Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will finally be out in theaters later this week. It’s the first MCU movie to debut only in theaters since Spider-Man: Far From Home in Summer 2019, and the first film to be focused around a single new protagonist since Doctor Strange in 2016. Here are four Marvel films you should check out in order to get ready for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
The Incredible Hulk
Going all the way back to 2008 before Mark Ruffalo was even a glimmer in the eye of Kevin Feige, Edward Norton was the actor to bring Bruce Banner to life on the big screen in The Incredible Hulk — not to be confused with the 2003 Universal Pictures movie simply titled Hulk. But Banner’s nemesis in this movie is the focus of the topic at hand today.
As was revealed in an earlier trailer for Shang-Chi, Tim Roth will be reprising his role as Emil Blonsky who is better known by his more beefy alter-ego’s name, Abomination. However, the general design for the 2021 version of Abomination appears to be slightly closer to the original designs from the comics.
There’s no indication yet if Tim Roth will make an appearance as the un-hulked-up version of Emil Blonsky. But we can tell for sure that Shang-Chi won’t be the last time we see Abomination back in the MCU. As of right now, he’s already confirmed to be a part of the She-Hulk Disney+ series coming next year. So even if you won’t be able to catch Shang-Chi in theaters, it’s not a bad idea to get caught up on Blonsky’s backstory.
Doctor Strange
Abomination isn’t the only returning MCU character that eagle-eyed Marvel fans noticed in trailers for Shang-Chi. A more recent addition to the universe was seen battling the Hulk’s old enemy using some familiar mystical powers. As Rotten Tomatoes confirmed via Kevin Feige, what fans speculated was a fight between Abomination and Wong was exactly that.
Benedict Wong debuted as Wong in 2016’s Doctor Strange where he was the librarian at Kamar-Taj — the temple where Steven Strange learned the mystic arts from The Ancient One. Despite Wong showing up in Infinity War and Endgame, those films are not as crucial as his role in Doctor Strange since they don’t really add anything to his character.
It has only been five years since this movie came out, but it’s still worth taking a look back at how Wong entered the MCU in preparation for Shang-Chi. Although he was just a librarian in Doctor Strange, Wong was already well-versed in the mystic arts and his abilities were shown off multiple times throughout the film.
Iron Man
If you thought The Incredible Hulk was a blast from the past, then this one is really going to throw you for a loop. This one goes all the way back to when Tony Stark was traveling through Afghanistan with US military forces and doing weapons demonstrations. As we all know, Stark was eventually captured and forced to work on a missile for his captors where he actually ended up making his first Iron Man suit instead.
This mysterious terrorist organization that kidnapped Tony Stark was none other than Ten Rings. This group had been operating mainly out of Afghanistan at the time and had established an arms deal with Stark Industries’ Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). That didn’t exactly go down too well for Ten Rings. But in the end, the villainous group didn’t have to retaliate since Stark took care of Stane.
It’s already well-known that the physical rings will play a major role in the plot of Shang-Chi, but it’s also indicated that this criminal organization — led by Wenwu — will have an important part to play in the story as well. Wenwu is now known to be the villain behind the true title of The Mandarin. And that’s where the next and final film on this list kicks off.
Iron Man 3
If you watch these films one day at a time in the order they’re listed here, then you’ll find yourself on Iron Man 3 right before Shang-Chi hits theaters. The first and third Iron Man movies will probably have references to some of the most important parts of the story in Shang-Chi. The Ten Rings organization seen in both films is clearly a villainous group that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Their leader, The Mandarin, was first introduced in Iron Man 3. However, once Stark actually got into his compound, it turned out that this seemingly evil mastermind was actually just an actor named Trevor Slattery. He was merely an intimidating figurehead for the world to fear and had no role in planning any evil schemes that Ten Rings carried out.
The Marvel one-shot on DIsney+ titled All Hail the King is also worth checking out. It’s a short (14 minutes) mockumentary focusing on the life of Slattery after being imprisoned at Seagate Penitentiary. It also features a member of Ten Rings telling the actor that the real Mandarin wants his name back. There’s no indication if this scene will connect to Shang-Chi, but it seems incredibly likely.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings releases in theaters this Friday, Sept. 3. All of the other films above can be streamed on Disney+.
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