids to quit bickering.
Wenwu: Stop, please! Mattias can call his razor whatever he wants.
In another deleted scene, Shang-Chi and Katy provide a distraction in order to steal a car and escape the Ten Rings Compound. How do they do so? They use their previous knowledge as valet parkers to tear into the lone guard in the garage for their horrendous job parking vehicles.
".