Shang-Chi: What Is The Origin of the MCU Ten Rings?

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings showed off the titular relics as the Mandarin tangled with his son. But, now the question of where those rings came from is swirling around the heads of MCU fans everywhere. In the comics, the ten MacGuffins are pieces of an ancient Makluan alien spacecraft that the villain happened upon in China. After studying the ship, he harvests the rings to take their power for his own and claim that they were ancient. But, in this MCU iteration, the rings are not even the same sets of jewelry. Instead, the magic bangles largely function as a full set. Tony Leung’s Wenwu swings them with absolute dexterity in most of the battles he’s in. They can shoot projectile blasts, come back to him like Captain America’s shield, and block almost everything thrown at them.

Wenwu’s version of the story, that he relates to Shang-Chi’s mother, is that he found these weapons 1000 years ago. He’s basically immortal, so this all tracks. Adding to the idea of the villain as an unreliable narrator, there are accounts of him finding them in a crater or in a tomb. However, things get hairy in the post-credits sequence for this movie. *Spoilers for the post-credits scenes in Shang-Chi* Yeah, Doctor Strange‘s Wong decides to bring Katy and the hero into the fold. They critique the rings and then the real trouble starts.

Basically, both Captain Marvel and Bruce Banner appear on a hologram call. They’re all trying to get to the bottom of what exactly happened here. The Ten Rings seem to be much older than that 1,000 years stated by Wenwu. Even more curious, Carol Danvers says that they don’t match any kind of alien writing or culture that she’s familiar with. MCU fans now have a legitimate mystery on their hands when it comes to the franchise’s latest hero. Shang-Chi has something very peculiar on his hands. It will be up to him and the Avengers to figure it out.

If that weren’t enough, it seems that some sort of beacon activated during the climactic battle between Shang-Chi and Wengwu. Wong says that he felt it out in Kamar-Taj and Carol was aware of it as well. So, there’s something or someone that is now aware of the rings and looking to communicate. Maybe it’s bad, or the person might be a new ally. Whatever the case, it would seem that Shang-Chi is going to be absolutely crucial to whatever comes next in the MCU. Even more curious is the fact that the Ten Rings are going to be at the center of the action too.

Did you like what they did with the Ten Rings? Let us know down in the comments!