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New 'Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten' Rings Footage Shows Tony Leung In Action, New Trailer Coming Tonight

shang-chi and the legend of the ten rings footage
By Hoai-Tran Bui

Marvel is building the hype for its first Asian-led superhero movie. Marvel Studios has released a teaser for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, ahead of a brand-new trailer for the film starring Simu Liu as Marvel's first Asian superhero on the silver screen. But taking the focus of these few seconds of new footage is actually Shang-Chi's mentor and potential enemy, played by Tony Leung. As he deserves.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Footage

We get just a few seconds of new footage in this teaser, which we'll probably see expanded upon in the trailer coming tonight during the NBA Countdown on ESPN. But what we do see sure is enticing. First, there's an extended peek at that fight that took center stage in the first official trailer, with Shang-Chi getting thrown out of a moving bus. But most importantly, we get a look at Tony Leung in action.

The icon of '90s Hong Kong cinema plays the mysterious Wenwu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, who mentors Shang-Chi from a young age and mostly spent the first trailer standing in the shadows (and looking good doing it). But in this new footage, we see him wielding an arm band made of glowing purple rings, which sends a blast out in front of him. We can probably assume these are the "Ten Rings" of the title, but we can probably also assume that this means Wenwu is the "real Mandarin" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The "Real" Mandarin

"The Mandarin" was introduced as the main antagonist of Iron Man 3 , played by Ben Kingsley — before it was revealed that Kingsley was an imposter hired by Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian to play the part of a terrorist. But a Marvel short featuring Kingsley's imposter suggested that a "real" Mandarin existed, and we may meet him in the form of Tony Leung.

However, the depiction of the Mandarin is one that Marvel will have to tiptoe around. Created by Stan Lee and designed by Don Heck, The Mandarin first appeared in 1964's Tales of Suspense #50 and has long been a towering figure of Marvel Comics. But his depiction has often fallen into racist caricature — at best. If there's anyone who can give a caricature some depth, however, it's Leung.

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and produced by Kevin Feige and Jonathan Schwartz, with Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso and Charles Newirth serving as executive producers. David Callaham, Destin Daniel Cretton, and Andrew Lanham wrote the screenplay for the film.

Here is the synopsis for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings:

Marvel Studios' "Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings" stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, who must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization. The film also stars Tony Leung as Wenwu, Awkwafina as Shang-Chi's friend Katy and Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, as well as Fala Chen, Meng'er Zhang, Florian Munteanu and Ronny Chieng.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings debuts in theaters on September 3, 2021.

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