Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings General Discussion and Speculation thread

[Detective Conan]

Did anyone get major Avatar: The Last Airbender vibes from this movie?

 

[Punisher_MAX]

Did anyone get major Avatar: The Last Airbender vibes from this movie?

I whispered "Airbenders!" to my friend during the movie and they laughed a little harder than they should have.

With that said I'd be cool with fire, water, and earth bending being introduced.

 

[psylockolussus]

Well, as a result of this movie, future appearances in the MCU by Shang Chi will be met by an eruption of cheers in the theater.

It will be interesting to see the reactions of Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan in the Marvels since not everyone who watches the MCU watches WandaVision or will watch Ms. Marvel.

Yeah well thats the difference of starring in a theaterical blockbuster film versus a streaming series.

What's with all the Black Widow slander? I love that movie. Imho phase 4 has been great except for Falcon and the winter soldier. Marvel keeps getting better and Eternals and No way home looks like they will be great too.

For me its even better than WandaVision and Loki.

 

[CB Fan]

Just got out loved it. But marvel, the next time you think about putting a murky sky in your final act fight, don’t.

 

[legendkillin]

2nd viewing Tuesday, hope to love it just as much.

 

[InCali]

2nd viewing Tuesday, hope to love it just as much.

I’m going to see it at the local Cinemark XD theater in about 2 1/2 hours. I’m pretty psyched.

 

[metaphysician]

I aint talking about maybe 1 movie that may be considered disappointing. I am talking about a trend. People have been saying this Phase will suck compared to Phase 3, and so far I am not seeing this quality dip people have been proclaiming would come. Not across the board. Even of we call Black Widow and maybe F&WS disappointing, Wandavision, Loki, and Shang-Chi have been awesome. The quality is still there

Oh, indeed. Its pretty much the same rate of "middling" content as they've always had. I think part of it is that people tend to think back to the last decade of MCU, and they remember the high points much more easily and vividly than the low points.

 

[metaphysician]

Well, as a result of this movie, future appearances in the MCU by Shang Chi will be met by an eruption of cheers in the theater.

It will be interesting to see the reactions of Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan in the Marvels since not everyone who watches the MCU watches WandaVision or will watch Ms. Marvel.

I'm actually not so sure whether that will be meaningful. Or rather, I'm not so sure that a substantially smaller number of people will have prior exposure to the Disney+ shows, versus conventional movie release predecessors. Obviously, impossible to prove one way or another with existing publicly available metrics, but I suspect the Disney+ shows will have roughly the same amount of viewing and viewer awareness as movies.

 

[Bary]

Im actually excited to see where the shang chi and his overall story goes in the MCU. I think right now with the MCU Im interested is seeing more of

shang chi
Captain america
Loki
Scarlett witch
Dr strange

this list will most likely grow but right now these are the 5 Im interested to see the next steps. I hope Loki though crosses back into the movies at some point and not just on Disney+

 

[Dr. Evil]

I'm actually not so sure whether that will be meaningful. Or rather, I'm not so sure that a substantially smaller number of people will have prior exposure to the Disney+ shows, versus conventional movie release predecessors. Obviously, impossible to prove one way or another with existing publicly available metrics, but I suspect the Disney+ shows will have roughly the same amount of viewing and viewer awareness as movies.

I hope so. I would love to see Monica and Kamala met with eruption of cheers in the theater when they first show up in the Marvels.

 

[antsman41]

…sorry Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Meng’er Zhang (Xu Xialing) is my new Marvel kink.

This movie rips. I also cried like 10 times…

 

[MASTERASIA]

Spoiler

I get you too. Like I said I do buy that ultimately he is able to ride a dragon, that tracks; I just think it would've been not jarring if he struggled for like 20 or 30 seconds on film.

I'd like to ask a couple questions then. When I say this was not a dealbreaker and doesn't hurt the film, how does it equate that this is in your words a "a massive nitpick"? And by "stretching to find one" are you saying I'm making it up that it took me out in the theater? To address your questions, I buy that

Spoiler

he can ultimately ride a dragon and for many of the reasons you and others commented on; What took me out for a moment was it was without the slightest struggle.

I don't think you understand that was an unnecessarily dismissive comment. That you disagreed and provided reasons are fine, I am not telling anyone in here they must agree with me, I'm fine if you all bought in right away. It just took me out, that is the fact. I didn't conjure up that feeling in the theater on purpose, and that's what colored your response in a defensive tone when you start out with a dismissive comment.

Plus you don't need to go all caps here if you did it because you thought I'm getting angry or anything. The tone I've been taking with this conversation is akin to just us talking over a beer and and maybe an innocent shrug once or twice. It's cool.

Shang-Chi mother is Ying Li who was the guardian of and have magical power in Ta Lo. I wouldn't be surprised Shang-Chi and Xu Xialing power enhances when they're in Ta Lo.

 

[Prison Mike]

Wait…does Shang-Chi have any powers? I just thought he’s really really good at martial arts.

 

[TeeKay]

Wait…does Shang-Chi have any powers? I just thought he’s really really good at martial arts.

He doesn't.

 

[Rice Eater]

Wait…does Shang-Chi have any powers? I just thought he’s really really good at martial arts.

He doesn't.

Technically he does, although I'm not sure if people will count it depending on whether he still has them or not. But because he's a descendant of Ta-Lo and has dragon blood I guess he can do that air bending gravity defying wuxia stuff like his mom can.

The question is whether he can still do that stuff away from Ta-Lo. I thought his mom lost it by leaving Ta-Lo. But my coworker told me that his mom gave up the power instead. So if that were the case then I see no reason for Shang Chi to give up the power but I don't know whether that's true or not.

Regardless he still has the rings so he's definitely capable of fighting a Thanos because those things are very powerful and may have even more hidden abilities.

 

[TheVileOne]

How I would've fixed the ending:

Spoiler

Wenwu isn't going to Ta Lo to "free his dead wife." He's going there to free Fin Fang Foom, not DWELLER IN THE DARK, to raze Ta Lo and get revenge for rejecting him and his wife. Like he's so far gone due to his wife dying and driven by vengeance he wants to use Fin Fang Foom's power to destroy Ta Lo and take over the rest of the world again using his power. Then the rings would be the key to controlling or making the dragon submit.

Dweller in the Dark was a disappointment.

 

[Detective Conan]

'Shang-Chi' fans in China call government decision not to release movie a "tragedy"

 

[metaphysician]

On the matter of "does Shang-Chi have powers", I'd say its complicated.

Spoiler: Some General Speculative Spoilers

For starters, even in the beginning he kind of demonstrates martial arts skill ( in terms of the effectiveness of his dodges and acrobatics, and the power of his leaps and strikes ) that I would say puts him above and beyond the existing "normal human" category. My read at least was that most of the major characters possessed martial arts skills that pushed them into at least the low end of the "superpowered fighter" category where people like Captain America and Black Panther hang out. I'm undecided whether Shang would have a realistic shot of outright beating Steve in a fist fight, but I'm comfortable saying he'd last much, much longer than Batroc or Natasha would.

As for the Ta-Lo mystic powers, okay. Its ambiguous on numerous levels, but I dial in specifically on the fact that Ying Li talked about getting her abilities from the 'heart of the dragon' and 'giving them up', and also that we know their literally was a dragon there. Take this in light of the comics as source material, and I think the airbender-fu is the Ta-Lo equivalent of the Kun-Lun iron fist powers: something earned and acquired from a dragon, and on occasion given back so a new champion could arise. Hence how Ying Nan had them- she was another grandmaster worthy of holding them.

So, under this theory, does Shang-Chi possess mystic Ta-Lo powers? No. Him taking control of the Ten Rings wasn't about gaining a mystic powerup from Ying Nan. It was a matter of philosophy and mindset- he could contest them for control because he remembered and embraced both sides of his family, and the martial arts representing them thereof.

 

[samsnee]

How I would've fixed the ending:

Spoiler

Wenwu isn't going to Ta Lo to "free his dead wife." He's going there to free Fin Fang Foom, not DWELLER IN THE DARK, to raze Ta Lo and get revenge for rejecting him and his wife. Like he's so far gone due to his wife dying and driven by vengeance he wants to use Fin Fang Foom's power to destroy Ta Lo and take over the rest of the world again using his power. Then the rings would be the key to controlling or making the dragon submit.

Dweller in the Dark was a disappointment.

Meh. I think what attracted Tony to the role was Wenwu wasn’t pure evil and motivated by revenge.

 

[TheVileOne]

Meh. I think what attracted Tony to the role was Wenwu wasn’t pure evil and motivated by revenge.

Spoiler

This way he's not pure evil either. He could still get to the point of redeeming his son after all he'd done. He's still willing to commit genocide just to be with his wife...so not exactly what I'd call "good."

 

[carrrnuttt]

Man, this cast just had that chemistry:

 

[Rice Eater]

Thinking back about his superhero outfit. I loved the fact that it's made of dragon skin. That was a really cool addition to the outfit that makes it stand out more.

But other than it being used to kill soul suckers, they didn't say anything else about it. Would have been nice to say it protects from blades and is bullet proof.

I'm honestly surprised they didn't throw in little facts like that to hype up just how cool his shirt is. I think that was a missed opportunity and something they should add in the future.

 

[Erzengel]

As someone of Asian descent, I have to say how overly impressed with the diversity of this movie. It never felt heavy handed or stereotypical or forced. I hope to see more movies like this in the future.

 

[Iceman]

Thinking back about his superhero outfit. I loved the fact that it's made of dragon skin. That was a really cool addition to the outfit that makes it stand out more.

But other than it being used to kill soul suckers, they didn't say anything else about it. Would have been nice to say it protects from blades and is bullet proof.

I'm honestly surprised they didn't throw in little facts like that to hype up just how cool his shirt is. I think that was a missed opportunity and something they add in the future.

Hopefully this can be brought up in Shang Chi’s next appearance.

 

[Mr. Peanut]

Spoiler

This way he's not pure evil either. He could still get to the point of redeeming his son after all he'd done. He's still willing to commit genocide just to be with his wife...so not exactly what I'd call "good."

There's a pretty big difference between attacking a village you think is holding your wife captive and attacking a village purely out of revenge for being banished.

Wenwu is in the wrong either way but in the latter circumstance he would be far less sympathetic.