WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings, now in theaters.
Shang-Chi (Simi Liu) is the central force at the heart of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, with much of the film focusing on the trauma he accrued in his youth and the resulting difficult relationship between him and his father. But it's here that the film makes a unique twist on the comics character for his big-screen adaptation.
Shang-Chi's father is reinvented for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as Wenwu (Tony Leung) and given a new role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- effectively combining the idea of Zheng Zu and the Mandarin into the Marvel version of the Demon's Head, aka Ra's Al Ghul from DC.
Wenwu is the chief antagonist of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and the father of the titular hero. An ancient warrior born untold centuries before the present-day, Wenwu's discovery of the Ten Rings resulted in him becoming a nominally immortal figure in the world, albeit only while he wore the ten rings. He spent hundreds of years amassing power across the world, enacting his views around the globe and subtly changing the future of mankind with his actions. In the modern era, his organization -- dubbed the Ten Rings -- operates in secret as agents of his will. From his secret compound in the mountains, he's effectively one of the most dangerous and powerful men in the world.
In many ways, the reinvention of the character for the MCU turns Wenwu into the Marvel equivalent of DC's Ra's Al Ghul. Ra's is one of the most notable enemies of Batman. Like Wenwu, Ra's has a form of immortality thanks to the Lazarus Pits, which revive any dead person placed within them. He's also got his own secret army of deadly warriors, the League of Assassins, and has been operating behind the scenes to force serious change in the world to create the kind of society that he wants. The pair are both deadly warriors in their own right, experts in countless forms of combat, and both even have assertive and deadly daughters -- Talia for Ra's, and Xialing (Meng'er Zhang) for Wenwu, both of whom take over for their fathers when they lose their place of authority.
It's an interesting way to play Wenwu and works well with the character. It goes a long way towards addressing the somewhat dated elements of Shang-Chi's parentage in the original comics and modernizing it in a way that not only fits with today's world but with the current circumstances of the MCU. There's even an in-universe answer as to why Wenwu was less concerned with recent events in the MCU -- with Shang-Chi's youth spent in a happy family unit until the death of his mother Ying Li (Fala Chen) motivated Wenwu to seek vengeance. It also quietly allows Wenwu's influence to be felt more acutely across the history of the MCU, especially in regards to how the Ten Rings featured in Iron Man and a false Mandarin was created in Iron Man 3.
But perhaps more interesting is the way the characters differ. Ra's has always been defined by a sense of ruthlessness and brutality that few others could match. He notably has thrown Talia under the bus before, and while he does love his family, he's more than willing to sacrifice them for his plans if the need arises. Meanwhile, Shang-Chi's Wenwu is defined by his love for his family, which drives him to dark depths, and ultimately allows himself to die at the hands of the Dweller-in-Darkness to save his son's life. In many ways, Wenwu was the kind of man that Ra's often positions himself to be in the DC Universe, and his death sets the stage for a more morally ambiguous organization under Xialing as opposed to the typically villainous League inherited by Talia.
To see Wenwu's journey, catch Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in theaters now.
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