Shang-Chi 2 Can Avoid ‘Superhero Fatigue’ With This Crucial Change

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was the second Marvel Cinematic Universe movie released in “Phase 4,” and it also introduced audiences to the title character. A relatively obscure Marvel hero, Shang-Chi was once far more tied to grounded elements than superheroes. The version played by Simu Liu is set to have a new Shang-Chi movie released in the future, and this presents the perfect opportunity to take him back to basics.

The first Shang-Chi heavily changed the character’s general mythos to the point where very little was pulled from the comics. This resulted in a movie that had a rather grandiose final act, somewhat to its detriment. Now, the MCU is in a much different place, and superhero movies in general are not nearly as successful as they once were. Thus, the Shang-Chi sequel being more grounded in nature is likely for the best.

The First Shang-Chi Completely Changed the Character

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The 2021 movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings came out nearly five decades after the character’s debut in the comics. In the interim, Shang-Chi had never really become a major factor within the Marvel Universe of the comic books. In fact, he spent decades in outright obscurity, with some fans being completely unaware of who he was. Part of this was the nature of the character, which arguably dated him in terms of his portrayal. Shang-Chi was created during the Kung-Fu movie craze of the 1970s, with the hero clearly based on martial artist Bruce Lee. This made him similar to fellow martial arts character Iron Fist. Likewise, the bulletproof Luke Cage, demonic Ghost Rider and the vengeful vigilante The Punisher were also inspired by common media tropes at the time, making Shang-Chi only one of several trendy new Marvel characters.

Emulating the tone and scope of Kung-Fu classic Enter the Dragon and similar works by Bruce Lee, Shang-Chi’s original comics had a chopsocky espionage aura to them. Though there were definitely more over-the-top elements, these adventures didn’t feel interchangeable with the exploits of Thor, Spider-Man, Hulk or the X-Men. One notable element of this was that Shang-Chi’s father was established as the evil Doctor Fu Manchu, who actually wasn’t owned by Marvel Comics. Created by novelist Sax Rohmer, the eventually-lapsed rights for Fu Manchu meant that he was just one of several parts of Shang-Chi’s past changed for the movie.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings did away with the espionage elements of the character, instead making the movie into a fantasy story. This gave Shang-Chi mystical powers similar to those of Iron Fist. Likewise, his father was now a character named Xu Wenwu, who was essentially a royalty-free version of Fu Manchu combined with Iron Man’s nemesis, The Mandarin. It’s comparable to what was done in the Disney+ TV series Moon Knight, which excised the hero’s grounded tone for one that put too much emphasis on his usually vague supernatural themes. The first two acts of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings had a fairly grounded tone, but by the third act, the movie was full of mythological creatures and even had Shang-Chi riding a dragon while shooting bursts of energy. It felt more in line with a live-action anime than anything to do with the source material, which is something that could change for the sequel.

Shang-Chi 2 Needs a More Grounded Tone from the First

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Though the movie was fairly well-received, even fans of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings largely concede that its third act was easily its weakest. This was due to the movie devolving into a CGI slugfest after otherwise having such impressive martial arts action. Most importantly, it put the character’s scope at far too high a level, especially given the source material. There was no reason for Shang-Chi to be made into an Avengers-level mystical fighter, and it actually made his movie come off as more generic in the process.

A more grounded, grittier follow-up can work as a halfway point between the source material and the wild divergences that the previous movie made. Picking up the pieces from the first movie, Shang-Chi can track down criminal organizations tied to his father’s resources and try to take them down. In doing so, he might discover just how insidious such criminality is, and that true terrors to the existence of the average man and woman on the street had nothing to do with dragons, magic and mysticism. In many ways, it might function as the equivalent to the acclaimed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, casting Shang-Chi in a harsher world that truly tests his skill set. Likewise, somehow getting rid of his magical rings for at least most of the movie and making him rely purely on martial arts would go a long way to making such a story work.

Bringing in characters such as Clive Reston might be a way to further tie things into the events of the old-school adventures in books such as Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu. Reston was a staunch ally of Shang-Chi in the Bronze Age, and like him, he was based on other characters. Emulating elements of James Bond and Roper from Enter the Dragon, his father was supposedly none other than 007 himself. Reston was already one of the new characters introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, so there’s no reason for him to be absent in Shang-Chi 2. Likewise, it might be interesting to see the movie become a martial arts political thriller involving tensions between China and the West. This might be a somewhat strange way to build upon the events of the first movie, but it’s likely necessary at this point.

Separating Shang-Chi from the Avengers Can Only Help the MCU

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The post-credits scene from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings had the character meeting Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel. This tied him more overtly to the world of the Avengers and superheroes, and a connection of this sort was arguably needed. After all, it was the first MCU movie besides Spider-Man: Far From Home to take place after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Likewise, since it starred a new character (who himself was obscure, even in the source material), the appearance of familiar heroes acted as connective tissue. Now that those ties are established, however, it might be best to sever them.

Again, there will be nothing special about Shang-Chi if his adventures are too mired in mysticism. It makes him too much into a version of Iron Fist (who previously had a Marvel Netflix TV series), not to mention resembling the powers of Doctor Strange and Wong. A more grounded martial arts romp is incredibly unique in a miasma of superhero movies, especially since complaints about CGI fights with no stakes have been recurring in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Likewise, another major issue at the time is the pervasiveness of the overarching Multiverse Saga, which carries a story that many viewers have lost interest in. A cinematic reprieve from this via a hard-hitting Kung-Fu movie would certainly shake things up and show that the MCU can reinvent itself in a positive and unique way.

Shang-Chi 2 Can Move Away from the MCU’s Recent Lighthearted Trend

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At the moment, there’s a lot of talk concerning “superhero fatigue,” especially as numerous superhero movies disappoint at the box office. The latest of these is The Marvels, which is currently set to be a considerable bomb and Marvel Studios’ biggest failure. A complaint about the movie is the lack of stakes and its “breezy” tone, with some seeing this as a reason to skip the movie in theaters. Shang-Chi 2 can do the opposite of that by showcasing stakes and tension in ways that the more grandiose first movie failed to. This can also make him into something that the venerable Spider-Man arguably can’t be.

Spider-Man is still Marvel’s mascot and most popular character, despite the more “subservient” and lower status that the Marvel Cinematic Universe gave him. Rumor has it that he’ll be something of the face of the grounded MCU characters alongside Daredevil, the latter of whom is getting a new TV series in the form of Daredevil: Born Again. Daredevil seems to mostly be relegated to TV. Conversely, Spider-Man’s next movie is still a few years away, and there’s only so much emphasis that Marvel Studios can give him due to Sony still handling the character’s cinematic rights.

A more grounded Shang-Chi movie might serve a similar function to both a Spider-Man and Daredevil movie, uniting the more fantastical elements of the MCU with its grounded storytelling. These sorts of martial arts crime dramas were an obvious trope when Shang-Chi was created, but it’s now a lot more unique. Thus, it’s an angle that can only help to revitalize the stagnant Marvel Cinematic Universe and give Shang-Chi a unique place in it.