Shang-Chi

Revision as of 13:21, 17 January 2023

Shang-Chi in Shang-Chi v1 #1.

Shang-Chi is a male comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Shang-Chi was the human son of an American woman and the Chinese criminal mastermind Fu Manchu. Around 19 years ago, Fu Manchu had sought a new bride and selected an American woman as he deemed she was the scientifically perfect mother to bear his offspring. The woman did not love Fu Manchu but was drawn to the power he represented and believed that this could be passed to her child with her son being named Shang-Chi. (Special Marvel Edition v1 #15) He had a younger named Shi-Hua with the two spending time together at their father's Hunan retreat that was actually the House of the Deadly Hand. One day, Shang-Chi convinced his sister to explore the retreat where they entered into one of the rooms forbidden to them by their father. Inside, they found numerous undead bodies as part of some gristly experiments with Zheng Zu finding the pair. Zheng Zu grabbed his son to punish him with Shi-Hua grabbing a nearby weapon to strike her father in order for him to release Shang-Chi. This caused their father to become furious and he was prepared to kill Shi-Hua but Shang-Chi pleaded for her life where he promised to obey him always from that point onwards. Zheng Zu agreed to his terms but Shang-Chi never saw his sister again and believed that she had been killed by their father. (Shang-Chi v1 #2)

One of his instructors was Cho Lin and on Shang-Chi's 14th birthday it was decided to test him for his killer instinct. This saw outsider assassins being hired to attack Shang-Chi who was forced to defend himself. Afterwards, Cho Lin confessed that this was part of his fathers test which shocked the boy and became one of the reasons for turning against Fu Manchu over the brutality of his actions. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu v1 #1)

He was raised on stories that a man named Sir Denis Nayland was an evil man and a foe of Fu Manchu with Shang-Chi being dispatched to eliminate him. Sneaking into the man's home, he found an elderly man whereupon he was ambushed by Nayland. Despite the man having a fun, Shang-Chi managed to knock out the weapon from his hand and killed the man in the bed who was Nayland' old colleague Dr. Petrie. It was then that he was prepared to end the evil of Nayland who revealed to Shang-Chi that the true evil was his father Fu Manchu. He was then told the truth about Fu Manchu's evil over the years and abandoned his mission whereupon he confronted his mother about the nature of his birth. (Special Marvel Edition v1 #15)

Master of Kung-Fu

He continued to live in quiet seclusion when he was contacted by Clive Reston who requested a meeting with him. This saw Shang-Chi travel to the south coast of Scotland to Reston's mansion but was ambushed by Si-Fan assassins. He managed to fight them off but his attackers came to flee when Wolverine arrived on the scene. The assassins then fled whilst Shang-Chi attacked Wolverine after mistaking him for another enemy. Their fight was only interrupted by the arrival of the other X-Men who had arrived on the scene. (X-Men v2 #62)

During the Civil War, he came to be recruited by Misty Knight to join her new incarnation of the Heroes for Hire that were looking to help stop superhuman crimes within the city. (Heroes for Hire v2 #1) The team was dispatched by Iron Man to arrest Captain America who was in breach of the Superhuman Registration Act. Shang-Chi decided to consult a captive Pixiu that was being held by Mister Qui in Chinatown where they used the dragon beings power to located the fugitives. Though finding Captain America's base of operations, Misty Knight refused to apprehend him though fellow team mate Paladin betrayed his comrades in order to claim the bounty on him. This saw him throw a gas grenade to knock out everyone in order to capture Captain America for S.H.I.E.L.D. who were notified of the hidden base. (Heroes for Hire v2 #2) However, Shang-Chi used ancient breathing techniques to prevent himself from inhaling the gas and came to knock out Paladin. He then revived Captain America with Steve Rogers exchanging costumes with Paladin in order to get S.H.I.E.L.D. to unknowingly apprehend the unconscious mercenary. (Heroes for Hire v2 #3)

He participated on the attack on Ricadonna's headquarters to shutdown her Skrull organ trade business where a chain reaction was triggered that destroyed the building. The Heroes of Hire managed to rescue the defeated supervillains with Ricadonna believed to had perished in the explosion. Afterwards, he and the team attended the funeral for Tarantula's family who had been killed by assassins sent by Ricadonna. (Heroes for Hire v2 #5) They were later hired by a security consultant to deal with superhuman criminal activity involving a group of thieves using exo-skeletons for their robberies in the Diamond District. Shang-Chi was with the team when their investigation led them to the docks where they uncovered a supervillain plot to conduct a terrorist attack on the city but the group of heroes were knocked out by a weapon which led to their capture. (Heroes for Hire v2 #6)

Avengers

Whilst asleep, he was attacked by assassins from the Celestial Order of the Hai-Dai where he came to sense that his father had been resurrected. Shang-Chi put up a fight against his attackers where he was aided by the Prince of Orphans who had been dispatched by Steve Rogers to help him. He was then taken to the Secret Avengers who believed that Zheng Zu was being resurrected by his followers with the team looking to stop them. (Secret Avengers v1 #6) Investigating a site for the Eyes of the Dragon, the team were ambushed by the Hai-Dai who managed to capture Shang-Chi. They intended to kill him by bleeding him to death but were stopped by Eric O'Grady who was the current Ant-Man and had been hiding in his shrunken form. The distraction allowed Shang-Chi to escape but Ant-Man accidentally damaged he controls causing the Hai-Dai ship to crash. The two heroes had escaped the crash where they were taken back by the Secret Avengers as they continued on their mission to stop the resurrection of Shang-Chi's father. (Secret Avengers v1 #7) Afterwards, the Shadow Council dispatched their operative John Steele to capture Sharon Carter during a distraction and secure her as a hostage. They told Captain America that they would release her in exchange for Shang-Chi who agreed to the matter. At the rendezvous site, the two sides performed the exchange where Steele used a gun to knock out Shang-Chi leading to a fight with Commander Rogers. Despite the Secret Avengers aid, Steele managed to escape with the unconscious Shang-Chi who met his half-resurrected father Zheng Zu where he intended to drain his son's life in order to restore himself fully. (Secret Avengers v1 #9)

When Spider-Man lost his Spider-Sense, he sought to supplement his skill set by learning martial arts with Shang-Chi where the pair trained at Iron Fist's Dojo. During this time, he helped Spider-Man develop his own unique style of martial art that was known as the Way of the Spider. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #666)

Shang-Chi was later offered a place within a new incarnation of the Avengers with the martial artist accepting the offer. (Avengers v5 #2)

He was later dispatched to an incident at Madripoor concerning the actions of the Hand who had conducted a ritual that awakened a giant dragon underneath the island. (Avengers World v1 #2) This saw Shang-Chi travelling to the temple of the ritual where he confronted the Hand's Grandmaster the Gorgon but was defeated by his foe. (Avengers World v1 #3)

New Agents of Atlas

They were ambushed by Midnight Sun who had been hired alongside other foes of Shang-Chi who were paid a bounty to hurt Domino. Despite their numbers, they were unable to succeed as Domino came to control her Mutant power to influence luck leading to them unable to approach her without suffering from random accidents. (Domino v3 #5)

Afterwards, he participated in a demonstration at Jimmy Woo's Pan-Asian School for the Unusually Gifted in Mumbai where he was invited to join the new Agents of Atlas. This came when the world came under attack from Malekith the Accursed and his Dark Council who were invading Midgard. Woo deployed the new Agents of Alas to Seoul that had come under Queen Sindr who ruled the Fire Demons of Muspelheim where they met Korean superheroes that included White Fox, Crescent and Luna Snow. (War of the Realms: The New Agents of Atlas v1 #1)

Five Weapons Society

In San Francisco's Chinatown, he helped save an elderly woman named Grandma Wang from burglars and in gratitude she offered a room by her shop for him to stay with him accepting the place. He then started to help her out at her shop but came to experience some trouble at adjusting to a normal life. This became only more complicated when Leiko Wu arrived to inform him that there was some renewed activity from his late fathers organization with them targeting Shang-Chi. They were then approached by two members of the Five Weapons Society that were his half-siblings with these including Brother Sabre and Sister Dagger. The two came to believe that Shang-Chi was Brother Hand who was meant to represent one of the five leaders of the society and that Sister Hammer intending to take over the organization. (Shang-Chi v1 #1)

He was among the chosen individuals that were selected by the Phoenix Force that were candidates to be its new host. This saw the chosen being forced to fight in a tournament by Avengers Mountain a they each fought for the right to wield the power of the Phoenix. (Avengers v8 #40)

Following the directions of the spirit guiding him, he journeyed to the tomb of Zheng Yi where he performed the necessary funeral rites for his uncle. This allowed him to converse with Zheng Yi who revealed his fathers true past and that he was actually a caring man who lost his way after his younger brothers death. (Shang-Chi v1 #4)

As Supreme Commander of the Five Weapons Society, he had to maintain the image of being a villainous crime-lord to ensure the loyalty of his followers though was secretly subverting criminal operations. While shutting down a rogue Society-operated drug ring with Sister Dagger in Manhattan, Shang-Chi took a rare break from his newfound duties as Supreme Commander to take Delilah Wang on a romantic dinner. However, Sister Dagger interrupted his date by delivering a captured drug dealer to the restaurant. While Shang-Chi and Sister Dagger argued, the dealer attempted to kill the two with his clawed hands but was defeated. Discovering that the dealer had a Spider-Tracer on him, the two were approached by Spider-Man, who was tracking the criminal while investigating a weapons ring. Believing the two groups were connected, Spider-Man offered to help Shang-Chi with his investigation. Shang-Chi reluctantly accepted but did not tell Spider-Man about the Society. The three discovered that the two rings were being led by King Wild Man, a loyal follower of Zheng Zu who manufactured and trafficked Yeren Root that transformed users into monstrous Yeren. Refusing to accept Shang-Chi as the new Supreme Commander, King Wild Man attached a root onto Spider-Man which transformed him into a Yeren. Shang-Chi and Sister Dagger were able to free Spider-Man from the root while King Wild Man escaped during the confusion. Feeling guilty for Spider-Man's injuries and Sister Dagger's accusations that he was ashamed of his family, Shang-Chi revealed his family's history and his new title to Spider-Man and summoned the Warriors of the Deadly Dagger to remove all traces of the Yeren root from King Wild Man's warehouse. (Shang-Chi v2 #1)

Discovering that the Iron Eighty-Eight triad were auctioning off a Cosmic Cube, Shang-Chi and Brother Sabre traveled to Macau to prevent the Cube from being purchased by A.I.M., Hydra and the Hand. The two attended the auction while representing the Five Weapons Society, pretending to maintain the Society's' villainous nature to not arouse the suspicions of the other attending criminals and hostess Lady Iron Fan, Brother Sabre's former lover. When a representative of the Hand unexpectedly outbid the Society for the Cube, Shang-Chi used a hidden communicator cuff link to alert Captain America, who interrupted the auction. Shang-Chi and Captain America worked together to apprehend the criminals and secure the Cube, which Shang-Chi gave to Captain America. Unbeknownst to Shang-Chi, Brother Sabre, hurt that Shang-Chi did not inform him of his plans with Captain America and for ruining his relationship with Lady Iron Fan, used the Cube's power to trick Captain America into taking a duplicate of the Cube and to help Lady Iron Fan escape. (Shang-Chi v2 #2)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Master of Kung Fu in Shang-Chi v1 #1.

He was known by the title of Master of Kung Fu. (Master of Kung Fu v1 #17) Shang-Chi was also known as the Rising and Advancing of the Spirit. (Journey into Mystery v1 #514) In time, he later came to learn that he was given the title of Brother Hand in the Five Weapons Society. (Shang-Chi v1 #1) As leader of the organization, he came to be known by the title of Commander Hand though he did not like the name. (Shang-Chi v2 #1)

Such was his reputation that he was remarked as a greater martial artist than the Iron Fist. (Black Panther v4 #11)

He found that if he slowed his cadence and used 'wise' words for Westerners to look at him rather than past him when he spoke. (Shang-Chi v1 #1)

He had a blood related sister by the name of Shi-Hua who he knew from childhood until she was taken from him by their father. She came to grow to adulthood and took the name of Sister Hammer where she was a champion of one of the Five Weapon Society houses. (Shang-Chi v1 #2)

Another one of his half-sisters was named the black haired Kwai Far. (Black Panther v4 #11) He had even more siblings that were the heads of the Five Weapons Society that was maintained by his father. Among these included Takeshi who went by the name of Brother Sabre and a young sister named Esme who went by the name of Sister Dagger. (Shang-Chi v1 #1) Another was a Mutant sister with the power to manipulate sound named Zilan who was formerly of the House of the Deadly Staff until her exile by her father. (Shang-Chi v2 #3)

He had a uncle by the name of Zheng Yi though Shang-Chi was not aware of his existence until later in life. (Shang-Chi v1 #4)

Shang-Chi came to admire the violence of the new Tarantula which he noted was beautiful and akin to ballet. Though he rejected any notion that he was attracted to her with him stating that his training forbid such indulgences. (Heroes for Hire v2 #5)

Whilst at Madame Wang's shop, he met her niece Delilah who was a lawyer and was attracted to her. (Shang-Chi v1 #1)

He knew of Qui in Chinatown who was in possession of a Pixiu that was a dragon being who had violated a law of heaven causing the Jade Emperor to curse it with an appetite for gold. The egg of the Chinese demon was recovered by Qui who was one of ten chosen warriors who travelled to the Xian Ghost Mountain around 80 years ago. This Pixiu could then be given gold in exchange for using its magic for a variety of tasks such as finding people through mystical means. (Heroes for Hire v2 #2) He only ever heard rumours of the Prince of Orphans and believed the man to had been a legend. (Secret Avengers v1 #6)

Powers and abilities

Brother Hand in Master of Kung-Fu v1 #126.

Wielding the Ten Rings in Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings v1 #1.

Such was his training that he was raised to be a living weapon by his father. (Special Marvel Edition v1 #15)

Shang-Chi possessed such fine control of his senses that he could detect a psion that was telepathically shielding themselves from humans. (X-Men v2 #62) He was knowledgeable of century old breathing techniques that allowed him to maintain his oxygen levels in environments that contained gas that would knock out an ordinary person. (Heroes for Hire v2 #3) Tony Stark stated that Shang-Chi's diagnostics were off the chart where he had efficiency of movement and generation of power. (Avengers v5 #2)

He was a trained expert in all traditional arms of his various disciplines. (Avengers v5 #2) It was his fighting prowess that led to him being highly sought out as a teacher where he mentored others in martial arts and hand-to-hand combat. (Domino v3 #3)

At one point, Tony Stark created a special set of nun chunks for Shang-Chi. (Avengers v5 #11)

From Ta-Lo, he came to gain ten mystical iron rings that were part of the Five Sets of Heavenly Weapons. Forged for destruction, the Jade Emperor kept the Ten Rings in a vault until they came to be wielded by Shang-Chi. (Shang-Chi v2 #11) According to the Jade Emperor, ordinary mortals are unable to wield the Rings without dying. When used by Shang-Chi, they manifested gold energy that later turned orange-red. Wielding the rings granted him a variety of powers, including superhuman strength, durability, speed, stamina and flight. The Rings themselves are strong enough to break through hard structures such as stone and most metals, including those empowered by magic. They could be controlled telekinetically in a variety of different ways by their users, including being fired as projectiles, restraining opponents or be used for transportation. (Shang-Chi v2 #12) The Rings aura could also be fired as energy blasts. (Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings v1 #1)

Shang-Chi was later forced to accept his position as the heir to his father and become the new leader of the Five Weapons Society. (Shang-Chi v2 #1) Thus, he became the Supreme Commander of the Five Weapons Society and its vast criminal network. (Shang-Chi v2 #1)

Notes

• Shang-Chi was created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin where he made his first appearance in Special Marvel Edition v1 #15 (December, 1973).
• In American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s (2014), it was said that the origin of the character stemmed from Marvel Comics desire to acquire the rights to adapt Kung Fu in late 1972 but they were denied by the show's owner Warner Communications who owned DC Comics.
• On Newsarama, write Gene Luen Yang said in an interview in, "I see Shang-Chi as someone who's still trying to figure out where he fits. He grew up in this cult that was run by his maniacal, nearly-immortal father. He didn't experience the modern world until he was a young adult. He's been trying to bridge that gap ever since."

Alternate Versions

• In Master of Kung Fu v2 #1 (2015), an alternate version of Shang-Chi was shown to had resided on Earth-13116 on Battleworld. He was the son of Zheng Zu who was the Emperor of K'un Lun and head of the Ten Rings that was the Regent of his designated realm.

In other media

Films

• In Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Xu Shang-Chi appeared in the setting of the live-action film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was portrayed by actor Simu Liu. This version was the son of the long-living warlord Xu Wenwu (a character composed of Mandarin and Zheng Zu). who wielded the mystical rings which he used to forge an empire called the Ten Rings. During his conquests, he came to seek the mystical realm of Tao Lo where he encountered Ying Li (called Jiang Li in promotional materials) and the two fell in love after battling one another. However, Tao Lo would not accept him and in response Ying Li left with Wenwu where she lost her powers and lived as an ordinary human on Earth. The pair had a son they named Shang-Chi who had a sister named Xialing with Wenwu abandoning his war-like ways. However, one day, she was killed by the Iron Gang as an act of revenge against Wenwu with Shang-Chi seeing his mother die. This act made Wenwu a cruel man who looked to acquire strength once again and command fear from others. He had his son trained since childhood as a brutal assassin and when he was 14 he was sent to kill the man responsible for killing his mother. He accomplished the act but was horrified at his actions and decided not to return to his father. Instead, he moved to America where he started a new life under the identity of Shaun.

Video games

• In Marvel Future Fight, Shang-Chi appeared as an unlockable playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
• In Marvel Battle Lines, Shang-Chi appeared in the setting of the card game.
• In Marvel Contest of Champions, Shang-Chi appeared as an playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
• In Marvel Strike Force, Shang-Chi appeared as an playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
• In Marvel Super War, Shang-Chi appeared as an unlockable playable character in the setting of the MOBA video game.

Appearances

• Special Marvel Edition v1: (1973)
• Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu v1:
• Journey into Mystery v1:
• X-Men v2:
• Black Panther v4: (2006)
• Heroes for Hire v2:
• Secret Avengers v1:
• Master of Kung Fu v2:
• Avengers v5:
• Totally Awesome Hulk v1:
• Iron Fist:
• Domino v3:
• War of the Realms: The New Agents of Atlas v1: (2019)
• Sword Master v1:
• Agents of Atlas v3:
• Shang-Chi v1: (2020)
• Shang-Chi v2: (2021)

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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