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Tag: Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings

  • ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’: Tony Leung’s Wenwu is an MCU Original Take on the Mandarin

    ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’: Tony Leung’s Wenwu is an MCU Original Take on the Mandarin

    After a long wait, we finally got our first look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first Asian-American superhero, Shang-Chi. Chinese-Canadian Simu Liu will take on the role that introduced the world to the Ten Rings. They were a consistent part of the MCU since its inception back in 2008. Of course, it means that we’ll also meet the organization’s leader, the Mandarin.

    It looks like they might be taking a new direction for the villain from 1964’s Tales of Suspense #50. In the recent coverage by Entertainment Weekly, we got a few details on Tony Leung‘s mysterious character. He was formerly announced as Wenwu and teased to be the Mandarin. Yet, the recent interview may hint at a new approach to the iconic comic villain.

    They confirm that Wenwu is technically an original character for the film. As such, he isn’t a direct adaptation of the iconic character, who has gone through various aliases, such as Gene Khan or Zhang Tong. Producer Jonathan Schwartz and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige hint that he has gone through many names. Mandarin is just one of many. Director Destin Daniel Cretton pointed to how Leung brought a new level to the character’s portrayal. 

    A character like Wenwu could have easily been a one-dimensional villain with no heart. Tony opened this character up [so] this is an antagonist who has a deep ability to love

    Schwartz confirms that their approach to the character was to add more complexity. They didn#t want him to get shackled by its comic roots. The just dropped trailer offered some small glimpses at Wenwu. It even includes a comic-accurate inspired depiction of the original character. Shang-Ch wasn’t related to the Mandarin in the comics, as he was the son of the rather controversial Fu Manchu. Family drama will remain at the core of Shang-Chi‘s story, and it’ll be interesting to see how the legacy of the Mandarin may get expanded in the MCU. If you haven’t had the chance, check out the recent trailer release.

    Source: Entertainment Weekly, Twitter

  • More ‘Shang-Chi’ Marvel Legends Leaks Confirm Family Ties

    More ‘Shang-Chi’ Marvel Legends Leaks Confirm Family Ties

    Over the past few days we’ve had multiple leaks surrounding merchandise from the upcoming Marvel Studios film Shang-Chi and The legend of The Ten Rings. Amongst those leaks were closer looks at Legos, Funko Pops! and quite recently the upcoming Marvel Legends figures based on characters within the film, offering our best looks yet at Shang-Chi and Wenwu, aka The Mandarin from the upcoming film. We’ve now got a closer look at the final two figures from the film in the upcoming wave, that of Xialang and the mysterious Death Dealer.

    Our first close look at Xialang offers more details on her ties to the titular hero, revealing that she is indeed the estranged sister of the martial artist and another child of the Mandarin. When Shang-Chi suddenly shows up in her life, Xialang, played by Meng’er Zhang, must choose between the solitary life she’s created for herself or join her brother in the fight against the Ten Rings.

    The next description gives less detail on the character but sets him up to be quite the worthy adversary for Shang-Chi in his fight against the Ten Rings group. Not much is known about the Death Dealer but if he lives up to his name he would definitely not be someone to take lightly.

    Death Dealer is one of the most formidable opponents Shang-Chi has ever faced

     

    Shang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings is currently set to be released on September 3rd, 2021 and will be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. The film stars Simu Liu as the titular hero alongside Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Fala Chen, Ronny Chieng, Michelle Yeoh, and Florian Munteanu.

    SOURCE: Twitter

  • Latest ‘Shang-Chi’ Toy Leak Includes a Closer Look at Mandarin and the Ten Rings

    Latest ‘Shang-Chi’ Toy Leak Includes a Closer Look at Mandarin and the Ten Rings

    It looks like the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings leaks weren’t quite done yet. Today, we’ve run a story that offered our first look at Shang-chi’s costume in the upcoming film. Now, the rest has leaked with a closer look at Wenwu, or better known as the Mandarin. This leak comes from Twitter user @Ryans_Ramblings. The first time the figures leaked, we noticed some interesting rings on his arms. Well, the design on the back of the Marvel Legends packaging offers a closer look at the rings that might replace the iconic ones from the comics. It also includes the following description:

    Shang-Chi’s father Wenwu is the feared leader of the Ten Rings Organization, which has lurked in the shadows of the MCU since the very beginning.

    Wenwu’s blue design is a nice contrast to Shang-Chi’s red outfit. It is also quite curious that his outfit is quite a bit more elaborate with quite the belt. Their outfits seem heavily inspired by Chinese culture, which is a great way to showcase that this isn’t your typical “superhero” film. We also get a closer look at the other figurines with Death Dealer being a visually interesting design. Now, the big takeaway is that the ten rings are definitely going to be very different in the film. I theorized they might be used as a weapon but they are much thinner than anticipated. It looks like they are ornaments on his arm that many might mistakes for decoration. It will be interesting to see if each one has their own ability as well. They might still have a unique ability,w which will add a nice visual to the fight scenes. Hopefully, that trailer is just around the corner.

    Source: Twitter

  • New Marvel Legends Leak Offers a Closer Look at Shang-Chi’s Outfit and Teases the Film’s Plot

    New Marvel Legends Leak Offers a Closer Look at Shang-Chi’s Outfit and Teases the Film’s Plot

    Toy leaks have become the best way to figure out what is happening in future Marvel Studios projects. We’ve been seeing quite a few leaks that offered a closer look at the upcoming projects of Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings. The latest leak offered a closer look at the Great Protector in Funko Pop form, which was the dragon teased in an earlier LEGO leak. The first we got for the Shang-Chi film was from Marvel Legends, which only offered a glimpse at what is heading our way. The latest leak of the images comes from Twitter user @ShangChiBR. Well, it looks like another leak offered an even better look at Simu Liu‘s costume. It also includes an interesting description of the film’s story:

    Trained since childhood by the mysterious Ten Rings Organization, Shang-Chi must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn back into his father’s web.

    The description confirms that Shang-Chi found a way to get out of the organization before the events of this film might drag him back in. We know that Wenwu, the real Mandarin, is his father. It’ll be interesting to see how they set up their relationship and how it will be explored throughout the film. The Marvel Legends pieces include three other characters from the upcoming film, whose descriptions might offer some more clues on what we can expect from the film. Marvel Studios still hasn’t released a trailer, but as cinemas are slowly recovering, we might hopefully get something sooner rather than later.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Funko Pop Leak Confirms Dragon

    ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Funko Pop Leak Confirms Dragon

    It looks like the trend continues that the rest of 2021’s Marvel Studios films are being revealed through toy leaks. We are still anxiously awaiting a trailer for Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which are set to release later this year. Especially, Shang-Chi was originally going to release in July before Black Widow took over the date. Even as we wait, it looks like we are getting a closer look at the film’s cast through toy leaks.

    We got a first look at an action sequence featuring a dragon through LEGO sets and the Marvel Legends series revealed the Mandarin’s new adaptation of his iconic ten rings. LEGO hasn’t always been the most trustworthy reflection of a film or project, but it looks like that dragon was real, as a leak for the Funko set reveals a dragon named The Great Protector. The shared tweet by @SCBRMdia was brought to our attention by a Discord user from our own server.

    The dragon’s inclusion once again confirms our report from some time ago about the inclusion of the Valley of Sleeping Dragons, where our titular hero will come face-to-face with the beast of Chinese mythology. The name would imply a good-natured dragon and there is still the potential of Fin Fang Foom showing up. It would be amazing if we get a showdown between these two massive dragons. The set also includes another look at the various characters that round out the cast. Hopefully, we’ll get a trailer for the film sooner rather than later to kick off the new Marvel Studios season in cinemas.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Leaked Marvel Legends Offer Closer Look at Mandarin’s Ten Rings

    ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Leaked Marvel Legends Offer Closer Look at Mandarin’s Ten Rings

    We’ve all been anxious about the future of Marvel Studios films. Black Widow was postponed and took over the July spot, but that meant that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was pushed back once again. We still haven’t seen a single trailer for the film. So far, we can only make guesses on what to expect based on leaked toys. Our first real look at Shang-Chi’s costume came from a Lego leak some time ago. It now looks like we’ll finally get a closer look at the various characters through Twitter user @SpideyParker24.

    Of course, we have a good look at Simu Lu‘s Shang-Chi, who seems to come with a staff of some kind. Meng’er Zhang‘s Xialing comes equipped with a rope, which could be a Kyoketsu-shoge. It is a double-edged knife that is attached to the end of a rope. Death Dealer seems to come equipped with Kunai, which is the classic weapon of Japanese ninja. Now, the big reveal here is connected to the character of Wenwu, the real Mandarin.

    Wenwu comes equipped with a weapon that many Mortal Kombat fans will recognize. However, the big surprise is what you may notice on his arms. It looks like he has exactly ten rings wrapped around both. Now, the Legend of the Ten Rings will be a major focus of the film, as the title implies. It looks like they are taking a unique approach by adapting the rings in a way that would make them interesting in combat. It reminds me of the film Kung Fu Hustle, where a man strengthened his strikes through the usage of rings around his arms. I like the approach of connecting them to the Chinese heritage, which will surely have a major role in the film. Here’s hoping we get a trailer soon that finally reveals Simu Liu and the cast in action.

    Source: Twitter

  • Murphy’s Law: Episode 86

    Murphy’s Law: Episode 86

    It’s a DC-centric episode this week as the Charleses finally review the Snyder Cut and talk the big DC casting announcements. They also get into the new release dates for Black Widow and Shang-Chi and talk about the upcoming Disney Plus series, Echo!

  • ‘Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Pushed Back Into September

    ‘Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Pushed Back Into September

    It has been a long wait for any news regarding the first cinematic entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Spider-Man: Far From Home. The news has finally dropped that the film will release in July. Now, what makes it stand out, even more, is that this means Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has to find a new release date. THR can confirm it will now release September 3rd rather than its original July release date. There is no mention of Eternals. So, it seems likely that the film will keep its November slot.

    The direction is an interesting surprise, as we feared they would postpone every single release into the next slot. It looks like they aren’t interested in pushing it back any further. It makes sense, as their focus will be to promote Black Widow‘s upcoming release on Disney+ and give the other films some breathing room to develop. It is uncertain if Shang-Chi will also be getting a release on Disney+, but they might be waiting out how things develop before finalizing that decision.

    Here’s hoping that things will start to slowly come together and we are facing a better future for cinemas. Disney still believes in its development, as many other delays have been mapped out for other releases. The fact they are sticking with Eternals release is a motivating decision, as it confirms they do believe things will have calmed down by then. Still, only time will tell, but we at least finally get to see Black Widow after more than a year of wait in July.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • How Marvel Studios Plans to Take the Fight to Superhero Fatigue

    How Marvel Studios Plans to Take the Fight to Superhero Fatigue

    It probably feels like a lifetime ago but it was only in 2017 that the MCU started releasing three feature films every year. By that time the franchise was approaching its 10th year with 17 movies under its belt and many started wondering just how long could Marvel Studios’ dominance at the box office truly last until audiences’ superhero fatigue managed to creep up on it. The following couple of years presented everyone with a resounding answer to that question as five out of the six movies released in that period surpassed the 1 billion dollar mark at the box-office, with two of those going over the 2 billion dollar mark while making Avengers: Endgame the highest-grossing movie of all time.

    By that point, and besides being the final chapter of a story being told since 2008 through 23 interconnected movies, the end of the Infinity Saga had audiences saying goodbye to arguably its two most important characters, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, that had been at the forefront of the MCU since its inception. So being, Marvel Studios had a few problems on their plate as 2019 came to a close: How to reintroduce surviving characters making them a bigger presence within the franchise filling the void of the ones lost, how to make fans care for the new characters being introduced as they did the legacy ones, and most importantly how to maintain global audience interested in the MCU avoiding the aforementioned superhero fatigue to finally become a real thing, in what the MCU is concerned.

    A few of the issues mentioned above had already started being addressed head-on by taking a chance on characters like Black Panther and Captain Marvel, allowing for a larger and more diverse audience to feel embraced by the superhero cinematic universe Marvel created, all while keeping longtime fans engaged by diversifying the type of stories being told, the angles in which they were told, and the voices that told them. Phase 4 would be doubling-down on this idea of bringing into the franchise a much more diverse group of filmmakers (Cate Shortland, Destin Daniel Cretton, Chloé Zhao, Nia DaCosta) and introducing characters like Shang-Chi, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Ironheart, and the incredibly diverse cast of Eternals that are further living proof that the MCU is trying to evolve and become a much richer and relevant franchise by allowing so much different voices to shine through.

    But today, exactly one week after the WandaVision finale and one week before The Falcon and The Winter Soldier premiere, it’s becoming increasingly clear that, as contradictory as it may sound, another way Marvel Studios is trying to avoid superhero fatigue is by going all out and delivering ten projects in a single year. One would think that that would be against their interests as this means that there’ll be hardly a week throughout the year without some sort of new MCU content, but Marvel Studios is managing to circumvent that by turning inwards and redefining what the superhero genre can aspire to become. This way, instead of only releasing properties that could be described as being the generic superhero production and thus paving the way for audiences to quickly lose interest by the lack of novelty, they are expanding into sub-genres that are already a reality across the industry.

    As WandaVision played with sitcom tropes while combining romance, mystery, and drama, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is set to be more of an action-thriller experience. Ms. Marvel could be categorized as a teen drama while Hawkeye (mystery-thriller), Eternals (action epic), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (martial arts action film), and Loki (sci-fi adventure) will each have their particular characteristics, making each project fresh in its own right. Going beyond 2021 we’ll find the same being applied to shows like She-Hulk (courtroom drama) or movies such as Thor: Love and Thunder (space opera rock show). All of this seems to mean that Marvel Studios is thinking that, by diversifying, audiences won’t grow tired of what they have to offer in the same way they don’t get tired of movies and tv in general. Even if all properties are a part of a larger franchise, their particulars will allow all of them to be experienced without the added weight of being presented with the same formulaic concepts and narratives.

    Marvel Studios broke the mold for what franchises of this magnitude could become, and by keeping themselves in the public eye year-round but also understanding that a gimmick can only keep itself relevant for so much time, so much so that it’s not afraid to reinvent itself on the go (as we were able to see with WandaVision), is likely doing it again, before our very eyes.

     

  • LEGO Leak Reveals How ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Will Embrace Chinese Mythology

    LEGO Leak Reveals How ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Will Embrace Chinese Mythology

    A first look at Shang-Chi’s costume finally arrived with the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Lego set, which got leaked this morning. It showcased some of the confirmed characters and a dragon. In a way, those things were expected, but it also included a mysterious flying creature without any facial features named Morris. After some digging, it turns out that this is a representation of Chinese mythology in the upcoming film. The strange creature is known as Dijiang.

    https://twitter.com/cosmic_marvel/status/1365217872616677380?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1365217872616677380%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.murphysmultiverse.com%2Fleaked-lego-set-offers-first-look-at-shang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings%2F

    As described in the book A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas, a Dijiang commonly six legs and four wings. It is like a featureless yellow or reddish sack otherwise. Without any eyes or ears, it is said to be in a constant state of confusion, which is why it was associated with the being of cosmic chaos, Hundun. Even without these essential features, it enjoys singing and dancing. 

    Source: Description and image of Dijiang

    It does sound like a cutesy adorable thing that the kiddos will all enjoy getting in their McDonald’s Happy Meals when the movie comes out. However, I wonder how the little mythical beast might fit into the story and in what context. With a name like Morris, it must be someone’s pet. So, the question remains whose pet would he be then? As we learned from Goose in Captain Marvel, sometimes the most innocent, sweet, and benign-looking creatures can have a big impact in an MCU film. So what secrets this cute but strange little creature has yet to reveal has me intrigued. 

    Source: Twitter, Amazon, Fandom