Spoilers for Shang-Chi incoming.
Marvel fans are loving the mid-credits scene for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as it features not just one cameo from a familiar favorite, but two. The film’s first tag sequence sees Wong (Benedict Wong) speaking with holograms of Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) as he tries to ascertain the origins of the ten rings, now wielded by Simu Liu’s martial arts master.
This scene provided a massive twist to the lore of the powerful arm bands, too, with it determining that the ten rings are ancient in origin and perhaps not just extraterrestrial but extradimensional. What’s more, it’s discovered that they’re issuing a signal to something unknown, suggesting that some great evil is on its way to Earth. It’s left unsaid who or what this could be, but there is one main contender once you consider the rings’ backstory in the comics.
As CBR argues, the trinkets could be signaling to Fin Fang Foom, the dragon supervillain who’s battled Iron Man and the Avengers many times over the decades. In the comics, Mandarin – renamed Wenwu for the MCU – recovered the mystical jewelry from the crashed alien spaceship of Makluan explorer Axonn-Karr. The Mandarin hoped to use the serpent to blackmail his way to ultimate power, in a plot that ultimately went sideways.
For the MCU, this backstory could be simplified, with Fin Fang Foom more closely connected to the creation of the rings. The dragon could perhaps be using them as beacons, leading him to new worlds to devour, like Galactus with his Heralds. He may even be the master of the Dweller-In-Darkness, the beast locked behind the Dark Gate in Ta Lo.
Having finally adapted the Mandarin for the MCU in the first film, fans would love it if the sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings could give Fin Fang Foom the same treatment.
