'Shang-Chi' TV Spot: Marvel's New Superhero Must Face His Past (And A Guy Named Razor Fist)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is reaching all the way back into Marvel mythology established by the original Iron Man movie in 2008.  The Ten Rings is the terrorist organization that kidnapped Tony Stark and inadvertently set him on the path to becoming Iron Man. But it's also the source of a great power wielded by the crime lord known as The Mandarin. This isn't the same Mandarin that we met in Iron Man 3. This is the real deal. And his son just so happens to be Marvel's newest superhero, Shang-Chi.

Watch as Marvel's new superhero confronts his past in a new Shang-Chi TV spot.

Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) may be on the verge of becoming a new superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but as a kid, he was trained by his father to be an assassin for The Ten Rings. Though he left that life behind and now has a normal life in San Francisco, it looks like his past has caught up with him. That's why he suddenly has to fight a guy with a glowing orange blade for an arm in the middle of a city bus. Honestly, it's probably far from the weirdest thing to happen on public transportation.

Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians) plays Shang-Chi's friend and sidekick Katy, and she's clearly providing much of the comedic relief for the movie. She'll be the one incredulously asking questions and bringing levity to the larger than life circumstances they're facing. It's a common trope in Marvel movies, and it's something that I wish would take a backseat every now and then. Not every Marvel movie has to be full of knee-slappers.

The action in Shang-Chi looks on point in the marketing so far, but the more we see of what appears to be the finale where Shang-Chi must face his father and the power of The Ten Rings, the more worried I get. It feels like another third act CGI fest in the middle of an entirely digital environment, and that's another superhero trope that needs to take a break. But maybe it's just because VFX aren't completely done that it looks a little sketchy. We'll find out next month.

Here's the official 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 arrives in theaters on September 3, 2021.