According to Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Marvel has not abandoned the sequel (even if we won’t see it for a while).
It won’t be lost on anyone that Marvel didn’t navigate its pivot very smoothly after Avengers: Endgame and, more broadly, the end of the Infinity Saga. The new era of the expanded universe, dubbed the Multiverse Saga, was derailed by the pandemic, but also by the arrival of Disney+, and by the proliferation of “content” (and characters), as well as by the dismissal of Jonathan Majors, who played Kang and his variants.
Before being found guilty of domestic violence, the actor was slated to be the main antagonist of the next Avengers film, originally titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. To meet the moment, big moves: Kevin Feige brought back Robert Downey Jr. to play Doctor Doom (Doctor Doom in VO), as well as the Russo brothers, who notably directed Infinity War and Endgame. The duo thus replaced Destin Daniel Cretton, who had initially been announced as director after his work on Shang-Chi.
He has, however, taken the helm of the next Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and is even working on Shang-Chi 2 that many thought abandoned.
Better Late Than Never
Following Black Widow, a sort of Marvel apology to the character, which took place before the events of Endgame and primarily served to introduce Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Shang-Chi was the first real leap into the MCU’s Phase 4. It was also the first new superhero to be introduced to the public. Since the film’s release in September 2021, the character played by Simu Liu has appeared nowhere else, neither in theaters nor on Disney+. The post-credits scene, however, hinted that the Ten Rings would be back.
Avengers: Doomsday, slated for December 16, will, however, be the occasion to get news of the hero. As Destin Daniel Cretton explained to Deadline, it apparently remains planned to bring him back to theaters, but the circumstances surrounding the release of the first installment would not make the task easy:
“We’re developing a second one. The first did well, but the circumstances were pretty strange. It did well at a moment when a new wave of COVID hit, so yes, it did well, but on the other hand, many countries had completely closed their cinemas at the time. After that, there were some crazy changes all over. It’s simply the result of an industry [reorganization].”
In addition to Spider-Man, Destin Daniel Cretton has also been occupied with the creation and direction of the Wonder Woman series alongside Andrew Guest. He isn’t expected to be tied up with a Season 2 for that project, given the success of the first season.
If Shang-Chi’s sequel finally gets back on track, it will still be a little while, since the MCU is also prepping the return of the X-Men, and the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars (which was originally slated to arrive six months after The Kang Dynasty). We are still waiting for the new Blade movie as well (ah, ah, ah).
