Credit: Marvel StudiosShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) was an unexpected smash hit for Marvel Studios. And though it has yet to get an official release date, its star, Simu Liu, recently hyped Shang-Chi 2 and discussed the key differences between working on the original and its sequel.
Although it went on to gross over $432 million at the box office, Shang-Chi was initially a risky gamble for Marvel Studios. Centered around a brand new character to the MCU—with a relatively unknown actor to boot—immediately after the triumph of the Infinity Saga was a bold move. But thankfully, it paid off, both finically and critically.
With a 91% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, Shang-Chi ranked among the top of Marvel’s Phase Four releases. It was confirmed that a sequel would follow in December 2021, but as of now, any official news, including a title or premiere date, have yet to be confirmed. It’s not listed on Marvel’s current MCU Phase 5 and 6 lineups, though it could be one of the “secret” projects the studio will likely announce in the near future.
The story follows Shang-Chi, a master of martial arts who flees his Chinese village at the age of 14 after his crime boss father (Tony Leung) sends him on a traumatizing mission to kill the head of a rival organization, the Iron Gang. Now relocated to San Francisco and living under the name “Shaun,” Shang-Chi has to come face-to-face with his unsavory past after he and his best friend Katy (Awkwafina) are attacked by the Ten Rings led by Razor Fist. Fearing for his sister’s (Meng’er Zhang) life, Shang-Chi and Katy return to China, only to become entwined in a dangerous web of family secrets, culminating in Shang-Chi inheriting the ever-powerful Ten Rings.
During a recent interview with Collider, Liu was asked about his return to the MCU and if he expects to feel the pressures of playing Shang-Chi again coming on the heels of the first movie’s success. While admitting that there are “really high stakes” when making a film with a multi-million dollar Marvel budget, he revealed that he feels “excited” about the prospect of helming a sequel down the line:
Going into a sequel feels exciting. It doesn’t necessarily feel like there’s a pressure to perform or a pressure to exceed. It feels like we’ve established a world and there’s just something really nostalgic and exciting about returning to that world that we’ve spent so much time ideating on and thinking about. And then, we’re getting to revisit some things, but also show the viewer new things. We’ll deliver all of the amazing action that we were celebrated for on the first movie, but then also hopefully explore new sides of Shaun’s character and the characters around him. That is, of course, if we can still afford Michelle Yeoh. She’s on top of the world and just the queen of everything.
As of now, any new progress on Shang-Chi 2 is seemingly being kept under tight wraps. Marvel has a bevy of other projects that have already been confirmed, so it’s likely that a Shang-Chi sequel just isn’t at the top of the studio’s priority list. But with rumors circulating that Shang-Chi might play a central role in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (2025), audiences can expect to see Liu back in action soon.
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