Shang-Chi’s Original Ten Rings Power Made Him Unstoppable

Long before Shang-Chi wielded the alternate version of the Ten Rings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he unlocked the original Ten Rings’ powers in the comics, and in the process became unstoppable. The Ten Rings in Marvel Comics are way different than their portrayal in the film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Based on Marvel lore, the Ten Rings are worn on each finger and thumb on both hands and grant the wearer a number of incredible powers including fire-blasts, ice-attacks, and mental manipulation. In one comic series, Shang-Chi masters these powers without having to wear the Ten Rings at all, making him a true force of nature. 

In the four-part limited series Master of Kung Fu: Battleworld by Haden Blackman and Dalibor Talajić, Shang-Chi is introduced as a drunk who is loitering in a park. He is approached by a group of warriors who are a part of an organization known as the Ten Rings where they learned how to wield the mystical powers of the rings without being in possession of them. The fighters attack Shang-Chi but are no match for his Kung Fu mastery and are quickly dispersed. 

The Ten Rings members are the first people shown conjuring the powers offered to those who wield the rings, but they were far from masters of the craft. After Shang-Chi defeats them and escapes, he finds himself being hunted by Iron Fist as well as other warriors who seek vengeance against Shang-Chi after his father, Emperor Zheng Zu, forced him to kill Iron Fist’s master and the leader of K’un-Lun. Since he is under so much fire, Shang-Chi decides to study in the ways of the Ten Rings and give himself a power boost for when he finally confronts his father for the evil he made him commit while Shang-Chi was under his tutelage. The comic series shows, in detail, how Shang-Chi can shoot first from his hands, manipulate his opponents’ head by projecting painful memories into their mind, and even transforming his already-deadly hands into razor sharp blades. Those are just some of the powers Shang-Chi is able to conjure, with his final one being the killing blow Shang-Chi uses against his own father. 

By the end of the series, Shang-Chi is able to master the style of the Ten Rings and becomes an absolute powerhouse. In fact, Shang-Chi is able to take his mastery a step further and is even able to wield a power that had since been unachievable. When Shang-Chi comes face-to-face with his father, the evil emperor of their land as well as being his corrupt former master, Shang-Chi uses every single one of the powers the Ten Rings represents, including the power to turn someone else into stone which up until that point was not a power that had existed within the Ten Rings organization. Shang-Chi uses this power to defeat his father once and for all, proving his superiority over his former master and freeing his land of his father’s corrupted leadership. 

While turning his father to stone was the final move Shang-Chi used to defeat him, their battle consisted of Shang-Chi using all of the powers of the Ten Rings without using the Ten Rings themselves to conjure them. Just from his intense training and his ability to harness his chi, Shang-Chi learned how to manifest the powers of some of the strongest magical artifacts in the Marvel Universe, making him completely unstoppable.

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