A new Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings featurette goes back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s beginning, to the moment when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) was kidnapped by a criminal organization called Ten Rings. In the behind-the-scenes video, producer and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirms the Ten Rings organization present in Shang-Chi is the same as shown in the Iron Man movies, which means the upcoming film will probably explain the connection between Tony Stark’s kidnapping and the dark reign of the Mandarin (Tony Leung).
The Mandarin is one of Iron Man’s most prominent enemies in comics, and as soon a the evil organization Ten Rings was presented in the first Iron Man, fans speculated when the criminal mastermind would show up. Iron Man 3 brought the character back as a façade, with Ben Kingsley playing an actor playing the Mandarin to justify the evil action of Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). The divisive reveal that the Mandarin was fake was retconned in the short film All Hail the King, in which Kingsley's character is kidnapped by “the real Mandarin”.
We’ve known for some time Shang-Chi will follow the titular character (portraited by Simu Liu) as the hero deals with his criminal heritage. Shang-Chi’s father, the Mandarin, wants his son to take over the family business, something the MCU’s next hero refuses to do. However, even if the presence of the Ten Rings organization was confirmed on Shang-Chi, fans wondered if this was the same group seen in Iron Man. After the deception of Iron Man 3, we’re all cautious.
Fans' worries can be put to rest after the new featurette since Feige underlines how Shang-Chi makes the bridge between the very first MCU movie and Phase Four. In Feige words:
“We’re going back to the very beginning of the MCU. We have a keystone event, and that event is Tony Stark becoming Iron Man. He’s forced to build these weapons for an organization, and that organization was the Ten Rings.”
Now we just need to hope for a return of Kingsley fake-Mandarin, as we really need to know what happened after his character was kidnapped. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton from a script he co-wrote with David Callaham and Andrew Lanham, Shang-Chi’s cast also includes Awkwafina, Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, Ronny Chieng, and Michelle Yeoh.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will arrive in theaters on September 3. Check out the new featurette below.