This article contains major spoilers for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
It wouldn't be a Marvel movie without a post-credits scene, and Shang-Chi sure is a Marvel movie, with all the VFX, symmetrical battles, and superhero cameos you’d expect from one. Shang-Chi’s post-credits showed us that the Ten Rings are calling to somebody, but the specifics are unknown even to three of those aforementioned cameo stars - Wong, a de-Hulked Bruce Banner, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Carol Danvers. There’s something more to these weapons that Shang-Chi inherited from his father, but nobody can pinpoint it. They’re ancient, primordial even, and while that lends itself to their intriguing mystery, a simple expl꧑anati🌳on may lie in the comics.
In the books, the creators of the Ten Rings are space dragons. Imagine Smaug if he were an extraterrestrial shapeshifter. They’re like Skrulls if they were normally big winged serpents instead of brussel sprouts. Being able to alter their appearance is a vital part of their story as they used that ability to infiltrate China, blending in with society to grab positions of political power. They’re known as the Makluans, conquerors who seek to spread through governments to gath🃏er information before taking over. One of their captains, Axonn-Karr, took on the human guise of a man called Chen Hsu. He used this alias to lead the Mandarin to the Valley of the Sleeping Dragon where a starship lay in wait with its abundance of futuristic technology. To a man living 1,000 years ago, it was a goldmine that ensured a guaranteed victory over his enemies, giving him unstoppable power that made him a god in the eyes of his subjects.
The post-credits scene for Shang-Chi speaks of the Ten Rings’ creators as ancient beings unknown to even Captain Marvel, the intergalactic adventurer with a mean right hook. The Makluans don’t fit the bill. Relative to Earth, their arrival was a long time ago, but relative to the universe, not so much - they aren’t that old. This is where things get murky. For one, Wenwu found the rings in a crater. He wasn’t guided by anyone, and there was no starship in sight. Secondly, for whatever reason, when Shang-Chi put them on, he activated a beacon to god knows who. He could be worthy due to his mother’s fighting style, it could be due to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the leftover Infinitꦜy Gem energy from three snaps, or it could be sheer coincidence. Many speculate that whatever’s happening is linked to The Eternals in some way but the ties to them are 🍃fickle at best... at least in the comics.
In the age of King Arthur, Camelot is bombarded by dragons. In reality, it’s a British folk tale. In Marvel canon, it’s real. However, calling them dragons isn’t entirely accurate. The attack was led by the Makluans. In a hurried attempt to avert untold casualties, Merlin and the Lady of the Lake pushed the Black Knight’s mind into the future, tapping into his descendant Dane Whitman. He, along with the superhero team Excalibur, traveled back to Camelot to stop the Makluans from attacking. Kit Harington has been cast as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dane Whitman in the upcoming Ete♈rnal🧸s film, so all these little trickles of information could be tied to a grander Makluan arc, one that 🌞repurposes them to make them a bit more 𒁏distinct from the Skrulls. The only major difference in the comics’ rendition is that they can become gigantic space dragons.
Perhaps the MCU’s take on the Makluans will see them as universe-old ඣbeings, god-like in power, as opposed to being standard aliens hatching a Secret Invasion rip-off. If that’s the case, it ties Shang-Chi into a new arc. We’ve got the multiversal and Thunderbolts plots being set up slowly but surely, and now there’s Shang-Chi and The Eternals. These characters are seemingly disconnected from any ongoing MCU threads, but the Makluans could remedy that.
It could lead into a Black Knight solo film, or see the Makluans feature as part of The Eternals’ story in some shape or form. It also lays the groundwork for a Shang-Chi 2 villain - Fin Fang Foom. He was the Makluan navigator who was left in hibernation on Earth. His people never woke him up, leaving him dormant for thousands of years. However, the Mandarin eventually pulled him out of his slumber during the modern-day to attack the Chinese government, leading to a stand-off between himself, Fin Fang Foom, and Iron Man. The dynamic shifted when the Makluans began to reveal themselves en masse with the goal of usurping the Mandarin to take over themsel𝓡ves, betraying him. Who would awaken them now that Wenwu is dead is up in the air, but perhaps th𝐆at’s what the beacon is doing.