WMG / Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Pre-release theories

Shang-Chi will be superpowered

MCU Shang-Chi will be a sort-of Composite Character with Iron Fist; he won't be the chosen one that slew Shou-Lao the Undying, but will nevertheless be explicitly superpowered in addition to the preexisting martial arts mastery and espionage skills.

• Sort of. Trailers see him wielding golden chi against his father's blue-silver chi, as well as him getting five rings.

The movie will take place after the Snap

More specifically, the Snap is the reason the Mandarin had to suddenly rush his plans, meaning he'd been lying about giving Shang Chi exactly ten years of leave.
And in connection...

• Judging by Wong's sudden appearance in the second trailer, this seems jossed.

The climax of the movie lines up with the undoing of the Snap in Endgame

So that characters stated to be dead and gone turn up as a Deus ex Machina. Like say, Shang Chi's mom?

• Jossed, the movie takes place after Endgame.

Trevor Slattery will be mentioned in passing.

The Mandarin will confirm that he was executed offscreen for impersonating him, as hinted at in All Hail the King.

Jackson Norriss: For that sin, you will soon suffer horribly with a hole in your body for every ring of our faith.

• Jossed, Trevor is still alive

The dragon Fin Fang Foom will appear in the film.

Thanks to this leak, Daniel Richtman suggests that the dragon Fin Fang Foom will appeared in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Possibly Fin Fang Foom would be at first The Dragon (also in a literal sense) of the Mandarin, until Fin Fang Foom would reveal himself against the Mandarin and Foom would reveal his true nature as a Alien Dragon, with intentions of conquering the earth as in the comics.

• Jossed.

A post credits scene will feature Shang-Chi challenging Iron Fist to a fight.

Seemingly impossible at the moment, but it would be awesome to imagine.

• Jossed

Fin Fang Foom will have an Adaptational Heroism or a Heel–Face Turn in the film.

• Jossed. He doesn't appear.

The Great Protector was an evil Makluan who did a Heel–Face Turn, after arriving on Earth.

According to this report from murphy's multiverse, some elite warriors from China have dedicated their lives to keeping hidden Fin Fang Foom who is described as an ancient evil bent on the destruction of humanity. But apparently they are not the only ones keeping this ancient evil (Fin Fang Foom) asleep, as their source indicates that while they are keeping Foom asleep, they might have their own dragon to help them fight the invaders.

Probably◊, The Great Protector◊ was a Makluan who along with a group of rebel makluans who, tired of the peace of their peaceful planet called Kakaranthara, left in a spaceship and arrived on Earth with the intention of conquering it, but unlike His fellow Makluans, The Great Protector came to appreciate planet Earth after he befriended a Chinese emperor and the other humans. He tried to convince Fin Fang Foom and his fellow makluans to join him, but the other makluans refused, so The Great Protetor alerted the elite of China to his plans, The Great Protector joined the warriors of China's elite and invading makluans were defeated, minus Fin Fang Foom who was imprisoned and put to sleep by China's warriors, now The Great Protector is a guardian and protector of China.

Either Katy or Ying Li will be an Expy of Leiko Wu.

In the comics, Leiko is a love interest of Shang-Chi. As an important character who wasn't affected by the copyright issues involving other characters related to Shang, it's unlikely she'd be left out from the film, but her name wasn't mentioned in the released info. Given that Mandarin was Named by the Adaptation as Wenwu and the Composite Character of Fah-Lo Suee/ Zhang-Bao Yu and Sasha Hammer was named as Xiailing, it's possible that Leiko gets a different name as well.

Alternatively, Leiko can be a surprise/secret character (what would explain her name not being mentioned), appearing either on The Stinger or disguised as someone else during the film (in the comics, Leiko is a MI-6 agent, so it would make sense if she acted undercover).

• Possibly the name Leiko Wu will not be used, it is a mistake, Leiko is a Japanese name and a Wu a Chinese surname.
• During the Premiere, it was revealed that Ying Li is Shang-Chi's mother.

Michelle Yeoh's character, Ying Nan, is a Composite Character of Shang-Chi's mother and the Mandarin's former fiancé Mei Ling from the late 1960s.

This would make sense for multiple reasons. Going along with the approach of combining the Mandarin with Fu Manchu, it would make sense to combine Shang's mother and Mei Ling. Likewise, Yeoh was born in 1962, making her old enough to be Simu Liu's mother.

• As I answered above, Fala Chen plays the mother, perhaps Ying Nan and Ying Li are related.
• Actually, they are. Ying Nan and Ying Li are sisters, making the former Shang-Chi's aunt.

If he does appear, Fin Fang Foom will be connected to the Mandarin's Rings.

Going off of what has been seen in the teaser and some toys, the MCU's version of the Ten Rings are much larger than how they are usually depicted and have more in common with hung gar iron rings that are used in certain forms of martial arts.The film will address this by revealing that Fin Fang Foom is a Makluan who crashed landed on Earth thousands of years ago while in possession of the Ten Rings. As Fin Fang Foom is a humongous alien dragon, when he wears the Ten Rings, he wears one on each finger. When he crashed on Earth, he plagued China before eventually dying for whatever reason. Upon Fin Fang Foom's death, the Mandarin killed everyone guarding his corpse and pried the Ten Rings from his fingers. Because these rings are so large, the Mandarin opted to wear five on one arm and five on the other.In doing so, Fin Fang Foom will take the role of the dead Makluan who held the Ten Rings before they were stolen by the Mandarin. Making him a posthumous character works because making Shang-Chi fight an alien dragon just with martial arts would be a little over-the-top and keep the conflict between him and his father the central focus of the film.

• However, Simu Liu himself has confirmed that Fin Fang Foom will not be appearing in this film.

Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne will cameo in one of the San Francisco scenes

My best bet is that they'll be shown responding to the scene with the "runaway" bus, only to arrive when it's already over and done with, just missing Shang-Chi and Katy.

• Alternatively, Katy and Shang Chi will work at a place where the reclusive/introverted Ava Starr/Ghost has a job, laying low after the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp and trying to hold a steady job that doesn't involve assasination.
• Both jossed.
• However, this was apparently floated by the producers, at least for Lang.

The movie will reveal the In-Universe reason why the Mandarin never fought Tony Stark himself during the Infinity Saga.

• Jossed

The Mandarin will hint that he actually has fought Iron Man in the past, as a compromise/compensation for having to appear only after his traditional Arch-Enemy's death.

• Jossed

The movie will address America's history of racism against the Chinese Diaspora/Asian-Americans.

Given the heartbreaking and current incidents in real life involving Hate Crimes and overt racism against Asian-Americans during the Pandemic, and the history of San Francisco's Chinatown/Chinese diaspora, Shang-Chi or Katy will bring this up during a more poignant scene.

• Gene Luen Yang's limited series seems to have had an influence, Shang-Chi chose San Francisco to go into hiding and Wenwu wanting him to take over Ten Rings looks like Zheng Zu wanting him to become the leader of the Five Weapons Society.

• Jossed, although there is a throwaway joke about how Katy met Shang-Chi after she stopped a fight between him and a guy who called him Gangnam Style.

There will be a Take That! to Iron Fist (2017), as the Shang-Chi movie will have a "REAL" dragon, while the Netflix series for Iron Fist had no real dragon.

In the Netflix series of Iron Fist, the mythical dragon Shou-Lao did not appear physically in the series, according to Netflix, they did not have the budget to make a CGI dragon like the dragons of Game of Thrones but in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings we will see a real dragon in the MCU and the Shang-Chi movie will have a big budget to make a CGI dragon.

• Um...we already know a dragon is in the film. One by the name of the Great Protector was confirmed by some toys. Also, is this really an actual jab at Iron Fist? Why would the team behind Shang-Chi care about that one specific shortcoming of that show, especially one that was only due to budget?

The reason why Wong is in the tournament because he was tracking down the Mandarin

Think about it, why would a Master of Mystic Arts himself being interested in entering the tournament? The reason is he's tracking down the Mandarin and tries to take the Ten Rings from him by entering the tournament which explains his fight with Abomination.

• Jossed, given Wong only shows interest in the Rings after Shang-Chi starts using them. Although why exactly the fight happened (specially as Wong was teleporting the Abomination away from his cell to do so) is still unclear.
  • Wong later reveals in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, that he broke The Abomination out, so Wong could fight a worthy adversary

Abomination's role in the film is to set his appearance up in upcoming She-Hulk show

The trailer confirms Abomination is back and he's now in his comic-accurate form and I had a feeling that he was only in the film so they can set him up for upcoming She-Hulk shows as Hannibal Lecter-type role or one of main Antagonists who is looking for a revenge on Banner for putting him away and ruined his career.

• The scene does set up She-Hulk. However, the Abomination is needing Jennifer's legal services, not revenge.

The dragon in the trailer is Shou-Lao the Undying, and in turn the ancient village is K'un-L'un

The dragon is called the Great Protector, much like how the Iron Fists are the protector(s) of K'un-L'un. Perhaps the Ten Rings, as well as Wenwu himself are from K'un-L'un. For one reason or another, Wenwu was exiled and has been trying to return home. The reason he specifically states ten years for Shang-Chi to live his life is because now it's time for the dimensional portal to K'un-L'un to open again.

• Also, notice that the Ten Rings primarily seem to help Wenwu punch/strike/kick harder. Perhaps he made the rings himself to emulate the Iron Fists?

Like the Darkhold in WandaVision, this movie will be the re-introduction of sorts for some of the TV heroes into the proper MCU; in this case, Iron Fist, and the Netflix heroes.

Either Razorfist or Death Dealer are ex-military and have been enhanced by the Super Soldier Serum to some extent

Hence their nigh-superhuman physiques and/or agility.

The 10 Rings will manifest the wearers Chi as a “classical element”

Made evident during the Final Official Trailer in which Wenwu’s Chi is manifested as blue surges of plasma/electricity. On the other hand, when Shang-Chi’s wields the titular rings, his own chi is displayed as a bright orange flame.

Shang Chi's change of name

On one of the trailers Shang Chi, When he said "he thought he could change his name"

This kind of gives too much implications on it

• This new still◊ confirmed he changed his name to Shaun.

Valentina Allegra de Fontaine will recruit the Abomination after he loses his cage fight to Wong

Since she was the same woman responsible for making John Walker into U.S.Agent and convincing Yelena Belova to hunt down Hawkeye for supposedly "killing" Natasha Romanoff, she might show up in a post-credits scene much like in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier to give the Abomination a second chance, not as a villain but as a hero for the Thunderbolts, who would be a Composite Team between the original group from the comics and the Dark Avengers. Or if it isn't a post-credits scene, the Abomination will be recruited by Fontaine in another film or television show that takes place after the events of Shang-Chi.

• Valentina has seemingly not recruited him based on the first 3 episodes of She-Hulk....yet.

Shang-Chi has to either take the rings from his father Wenwu or make his own

A common trope in superhero movies, particularly the MCU is that the hero and villain have identical powersets and/or equipment; with many not really reaching the audience's favor until Killmonger. In a twist/inversion, Shang-Chi either has to take the Ten Rings from the Mandarin/his father and/or make his own to stand on equal power footing against him.

• Either that or creating ten techniques to counter each ring as he did in his Battleworld miniseries.
• Confirmed, he learns how to harness the rings’ power and uses them against Wenwu, until Wenwu gives them to him.

Shang-Chi and Katy singing A Whole New World is actually foreshadowing

They will eventually travel to K'un-Lun or a similar alternate dimension, literally going to a whole new world.

• Confirmed, of a sort. They go to Ta Lo, which Ying Nan describes as being in another universe.

Shang-Chi will try to make amends with his father

Despite his father being a leader and founder of the Ten Rings, he will try to reconcile with him and redeem him.

• Confirmed, although his pleas initially fall on deaf ears, Wenwu gives Shang-Chi the Ten Rings near the end of the movie.

The Mandarin will show that he cares for his son

Despite being the leader of the Ten Rings, he will show care for his son, Shang-Chi, when he feels remorse for his actions.

• Kind of? He shows regret as the Dweller-in-Darkness breaks free, and hands the rings to Shang-Chi. Only doesn't seem to be remorse, just knowing he's a goner and Shang-Chi can take over the fight and possibly win.

The Stinger will have Wong returning to Strange

Wong will return to Strange in which he participated in to try and find something to control the multiverse.

• Jossed, Wong is in the post-credits, but Strange doesn't appear.

Post-release theories

The Dweller is either from the same timeline as Doctor Strange in What If Episode 4, if not Strange himself in shapeshifted form, and that same variant is also the one who will appear in No Way Home.

The guardian dragon will be targeted by Gorr in Thor Love and Thunder.

As Ta Lo is confirmed to exist in another universe, this would show his god-genociding ambitions to span the entire Multiverse.

• Jossed.

The rings are sending a beacon to Fin Fang Foom and the Makluans

Foom created them in the comics and the end credits confirmed them to be of extraterrestrial origin.

The Makluans will be the main antagonists in Shang-Chi 2, while Fin Fang Foom will be the Big Bad in the Sequel

It is very likely that in the not too distant future, the race of alien dragons known as the "Makluans" will get the message sent by the ten rings, and they plan to go to planet Earth to conquer it as in the comics, while the Big Bad Fin Fang Foom will lead the invasion to Earth with the intention of conquering it and recovering its precious ten rings, Shang-Chi and his allies will have to come together again to fight against this future invasion of alien dragons.

Other possible antagonists for sequels:

• Ran Shen/Iron Nail: his presence would provide a means for further establishing the capabilities of Makluan technology (setting up an appearance by the Makluans/Fin Fang Foom in the third film). Instead of his comic-book portrayal as a SHIELD agent turned terrorist, which could feel too reminiscent of Killmonger, he could be rewritten as being a more heroic character, much like the Mandarin/Wenwu. Perhaps he could be an idealistic SHIELD agent ousted for trying to be a whistleblower about corruption or the presence of HYDRA in its ranks, who turns into a genuine Well-Intentioned Extremist criminal that Shang-Chi could ally with in the third act to fight the film's true villain. This would also allow for a logical appearance by Jimmy Woo, who could be investigating Ran Shen in the misguided belief that the latter is a super-villain. Bonus points if he becomes a Composite Character with the Yellow Claw, Jimmy Woo's comics nemesis, perhaps as a racially charged Atrocious Alias that other SHIELD agents in the past gave to Ran Shen.
• Mister Negative: The FEAST Project exists in the MCU, and with Spiderman preoccupied with massive multiversal storylines, the (currently) smaller scale of the Shang-Chi films could provide room for him to appear.
• The Corporation: This criminal organization first appeared in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, where they menaced multiple heroes like Jack of Hearts, the original White Tiger, and, of course, Shang-Chi himself. Having him in conflict with the Corporation (likely due to their dealings with the late Wenwu) could lead to those heroes being introduced into the franchise, perhaps by having Shang-Chi be tracking Filippo Ayala (One of the Corporation's leaders and Hector and Ava Ayala's older brother) or be investigating the murder of Jack Hart's father and the existence of the Zero Fluid. In addition, they'd contrast well with Xialing's Ten Rings, as they're run like a traditional suit-and-tie business.
• Living Laser: Similar to Ghost was was made into an opponent for Scott and Hope, the Living Laser will be reimagined as an enemy for Shang-Chi. It would almost impossible to take down an enemy who's made of living energy with physical attacks, thus providing Shang-Chi was a true challenge. They could also keep his purple coloring, which could contrast well with Shang-Chi's red. He'll also be given a Race Lift from white to Korean, going from Arthur Parks to Arthur 'Park''. He could also be made to be a deranged Stalker with a Crush to Katy or another female character.
• M'Nai/Midnight Sun: Midnight Sun is one of the few original members of Shang-Chi's Rogues Gallery who has also taken on other superheroes, including the Silver Surfer and Iron Fist. Plus the fact that he was trained alongside Shang and genetically altered by the Kree makes him a formidable opponent. A potential idea would be him trying to usurp the Ten Rings from Shang-Chi and Xialing and attempting to ressurect Wenwu, similar to what he did in the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu revival and Sister Hammer's role in Gene Luen Yang's series.
• Lady Lotus: Another Yellow Peril villain of Marvel's, this one being a telepathic Dragon Lady (though Japanese instead of Chinese). Like Wenwu, she would be heavily reimagined and made more sympathetic than her comic counterpart, who was an ally of the Nazi superhumans known as the Super-Axis. Instead, Lotus, who'll be given a real name, will either be a Well-Intentioned Extremist trying to fight against bigoted extremists (her comics counterpart fought against the US because she was disgusted by the internment of Japanese-Americans), a Troubled Sympathetic Bigot with a traumatic past, or be a Visionary Villain trying to create her own "perfect" world ruled by her and other psychics. Or she could have been a victim of the Ten Rings in the past, who wants to reclaim the wealth and status (or a MacGuffin) that was stolen from her, or (in an inversion of her political allegiances in the comics) she could be a psychic taken from the internment camps to work for the US military, turning to villainy after the war ended due to how the government exploited her abilities.
• Zaran the Weapon Master: A mercenary and master assassin who is skilled in the use of every combat weapon you could think of. In the comics, he was a Brit named Maximillian Zaran who worked for MI-6 before going rogue and briefly dating (and getting dumped by) Fah Lo Suee before fighting Shang-Chi. Here, it'll be flipped around a bit; He will be a Chinese man who was born "Zha Ran" and was one of Wenwu's top men, the Weapon Master, but betrayed the organization after Wenwu refused to promise him Xialing's hand in marriage, knowing Xialing hated the guy. When he learns that Xialing now runs the Ten Rings, he will begin to menace them as "revenge", having only grown in skill and influence over the years, having worked as a spy and hired gun for MI-6, who protected him from the Ten Rings in exchange for his services. During this period, he legally changed his name to Max Zaran.

Fu Manchu is one of the many names Wenwu has been known by

Wenwu mentions the many names he's been given over the centuries. Perhaps one of the names he was given, in the 1910's, was "Fu Manchu". This would further the idea of him being a Composite Character of Fu Manchu and the Mandarin.

Alternatively...

Wenwu was the inspiration for the Fu Manchu character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

We're told that Wenwu and the Ten Ring's activities over the centuries became the stuff of legend, and while people heard about the organization and its mysterious leader, no one knew his real name. It's possible that in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sax Rohmer had heard these legends, and created the Fu Manchu character based on rumors he'd heard about Wenwu...much like how Aldrich Killian would, a century later, create the false terrorist called "the Mandarin". This might also further explain why Wenwu was so angered by Trevor Slattery and Aldrich Killian's deception - he'd already once been turned into a caricature by Westerners, and this time round it was even more intolerable since the imposter was pretending to be the actual leader of the Ten Rings.

Ying Li is an Immortal Weapon.

Ying Li uses powers she received from the heart of a dragon to be the protector of an extradimensional city. Her power take the form of yellow energy, and when we first meet her, she’s wearing a green and yellow outfit. That is way too close to Iron Fist to be coincidence. She’s clearly not an Iron Fist specifically, but based on the mask she wears when we first meet her, I think she might be Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter.

The Dweller in the Darkness is a Deviant

That's why the Ten Rings, heavily hinted to be Eternals technology, are effective against him.

The source of Xialing's new recruits (Spoiler for Black Widow (2021))

With no female members of the Ten Rings seen before the stinger, the stinger of Xialing's rebuilding of the organization has a surprisingly high amount of already well-trained women from the panning shot of the compound. Could she have recruited among the former Widows to bolster her ranks? It could go either way, with either those atoning for their involuntary past if Xialing is putting the Rings through a Heel–Face Turn, or recruiting from the more morally flexible if not.

• Reinforcement: Xialing has one former Widow (who even appeared in the film) in one of her club's cage fights. It's not impossible that she could get a hold of more (especially since Dreykov said he had millions of Widow agents stationed all over the world, and if her Fight Clubbing operation is any indication, Xialing is willing to recruit people of all different races and nationalities), especially since she now has access to the Ten Rings' considerable resources.

Xialing will end up recruiting/hiring Taskmaster

With Death Dealer dead after being killed by Soul Eaters, Xialing is going to need someone to replace him as not only an enforcer/lieutenant along side Razor Fist, but also as the head instructor of the Ten Rings' forces. This would be a great and natural way for Antonia to not only reenter the MCU, but also for Marvel to begin getting her to more closely resemble her comic book counterpart. Such as reestablishing key aspects of the character, like Mercedes Merced (Taskmaster's wife/caretaker), giving her a more comic accurate personality/demeanor, and the fact that in the between Black Widow and her possible recruitment into the Ten Rings, she has since renounce the Dreykov name and adopted a new alias, something like Masters (Toni Masters).

A sequel will feature the Agents of Atlas

Specifically, the new version of the team, made up of various Asian and Asian-American heroes. They could either be introduced in a Disney+ series leading up to a possible Shang-Chi 2 (specifically, a Jimmy Woo-focused spinoff of WandaVision has been pitched, so the team could be set up in that), or receive a series afterwards.

• The movie could even be titled Shang-Chi and the Agents of A.T.L.A.S., thus keeping the naming convention from the first film.

Iron Man 4 could feature Harley Keener and/or Morgan Stark taking on Xialing and her reconstituted Ten Rings

It would make an excellent Mythology Gag.

• The tagline at the end of the second stinger said "The Ten Rings Will Return." It said nothing about Shang Chi or Katy.

Xialing's supposed opponent would have been a member of the Ten Rings

The entire encounter with Xialing was a Batman Gambit set up from the start by the Ten Rings. The fact that the guy bailed out just as Shang Chi entered the ring hints that whoever her opponent was, they would either fight Xialing and take her emerald necklace or drop out once Shang Chi enters the arena. Either way, the Ten Rings get what they want.

Shang Chi was an undocumented immigrant to the United States as a teenager.

Shang Chi attended high school in the United States, when he would have been a parentless minor child with no apparent familial connections to the US. There is no clear information about what legal citizenship statuses Shang Chi may have had through his parents or birthplace. Escaping from his criminal father may have been a good explanation for teenage Shang Chi to claim asylum in the US as a refugee, but doing so could have drawn legal attention to himself and his real identity when Shang Chi was trying to hide from his father. And without his father's money and connections, it may have been difficult for Shang Chi to navigate the US immigration system as a child alone, especially if he was trying to avoid attention. While Shang Chi's behavior as an adult suggests that he is a legal American citizen or resident—he takes an international commercial flight to Macau with no indication that he doesn't have a passport or doesn't expect to return to the USA—a past history of uncertain immigration status would have been more encouragement for Shang Chi to keep a low profile in his career and personal life.

• Given that he did spend 7 years of his life with his family as regular people (that is, not a criminal mastermind), it's entirely possible that he already had some of these things setup previously. Likewise, after his mother's death, it's also likely that his father would have setup resources to allow both of them to travel where needed without much intrusion. And, if nothing else, Wenwu himself said he kept tabs on Shang - he could have aided from the shadows in order to 'allow [him] to live his life for ten years'.

Katy's grandfather is the Iron Gang boss Shang-Chi assassinated

• After the hit attempt failed to take out Wenwu, Grandpa Chen fled Hunan with his family, and attempted to hide away in San Francisco. It took years, but Wenwu was eventually able to track him down and sent Shang-Chi. After the assassination, Shang-Chi's guilt drove him to watch over the Chen family, which kept him in close proximity to Katy and they eventually befriended each other. Shang-Chi was on the verge of revealing this to Katy in Ta Lo, but was only able to bring himself to half-confess.

Wenwu will show up in one of the other movies that focus on the multiverse as a good version of himself.

Ways to bring Tony Leung back as Wenwu in future movies

Tony Leung is one of the best actors working today and death is a revolving door in this franchise. If he's on board and some future director wants to work with this character, options could include:

• Time travel. If we can have a past Loki and past Gamora running around, why not a past Wenwu?
• Spirit/afterlife in a realm akin to Wakanda's ancestral plane.
• Flashbacks to his days as a conqueror. He might bump into other long-lived characters like the Asgardians or Eternals, and flashbacks closer to the present day might show him reacting to other powerful factions looking to shape history like HYDRA.
• Multiverse. With infinite realities, they could take this character in any direction.
  • Specifically, as a minor opponent in a Deadpool movie, as Leung has mentioned that Deadpool is one of his favourite CBM franchises.
  • Adding onto this, he could make an appearance in What If...? in an episode where he fights Iron Man for real.
• Wanda's memory magic, creating a construct of Wenwu from the minds of those who knew him.

The Golden Dagger fight club will be mentioned, or appear, in She-Hulk

As a part of an underground superhuman fight league hosting the Grapplers, featuring Titania.

• Alternatively, these fight clubs will be turned into legitimate businesses, developing into the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation (a pro-wrestling group from the comics, made up of wrestlers with superhuman abilities).

The villain for Shang-Chi's next movie will be someone seeking revenge for the Iron Gang leader he killed as a boy

We never learn who exactly young Shang-Chi killed, and that's fine; the fact of him actually doing it and being so traumatized as to disappear into the "Shaun" identity is what matters to this origin story. However, there's still story potential to be mined from that idea: Shang-Chi has come to terms with the good and bad in his family, so now he has to confront the same within himself. Moreover, this type of foe fits into Marvel's tradition of the villain who's convinced they're the hero righting some great injustice (Thanos, Killmonger, Karli, Ronan, etc), and continues the big ideas that the original movie played with, like the Cycle of Revenge and Even Evil Can Be Loved.

Shang-Chi 2 will have Wong helping Shang-Chi to know about the beacon.

Since the post-credits-scene have revealed that the Ten Rings might have sent a beacon, Wong will likely by helping both Shang-Chi and Katy on a quest to know about it.

Xialing is reforming the Ten Rings.

Well, the post-credits-scene has shown her allowing women to join the Ten Rings.

Some soldiers of Wenwu's Ten Rings have settled in Ta Lo in the aftermath

Part out of gratitude, part out of wish to atone for the damage they caused, part out of genuine fascination for the place, they decided to stay and help Ta Lo get back on its feet. Of course not all villagers were thrilled about that and some still are, however Ying Nan, now looked up as the community leader after the loss of Guang Bo, has managed to convince them.

Shang-Chi, Katy and Wong will appear in one of the post credit scenes for Eternals as they continue researching the origin of the Ten Rings

This would be a great way to segue into Shang-Chi’s sequel as well as confirm the Ten Rings theorized celestial origin.

• Nope. They do not appear in either scene, and the scenes have nothing to do with them.

The sequel will introduce Maria Vasquez

In the comics, Maria Vasquez is a vigilante martial artist who was a member of the Heroes for Hire during the same period that Shang-Chi was part of the team. The two worked together and even had some Ship Tease (that led nowhere) before she faded into even further obscurity than he did, while still appearing every now and then over the years. Though that was all there was between them in the comics, the MCU their stories will be more intertwined. Maria's sister's death in the Stamford explosion that kickstarted the comic version of Civil War and their father's subsequently murder by the minions of the villainess Ricadonna will be replaced with one of them having being assassinated by Ten Rings members by order of Wenwu, who failed to see Maria witness it or hear them talking about their organization and leader. Years later, after much training and the events of the first film, Maria will emerge as the Tarantula and try to claim her vengeance on the Ten Rings, which will inevitably lead to her clashing with Shang-Chi, who'll convince her to give up on her revenge quest and help him fight the true villain of the film.

Xialing will take the alias Midnight Sun as the leader of the Ten Rings

Also, she'll undergo - courtesy of the Kree - a procedure similar to what happened to the corresponding comic character (who happened to be Shang-Chi's adoptive brother). Discs and all. Maybe even the hat.

Xialing will use the ten Rings to Pay Evil unto Evil to worse criminal organizations.

It makes sense to keep the competition down in the criminal underworld and would allow her to stay in the audience’s good graces.

Aero will be connected to Ta Lo.

Ying Li and Ying Nan both have air manipulation powers similar to Aero's. Also, in the comics, the origins of Aero's powers are never actually explained but it's implied they have something to do with Ki Manipulation.

Not so much a guess as something I thought was foreshadowing but wound up being nothing-

When they first find Trevor, he is surprised they can see Morris. This implies that other people seeing Morris is unusual. I took that as a hint that only people descended from Ta Lo villagers could see the critters, and thus as evidence that Katy and Trevor would both be revealed to be descendents, although much further removed than Shang-Chi. I was honestly a little surprised when that little thread was never tied up.

Destin Daniel Cretton will NOT return to direct Shang-Chi 2, due to his commitment to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty or the sequel will be delayed to 2026/ 2027

With Cretton being signed on to the fifth Avengers film, he will likely be unavailable to return to direct Shang-Chi's sequel. Cretton will instead retain an Executive Producer credit, similar to John Faverau's credit in Iron Man 3. The other option would be to delay the Shang-Chi sequel until after Avengers 5 & 6, to prevent scheduling conflicts between the 3 separate film productions.

• Jossed Theory. Cretton would later depart Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in November 2023, with Cretton choosing to focus on Shang-Chi 2 and the Wonder Man Series.