Shang-Chi ending explained

Shang-Chi ending spoilers follow.

Finally, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is out, and critics have been praising the film. We gave it four stars, praising the fresh story, as well as the unique action choreography.

What Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings means for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the big question on everyone's minds, though, especially with the recent release of the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer that opens up the world of the multiverse. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, we're... relatively neutral to report, does not enter the multiverse.

But that doesn't mean the movie's events have no impact on the MCU. So if you were left a bit confused by the ending and what it means not only for Shang-Chi and Katy, but the rest of the heroes we know and love, read on.

tony leung chiu wai, fala chen, shang chi and the legend of the ten rings

Marvel StudiosDisney

To make things clearer, we're telling the story chronologically even though the backstory is presented in the movie through flashbacks throughout the film.

Shang-chi's father, Wenwu, is an ancient warrior who possessed the Ten Rings, which granted him power and eternal life – but he always wanted more, so he travelled to the legendary city of Ta Lo which was said to guard mystical, otherworldly powers.

There he met Jiang Li, the guardian of Ta Lo, and fell in love. However, the people of Ta Lo would not accept him, and Jiang Li gave up her powers and her life in Ta Lo to marry Wenwu who, in turn, gave up the ten rings and locked them away.

His past caught up to him though and his compound was raided in revenge and Jiang Li was murdered, which turned Wenwu back into 'The Mandarin', putting the Ten Rings back on and training his son, Shang-Chi, to go after the man that killed his mother. Shang-Chi was sent to kill the man, but after doing so he ran away to San Francisco, taking on the life of Shaun, an average teenager.

awkwafina, simu liu, shang chi and the legend of the ten rings

Marvel StudiosDisney

In the present day, Shang-Chi (who goes by Shaun) and his best friend Katy work as valet drivers until one day they're attacked by Wenwu's henchman Razorfist, who is after the pendant Shang-Chi wears (a gift from his mother). Knowing Razorfist will go after his sister Xialing, Shang-Chi and Katy head to Macau to find her but they are all captured and brought back to Wenwu's compound.

Wenwu reveals that his dead wife spoke to him from behind a great wall in Ta Lo where her people are keeping her captive, and he plans to burn the village down to free her. The pendants Shang-Chi and Xialing have are set into a statue that reveals a map to the entrance to Ta Lo, but they refuse to help and so Wenwu imprisons them and Katy.

In an adjacent cell, they discover Trevor, who was spared death and effectively became Wenwu's jester, along with a creature named Morris from Ta Lo who says he can lead them all there. They escape and head to Ta Lo, where Jiang Li's sister Nan (Michelle Yeoh) greets them and explains why Wenwu is hallucinating his dead wife's voice beckoning him there.

tony leung chiu wai, meng'er zhang, simu liu, awkwafina, shang chi and the legend of the ten rings

Marvel StudiosDisney

Long ago there was a creature they call the Dweller in Darkness, that ate souls and was only defeated with the help of a dragon called The Great Protector, whose scales built a wall and imprisoned it and made weapons for the citizens of Ta Lo to use to protect the world, but every so often the creature lures people to it to try and free it, but everyone has failed. However, one who possesses the Ten Rings will succeed and set it free.

Wenwu arrives, and he and Shang-Chi fight with Wenwu getting the upper hand, he pummels the wall, shifting the scales to let smaller, soul-sucking creatures go to fight the villager and eventually, the Dweller in Darkness is set free. Shang-Chi is saved by the dragon, who joins the fight but Wenwu is grabbed by the Dweller in Darkness and his soul is sucked out, but not before Wenwu gifts the rings to Shang-Chi.

michelle yeoh as jiang nan in shangchi trailer

Marvel Studios

The creature manages to get the dragon in a hold and begins to eat its soul, but Katy fires an arrow into its throat, releasing its hold and the dragon kills the creature. Shang-Chi and Katy return to San Francisco, but are summoned by Wong to the Sanctum.

This is where the film itself ends. As you can tell, there isn't much in it that serves as a set-up for the future. However, it does further explore the whole 'twist' of The Mandarin in Iron-Man 3.

Of course, the mid and post-credits scenes do much more for establishing Shang-Chi, Katy, and Xialing's futures in the MCU than Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ring itself does. But without the movie and all of its wonderful storytelling, we wouldn't have these characters to begin with.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is out now in cinemas.

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