Shang-Chi thought he had left his past behind to live a normal life in San Francisco, but when he is attacked by a group of assassins, he is dragged back into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization. Forced to confront the father he ran away from—the immortal warlord Wenwu—Shang-Chi must harness his true potential and reconcile with his estranged sister to stop a mythical darkness that threatens to consume their world.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
September 3, 2021 |
Running time |
132 minutes |
Genre |
Action Adventure Fantasy Sci-Fi |
Budget |
$150,000,000 |
Box Office |
$432,243,292 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
Destin Daniel Cretton |
Produced by |
Kevin Feige Jonathan Schwartz |
Written by |
Dave Callaham Destin Daniel Cretton Andrew Lanham |
Music by |
Joel P. West |
Cinematography |
Bill Pope |
Edited by |
Nat Sanders ElÃsabet Ronaldsdóttir Harry Yoon |
Production Co. |
Marvel Studios |
Distributed by |
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
Top Cast |
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Official Trailer |
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The Plot
The Warlord and the Guardian
In ancient times, a man named Xu Wenwu discovered a set of ten mystical rings. These artifacts blessed him with immortality and unmatched power, allowing him to become a dominating conqueror who shaped history from the shadows. Founding the Ten Rings organization, his terrorist syndicate spread to nearly every corner of the world over the millennia. Yet, despite his absolute power, Wenwu was not satisfied. Having heard legends of the ancient village of Ta Lo, he sought to enter the realm to harness the power of its mythical creatures for his own ambitions.
In 1996, Wenwu attempts to locate the village, venturing into a shifting bamboo maze that protects its borders. There, he comes across Ying Li, a guardian of the entrance to Ta Lo. She decrees that he is unwelcome in their sacred village, but Wenwu refuses to back down, leading to a duel in the bamboo forest. Unlike his previous opponents, Li utilizes the power of the wind to counter the brute force of his rings. As they fight, the two lock eyes on multiple instances, finding an unexpected connection. While Li manages to defeat him, they quickly fall for each other. This love leads Wenwu to renounce his criminal empire, while Li chooses to leave Ta Lo. They settle down, grow old together, and have two children: Shang-Chi and Xialing.
A Broken Childhood
By 2007, the family is living a peaceful life. Li retells the story of how she met their father to her young son, Shang-Chi, and entrusts him with a green pendant to help him find his way back home should he ever need it. However, their domestic tranquility is shattered when the Iron Gang, old rivals of Wenwu from his warlord days, arrives at their home seeking revenge. While Wenwu is away, the Iron Gang murders Li in front of her children. Devastated and consumed by grief, Wenwu returns to his old ways, reactivating the Ten Rings organization and slaughtering the Iron Gang members who killed his wife.
Wenwu begins raising Shang-Chi not as a son, but as a weapon. For the next seven years, the boy is subjected to brutal training under the cold supervision of the Death Dealer to become a formidable martial artist. Once his training is deemed complete at the age of fourteen, Wenwu sends Shang-Chi on a mission to assassinate the leader of the Iron Gang. However, after the mission, traumatized by the violence, Shang-Chi chooses not to return. He flees to the United States to escape his father's shadow and live a normal life, leaving his younger sister Xialing behind.
Valets Under Siege
In the present day, Shang-Chi has adopted the alias "Shaun" and works as a hotel valet in San Francisco alongside his best friend, Katy Chen. Their lack of ambition serves as a minor annoyance to their friends, Soo and John, as well as Katy’s parents, who believe the pair are vastly overqualified for their jobs. The illusion of a normal life is broken one morning while Shaun and Katy are riding the bus to work. Shaun is suddenly accosted by a group of men demanding the green pendant his mother gave him.
Shaun drops his persona and reveals his martial arts prowess, holding his own against the attackers in the cramped confines of the moving bus. During the chaos, the bus driver is knocked unconscious, forcing Katy to take the wheel and navigate the out-of-control vehicle through the streets of San Francisco. After Shaun manages to throw most of his attackers off the bus, a brute named Razor Fist emerges, attempting to kill him with a machete limb. Although Shaun escapes the encounter unharmed and saves the passengers, he realizes the assassin, a member of the Ten Rings, has successfully seized his pendant. Fearing for his sister's safety, and recalling a postcard supposedly sent by her from Macau, Shaun prepares to depart. Katy, shocked by the revelation of her friend's skills, insists on tagging along, determined to learn who "Shaun" truly is.
The Golden Daggers Club
During the flight to Macau, Shaun reveals his true name to Katy and explains his past: his training, the mission to kill his mother's murderer, and his subsequent flight to San Francisco. Upon landing in Macau, the pair follows the address on the postcard, which leads them to the Golden Daggers Club, an underground fighting ring broadcast on the dark web. As they enter, Shang-Chi unwittingly signs a liability waiver that registers him for a fight. While Katy watches from the scaffolding, Shang-Chi is thrust onto the grand stage to face a top-tier opponent.
He immediately recognizes his opponent as Xialing, his estranged sister. Shang-Chi refuses to fight, attempting to warn her that their father is coming for her pendant, but Xialing, embittered by his abandonment of her years ago, knocks him unconscious. When he wakes, Xialing reveals she never sent the postcard; it was a lure. Suddenly, the Ten Rings infiltrate the club. Shang-Chi and Katy attempt to escape by scaling the bamboo scaffolding on the side of the skyscraper. They are intercepted by Ten Rings ninjas and the Death Dealer. In the ensuing chaos, Xialing's pendant is snatched by the Death Dealer. Shang-Chi, recalling the torture he endured as a child, moves to kill his former mentor, but is stopped by the sudden arrival of Wenwu.
A Delusion of Love
Wenwu, having captured Shang-Chi, Xialing, and Katy, transports them via helicopter back to the Ten Rings Headquarters, a fortress hidden in the mountains. There, Wenwu treats them to dinner and reveals his motivation: he believes his late wife, Ying Li, is not dead but held captive. He claims to hear her voice calling out to him from behind the sealed gate in Ta Lo, imprisoned by her own people for choosing to leave with him. He believes the only way to save her is to burn the village down.
Using the two green pendants stolen from his children, Wenwu activates a shrine that manipulates water to generate a magical 3D map. The map reveals a safe path through the deadly bamboo forest maze that protects Ta Lo. Wenwu notes that the path opens only once a year, during the upcoming Qingming Festival. When Shang-Chi, Xialing, and Katy object to his genocidal plan, pointing out that Li is truly dead, Wenwu becomes enraged and has them thrown into a dungeon.
The Jester and the Escape
In the dungeon, the group encounters an unexpected prisoner: Trevor Slattery, the washed-up actor who once impersonated the "Mandarin." He has been kept alive as a "court jester" for the Ten Rings. Slattery reveals that he can also hear the voices, but his companion, a faceless, furry creature named Morris (a Dijiang), explains that the voices are a trap. Morris, who originates from Ta Lo, knows a way to navigate the forest maze without waiting for the path to open.
Xialing reveals she has been secretly digging an escape tunnel in her cell for years. The group utilizes this route to infiltrate the garage. They hijack Razor Fist’s customized SUV, and with Katy behind the wheel, they smash through the compound's defenses. After a high-speed chase involving Ten Rings motorcycles and archers, they manage to escape into the wilderness, heading for the bamboo forest.
The History of Ta Lo
Approaching the treacherous forest maze, the group relies on Morris to guide them. Katy drives nervously as the bamboo shifts and moves like a living organism, trying to crush intruders. Following Morris's erratic directions and Slattery's translation, they miraculously navigate the maze and emerge into the mystical realm of Ta Lo. As they drive into the village, they are immediately confronted by armed locals who urge them to turn back. The standoff is diffused by Ying Nan, Li's sister, who recognizes her niece and nephew.
Nan welcomes them and explains the true history of the realm. Thousands of years ago, Ta Lo was a prospering civilization until the emergence of the Dweller-in-Darkness and its army of Soul Eaters. The creatures devastated the realm and threatened to consume the entire universe. Fortunately, the Great Protector, a mystical dragon, intervened. The dragon and the villagers managed to seal the Dweller behind a massive Dark Gate within a mountain cavern. Nan explains that the Dweller lures people to break the seal by imitating the voices of their loved ones, confirming that Wenwu is being manipulated by the very evil he seeks to unleash.
Preparation for War
Knowing Wenwu will arrive soon, the village prepares for battle. The residents of Ta Lo gift the group with armor and weapons made from dragon scales, the only material capable of harming the Soul Eaters. Nan begins training Shang-Chi in the gentle, aerokinetic martial arts style of their people, teaching him to use the air and his surroundings rather than brute force. Meanwhile, Xialing masters a rope dart weapon, and Katy discovers a natural talent for archery.
On the night before the battle, Shang-Chi sits alone by the lake. He confesses to Katy that he lied earlier; he did not just flee to America. He reveals that he went through with his father's mission and executed the leader of the Iron Gang to avenge his mother. Burdened by guilt and anger, he declares his intention to commit patricide, believing that killing Wenwu is the only way to stop him and atone for his own sins.
The Battle for the Gate
The following day, the Qingming Festival arrives, and with it, Wenwu and the Ten Rings army. Wenwu demands the villagers step aside, but Shang-Chi confronts him. A massive battle erupts between the Ten Rings forces and the villagers. While Xialing and Katy lead the defense, Shang-Chi engages his father in a duel. Despite his new training, Shang-Chi is overpowered by Wenwu, who casts his son into the deep lake nearby. Unopposed, Wenwu approaches the Dark Gate and begins to shatter the seal with the power of the rings.
As the seal weakens, small Soul Eaters escape and begin attacking everyone indiscriminately. The Death Dealer has his soul sucked out and dies instantly. Realizing the true nature of the threat, Razor Fist calls a truce, and the Ten Rings soldiers ally with the villagers to fight the Soul Eaters. However, their conventional weapons are useless, and they suffer heavy casualties.
The Dragon and the Sacrifice
In the depths of the lake, Shang-Chi is saved by the Great Protector. Connecting with the dragon, he rides it back to the surface, using its power to destroy the Soul Eaters. He arrives at the Dark Gate just as Wenwu continues his assault. Shang-Chi confronts his father once more, this time utilizing the soft style taught by his aunt to control the rings. He successfully wrests control of the rings from Wenwu, turning his father's power against him. However, when presented with the chance to kill Wenwu, Shang-Chi refuses, dropping the rings and declaring that his family needs their father back.
At that moment, the Dark Gate shatters completely. The Dweller-in-Darkness emerges, a colossal eldritch horror. Wenwu realizes too late that his wife was never there and that he has doomed them all. The Dweller captures Wenwu and begins to drain his soul. In his final act, Wenwu saves Shang-Chi, passing control of all ten rings to his son before his lifeless body is dropped to the ground.
The Final Victory
Empowered by the Ten Rings and riding the Great Protector, Shang-Chi engages the Dweller-in-Darkness in the sky. The Dweller attempts to consume the Great Protector's soul, nearly killing the dragon. On the ground, Katy, overcoming her fear, fires a precise arrow into the Dweller's throat, distracting it long enough for Xialing to attack. This gives Shang-Chi the opening he needs.
Utilizing the full might of the Ten Rings, Shang-Chi dives into the beast's maw and unleashes a catastrophic burst of energy. He uses the rings to physically tear the Dweller-in-Darkness apart from the inside, causing it to explode and ending the threat once and for all. The battle ends with the survivors mourning their dead. A vigil is held for the fallen, including Wenwu, whom Shang-Chi bids a silent goodbye.
A New Purpose
Following the battle, Shang-Chi and Katy return to San Francisco. They meet Soo and John at a bar and excitedly recount their adventure, but their friends dismiss the story as pure fantasy. Suddenly, a portal opens in the middle of the bar, and the sorcerer Wong steps out. He summons Shang-Chi and Katy to accompany him to Kamar-Taj, leaving Soo and John stunned and realizing the story was true.
At the Sanctum, Wong introduces them to Bruce Banner and Carol Danvers via hologram. They analyze the Ten Rings, discovering that the artifacts are not of any known alien or magical origin recorded in their databases. Furthermore, the rings contain a beacon that is transmitting a mysterious signal to an unknown location deep in the universe. Wong welcomes Shang-Chi and Katy to the world of heroes, and the three head out to sing karaoke.
Meanwhile, in a post-credits scene, Xialing is shown back at the Ten Rings Headquarters. Despite telling her brother she would dismantle the organization, she has taken her father's place on the throne. With Razor Fist and Jon Jon at her side, she observes the soldiers training, now including women alongside men, signaling a new era for the Ten Rings.
