Shang-Chi: Marvel Releasing Surprise Marvel Legends Episode Ahead of Theatrical Debut

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is already getting rave reviews from critics, and it's still two weeks out from release. The film features Simu Liu in his debut Marvel role as the eponymous Master of Kung Fu, the first new character to have a solo movie in years. Despite the character's freshness to the franchise, Shang-Chi appears to be getting an episode of Marvel Studios: Legends ahead of its theatrical release.

According to a new listing on What's On Disney+, a Shang-Chi-based episode of Marvel Studios: Legends is being added to the streamer on September 1st, two days before the movie is set to hit theaters. Legends was introduced prior to WandaVision, giving fans a quick refresher on Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) before their own series kicked off. The clipshow has then featured an episode for each show and movie released since then.

Since Shang-Chi hasn't appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before, it's expected his Legends episode will focus on the Ten Rings, the criminal organization first introduced in Iron Man. Within the MCU, Shang-Chi's own father — Tony Leung's Wenwu — serves as the leader of the group.

"Shang-Chi is a movie that ended up on a 'Wouldn't It Be Great' list where 'Wouldn't it be great if we could do this as a movie,' probably twenty years ago," Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige previously said of the project to Rotten Tomatoes. "It's a great story of a young man that realizes his father is essentially one of the world's greatest supervillains and one of the world's greatest criminals. How do you process that? And how do you deal with that as a child? How do you evolve beyond that?"

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and produced by Kevin Feige and Jonathan Schwartz, with Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Charles Newirth serving as executive producers. David Callaham & Destin Daniel Cretton & Andrew Lanham wrote the screenplay for the film, which is currently set for release on September 3rd.

What other characters do you think will end up popping up in Shang-Chi? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!