Destin Daniel Cretton is currently hard at work shooting Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in Australia, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe moves full speed ahead on Phase Four, with the vast majority of the studio’s upcoming projects set to be filmed at some stage this year. The twenty-sixth installment of the MCU is the first to be led by an Asian superhero, and is under much pressure to deliver as Kevin Feige reportedly sees the title character as a huge part of the franchise moving forward.
Although no plot specifics have been made available as of yet, the title obviously gives away the fact that the real Ten Rings could become a huge part of Phase Four and beyond. The organization have been around as long as the franchise itself, having first appeared in Iron Man back in 2008, but a little bit of retconning following the Trevor Slattery twist in Iron Man 3 has allowed Marvel the chance to utilize the nefarious terrorists to their full storyline potential, with Tony Leung cast as Shang-Chi’s, and by extension the MCU’s real Mandarin.
A new rumor from the usually-reliable tipster Daniel Richtman has hinted that another fan-favorite comic book villain could be set to make an appearance in Shang-Chi as well, although this one isn’t exactly human. The intergalactic alien dragon has come close to appearing in the MCU a couple of times before, but given the mystical elements of the title hero, it would probably make more sense for the character to be an antagonist for him.
The latest rumor, one which has been gathering steam for a while now, is that Shang-Chi will end up having to take part in some kind of underground fighting tournament to prove his worth, with none other than Fin Fang Foom set to be the tourney’s end-of-game boss that our hero will end up defeating, presumably in order to progress the plot to his eventual face-off with the Mandarin. While nothing has been confirmed as of yet, WGTC told you that Foom would appear in the film months ago and the idea of having a gigantic fire-breathing monster tormenting Simu Liu’s martial arts expert certainly sounds a lot different than the typical action sequences that the MCU has become known for over the years.
