While right now, all eyes are on the MCU Multiverse, it was not all that long ago that the franchise introduced a brand-new down-to-Earth hero in Shang-Chi. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings came out last fall to rave reviews, with audiences almost instantly falling in love with Simu Liu's titular hero. The film grossed over $400 million worldwide, welcoming the world into an all-new corner of the Marvel universe.
A sequel is already in the works, but that is still a long way off. Now with the first film having fully completed its run in theaters and onto Disney+, the people behind it can celebrate what they worked on and look back upon their small piece of the MCU.
One of these is one of the writers of the film, Dave Callahan, who, after losing a bet, has gotten some Shang-Chi-themed art to celebrate the film.
Honoring a Shang-Chi Bet
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton took to his Instagram page to celebrate one of the movie's writers Dave Callahan getting a Morris tattoo in honor of the film.
In a video, Cretton says that the pair made a bet over two years ago that if they could get Marvel Studios to agree to include a fuzzy six-legged friend of Trevor Slattery in the film, Callahan would have to immortalize him somewhere on his body.
Destin Daniel Cretton, diretor de ‘Shang-Chi’, divulgou um vídeo do co-roteirista Dave Callaham fazendo uma tatuagem do Morris. Callaham teria dito que o faria caso a criatura estivesse no corte final do filme. pic.twitter.com/yCcNQmf1yz
— Shang-Chi Brasil (@ShangChiBR) May 6, 2022
The screenwriter is then seen getting inked with an image of the adorable Morris on his arm:
Morris Lives On
Even though this tattoo ended up coming from the loss of a bet amongst colleagues, it is a pretty cool way to honor the legacy of what will be looked at as a special MCU film for years/decades to come. Similar to how Black Panther broke new cultural ground for the MCU, Shang-Chi did very much the same thing.
Sure, Morris was a fairly throw-away character in the grand scheme of things, but he does represent the playfulness and fun that can be found in the Cretton-directed film.
It seems like they had pitched Morris to Marvel Studios thinking "There is no way they actually let us do this," and then were surprised when Feige and co. came back with their stamp of approval.
Now, this tattoo will live in perpetuity as a symbol. While to some it will just represent some simple body art, to others it will be a metaphor for the creative freedom that Marvel Studios allows its creators.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings can be seen now on Disney+.
