50 Fun Facts About Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Who plays Shang-Chi?

He was cast on July 16, 2019, after a second audition, and put on 10 pounds of muscle for the role while doing many of his own stunts because the character wears no mask.

Which Hong Kong screen legend plays Shang-Chi's father Xu Wenwu, in his first Hollywood film?

Director Destin Daniel Cretton wanted him but doubted he would say yes; producer Jonathan Schwartz made the call and he accepted after one meeting.

Shang-Chi is which numbered film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

It was released in the US on September 3, 2021, as part of Phase Four, after Black Widow.

What alias does Shang-Chi live under in San Francisco?

He ran away at 14 after his father sent him to assassinate the leader of the Iron Gang, and has been parking cars ever since.

What job do Shang-Chi and his best friend Katy do in San Francisco?

Cretton compared Shang-Chi to Will Hunting: a man hiding both a secret and a superpower behind charisma.

Who plays Katy?

She was the very first actor cast and did chemistry tests with the Shang-Chi candidates, saying Liu 'was Shang-Chi from the jump'.

What do the Ten Rings steal from Shang-Chi during the bus fight?

Xialing has the matching one, and together they reveal a water-effect map to the hidden village.

In which city does Shang-Chi find his sister Xialing running a secret fight club?

She founded it after escaping from Wenwu at 16, having taught herself to fight because her father refused to train her.

What is the name of the mythical hidden village Wenwu is trying to reach?

It exists in a separate dimension full of Chinese mythological creatures, and Wenwu first found its entrance in 1996 through a magical forest.

Which Iron Man 3 character reappears as a prisoner of the Ten Rings, held for impersonating Wenwu?

Cretton felt it was essential to have the fake Mandarin admit how ridiculous the whole thing was, as a way of apologising for the character's stereotypes.

What kind of creature is Morris?

The faceless being from Chinese mythology was inspired partly by Cretton's 15-year-old dachshund and was a green-screen blob on set.

Who voices Morris?

One design tested made Morris look 'like a plucked chicken'; keeping him cute without a face meant relying on his fur and feathers.

Which soul-consuming entity is imprisoned behind the Dark Gate near Ta Lo?

It has been impersonating Shang-Chi's dead mother's voice so that Wenwu will use the rings to break the gate open.

What is the Great Protector?

Weta based its scales on albino lizards, alligators and snakes after first trying quartz, porcelain and shells.

How does Wenwu die?

He bequeaths the ten rings to his son before dying, after Shang-Chi had won their duel and chosen to spare him.

Which two Avengers appear in the mid-credits scene with Wong?

They were chosen to represent the science and space sides of the MCU; Cretton had wanted Wong to take the pair to karaoke to sing 'Hotel California'.

What happens in the post-credits scene?

She had told her brother she would disband the organisation; instead she starts training women alongside men in the compound.

Which Incredible Hulk (2008) villain fights Wong in a cage match, with Tim Roth returning for vocals?

The pair were added to set up their storyline in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and the redesign looked closer to the comics than the 2008 version.

Which actress plays Ying Nan, Shang-Chi's aunt and a guardian of Ta Lo?

She had already been in the MCU briefly as Aleta Ogord in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and asked for a scene empowering Xialing to be added.

Which Creed II actor plays Razor Fist, the Ten Rings enforcer with a blade for a right hand?

Marvel cast the German-Romanian boxer-turned-actor after being impressed by his role as Viktor Drago.

Which actress turned down a Xialing audition after being offered The Matrix Resurrections?

She chose Bugs in the Matrix sequel partly hoping to reprise Colleen Wing from Marvel's Netflix shows one day; newcomer Meng'er Zhang got the part.

Which character, whose rights Marvel does not hold, was Shang-Chi's father in the original comics?

Wenwu was created for the MCU as a replacement, folding in elements of the Mandarin as well.

How are the ten rings worn in the film, unlike in the comics?

Producer Jonathan Schwartz said the comic-accurate finger rings looked 'a little goofy' and too much like the Infinity Stones.

What colour is the rings' energy when the son uses them, versus the father?

Kevin Feige originally wanted each ring to glow its own colour like the comics, but it proved too distracting.

Which government's complaint about Iron Man 3's script led to the Ten Rings logo being redesigned?

The original logo carried Mongolian characters; the new one uses Chinese synonyms for strength written in ancient seal script.

Who directed the film?

He was hired in March 2019 having never wanted to make a superhero film, drawn in by the chance to create a hero Asian children could see themselves in.

In which city was most of the film shot, at Fox Studios Australia?

The Australian government put up AU$24 million in one-off funding, and the shoot ran back-to-back with Thor: Love and Thunder.

What was the film's working title?

Cinematographer William Pope shot it on the Arri Alexa LF; Cretton hired him partly for his work on The Matrix.

Members of which action star's stunt team, led by Brad Allan, coordinated the fight sequences?

The film is dedicated to their supervising stunt coordinator Brad Allan, who died in August 2021, weeks before release.

In the bus fight, what does Shang-Chi do as an homage to a Hong Kong action star's signature style?

The whole sequence took over a year to plan and went through as many as 20 iterations.

How many buses were shipped to Australia for the interior shots of the bus fight?

They were taken apart and rebuilt on gimbals 15 feet and 3.3 feet high; four more buses were used for the San Francisco exteriors, one crashing down a hill.

Why does the bus in the film not carry the branding of San Francisco's real transit agency?

Cretton admitted some 'fudges' in the route, since 'you can't go downhill for six minutes straight'.

Which anime attack inspired the final duel between Shang-Chi and Wenwu?

Cretton included it in his original pitch, alongside a wuxia opening inspired by Hero, which Leung himself starred in.

Why did the production designer make Xialing's fighting arena an octagon?

Sue Chan's design mixes skulls with flowers and bold colours to reflect Xialing's feminism rather than menace.

Meng'er Zhang asked for what feature of Xialing's look to be removed during filming?

She discovered its association with the 'rebellious Asian girl' stereotype; the streak was digitally erased from footage already shot.

The film's opening narration is delivered entirely in which language?

Zhang, whose first language it is, served as dialect coach for the other actors.

Where was the score recorded with a 70-piece orchestra?

Composer Joel P. West had scored all four of Cretton's earlier films; the UK Chinese Ensemble supplied traditional instruments.

Which Asian-American music collective produced the film's soundtrack album?

Sean Miyashiro's label built the album around the Asian-American experience, with San Francisco as a touchstone; singles included 'Lazy Susan' by 21 Savage and Rich Brian.

Which German carmaker was the film's global car sponsor, placing its iX3 and M8 on screen?

Audi had long been the MCU's usual car partner through the Iron Man and Avengers films.

Which box-office record did the film set on debut?

Its $94.67 million four-day haul smashed the previous Labor Day record of $30.6 million held by 2007's Halloween.

Approximately how much did Shang-Chi gross worldwide?

Unusually for an MCU film, more than half came from the US and Canada, where it was 2021's second-highest grosser behind Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Which major market never gave the film a theatrical release?

Deadline linked it to comments Simu Liu made to the CBC in 2017 about his parents' experiences; Disney listed the release as 'to be determined' before it never came.

Unlike Black Widow, Shang-Chi was not released day-and-date on Disney+. How long was its theatrical window?

Bob Chapek called the window 'an interesting experiment', a phrase Liu publicly objected to before Feige called it a misunderstanding.

What was Shang-Chi's original scheduled release date, chosen for its cultural significance?

COVID pushed it to May, then July, then September 3, 2021, each time swapping with Black Widow.

Which director had signed on in 2001 to make a Shang-Chi film titled The Hands of Shang-Chi?

By 2003 the project was at DreamWorks with Yuen Woo-Ping directing and Ang Lee producing before the rights reverted to Marvel.

Which martial-arts icon was the visual inspiration for Shang-Chi in the 1970s Master of Kung Fu comics?

Stan Lee even discussed a Shang-Chi project in the 1980s with the star's son Brandon Lee in mind for the lead.

Roughly how many visual effects shots did the film contain?

Supervisor Christopher Townsend worked with eleven vendors; Rising Sun Pictures built Ta Lo and Weta created the rings, the dragon and the Dweller.

The Ta Lo village set was built where?

Every building, from pottery shed to schoolroom, was built around a central open-sided temple holding the village's history.

Which honour did the film receive at the Unforgettable Gala's Asian American Awards in December 2021?

The award had previously gone to The Farewell; at the Oscars the film was nominated for Best Visual Effects.

Which of Wenwu's enemies murder Shang-Chi's mother Ying Li when he is seven?

Wenwu straps the rings back on to wipe them out, and at 14 sends Shang-Chi to kill their leader, the mission that makes him flee to San Francisco.