This New Avenger Is Returning for Secret Wars, but They Still Desperately Need a Solo Sequel

Phase Four was where the Marvel Cinematic Universe started to see itself on shakier ground. It wasn’t attracting new people but was losing them when a particularly weak installment came out. The big issue was oversaturation. Eight Disney+ shows and seven movies throughout the course of just 22 months? It was impossible for the newest MCU project to feel like anything special, much less an event, save for Spider-Man: No Way Home. But Phase Four isn’t without its highpoints. Along with the critical and commercial success of No Way Home, WandaVision and Hawkeye are both wonderful and Black Widow is fun and underrated if not high art.

But the Phase Four movie line-up’s apex is Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. And, even after four years, it is still the one and only time we’ve seen Simu Liu as the title character. Though that will soon change, as Liu is slated not just for Avengers: Doomsday, but also recently confirmed that he’ll return for Avengers: Secret Wars, as well.

Why Hasn’t There Been a Second Shang-Chi Film?

There is a ton about Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings that works. Outside of Liu’s charismatic breakthrough performance we also get Awkwafina in one of the MCU’s most compelling secondary hero/best friend type roles, a truly top-tier villain, and a solid return for Iron Man 3‘s Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley). It also benefits from acrobatic action sequences, tight direction by Destin Daniel Cretton, and a roster of characters more thoroughly written than the average MCU character.

So why hasn’t there been a Shang-Chi sequel? It’s been floated as an in-the-works project ever since the first film doubled its budget (and netted some great reviews) back in August 2021. For the MCU, five years is a long time to go between first and second films. Iron Man and Thor had two-year gaps while Captain America and the Guardians of the Galaxy had three-year gaps.

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And, of course, it’s going to end up being longer than a five-year gap, it’s just been five years since we first met Shang-Chi. That’s even stranger. To go five years between first appearance and second appearance? That’s a very long time for a character who took off with audiences (though it’s four years if you count Liu’s voice in Marvel Zombies).

What’s extra odd about the lack of momentum on a Shang-Chi sequel is just how obvious it was that Marvel Studios wanted to get into the Destin Daniel Cretton business. He was the front runner for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty before ultimately being given the keys to the Spider-Man kingdom for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Given how much of a financial juggernaut No Way Home was it makes sense why that became a priority, but one still hopes that there isn’t such a long gap between Shang-Chi film one and film two that the audience loses interest. This could very well function as one of the very best MCU franchises. While promoting his show The Copenhagen Test, Liu confirmed that a solo sequel still is in development, but we’d love to see that become a priority over at Marvel Studios.