How can the MCU launch itself back to greatness? That’s the question Marvel fans, and very possibly Marvel Studios execs, are asking after 2023 turned out to be such a bust for what was once the undisputed biggest franchise in the world. But maybe Marvel doesn’t have to look as far back to fix things as we might think.
There’s a widespread belief that the Multiverse Saga has been miss after miss, with only outlier films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hitting home. However, the folks of the r/marvelstudios subreddit are challenging that conception by championing a Phase Four favorite that is sadly mostly forgotten about just two a half years later. Namely, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
“Just rewatched Shang-Chi and I feel like it doesn’t get talked about enough,” wrote Redditor Rizxzi. “In my opinion it’s one of the best post Endgame films and up there with the entire MCU and the fight and action scenes are up there with the best.” According to this fan, what the franchise really needs now is more movies of the same quality as the summer 2021 blockbuster starring Simu Liu.
“With the state of some of the MCU projects at the moment I hope we see lots more of Shang-Chi and [their] cast,” they concluded. “Simu Liu really was born for this role.”
There’s not much that Marvel lovers agree on these days, but it looks like an all-round appreciation for Shang-Chi is one of them. One commenter concurred that “Shang-Chi is definitely one of the better movies after Endgame,” praising the end credits scene as well as the “amazing” fight scenes for their “top notch” choreography.
Even those who were critical of the films’s CGI-laden third act, which one felt caused it to “fall apart,” admitted they really liked it. “For me the best parts are the practical stunts and the family drama in the first two thirds,” they responded.
So, if everyone’s on board the Shang-Chi hype train, why isn’t it viewed as one of the best MCU movies? The blame is being left at the slow-moving pace of the Multiverse Saga, which means we haven’t seen the lead character again since.
“The problem is that there’s been zero follow-up on that success, and the current word is that we won’t see him again til 2026 or later,” one commenter argued. “In comparison, we saw Iron Man appear in 3 films plus The Avengers over the course of 5 years. Marvel is dropping the ball hard by not featuring Shang-Chi anywhere since his debut film.”
In Marvel’s defense, Simu Liu is a very busy guy — he did just play a Ken in Barbie, the biggest movie of 2023 — but clearly the flaw doesn’t lie in Marvel’s commitment to introducing new characters all the time, despite that being a common complaint. The real problem comes from the fact they’re not giving these newbies the screentime they deserve to become the next Iron Man, Captain America, or Thor. Shang-Chi, in particular.