A sequel to Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a go, and lead actor Simu Liu took to social media to display his excited reaction to the news. “Flopped so hard we got a sequel!!” the actor, who will return as the MCU’s martial arts master in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 2 said, referring to the naysayers who believed that the first movie would perform badly at the box office.
Until now, Marvel Studios had been playing coy with regards to a return for Shang-Chi, but yesterday a statement was made confirming that, not only will the newest member of The Avengers be back on the big screen, but that a small screen venture on Disney+ is also on the cards. Alongside Simu Liu, director Destin Daniel Cretton will also return to helm the follow-up, “Destin is an amazing collaborator who brought a unique perspective and skill to ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.’ We had a fantastic time working together on the film and he has so many intriguing ideas for stories to bring to life on Disney Plus, so we’re thrilled to expand our relationship with him and can’t wait to get started,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in a statement.
Cretton, who has previously stated his desire to return for more Marvel fun is as eager as Simu Liu to get started saying, “Working on ‘Shang-Chi’ with Kevin and the Marvel Studios team was one of the highlights of my life, and I couldn’t be more excited about Tara’s vision for Onyx Collective. I can’t wait to explore new stories & build new worlds with this community.”
The first Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings re-introduces the sinister Ten Rings organization as well as the titular Shang-Chi, all while opening up the Marvel Cinematic Universe to a whole new world of martial arts and mysticism. The movie follows Shang-Chi as he is forced to confront his past after his father Wenwu AKA The Mandarin, the leader of the Ten Rings organization, draws Shang-Chi and his sister Xialing into a search for a mythical village. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton from a screenplay he wrote with Dave Callaham and Andrew Lanham, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, as well as earning $432 million worldwide, which combined all-but made a sequel an inevitability.
While plot details for Shang-Chi 2 remain a mystery at present, star Meng'er Zhang is hoping for a revival of an all-new Ten Rings led by Shang-Chi's estranged sister Xu Xialing. “I’m so excited to see what comes next too and I can’t stop thinking about it myself," the actress replied recently when asked about the sequel. "Also I ask myself those questions like, “What’s next for her?,” because Xialing is such a complex character and she has so much more for us to explore and discover. Like how did she train herself in her father’s compound and how did she build the fight club all on her own in Macau and in the end credits scene, we can see her sitting on the throne and you can see Razor Fist and Jon Jon standing by her side and what are they going to do next?”
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 2 is expected to begin production in 2023. This comes to us from Simu Liu's official Twitter account.