Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings / YMMV

Accidental Aesop: Read the terms and conditions before signing anything. Shang-Chi recklessly 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.
Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Was Trevor really spared because his overacting amused the guards, or his Cloudcuckoolander status makes him a very Unreliable Narrator? After all, it was pretty clear Wenwu broke him out from prison with the intent of punishing him for his shameful impersonation — although Wenwu eventually did come to take it in jest.
- Shang-Chi and Katy: Platonic Life-Partners or two friends in love but who don't want to complicate things? The movie and Word of God promote the former but a deleted scene and a tweet from Simu Liu suggest the latter is at least possible.
- Did Wenwu truly blame Shang-Chi for the death of his mother or was he just lashing out in the heat of the moment due to Shang-Chi's own accusations? It should be noted that he doesn't seem to hold a grudge against his son anywhere else in the movie and this was said while they were fighting each other after a very emotionally charged day, making Wenwu's feelings ambiguous.
Aluminum Christmas Trees: The design of Morris, the faceless footstool with wings, can come across as a marketing ploy to sell more toys... if you don't know that hundun are an established part of Chinese mythology.
Americans Hate Tingle: The movie wasn't popular in mainland China, with reasons ranging from distaste of the "Americanized" portrayal of Chinese culture to the recent political tension between China and the United States. However, the movie was well-received by the Asian diaspora in Western countries, who found the movie relatable.
And You Thought It Would Fail: Despite being one of the original properties planned during the early years of the MCU, it wasn't until the successes of Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians that Marvel got enough confidence to greenlight a Shang-Chi movie, nearly 15 years later. First, on top of being centered around an obscure character with a lot of racist baggage from the comics, the film was given a theatrical-only release with the Delta variant on the rise, which had some outlets assume Disney had no faith in the movie, thereby expecting it to flop like Jungle Cruise before it. Second, Mainland China had an icy reception towards the movie and it wasn't released on the opening day, plus there were some people planning to boycott the movie because of Awkwafina's involvement and Liu's perceived slight against China. Additionally, the last time Disney tried to appeal to mainland China, it ended up being viewed negatively, with its releases rife with controversy on both sides. The Suicide Squad, a similarly delayed superhero movie, flopped at the box office. Lastly, the movie would be released on Labor Day weekend, which had a reputation of being a bad weekend to release a movie. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings would end up having the second highest opening weekend of the pandemic, eventually becoming the highest grossing film of the 2021 domestic box office; broke the all time record for a Labor Day weekend release; ^note and received acclaim from critics and fans, with some hailing it as one of the MCU's best origin stories.
Simu Liu: Flopped so hard we got a sequel!!
Angst? What Angst?: It takes place after Endgame, but no one seems to be angsting over the sudden Overpopulation Crisis, making it the first MCU installment set after Infinity War in which the blip doesn't have a major influence over the story. There is, however, a passing reference to "Post-Blip Anxiety" on a poster near the beginning, so the effects are not entirely gone from the universe.
Anti-Climax Boss: Death Dealer is set up as a major threat and has a protracted set-piece fight scene with Shang-Chi that ends inconclusively, which usually sets up a rematch in the third act. But then they are killed by an Elite Mook to set up the climax.
Base-Breaking Character: Katy is either a fun comedic sidekick or the The Load with Akwafina's style of comedy being unfitting for the movie and Katy's quick development of archery skills that helped defeating the big bad are also either seen as Hidden Depths or rushed.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Morris' main role is to guide the protagonists to Ta Lo and otherwise doesn't do anything else noteworthy. It's nevertheless popular with the audience for being a ridiculously cute and cuddly furball.
Epileptic Trees:
- The mid-credit scene revealing that the Ten Rings are so old that modern-day experts in magic, science and alien technology can't identify it in any way has many people wondering if the rings are somehow related to the Eternals, particularly since the Eternals have been around since humanity's beginning, and the Ten Rings are implied to be even older than when Wenwu first found them over a thousand years ago.
- With the reveal in the mid-credits scene that Bruce Banner is no longer Professor Hulk, and the director refusing to discuss why, fans suppose the likes of he simply was never permanently merged with the Hulk, some incident happened to separate them again, or even that he really is still Professor Hulk and just has his hologram portray him as human for some reason.
  - Alternately, it could be that the Infinity Gauntlet weakened him enough that he can't stay Professor Hulk all the time, as we see Banner's arm in a cast in his hologram. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law shows that Banner has repressors that enable him to temporarily assume his old human form, but otherwise remains as Professor Hulk.
Fandom Rivalry: One with fans of fellow Asian superhero Ryan Choi. Zack Snyder revealed in a 2021 interview that during production for Justice League, he intended to have Ryan (played by Ryan Zheng) star in a standalone Atom movie set in China, which ultimately fell through following Snyder's departure from the film and Zheng's scenes being cut. Following the success of Zack Snyder's Justice League, which restored Ryan's appearance, many fans, particularly DC Extended Universe fans, were upset over the lost opportunity, which would have given DC Films an edge over its rival Marvel Studios in debuting the "First Asian Solo Superhero Film". As a result, Atom fans have directed their ire towards Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings for "stealing their thunder".
Friendly Fandoms:
- Fans of Crazy Rich Asians have expressed their support for the movie, as both films were considered to be landmark moments for Asian-American representation in Western media. As with Black Panther, the financial success of Crazy Rich Asians gave Marvel enough confidence to greenlight a Shang-Chi movie. It also helps that Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh and Ronny Chieng were in both movies.
- With Kim's Convenience, as Simu Liu starred in both. Not only do both franchises feature prominently Asian casts, Liu also plays a character with a strained relationship with his father, much to the amusement of both fandoms. Coincidentally, Mr. Kim's actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee plays Captain Carson Teva in The Mandalorian, another Disney-owned property, which has caused both fandoms to hope for a Intercontinuity Crossover between the MCU's Shang-Chi and Star Wars' Teva.
- With the CW's Kung Fu, another Asian-American-led martial arts franchise. Simu Liu and Kung Fu star Olivia Liang have both given each other shout-outs on social media and several Kung Fu stars attended the premiere.
- With Mortal Kombat, due to both films featuring Asian martial artists with supernatural abilities and being released the same year. Coincidentally, Mortal Kombat leads Lewis Tan and Ludi Lin almost got the role of Shang-Chi before Simu Liu was cast. Both movies were also co-written by David Callaham.
- With Warrior, as both feature a strong Asian Male protagonist inspired by Bruce Lee. Needless to say, Simu Liu's Shang-Chi and Andrew Koji's Ah Sahm are seen as positive portrayals of Asian Americans.
- Many fans of Zack Snyder's Justice League are fans of Shang-Chi due to Simu Liu being a supporter of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In stark contrast to the film's reception in mainland China, it eventually achieved success in Hong Kong and Taiwan, despite these regions sharing mainland China's negative reception initially.
Genius Bonus:
- The symbols in the Ten Rings logo are Chinese characters^note: 宏 (hóng - vast), 雄 (xióng - variously meaning majestic, male, or heroism), 強 (qiáng - strength, power), 威 (wēi - variously meaning might or awe), 權 (quán - authority, might), 力 (lì - power and strength), 壯 (zhuang - strong, robust), 偉 (wěi - greatness), 傑 (jié - outstanding) and & 勢 (shì - power, authority).
- Morris, the heroes' animal sidekick, is a rather obscure creature from Chinese mythology called a Hundun, a manifestation of the primordial chaos origin myth. The film also features appearances by hulijing a.k.a. nine-tailed fox spirits, qilin, (the "weird horse," as Trevor puts it) Chinese guardian lions, and a brief shot of fiery birds who are presumably a version of fenghuang a.k.a. Chinese phoenixes.
- When Katy speaks to Jon Jon in English, Jon Jon says he speaks "ABC". While non-Asians assume this to mean "English", "ABC" is actually short for "American-born Chinese".
- The subtitles translate Wenwu's threat to Guang Bo as a generic statement about being ten times as old as him. Mandarin speakers can tell that he actually says the common Chinese idiom conveying the idea, "I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice in your entire life."
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- The idea of someone like Wong spending his free time competing in underground fighting rings and singing drunk karaoke was already funny enough. The reveal in Spider-Man: No Way Home that he's been doing this after being given the title of Sorcerer Supreme makes it that much funnier.
- She-Hulk: Attorney at Law further gives Wong's fight with Blonsky some interesting context: not only did Wong basically kidnap him to take him to Macau, but their whole sparring match was supposedly part of the process for him becoming Sorcerer Supreme in the first place. Baron Mordo would be jealous.
- While they don't share scenes here, Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu both being in a movie about kung fu would become more relevant less than a year later with the release of Everything Everywhere All at Once.
I Knew It!:
- Many fans predicted that the Mandarin would be Shang-Chi's father in the film, given that the character was set to be used as a Expy for the now unavailable Fu Manchu (Shang-Chi's father in the comics — later renamed "Zheng Zu" due to licensing reasons — and substituted due to the fact that the character in question is associated with racist stereotypes).
- Fans who noticed that Benedict Wong had a lunch with Simu Liu deduced that he would have a cameo in the film, which was later confirmed with the second trailer.
- The moment the film's title and its inclusion of the true Mandarin was announced, many predicted that Trevor Slattery would appear in the film as a prisoner of the Ten Rings, after he was last seen being kidnapped by them.
- Some fans predicted that Brie Larson would reprise her role as Captain Marvel in the film, due to being a frequent collaborator of the director. She has a brief cameo in The Stinger.
Improved Second Attempt: The introduction of Xu Wenwu as the Mandarin was itself intended to fix a long-standing race-relations problem with the Shang-Chi character. In his original incarnation in the Master of Kung Fu comic series, Shang-Chi was the son of Public Domain Character Fu Manchu, a Yellow Peril villain that Chinese people consider an extremely racist stereotype. This adaptation discards all connection with Fu, presenting Wenwu instead as an ancient, immortal Chinese warlord-turned-Triad boss who proves a very complex and ultimately sympathetic antagonist.
Just Here for Godzilla: Some fans just wanted to see that movie to finally see the "real" Mandarin after the base-breaking twist about the Mandarin being fake in Iron Man 3 and Marvel's later attempt to make that up by revealing there's a real Mandarin out there in All Hail the King.
Les Yay: Katy often expresses awe over Xialing's fighting skills and determination. This flatters Xialing to the extent that she returns Katy's praise with a compliment over her fashion sense in a way that comes off as flirty, and later saves Katy from falling off some scaffolding. It also helps that neither Katy nor Xialing has a romantic relationship with Shang-Chi, due to being simply his best friend and his sister, respectively.
Memetic Mutation:
- *Strikes pose* ^Explanation
- Disappointed father ^Explanation
- "Be careful how you speak to me, boy." ^Explanation
- "So this is what Jung was up to when he got kicked out of the house." ^Explanation
- Shang-Chi stock images ^Explanation
- The Mandarin is Wendy Wu's long lost father. ^Explanation
Older Than They Think:
- The idea of having Shang-Chi's father be a Composite Character of Zheng Zu (a.k.a. Fu Manchu) and the Mandarin isn't original to this film, but was actually already done in Secret Wars.
- The notion of the Mandarin fighting other superheroes than Iron Man actually has precedence in the comics. Namely, in the 1960s and 1970s, the Mandarin fought not only Iron Man, but also The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, and The Inhumans.
- When the project was first announced in 2018, several detractors felt that Marvel only made the movie on a whim just to placate the Chinese market. However, plans to introduce Shang-Chi to the Marvel Cinematic Universe date as far back as 2005, where it was one of the ten original properties Marvel Studios intended to make as part of a deal with Paramount, long before American studios realized how lucrative the Chinese market was.
- Because movie fans were introduced to The Abomination through The Incredible Hulk (which took some liberties with his appearance), they were generally confused when he appeared in this film with his iconic pointy ears, making him look like a different character from their point-of-view. Some who have grown accustomed to his movie appearance have even refused to state it was actually him.
Presumed Flop: Many were quick to call it a failure when it was first released in theatres by comparing its numbers to other MCU movies, when it actually sold very well that weekend (in fact, it broke a holiday record set back when there wasn't a pandemic to make moviegoers wary) and during its run. When it was officially announced that a sequel was in the works, Simu Liu threw shade on those who made that claim by tweeting "Flopped so hard we got a sequel!!"
Questionable Casting:
- Awkwafina is primarily known for her rapping and comedic work, making her casting in an action film look out of place when first announced. The fact that Katy is the movie's main comic relief and eventually becomes Shang-Chi's Muggle Best Friend mitigates this.
- Tony Leung Chiu-wai was primarily known for working in the Chinese film industry and had no experience in Hollywood or much recognition among Western audiences (at least, when compared to actors such as Donnie Yen^note), so the announcement of him being cast as the villain Wenwu was met with confusion and doubt. His performance ended up winning most people over, with many considering him one of the MCU's best villains.
Retroactive Recognition: Katy's brother Ruihua is Prince Zuko.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
- The MCU's depiction of the Mandarin, in a way. Now with the actual Mandarin making an entrance (after his existence was teased in the All Hail the King-short), fans tend to be more forgiving to the twist in Iron Man 3. Especially as Wenwu a.k.a. the real Mandarin even openly mocks that movie's Big Bad and Scrappy Aldrich Killian.
- Same goes for Fake-Mandarin and actor Trevor Slattery, who was a Base-Breaking Character back in Iron Man 3; now with the real Mandarin in the picture, more fans can enjoy Ben Kingsley's goofy performance making his character a comic relief in that movie(and this one, as it turns out).
Salvaged Story:
- A lot of people were disappointed that the Ten Rings didn't get many appearances during the Infinity Saga, especially since Jon Favreau's attempts to build them up as a powerful terrorist group were rendered moot with the infamous Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3. This film brings the Ten Rings back into focus after eight years of being unmentioned in the films, and also introduces Xu Wenwu, the true Mandarin that leads them. Trailers also show prominent footage of Wenwu using the mystical abilities of the actual Ten Rings, which fans had been clamoring to see since the first Iron Man film. Wenwu actually calls out how ridiculous the whole thing was, and even Trevor Slattery himself says he's come to realize how insulting his playing the Mandarin as a stereotypical Middle-Eastern terrorist was. For bonus points, the second post-credits scene promises that the organization won't fall to the wayside again like it did previously.
- Fans of the Hulk were excited to see the return of the Abomination in this film after being absent from the MCU for over a decade, minus a few mentions here or there.
- The mid-credits scene has a minor example with Captain Marvel. In the character's previous MCU appearances, particularly her first solo film, many felt that her attempts to be witty and deadpan unintentionally came off as wooden and emotionless. In her brief appearance here, Carol is shown in a quirkier and more humanized light, giving Brie Larson a better chance to show off her funnier side and making Carol closer to her comic personality.
- In its earlier appearances like in the Iron Man films, the Ten Rings logo was originally depicted with Mongolian script enumerating ten Mongol tribes. This led to a protest from the Mongolian government due to their culture and history being associated with a terrorist group. In this movie, the logo is redesigned with Chinese characters referring instead to abstract concepts. On the flip side, the Mongolian official behind the complaint has since regretted making it because China has since begun suppressing the Mongolian script in its province of Inner Mongolia, endangering the script's active use, so that she feels its international representation even in such a context would be appreciated.
The Scrappy: The Dweller-in-Darkness is almost universally disliked, even amongst die-hard fans of the movie. In addition to having no personality or dialogue to speak of whatsoever, it tacks on a generic, CGI-fueled fight after Shang-Chi's final confrontation with his father, which many agree would have served as a more fitting climax for the film's familial themes.
Special Effect Failure: Awesome as the bus fight is, there's some very obvious and distracting CGI involved.
Squick: The fight between Ying Nan and Wen Wu not only shows how different their styles are and some cool Wuxia, it's played as the beginning of a romance. Then we get the same sort of fight between father and son in the climax...
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- The Abomination reappears in the MCU for the first time since The Incredible Hulk, but is reduced to a mere cameo that has zero impact on the rest of the movie.
- Death Dealer is made out to be a top ninja for the Ten Rings and the hint there may be someone special under the mask. Instead, he's the first Ten Rings soldier to get their soul sucked out with barely a fight and the audience never sees him unmasked.
Trailer Joke Decay: When Shang-Chi first wakes up and gets dressed, he puts on a dress shirt and tie. The audience is meant to believe he'll be the guy getting out of the fancy car, only to find he's actually the hotel valet. But since that scene has already been in almost every trailer, the joke doesn't really land.
Unexpected Character:
- When this movie was announced, many fans were surprised that Shang-Chi would get his own film adaptation, not only because of his obscurity when compared to the likes of The Avengers, but also due to the perception that his backstory from the comics as the son of the infamous Fu Manchu himself would be difficult to adapt. Specifically, there was the fact that Marvel no longer had the rights to the Fu Manchu property (aside from the fact that Fu Manchu is a racist caricature).
- When it was announced that the real Mandarin would be the Big Bad of this film, many fans were surprised for multiple reasons. For one thing, there was how the Mandarin (and the Ten Rings) had been Put on a Bus since 2014's All Hail the King. In addition, there was the fact that Shang-Chi and the Mandarin have no connections in the comics (owing largely to the Mandarin's role as Iron Man's Arch-Enemy). Related to this, most fans thought that it would have been difficult for the real Mandarin to appear in the MCU considering how Iron Man — his traditional enemy from the comics — died in Avengers: Endgame. Finally, there was the notion of the Mandarin's Yellow Peril nature from the comics would have been difficult to adapt following the success of Black Panther and Captain Marvel, both of which made great strides to include more diversity in the MCU. Marvel Studios' solution to that last one? Simple: Have him fight their first Asian lead.
- It came as a surprise to many fans that the fake Mandarin, Trevor Slattery, returns for this film, after All Hail the King seemingly set him up to be Killed Offscreen.
- Fans were exceptionally surprised to see the return of The Abomination himself in the film's official trailer. While it was confirmed that he'd return for the She-Hulk series, him returning here first was a surprise to many. In addition, few expected him to be fighting Wong.
- The presence of the Dweller-In-Darkness, a villain more associated with Dr. Strange, is also a surprise, as the marketing for the film focused on Wenwu as the Big Bad.
- Whilst it's now customary to expect other MCU characters to pop-up during The Stinger, the ones that do are unexpected:
  - No-one was expecting Bruce Banner to appear in the film's post-credits sequence after spending the bulk of Avengers: Endgame as the merged Professor Hulk.
  - Captain Marvel appearing alongside Bruce Banner was surprising, given her role as a primarily cosmic hero that rarely gets involved with Earth matters — but one that's less surprising since Brie Larson has worked with the director on all his films since 2013.
Visual Effects of Awesome:
- Morris, an animal with no facial expressions, truly feels like a sentient being through his gestures.
- Much of the action was a tight combination of practical work on sets and digital doubles and blue/green screen. In particular, the scaffolding fight involves multiple seamless changes between real actors and CGI doubles and the fighting done in front of a realistically reflective skyscraper window facade that was created entirely digitally.
Watched It for the Representation: This was the first Asian-led MCU film with a mostly Chinese cast and helmed by a Japanese-American director. Overseas Chinese viewers in particular watched the movie precisely because it was made by East Asians.
Woolseyism: In the Brazilian dub, Katy saying "I'm the Asian Jeff Gordon!" became "I'm the Asian Ayrton Senna!", which even makes the explanation once Shang-Chi doesn't recognizes the name from erroneous ("he's the winningest NASCAR racer", Gordon ranks third) to simply complimentary ("There's never been a better Formula One racer!"). Tellingly, by the time the film hit Disney+ the new joke was on the subtitled version too.
WTH, Costuming Department?:
- Early reactions to Wenwu's outfit were mixed, with many criticizing the utilitarian aesthetic and blue and black color scheme that felt reminiscent of the early X-Men movies instead of the traditional Chinese-inspired garments from the comics. However, several fans defended the outfit, as the Mandarin's typical comic book attire was heavily draped in Orientalist tropes. While the teaser trailer featured a brief shot of the Mandarin in a more classical attire that satisfied earlier detractors, the scene was nonetheless criticized by some Chinese viewers who felt that the imagery was playing on Yellow Peril tropes although the criticism died down once it was revealed that it was from a flashback.
- The redesign of the Mandarin's iconic uniquely colored powered rings as gold bracelets with glowing blue energy blasts were criticized by some fans for being bland and uninspiring compared to the comics. Some fans and producer Jonathan Schwartz defended the change, as the redesigned Ten Rings were modeled off Hung Gar iron rings, which stayed true to the film's martial arts themes and Chinese culture and that a villain using mystical multi-colored jewelry on his fingers had already been done before. Most of the comics rings' original powers also amounted to various kinds of energy blasts, which the MCU version kept but simplified. Not to mention that a martial artist fighting wearing gaudy rings has serious issues with plausibility for anyone who has training, since it's something you're specifically told not to do for very good reasons.
- Some fans found the inclusion of the Air Jordan Access sneakers to Shang-Chi's superhero uniform to be cheesy and impractical. Even Liu was initially opposed to the idea despite being a sneakerhead himself, but eventually warmed up to the Air Jordans during filming, believing that they helped make Shang-Chi relatable. Concept designer and visual director Andy Park explained that shoes represented Shang-Chi's American upbringing, much like how his red dragon armor symbolized his mother and the rings with his father.

YMMV / Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

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