It’s surprising that this new team hasn’t been seen or mentioned in the Marvel Cinematic Universe even four years after it was first teased back in 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. One of the biggest criticisms of the MCU in recent years has been its lack of interconnectivity. Some new heroes introduced in Phase 4 haven’t been seen in live-action since their debuts, and this includes Simu Liu’s Master of Kung Fu, Shang-Chi, but the titular hero isn’t the only unanswered question remaining four years later.
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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings became one of Phase 4’s most popular and successful projects following its release four years ago on September 3, 2021. The exploration of the mystical rings themselves, the introduction of the witty martial artist Shang-Chi and his closest ally, Awkwafina’s Katy, and the debut of the otherworldly and visually-striking dimension Ta Lo helped to cement Destin Daniel Cretton as one of Marvel’s newest favorite filmmakers. There’s still a lot we don’t know after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, however.
Xu Xialing Took Over the Ten Rings in the MCU’s Phase 4
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings didn’t just debut Shang-Chi, but also his formidable sister. Meng’er Zhang made her first MCU appearance as Xi Xialing in the Phase 4 movie, introduced as a fighter who was excluded from her father, Xu Wenwu’s (Tony Leung), Ten Rings organization because of his gender bias. She trained in secret, and became an extremely gifted warrior, then put her skills to use as the head of an underground fight club in Macau. After helping Shang-Chi fight their father and protect Ta Lo, it was Xu Xialing who took over her father’s empire.
Wenwu was revealed to be the real Mandarin – though he renounced that title – in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and the leader of the Ten Rings organization that had plagued the MCU since 2008’s Iron Man. His use of the mystical bracelets gifted him remarkable strength, but his empire of the Ten Rings also granted him this incredible and dangerous legacy. This power now belongs to Xialing, who has integrated her fight club with the Ten Rings, setting up a brilliant new team, but we still don’t know when we’ll see Xialing and the Ten Rings return.
We Still Don’t Know When Xialing Will Return to the MCU
Xialing made her most recent appearance in the MCU in animated form in What If…? season 3, where one of her variants was introduced as the Hood in 1872. She was opposed by variants of Shang-Chi and Kate Bishop, as well as a young Iron First, Kwai Jun-Fan, and was eventually defeated, but it seems the live-action Xialing will be harder to take down. The Ten Rings is a worldwide organization of morally-questionable individuals and skilled fighters – even more so after Xialing’s takeover – which will grant her even more power and influence, should she return.
While Simu Liu has been confirmed to be returning as Shang-Chi in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday, Meng’er Zhang has not. Destin Daniel Cretton has also been very busy developing the Wonder Man series for Disney+ and now Spider-Man: Brand New Day ahead of its July 2026 release, so the development of a sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has been put on hold. Liu and Cretton have teased Shang-Chi 2, so Xialing and her formidable new Ten Rings teams could return there, but we don’t have a good idea of when this sequel could release.
The Ten Rings Isn’t the Only Team From Shang-Chi’s Movie We Want to See Return
While it would be fantastic to see Xu Xialing and her Ten Rings come back to wreak havoc – or work towards good – in the MCU, there was another team set up in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings that we also want to return. The movie’s mid-credits scene saw Shang-Chi and Katy approached by Wong (Benedict Wong), the Sorcerer Supreme of the MCU, and the trio set to work investigating a beacon emanating from the mystical bracelets. They weren’t alone either, as they were joined by holograms of Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and Carol Danvers (Brie Larson).
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ mid-credits scene spurred speculation that Wong was bringing together his own superhero team in the MCU. Wong was central in forming a Midnight Sons team in Marvel Comics, so there is precedence for this to happen, and a team comprising Wong, Shang-Chi, the Hulk, Captain Marvel, and skilled archer Katy would be seriously impressive. Over the last four years, however, we’ve head nothing about this team, nor the beacon coming from the ten rings, so it’s high time Marvel Studios answers some of these mysteries.
Do you want to see Xialing, the Ten Rings, and Wong’s team return in the MCU’s future? Let us know in the comments!
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Image courtesy of Prokino Filmverleih
