A Huge Shang-Chi Fight Scene Is Out Early And It Has Fans Hyped
Even as the COVID-19 delta variant surges across the United States and world, Disney and Marvel Studios appear to be sticking to their plans to release "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" in theaters no matter what, for better or worse. As such, we're getting more and more info about the hotly anticipated film, including interviews, trailers and now an extended look into one of its fight scenes.
Although the titular ten rings will certainly come into play, granting both the movie's hero and villain superhuman powers, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" appears to be playing to the superhero's roots in martial arts by having amazingly choreographed fight scenes in the traditional fighting discipline.
In the new clip, a group of baddies confront Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) on a bus and demand that they give him "the pendant," so we can expect that to be some type of MacGuffin within the plot. Awkwafina's character, Katy, then tries to de-escalate the situation by claiming they have him mistaken, asking, "Does he look like he can fight?"
It looks like Shang-Chi can fight just fine, thanks Katy
Evidently, he can.
The clip shows Shang-Chi throw his first punch into the stomach of one guy in slow motion, as Katy stares in shock. Multiple other men attempt to assault him, but they're clearly no match for his martial arts skills.
Although intense and impressive, the scene also has a comedic tone, with Shang-Chi awkwardly smiling and waving at multiple onlookers on the bus between his lightning-fast punches and kicks. One beat shows a bystander casually livestreaming the fight on his phone, saying that he's studied martial arts and is thus obviously qualified to judge Shang-Chi's performance. We've noted in the past that the character, who calls himself "Cliff," looks a lot like the street vendor (played by Zach Cherry) who tells Spider-Man to "do a flip," so the character may be setting himself up as the new "Marvel cameo" guy following Stan Lee's passing.
Fans are also having fun with the clip, with one commenter named "Elnurzadeh" using the "And I took that personally..." meme response to Katy's question, "Does he look like he can fight?" Others are commenting in awe of the choreography, with "Wb2006xx" commenting, "Yo the way he slipped the jacket back on was CLEAN," referring to the way Shang-Chi briefly takes off his jacket to escape being held before throwing a few punches and slipping it back on himself.
"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" exclusively hits theaters Sept. 3, with a shortened 45-day theatrical exclusivity deal planned to expire around Oct. 18.