Was Shang-Chi Dusted in Infinity War? Why He Likely Survived Thanos’ Snap

Warning! Spoilers for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Since the events of Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings take place after the Infinity Saga, what are the chances of Simu Liu’s hero getting dusted by Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Infinity War? Marvel Studios’ first in-theater exclusive release has been a massive success. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is both a critical and box office success, so it makes sense that there’s a lot of interest in Shang-Chi, including his whereabouts during the fight against the Mad Titan.

Directed by Destin Cretton, the project opens up a whole new pocket of the MCU that has never been explored before. To paint a clear picture of its titular hero’s origins, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ story jumps through multiple periods of time, including some scenes from thousand of years ago to establish Wenwu’s (Tony Leung) 0wn arc. That said, the film’s primary narrative takes place in a post-Avengers: Endgame world. While the blockbuster doesn’t explicitly say this, there are several indications that this is the case, including Bruce Banner’s (Mark Ruffalo) injured arm, as well as, a reference to the Blip.

So, this begs the question, was Shang-Chi dusted by Thanos’ snap? Once again, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings doesn’t outright answer this query, but it includes some clues hinting that the hero was spared. Early on in the movie while Katy (Akwafina) and Shang-Chi catch up with their friends, they reminisced on how they become best friends. Katy talked about how they met in high school. Now, Shang-Chi was around 14 years old when he was sent on his first mission which was also when he escaped to America. According to Wenwu, he gave his son a decade away from the Ten Rings, meaning that the hero has spent at most 10 years knowing Katy. If he had been affected by the Blip, that meant that they would’ve just known each other for five years — which doesn’t work when referenced with Katy’s line about knowing Shang-Chi for almost half of his life.

Even outside of Katy’s comments, Wenwu has more or less confirmed this timeline of events. As he and Shang-Chi reunite in Macau, the Mandarin claims that he always knew where his kids were after they ran away from home. So while Xialing (Meng’er Zhang) and her brother thought that they successfully evaded their father, the truth is, he still had his eyes on him. Since it doesn’t seem like Wenwu himself was affected by Thanos’ snap considering the continued operations of the Ten Rings in the last five years, the fact that he knew where Shang-Chi was this whole time meant that the hero didn’t disappear because of the Blip. Overall, it’s safe to assume that all primary characters in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings were spared from the Mad Titan’s decimation.

As Marvel Studios continues to come up with stories set in a post-Infinity Saga world, this same question will be repeatedly brought up moving forward. After Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Chloé Zhao’s Eternals will be subjected to a similar query. While the trailer for the upcoming MCU blockbuster already answered why the Eternals didn’t get involved in the fight against Thanos, it has yet to be determined if any of them were dusted from the snap.

About The Author