Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has finally arrived, smashing box office records and debuting to very positive reviews.
The film follows the titular hero, played by Simu Liu, who left behind the Ten Rings organization – which is run by his father Wenwu (Tony Leung). But, Shang-Chi soon finds himself pulled back into his old life. Awkwafina co-stars as his friend Katy, while Meng'er Zhang plays his sister Xialing, and Michelle Yeoh appears as Ying Nan.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has explained why the film's end card says what it does – spoilers ahead for the latest Marvel Phase 4 movie!
After both of Shang-Chi's post-credits scenes, the words "the Ten Rings will return" appear onscreen. So why that rather than a promise of Shang-Chi's return?
"To be honest with you, I think the intention of the first tag makes it very clear that Shang-Chi will return, so we didn't have to say it again," Feige told Screen Rant. "The end of that second tag was more about the organization itself, the Ten Rings, which it seems, over the course of the movie, that it's been dismantled and you learn otherwise in that spoiler-filled tag."
He continued: "But that was the idea; one, we just didn't want to put a card… We didn't even talk about putting in a card for both. But we think that it's very clear after that first tag that Shang-Chi is returning."
The first post-credits scene sees Shang-Chi, Katy, Wong (Benedict Wong), Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) gathered together, discovering that the Rings are sending out a beacon – but they don't know who (or what) is on the receiving end. The second scene revealed that Xialing has taken over the Ten Rings organization herself.
It's not clear yet when Shang-Chi will return to the MCU, but we can probably expect to see him again in a potential sequel, or even a future team-up movie. Until then, check out how to watch Marvel movies in order to get up to speed on the MCU.
