As desperate for new content as Marvel fans always are, they’re usually hyper-aware of every project that’s on the docket, even those merely rumored to occur. For instance, the likes of Vision Quest or Nova haven’t even been officially announced yet, but many folks treat them as confirmed entries on the studio’s upcoming slate. There are some that still manage to slip the community by, though, even if they might actually be far more concrete than others.
Case in point, last December, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ Destin Daniel Cretton signed a lucrative long-term deal with Marvel Studios. On top of directing Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and likely Shang-Chi 2, it was also reported (by Deadline) that he will helm a Disney Plus spin-off as well, which was said to be built around Shang-Chi’s sister Xialing, as played by Meng’er Zhang.
Things had gone cold on that front since then, so we pretty much forgot all about it, but according to the latest intel, the Xialing show was still in development at the House of Ideas prior to the strikes taking effect. So, as far as we know, it remains a-go. As per Marvel Updates:
Coming out when theaters were still recovering from the pandemic, Shang-Chi only made $432 million at the box office (tremendous for any other studio, not outstanding for Marvel), but it was warmly received by the fandom and has gone down as one of the best-reviewed of the MCU’s origin stories. So it’s no surprise that a sequel and a spin-off supposedly remain in the works.
There’s certainly lots to explore with Xialing in her own vehicle, given that she took over from her father, Wenwu (Tony Leung), as the new leader of the Ten Rings organization in Shang-Chi‘s post-credits scene. She’s now one of the most powerful people in the criminal underworld of Earth-616, then, so the storytelling and crossover potential there is extremely intriguing. Even so, with Cretton’s commitments to Avengers 5, any expansion of the Shang-Chi-verse is likely a ways away.
Published: Aug 24, 2023 07:17 am