“Daddy issues” makes for a stupefyingly popular theme in action-oriented Hollywood cinema. For a while in the MCU, Tony Stark had the market cornered on the conceit. Nebula gave him a run for his money, especially in Avengers: Endgame. (Yes, Odin caused Thor and Loki some tsauris, but nothing compared to the aforementioned.) Now, we’ll see a new Marvel character contend with a strained relationship with his pops, and his unwanted existential inheritance. The new trailer for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings gets deep on the character’s backstory. Both how it enriches and haunts him to this day.
The trailer shows us a glimpse of a young Shang-Chi enduring his father’s perilous tests to prove himself worthy. We then see him as an adult, evidently estranged from his father and from any desire to shoulder his lineage’s superpower. But in the Marvel Universe, the past has a nasty way of catching back up with you. And not even in the timeline-hopping way (although that’s not terribly uncommon either these days). Here, it appears that Shang-Chi’s past comes back to dole out a psychologically complex battle with his dad.
But that’s not the only foe he’ll be facing off with. The trailer also shows quick shots of pretty sizable prospective foes. Theres’s the laser-armed ruffian on the bus. And then there’s the spike-backed behemoth throwing fists in a crowded arena. And let’s not forget the tremendous dragon lurking beneath the surface of the sea. While Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has been touted as a showcase of martial arts fighting, we also see a lot of supernatural fisticuffs in play.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will release in theaters on September 3. It will then release on Disney+, via Premier Access, on October 18.