"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" is finally in theaters worldwide. Like any great
Marvel movie, it works on multiple levels. With that in mind, here are a half-dozen spoiler-heavy
lines in "Shang-Chi" that mean far more than you might realize when you first hear them.
At one point, Jon Jon says "I speak ABC" to Katy, which many viewers might take as just a cute way
of saying "I speak English." In actuality, "ABC" is an abbreviation for "American-Born Chinese."
Writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton said just before the film's release,
at a press event attended by Looper, "Our conversation behind which languages
should be spoken was always rooted in the logic of the characters. That conversation started in
the writer's room, and then once our actors came in, it was always a dialogue with them:
Is this character bilingual, trilingual, quadrilingual? Characters could speak
whatever made sense at the time." As for the ABC line, Simu Liu,
who plays Shang-Chi, said the exchange feels very real, explaining,
"ABC, of course, means American-born Chinese. It's the first time that
you see in a movie someone just calling that out, but it's a lived experience."
Early in the movie, at an unguarded moment when the characters are just
living their everyday lives, we hear, "We're living in a world where any minute,
half the population could disappear." This line not only alludes to the wider
MCU universe, with plotlines revolving around Thanos and his infamous Snap,
but also to the mindset of ordinary humans still grappling years later with the ramifications.
Although "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" doesn't add any new names to known
victims of the Snap, the event touched everyone, and it does make clear that it's still hanging
over the heads of every person on the planet. The general unease of the populace is backed
up by a support group poster that can be glimpsed next to the door Shaun enters when
he's visiting Katy's family. It reads: "Post-Blip anxiety? You are not alone."
The seemingly straightforward line "Give me the pendant, and no one gets hurt" represents the
final moment of Shaun's innocence. For more than a decade, he has been working to build himself a
new life in San Francisco, one far away from his Chinese upbringing. But as we're about to see,
he hasn't been neglecting his physical fitness. When the robber makes that statement,
Shaun could have just handed over the jade pendant, shrugged his shoulders and Katy
would likely think no less of him. But that wouldn't make much of a movie, would it?
"Does he look like he can fight? Come on, bro." In a heartbeat, Shaun launches from mild-mannered
bus patron to full-on Shang-Chi, pulling out acrobatic, environment-embracing,
ass-kicking moves that would make Jackie Chan sit up and applaud.
In a matter of moments, he doesn't just shatter half the windows on the bus, but also his
remaining anonymity and any pretense of normalcy with friend Katy — who watches the whole thing
with her jaw open before finally regaining enough sense to hop behind the wheel and drive the bus.
By the time the scene is over, everything has changed. Shaun has revealed himself to Katy as
Shang-Chi, his old life has dragged him back in, and he must go to China to confront his past.
Also, the city of San Francisco has a really big mess to clean up.
Movies have employed training sequences for decades. But it's another thing to show — and
explain in raw detail — how day after day, month after month, year after year,
you were raised to be a killing machine. At one point, Shang-Chi says,
"From sun up to sun down, I was taught every possible way to kill a man."
Some movies have the hero adept in martial arts from the get-go, as if it's just something they
picked up; others allude to the training, but don't truly depict the full dedication
it requires. But by the time you're finished hearing the tale of Shang-Chi's upbringing under
the tutelage of his father and the mysterious Death Dealer, you fully realize how he was able
to mow down those baddies on the bus. Keep in mind, for almost the entirety
of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," Shang-Chi does not have even one ring. In essence,
he's an unpowered would-be hero relying solely on his training to battle a wide array of threats
who have everything from super powers to — at the bare minimum — a machete hand.
So yes, Shang-Chi is a trained killer, and Simu Liu is talented enough to sell you on all those
years of training. Of course, by the end of the movie, Shang-Chi does come into possession of
the Ten Rings — so, just imagine how powerful he'll be the next time we see him in action.
When Wenwu says "America was terrified of an orange," some viewers in the audience may
have no clue what the wearer of the Ten Rings is talking about, but here's what he's referring to.
Audiences buying tickets to "Iron Man 3" in 2013 thought they were going
to see Tony Stark square off against arguably his arch enemy in the comics,
"The Mandarin" — like the orange. Instead, they got Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian as the man behind
the man, and Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, a British actor pretending to be The Mandarin.
At the time, some loved the bait-and-switch; others were disappointed or even flat out angry.
As the years went by, a third narrative became the loudest: By teasing a Chinese character and
instead giving audiences a white one, Marvel seemed to be perpetuating a shameful Hollywood
tradition of co-opting and whitewashing the Asian experience. Marvel head honcho Kevin
Feige became determined to not only address such concerns, but take back The Mandarin.
Which is why, in 2014, Marvel released a "One-Shot" called "All Hail the King,"
which depicted a post-"Iron Man 3" Trevor Slattery in prison. The short film features a reporter
telling Slattery that his portrayal has angered The Ten Rings, the terrorist group associated
with the real Mandarin. At the end of the film the interviewer reveals his true identity as an agent
of The Mandarin and takes Slattery prisoner. "There's someone who wants to meet you."
"Do I know him?"
"No. But you took his name, and now he wants it back."
Which brings us to "Shang-Chi," Wenwu's recounting of the story, and the later revelation that
Slattery has been held prisoner ever since in the real Mandarin's dungeon basement.
The advice given to Katy when she joins the battle at Ta-Lo — "If you aim at nothing, you hit
nothing" — is more than just "archer mindset." As we see at the beginning of the film,
Shaun and Katy were leading a largely aimless existence. Valet parking cars for low wages,
spending nights drinking and singing karaoke — as Katy's family were all too eager to point out,
it felt like a roadmap to nowhere. But what she didn't realize is that her drinking buddy
did in fact have a purpose, even if he was actively working to suppress it.
Through Shang-Chi's embracing of his destiny — and her support as a loyal friend — the two characters
ended the film with something to finally aim for: A future as superheroes, possibly as Avengers,
and perhaps Katy continuing to embrace her skills as an archer and car chase driver.
If you hang around until the very end of the credits, you'll hear Xialing say, "Let's get
started. We have a lot of work to do," indicating the dawning of a new day for the character.
For years, her father Wenwu had forbidden her from training, forcing the young girl to slyly
study the men around her and resolve to be even more effective in her movements. Later in life,
she'd become disappointed by another man, when brother Shang-Chi left her behind in China.
Now, after the heroes won the day at Ta-Lo and her father is no longer a threat to contend with,
Shang-Chi has taken the Ten Rings and once again left — this time,
for a new life of adventure in San Francisco and the Sanctum Sanctorum. This leaves Xialing alone
to rebuild and rule over a new kingdom, which is where we find her in this end credits scene,
surrounded by people training for battle. Where will this new chapter take her?
It's hard to tell, because in the comics there is no Xialing, but Xialing could be based on
"The Cursed Lotus," a supervillain who's the older half-sister of Shang-Chi. In the comics,
The Cursed Lotus was a gifted hand-to-hand combatant and seductress who longed to follow in
her father's footsteps and led her own criminal organization called "The Oriental Expeditors."
Although there's an extremely good chance that name will not be appearing in the MCU,
it's possible that the people we see training under her tutelage are early Expeditors,
and as we've already seen from Xialing's prominence in the underground fighting community,
she knows plenty of tough folks who would likely be for hire.
We almost certainly haven't seen the last of Xialing — and Shang-Chi better
be prepared for another smackdown with sis.