Doctor Strange 2 & Shang-Chi Are More Connected Than Marvel Fans Thought

"From now on, the trajectory of your lives will be like nothing you've ever experienced before — and there's no going back," Wong (Benedict Wong) tells Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) and Katy (Awkwafina) in the "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" post-credits scene, teasing an ongoing connection between one of Marvel's newest heroes and the Sorcerer Supreme. However, new information reveals the two are much more closely connected than initially thought.

According to "Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: The Art of the Movie," the mystical rope dart Wong uses to fight Gargantos at the beginning of the "Doctor Strange" sequel was directly inspired by a similar weapon found in "Shang-Chi," where Xu Xialing (Meng'er Zhang) wielded a traditional rope dart in the final battle in Ta Lo. "Wong's rope dart is a martial arts weapon, a bit like a physical taser," Graham Churchyard, costume designer on "Multiverse of Madness," explained. "It also turned up in Marvel Studios'  'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,' which was shooting at the same time, but there it was more of a classic rope dart worn on the waist."

The rope dart is a classic Chinese martial arts weapon and has appeared in many on-screen adventures, including "Everything Everywhere All at Once," "Assassin's Creed," and "Mortal Kombat," so it's no surprise that Wong and Xialing, two of Marvel Studios' highest-profile Asian characters, would add the versatile weapon to their arsenal.

"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" filming simultaneously led to both Wong and Xialing using a rope dart to fight against enemies, whether magical or mystical. Naturally, with "Shang-Chi" implementing the traditional weaponry, the "Doctor Strange" sequel needed to switch things up, using magic to add some spice to Wong's version of the weapon.

In "Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: The Art of the Movie," costume designer Graham Churchyard explained that they wanted to include ancient weaponry in the film while giving Wong's rope dart a magical flare that one would assume the Sorcerer Supreme's weapons would have. "I wanted to scale it down onto a wrist," he reflected. "We had to get away from the sort of giant arrowhead that was in 'Shang-Chi' and used in real life. And so I thought, 'Well, there's all this eldritch magic.' So that's why I sold them this idea that it would just increase in size as it flew off Wong's arm."

Combining the magic of the mystical arts with Chinese martial arts weaponry gave Wong an exciting version of the rope dart, but it almost proved too effective. When he uses it in "Multiverse of Madness," the rope dart gets lodged in one of Gargantos' tentacles, allowing the multiversal monster to grab ahold of the Sorcerer Supreme. Although he needs rescuing, hopefully this doesn't lead to Wong retiring his magically-infused rope dart, as it's too cool to be left gathering dust in the closet.