Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings introduced the movie world to Marvel's martial arts master. It was very different for a Marvel movie, with Shang-Chi mostly employing his martial arts fighting over stereotypical superpowers, at least until the end of the movie. In fact, that is one of the only similar things from Shang-Chi to his comics.
While Shang-Chi is not one of the most popular Marvel superheroes, he has a long history in the comics. He made his debut in 1973, created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin. He has been a member of the Avengers, he had helped train Spider-Man in hand-to-hand fighting, and there might not be a more powerful fighter in the Marvel Universe.
In Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Shang-Chi had to deal with his father, who the villainous Mandarin. While Shang-Chi in the comics always had to battle his villainous father, it was not the Mandarin in that situation.
Originally, Shang-Chi's father was none other than Fu Manchu, although Marvel eventually changed his name to Zheng Zu to avoid copyright infringement. In both cases, his dad ruled over a large criminal organization, but Mandarin in the comics is a very different person.
Shang-Chi in the movies was mostly a martial arts master thanks to training that his father forced him to endure. By the time he made it to the point he did in the movie, he was strong and relentless thanks to his training.
However, Shang-Chi had an actual superpower in the comics. He has mastered Chi. Shang-Chi is almost unbeatable not only because of his skills, but also because he can gather Chi from those around him and it keeps him focused and calm enough to overcome all odds.
Because the MCU only just now introduced Shang-Chi, his origin story starts after the snap and the battle with Thanos. However, Shang-Chi has been around a long time in the comics and he is one of the most respected heroes in that world.
Shang-Chi helped teach hand-to-hand fighting to Spider-Man so he wouldn't have to just rely on his Spider-Sense. He is highly respected by Captain America and is someone that the Avengers know they can count on when they need help. In the movies, this will take a long time to happen as the new kid on the block.
In Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Shang-Chi had a younger sister named Xu Xialing that he left behind when he ran away to escape his father. This traumatized her and caused her to hate her brother as much as she hates her father. This led to her taking over the Ten Rings at the end.
However, in the comics, Shang-Chi had a sister named Zheng Shi-Hau, but things went different. In this case, their father punished the kids for trespassing and then branded his daughter and sent her away. He then told Shang-Chi he executed the girl for the transgression, making the reason for their estrangement different.
Because Shang-Chi was not The Mandarin's son in the comics, he had nothing to do with the Ten Rings there either. The Ten Rings in comics was all about Mandarin, who was mostly an Iron Man villain in the comics. However, that does not mean Shang-Chi's father did not have his father's criminal organization to worry about.
Instead of the Ten Rings, this was the Five Weapons Society. The secret organization consisted of five Houses, each in charge of one weapon, and sought world domination. In the comics, Shang-Chi even took control of the organization and has tried to make it a positive force for good.
The Mandarin has never been shown in all his comic book glory in the MCU movies. In Iron Man 3, he was absolutely nothing like his comic's counterpart, removing him from his Eastern roots and making him nothing more than a terrorist, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was no different.
The Mandarin was a world conqueror, using his ring to pull strings behind events in the world to change history to what he wanted it to be. He found love, lost his love, and then became a ruthless ruler again. However, in the comics, he was a man who found the rings and used them to build a criminal empire, often fighting Iron Man in a battle of magic vs. science. Once again, the MCU used Mandarin's name without bringing the actual character into a movie.
In the movie, Shang-Chi had his younger sister and she took over the Ten Rings after the fall of their father. However, in the comics, it wasn't a sister that Shang-Chi had to deal with, but was brothers. These were his half-brothers Moving Shadow, Brother Sabre, and his adoptive brother M'Nai.
Fu Manchu trained Moving Shadow to be the future leader of his criminal organization when Shang-Chi chose to be a hero. Brother Sabre was antagonistic for Shang-Chi until he eventually bonded with his brother. M'Nai became the villain known as Midnight Sun.
When Shang-Chi first appeared in Marvel Comics, the books incorporated a lot of the traits of 1970s martial arts exploitation movies and that included spy aspects. Shang-Chi was actually part of a spy agency in Scotland during a time.
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That was very different from Shang-Chi in the movies. In the MCU, Shang-Chi was mostly a slacker who wanted no more responsibility than working as a parking lot attendant. In the comics, he was much more responsible.
When Shang-Chi trained Spider-Man in the comics, he insisted that it was important to learn how to fight without the use of powers. While Shang-Chi in the comics knows how to channel Chi to help him in battle, that is more of a force of will than a true superpower.
In Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the MCU gave Shang-Chi actual superpowers. It completely changed who he is and what he represents compared to his comic book character. If Shang-Chi keeps the Ten Rings weapon's powers in future movies, this will make him almost unrecognizable from the comics.
On top of Shang-Chi having a different father in the MCU, with The Mandarin stepping in as his dad, he also had a mother in the movie that didn't exist in the comics. The mother in the movies, Jiang Li, was put in place to give Mandarin a sympathetic back story and to show why he was now evil.
In the comics, Shang-Chi also had a mother named Jiang Li at one point, but she was not someone who loved his father and gave the hero a role model to follow. Instead, in his original origin, she was an American woman genetically altered to carry Fu Manchu's children and served no other purpose in the story. This was changed in a later retcon in the comics.
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