Shang-Chi director confirms the movie's place on the Marvel timeline

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Here's where the latest Marvel movie falls on the MCU timeline

Marvel's Shang-Chi
(Image credit: Marvel/Disney)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton has revealed where the movie falls on the Marvel timeline.

"Shang-Chi is set in the present day in the MCU timeline,” the director told Fandango, following that up with "yeah, yeah" when asked if that means post-Blip (AKA, post-Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame).

That might not come as too much of a surprise, considering only one title in Marvel Phase 4 so far has been a prequel – Black Widow takes place between Captain America: Civil War and Infinity War. It's more complicated placing Loki on the timeline, considering it's technically outside of time entirely, but characters referring to the events of Endgame means it's safe to put it afterward. Likewise, What If…?, as a multiverse series, is hard to pin down.

Of course, these comments also don't clarify exactly when Shang-Chi takes place. Does it come before or after Spider-Man: Far From Home, for example? That's likely to be cleared up more in the movie itself.

Shang-Chi stars Simu Liu as the titular character, who is drawn back into the orbit of his villainous father, the Mandarin (the real one, played by Tony Leung). Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh, Fala Chen, and Meng'er Zhang co-star. Also appearing are Benedict Wong as his Doctor Strange character Wong, and Tim Roth as his The Incredible Hulk character Abomination.

Molly Edwards
Molly Edwards
Deputy Entertainment Editor

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.