Marvel's All Hail The King Short Film Arrives On Disney+ As A Prelude To Shang-Chi

This week finally brings "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" to theaters, but before you head out to see the latest superhero offering from Marvel Studios, you might want to watch one of their One-Shot short films that was just recently made available on Disney+ for the first time. Since "Shang-Chi" deals with the terrorist ring leader known as The Mandarin, there's a little bit of background information provided in the short film "All Hail the King" that clarifies the events of "Iron Man 3," where The Mandarin was revealed to be a faux villain used as a front for the nefarious activities of Aldrich Killian and his Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) company. All of this sets the stage for what's to unfold in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings."

Above is a teaser clip for the short that was released seven years ago, when it was included as a bonus feature on the home video release of "Thor: The Dark World." This was back when Marvel was consistently creating One-Shot films that told fun little stories in between Marvel movies, some of which helped fill in little narrative gaps and explained certain decisions and events which required a little bit more explanation.

In the case of "All Hail the King," that Marvel One-Shot felt like it was created as a reaction to fans who were angry that a pivotal Marvel Comics villain like The Mandarin was treated so offhandedly and used as more of a decoy than a legitimate bad guy. So the One-Shot utilized Sir Ben Kingsley, who played the fake version of The Mandarin, to have his character Trevor Slattery explain that The Mandarin is very much real, paving the way for his proper debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point. In fact, Kingsley will be seen reprising his role as Trevor Slattery in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," so there will likely be a little further explanation offered up in the film for those who aren't paying attention to articles like this.

Now the time has come for The Mandarin (played by Tony Leung) to make his impact on the MCU as the father of Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) and the primary antagonist who wields the legendary artifacts known as the Ten Rings. Gone are the questionable, racist elements of the character that were unfortunately present in classic Marvel Comics, and now The Mandarin is a fully fleshed out villain. However, Tony Leung has discussed how his approach to the character never intentionally portrayed him as a bad guy, which is surely what will make The Mandarin that much more interesting on screen. If you'd like to know more about The Mandarin, you can take a dive into his comic history right here.

"All Hail the King" is available to watch on Disney+ right now, and it includes a tease of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," which hits theaters September 3, 2021.