The MCU finally got its mystical martial arts action adventure in 2021 with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The film starring Simu Liu delivered breathtaking action sequences and VFX that wove the excellent combat choreo in with fantastical elements. With set pieces like the bus fight through San Francisco and the climactic dragon battle in the realm of Ta Lo, Shang-Chi is a wild ride that currently sits at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, that doesn’t mean it’s flawless.
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Even a $150 million budget and top-tier visual effects teams can’t prevent the occasional blooper from sneaking into the final cut. Just as we’ve explored with the Harry Potter films, Shang-Chi proves that no blockbuster is immune to classic movie mistakes that warrant double-takes. Here are six production, editing, and visual effects goofs in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings that you’ll never not notice again.
6) Ten Ring Vanishing Act
Around two hours in, at the climactic apex of the film, when Shang-Chi finally embraces his destiny and rides the Great Protector dragon into battle, sharp eyes have caught a brief but definite continuity error. For just a split second during the pivotal scene, the ten rings completely vanish from Shang-Chi’s arms, leaving him incomplete without the precious accessories as he soars through the air.
This mistake is particularly hilarious because the rings are king of the entire point, right? The error likely occurred when some poor CGI artist was juggling fifty different layers of digital dragon and flying debris, and accidentally hit “delete” on the rings layer. Or maybe they figured there’s so much going on that nobody would notice. The glimpse of Shang-Chi showing up to save the day without his magical bracelets is funny, but it threatens to undermine an otherwise epic sequence.
5) Trevor’s Timeline Trouble
When Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery recounts his acting origins to Shang-Chi and Katy, he mentions becoming interested in acting after seeing Planet of the Apes, which was released in 1968. It’s a nice character detail that helps establish Trevor’s age and background, except for one tiny problem: basic math.
In 2014’s All Hail the King, the Marvel One-Shot recounts Trevor’s first stage role occurring in 1964, four years before Planet of the Apes hit theaters. Unless Trevor was time-traveling or the apes movie somehow influenced his past career choices, someone at Marvel clearly didn’t do their homework. At this point, the MCU writers have a nearly impossible task of keeping track of all the lore, but unfortunately for them, the Marvel mega fans don’t miss a thing.
4) Wenwu’s White Suit
At the beginning of the movie, during a flashback sequence showing Wenwu’s younger days, he makes a dramatic escape by leaping from a car as it plummets down a cliff. During his impressive superhero escape, Wenwu slides against the dirt-covered ground before landing, tumbles for several seconds through what looks like a miniature dust storm, which would certainly warrant a trip to the dry cleaners.
Despite this, when Wenwu rises to his feet unscathed, his crisp white suit remains untouched as well; absolutely spotless, with not a single wrinkle, smudge, or particle of dirt anywhere to be found. Either Wenwu has a dirt-repelling force field protecting his clothes, or the costume department forgot that he just tumbled out of a moving vehicle. Either way, Wenwu looks like he’s heading to his GQ cover shoot.
3) Teleporting Through San Fran
The iconic bus fight sequence contains a geographical blooper so obvious that every San Francisco resident in the theater probably did a simultaneous spit-take. The scene begins with what’s clearly labeled as a “1 California” Muni bus, which sounds official until you realize the route shown has absolutely nothing to do with where the actual 1-California line goes in real life.
Throughout the thrilling action sequence, the bus manages to teleport itself from residential neighborhoods straight into the heart of downtown San Francisco, apparently picking up some magical navigation powers along with the supernatural assassins. The 1-California line doesn’t actually travel through even half the locations shown in the movie, making this less of a bus route and more of a city-wide scavenger hunt. And San Francisco public transport definitely doesn’t move that efficiently through the city; any local can tell you that much.
2) The Floating Pole Phenomenon
Another bus fight blunder contains what might be the most hilarious and physics-defying mistake in any Marvel film. During the intense battle, the assassin with the blade-arm attachment goes full Edward Scissorhands on the bus interior, slicing through multiple poles with surgical precision. He creates clean cuts, sometimes multiple in one pole, turning some segments into floating metal noodles, as one Redditor pointed out.
Given that they aren’t in outer space, those middle sections should have immediately crashed to the floor. Instead, the yellow chunks of pole just hover in mid-air like a magic trick, completely ignoring Newton’s laws while the CGI team apparently took a coffee break. The error becomes absolutely ridiculous when Shang-Chi actually swings his weight around one of these floating pole segments during his fight choreography. Once you see them amid the action, it’s nearly impossible not to laugh and wonder how the VFX mistake slipped past execs.
1) Regenerating Rearview Mirror
During the forest maze scene, Katy’s driving skills are put to the test as she white-knuckles it through the bamboo forest. As she careens through the narrowing passage, the right-side mirror is absolutely demolished by the thick bamboo stalks, leaving it mangled and missing half its body, as seen in the lingering close-up shot.
But apparently, this mystical forest comes with complimentary auto repair services. In a case of continuity lapse, when the camera pulls back to show the car emerging from the forest, the side mirror has mysteriously regenerated, with its frame completely intact and ready for another round of combat. Perhaps the film editors mixed up their pre-crash and post-crash footage, or the digital VFX team forgot to paint out the side of the mirror that was destroyed; otherwise, there isn’t a great explanation for the Wolverine-level healing powers. While these imperfections are fun to catch, they’re also just a byproduct of the art form itself. Shang-Chi remains a bright spot for Marvel, and these bloopers serve as a reminder of the many human hands that have worked to bring the film to life.
Have you spotted any mistakes in other MCU films that we should cover next? Let us know below!
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