The MCU Hero Who Shares A Special Ability With Naruto

Series star Naruto gains a wide range of powers and special abilities over the course of Naruto's expansive story. For example, in Boruto, the sequel to the original series, Naruto recently unlocked a formerly untapped power up for the nine-tailed fox spirit that resides inside him. Since the franchise's early days, Naruto has been able to perform something called Shadow Clone Technique, which allows him to create multiple identical clones of himself that can be utilized in combat as functional quasi-Narutos, fighting alongside their creator. Since these clones are created at virtually no cost to the user, the Shadow Clone Technique is among the most powerful abilities in anime history.

Naruto and the Marvel Cinematic Universe share one obvious similarity: they're both massively popular media properties that originated in series of comic books. However, that's not the only unifying factor between the long-running Japanese ninja franchise and the American film monolith. As it turns out, Shang-Chi, a superhero set to star in his own upcoming MCU movie, can use something akin to the Shadow Clone Technique himself.

In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Jim Starlin, who co-created Shang-Chi, revealed that the version of the character featured in the upcoming MCU film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, will be capable of an ability not found in his comic book source material. In essence, Shang-Chi will be able to duplicate himself come his on-screen appearance. Starlin revealed this key difference between the comic book and film versions of Shang-Chi when asked how the hero would fare in a hypothetical fight against the Hulk. Starlin posited that, if Shang-Chi's power allows him to create endless duplicates of himself, then he would indeed be able to go toe-to-toe with the angry green giant. To be clear, Starlin was unsure of the extent of movie Shang-Chi's abilities, so that description of the ability is purely hypothetical.

Whether or not Shang-Chi's duplication powers are costless like Naruto's Shadow Clone Technique remains to be seen. Nevertheless, if Starlin's conjecture is any indication, Shang-Chi will be able to use the power to great effect. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is currently slated for to release on May 7, 2021 following a pandemic-related delay