However, even though Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings are primarily independent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are connections to earlier films and future Phase 4 films.
Despite being based on a Marvel Comics character, Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) has very little with his comic book counterpart. Not bad, considering that Fu Manchu himself served as his father in the comic book series.
As a result, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings have comparatively few Easter eggs from the comics. But, on the other hand, Marvel fans will find enough extra nuances to savour on their initial viewing – or inevitable repeat.
Below are the coolest Easter eggs and MCU references to be uncovered in the latest Marvel film.
To begin, the Ten Rings have been a part of the MCU since Iron Man, the first film in the series. However, they kidnapped Tony Stark, and they were only minor characters in the trilogy.
However, we know that Trevor Slattery isn’t the Mandarin and the Ten Rings weren’t even involved in Iron Man 3, as Aldrich Killian did all of the work.
However, their leader Wenwu (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), is not quite the Mandarin of Shang-Chi. To make matters worse, he makes fun of Killian’s fictitious terrorist, who “adopted” the Ten Rings for his purposes.
Shang-sister Chi’s Xialing (Meng’er Zhang) takes over the Ten Rings in the MCU’s post-credits scene, so this isn’t the end of the Ten Rings in the MCU. Unfortunately, the group is a purely MCU creation, so we can’t look to the comics for clues about what’s next for the group’s story.
Shang-Chi jumps to the ‘present day’ MCU, which is about 2024 because Black Widow was mostly set in the MCU’s past. So when a character mentions the Day of the Dead, it suggests November.
Naturally, people are still thinking about Snap and Blip because of the chronology. You may find information about Blip helplines on the walls, and one buddy explains that they live in a society where “half of the population can just disappear.”
Avengers: Endgame took place eight months after Spider-Man: Far From Home; WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier took place before Spider-Man: Far From Home, respectively. Taking November 2024 as an example, Shang-Chi is set after Far From Home and before Spider-Man: No Way Home.
After a brief introduction to the character, Wong (Benedict Wong) is on vacation. We wonder if there is a way to make them co-exist in the MCU timeline.
You may recognise Florin Munteanu from the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the person on the bus recording Shang-first Chi’s fight with Razor Fist.
During Spider-Man: Homecoming, Zach Cherry played a street seller who requested Spider-Man to “perform a flip”. We’re not sure if Cherry’s Shang-Chi character is the same one, but we’d like to assume it’s the same one.
These are just a few of the best that we have mentioned. At the movies right now, you can see Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
