Marvel Studios brought its first major theatrical expansion to the story following the events of Avengers: Endgame with September's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Featuring the MCU's first Asian leading hero, the movie exceeded all expectations and became the second-highest grossing film of the pandemic era over its opening weekend, only trailing Black Widow.
Marvel's twenty-fifth MCU outing was a tall order by introducing the mystical world of martial arts and also tying back to the story's earliest days with the Ten Rings and their history.
Simu Liu and the cast used every tool available to deliver an exciting new premise about a hero trying to find himself while facing his dark past. On top of this, the hero found himself face-to-face with a couple notable players from the MCU's earlier films in Benedict Wong's Wong and Tim Roth's Abomination via his sister Xialing's Golden Dagger Club.
Benedict Wong's appearance was particularly special as he got to join many of his Asian costars while adding the Doctor Strange mythos into the solo story.
Recently, the MCU veteran shared a behind-the-scenes look at one of his big moments while teasing imagery that never made it to the big screen in Shang-Chi.
Benedict Wong Celebrates Wong Vs. Abomination
Production designer Sue Chan took to Instagram to share a behind-the-scenes image of Benedict Wong from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Wong is standing in front of a huge screen with an in-universe announcement for the cage match between himself and Tim Roth's Abomination, with the text written in Chinese.
Chan thanked director Destin Daniel Cretton, along with graphic artists Brian Carlin and Ken Lau, for developing the "street art for Xialing's Golden Dagger Club:"
"Behind the scenes on Shang-Chi on the fight club set with Benedict Wong. Thanks to Destin Daniel Cretton for sharing this great photo with me and to our great graphics team led by Brian Carlin with Ken Lau creating the magnificent Asian street art for Xialing’s Golden Dagger club!"
The movie-based promotional picture featured Wong and the Abomination featuring imagery reminiscent of real-world fighting matches and those from video games like Mortal Kombat:
Let's Get Ready To Rumble!!!
The second trailer for Shang-Chi delivered an unexpected mic-drop moment when fans saw Wong and the Abomination locked in battle during some kind of organized cage fight. Although their relationship is still somewhat unclear after the movie's release, they were confirmed to be training together, with the Abomination going back with Wong to Kamar Taj for further development.
Wong showcased just how strong of a fighter he is by using his advanced magic skills to beat Emil Blonsky, even after Blonsky showed some upgrades to his monstrous body.
It also set up a thrilling end to the movie when Wong introduced Shang-Chi and Katy to two key members of the Avengers while Tim Roth's monster is set up for his next appearance in 2022's She-Hulk.
While this street art didn't make it into the movie, it puts into perspective just how much work the teams at Marvel Studios puts in to make their movies as real and grand-scale as possible.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is now playing in theaters.
