Val Will Recruit Xialing For Dark Avengers – Shang-Chi Theory Explained

Star of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Xu Xialing (Meng’er Zhang) could be Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) next recruit for the Dark Avengers. Introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the Contessa is currently assembling her own team of superheroes. So far, she already has John Walker/US Agent (Wyatt Russell) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) in her roster. Her next member might very well be Shang-Chi’s (Simu Liu’s) younger sister.

The post-credits scene of Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings effectively sets up a darker path for Xialing. After building a successful underground fighting business in Macau, she came home with his brother to reunite with their father, Wenwu (Tony Leung). The death of the Mandarin meant that his crime organization, the Ten Rings, would have to shut down since it doesn’t have a leader — something that Shang-Chi presumed would happen. But instead of closing its operations, Xialing decided to take over, with plans to expand its reach moving forward. Clearly, she’s more morally ambiguous compared to his older sibling. This makes her the perfect recruit for Val’s Dark Avengers team.

As revealed in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Black Widow, Val is currently rounding up potential members for her own superhero team. It’s uncertain what this squad is for and there’s also no word what organization she represents. But between John and Yelena, it’s clear that she’s going for people who have a darker side to them compared to a traditional hero. Intriguingly, Val’s targets also appear to be murkier reflections of their traditional Avengers counterparts. For instance, John Walker represents a more morally ambiguous Captain America, while Yelena is a less trustworthy version of Natasha Romanoff. In this way, as a dark mirror to Shang-Chi, Xialing would be a perfect candidate for the team. This is why some viewers theorize that, assuming that she is aware of Xialing’s existence, the Contessa will eventually reach out to her for a potential slot with the so-called Dark Avengers.

However, while she seems to fit the bill, questions remain over whether Xialing would even accept such a position with the Dark Avengers team. As it stands, she really doesn’t need to join a different squad; given her leadership of the Ten Rings. Therefore, Val would have to offer something significant in order to encourage her to join willingly. It’s also worth considering what Shang-Chi’s reaction might be when he learns that his little sister not only didn’t shut down the Ten Rings, but also joined a superhero team with loose morals. While it’s unclear what project Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ after-credits scene was setting up, it confirmed that the Ten Rings under Xialing will continue to factor in the MCU moving forward. And, based on the information revealed in Shang-Chi, she will remain involved with illegal dealing, but on a larger scale. With Shang-Chi now officially a member of the Avengers, his eventual reunion with her sister will be extremely interesting, especially if they find themselves at odds in an Avengers vs Dark Avengers showdown. If Shang-Chi still carries immense guilt for leaving his sister with their father when they were still young, he might attempt to convince Xialing to cut her ties with Val instead of just directly opposing her.

Whatever the case may be, one thing is for sure: like her brother, Xialing has a long road ahead of her in the MCU, both as the new leader of the Ten Rings and as an individual. In fact, there’s a case to be made that her proper story only begins after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings since the film didn’t really put that much focus on her.  While she’s more morally ambiguous compared to Shang-Chi, she’s not exactly a villain either — at least based on what has been seen from her thus far. This makes it much more interesting to flesh out her character moving forward, as well as making her a likely candidate for Val’s team.

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