It’s kind of amusing that Iron Fist came out a year after Shang-Chi and yet he was the one that was given the attention for a while, only to tank once he hit Netflix and the whole ‘white savior’ thing came into play. Shang-Chi isn’t exactly the first martial artist in the Marvel universe but he’s been revered as one of the best since his introduction in 1973. Thus far it would seem that plans for the movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is going right on schedule as things continue to move ahead and one can’t help but think that a lot of people are already trying to draw parallels between this and, oh, any number of martial arts movies that have been in play since the 70s, which as you should remember was popular time for them. You couldn’t look in any direction without seeing at least a couple of martial arts movies no matter the caliber. Some were flat-out ridiculous and some were well done and made people believe that they could indeed punch through walls and solid stone if they trained hard enough. Shang-Chi has an excuse for being so powerful however, he’s a comic book hero and as such is allowed to bend certain laws of reality now and again thanks to the writers. Joey Paur of GeekTyrant however has more to share on the movie as we get into it.
What we know thus far is that this movie is set to have a pretty hefty number of villains in it since it will be featuring Tiger-Claw, Moving Shadow, Razor-Fist, Ghostmaker, and the Mandarin, the REAL Mandarin we’re hoping this time since the one showed in Iron Man 3 was something of a joke and a figurehead and nothing more. This time around there’s hopefully a guy that looks regal and as though he could kill someone with a glance and has actual power rings on his fingers instead of gaudy jewelry and an affinity for energy drinks. It might seem kind of odd to throw so many villains into a movie about a guy that a lot of people don’t know that well but it does sound as though the idea might be to throw in an underground bloodsport fight perhaps so as to make a little more sense. Given that Shang-Chi is one of the best martial artists in the entire Marvel universe it does seem like it would make sense to include this kind of scenario just to show off his capabilities and let people that don’t know about him figure out just how great he really is. Plus, with some of these villains it looks as though even the greatest martial artist might have a bit of trouble so it could add some much-needed conflict into the mix and thereby make the movie a little more even. People love to see the heroes kicking butt, but only if there’s a chance that anything could go horribly wrong. A fight scene in a movie in which the hero isn’t being challenged in any way and can just walk through those in his path isn’t much of a movie.
The movie isn’t even slated to come out until February of 2021 so it’s likely that the director will be taking his time and making sure that everything is as perfect as it can get in order to avoid any huge missteps that might derail the whole thing. Let’s be honest, he’s been around since the 70s, but for one reason or another Shang-Chi is a hero that a lot of people don’t know that much about and he’s not nearly as proven in live action as many others. Iron Fist was obviously a flop but it would appear that Marvel and Disney are betting heavily on Shang-Chi, which could work out if they do things right or could be yet another flop if it comes off as as stereotypical martial arts movie. The hope is that this won’t happen since Marvel is putting a lot of bank on each of its upcoming movies and is hoping to stretch itself yet again so as to keep the universe building and the movies and shows coming in a way that will allow things to expand and bring in even more characters.
But really, the Mandarin almost feels as though he belongs to Iron Man more than anything since the two of them had some seriously epic battles that were nothing short of amazing, but it would appear that he’s coming to bedevil another hero. One has to wonder if we’ll see or hear mention of any other heroes in this movie, but we’re going to have to wait a while to find out. At the very least you know that there will be more article coming before the movie is released.
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