Here’s the full Shang-Chi ending explained, with how the movie connects to and influences the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ending scenes finish the movie off wonderfully, but is there a Shang-Chi Eternals connection? How about how it sets up Spider-Man: No Way Home? Here’s how Shang-Chi sets up Phase 4 of the MCU, and what fans can expect after the Shang-Chi end credits scenes roll.
Spoilers follow!
Shang-Chi Ending Explained: Phase 4
The ending of Shang-Chi sets up the rest of MCU Phase 4 by introducing a cosmic threat that is being called to Earth thanks to the mystical Ten Rings wielded by Shang-Chi’s father. At the end of the movie, Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) and Katy (Awkwafina) are called into a portal by Wong (Benedict Wong), who says they have “a lot to talk about” regarding the rings. This then immediately follows into the mid-credits scene, where the characters are joined by Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and a human-again Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo).
Wong projects an image very much like the splintered multiversal timeline seen towards the end of the Loki Disney Plus series, and then says that the Rings are “sending a beacon” to something out there in the multiverse — this may very well be Kang the Conqueror, who was introduced as a big threat for Marvel’s Phase 4 in Loki’s final episode. The Rings may have a direct to him.
Shang-Chi Ending Explained: Spider-Man: No Way Home
Shang-Chi’s ending hints at a possible connection to Spider-Man: No Way Home in several ways:
- The presence of Wong in both movies, so presumably whatever the sorcerer is doing will carry over into No Way Home.
- In Shang-Chi’s mid-credits scene, Wong is analyzing the rings with magic and zooms in to create an identical image to the spell Doctor Strange is creating for Peter Parker (above) seen in the movie’s first trailer. The Rings may be connected to what Strange is doing.
- The new black and gold suit Peter Parker wears in No Way Home seems to be powered with magic and may come with a direct connection to Kang, so there may be more of a connection between these movies than fans may realize at the present time.
Shang-Chi Ending Explained: Eternals
There is no specific mention of the next Marvel movie Eternals and their ancient enemies, the Deviants, in Shang-Chi, but there are a lot of thematic hints towards a possible connection. The mystical land of Ta-Lo and the ancient creatures that dwell in it feels very much like something out of Eternals and that group’s menagerie. Likewise, the ancient evil called the Dweller in Darkness and the fight necessary to imprison it seems a lot like the fight the Eternals have against the Deviants — for all fans know, the Eternals may have joined in that fight and the Dweller in Darkness may be connected to Eternals’ villainous Kro.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is out in theaters now.
