How Powerful Are The Ten Rings Compared To The Infinity Stones & Gauntlet?

Here’s how powerful the Ten Rings of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings are compared to the Infinity Stones and Gauntlet. The Ten Rings emerged from mysterious origins, and as explained in Shang-Chi, they may have been discovered in a crater or found in a tomb. In addition to granting Shang-Chi’s father, Wenwu, eternal life, the rings also endowed him with sufficient power to topple empires and control the world through his secret Ten Rings organization. Between Wenwu and Shang-Chi, the rings are shown to grant a number of different abilities, some of which aren’t fully examined or explained in the movie.

The Infinity Stones and Gauntlet, however, have supposedly limitless power. Thanos notoriously uses the Infinity Stones to destroy half the universe with a snap in Avengers: Infinity War before Hulk restores them the same way in Avengers: Endgame. Taking it a step further in Marvel’s What If…? series, Ultron uses the Stones to destroy not just his reality, but also every parallel timeline he can discover. He even takes on the Watcher, one of the most powerful beings in the MCU.

Both items are clearly incredibly strong, but the completed Infinity Gauntlet has to stand victorious when it comes to determining which is more powerful. While the Ten Rings in the right hands possess massive potential, and their powers do sometimes seem to grow in order to fit the plot, the Infinity Stones still reign supreme. Their limitless abilities and unbridled potential mark them as the undisputedly most powerful objects in the MCU.

The Ten Rings’ powers in the MCU include both offensive and defensive abilities, in addition to stopping the wearer from aging. Offensively, the rings can be used as projectiles, firing at the wearer’s enemies before returning to his arm. They also allow the wearer to fire energy blasts and punch with great force. Such force can also be used to propel the wearer long distances through the air, as well as cushion his landing. Defensively, the rings can be used to create something of a forcefield around the wearer that repels everything from volleys of arrows to point-blank shotgun blasts. At the end of the film, Shang-Chi also uses the ten rings by firing them at the Dweller in Darkness, where they seem to penetrate his skin before exploding him internally. This last power isn’t examined much and could hint at other – potentially greater – powers of the mysterious rings.

On the other hand, the Infinity Gauntlet in the MCU is significantly more powerful by comparison. Allowing the wearer to alter seemingly any aspect of the universe at will, the combined might of the Infinity Stones is almost impossible to beat. This can be seen in Thanos effortlessly beating the Avengers at the end of Infinity War, as well as through Ultron massacring multiple timelines in What If…? The only notable drawback of the Infinity Gauntlet is the power required to wield it. While incredibly strong beings like Thanos and Ultron are capable of controlling its full power, the Gauntlet cripples even the Hulk and kills Iron Man when they use it. Despite this setback, however, the completed Infinity Gauntlet is still far more powerful than Shang-Chi’s Ten Rings.

Although they aren’t as powerful as the Infinity Stones, Shang-Chi’s Ten Rings’ importance to the MCU’s future shouldn’t be understated. After the ending of What If…? season 1, it seems that the MCU has finally moved past the Infinity Stones, so the Ten Rings could potentially be some of the most powerful tools still remaining in the universe. Although it’s uncertain how or when, the rings which debuted in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, will surely return in future MCU installments, which may provide more insight into the full extent of their true power.

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