Shang-Chi Star Teases Her Character’s MCU Future

Fala Chen, star of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, teases her character’s future in the MCU. The newest entry into the MCU is now playing in theaters and appears to be another veritable hit for Marvel Studios. The Phase 4 film has been a hit with critics, hovering around the 90 percent range on Rotten Tomatoes. The Marvel blockbuster has unsurprisingly been a commercial hit as well, breaking the record for the highest-grossing Labor Day weekend of all time.

Shang-Chi acts as an origin story for its titular hero and in turn, introduces a slew of new characters to the MCU. There is, most notably, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi who begins the film working as a parking valet in San Francisco with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina) under the name Shaun. Once he has reason to believe his sister Xialing’s (Meng’er Zhang) is threatened by their father Wenwu’s (Tony Leung) titular criminal organization, Shang-Chi and Katy head to Macau to help her. There, they are attacked by the Ten Rings and captured by Wenwu, who later reveals to Shang-Chi and Xialing that he believes their mother, Ying Li (Chen), is still alive and being held captive in Ta Lo, an ancient city she used to protect.

Now, in an interview with The Direct, Fala Chen is teasing her character’s MCU future. When viewers first see Ying Li in Shang-Chi, she’s guarding Ta Lo when Wenwu arrives, but the film doesn’t explore her backstory much further than that. According to Chen, Li has “spent her entire life in Ta Lo.” Though she couldn’t reveal much else, she hinted at her character’s larger place within the MCU, saying “she has more power than what you’ve seen so far.” Read what else Chen had to say below:

I wish I could tell you more about it, but I don’t think I’m allowed to… but what I can tell you is that she definitely is from Ta Lo, and she’s spent her entire life in Ta Lo prior to meeting Wenwu, and she is a fierce warrior, the protector of the village and the realm. I cannot tell you too much about it. But she’s also special. She’s a fierce fighter. And you got a glimpse of that, but I think she has more power than what you’ve seen so far. That’s all I can say.

After her introduction early on in the film, Shang-Chi’s mother doesn’t have all that much screen time, but much of the plot revolves around her death at the hands of the Iron Gang and her husband’s belief that she is still alive. It is later revealed by her sister, Ying Nan (Michelle Yeoh), that the Dweller-in-Darkness has been manipulating Wenwu into believing that Li is alive so he will open the gate and release the soul-consuming creature.

Based on Chen’s comments above, it certainly seems like Li has a future in the MCU. Though she didn’t explicitly confirm such, it sounds like she is not permitted to reveal certain parts of the character which will be explored later on. While Shang-Chi‘s ending and mid-credits scene seem to be setting up an appearance for Shang-Chi and Katy in Doctor Strange 2 and the end-credits scene confirmed the Ten Rings and their new leader, Xialing, will return, Wenwu and Li’s futures are more unclear. There’s a strong possibility of a Shang-Chi sequel, so Chen could return to the MCU through flashback sequences, which would greater flesh out Li’s powers and backstory.

Source: The Direct

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Adam Bentz
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Adam Bentz is a movie and TV news writer for Screen Rant. From a young age, Adam has been interested in a wide range of movies and television, but it was talented auteurs like Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Aaron Sorkin who ultimately sparked his interest in the craft. Motivated by his love for the screen, Adam studied creative writing with a concentration in screenwriting at Southern New Hampshire University.

After graduating, Adam interned as a writer with The Borgen Project, a nonprofit organization working to end extreme poverty. Other than writing for Screen Rant, Adam reviews films on his website adambentz.wordpress.com

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