Having Shang-Chi surrounded by "many strong women" formed out of the relationship between Shang-Chi and Wenwu, with them being supporting characters to him while also being on their own narrative arcs. Cretton stated that having "women who are kind of kicking his butt into gear throughout the movie just felt right".[23] Cretton's three sisters and his wife helped inspire Katy, Xialing, Ying Nan, and Ying Li.[72] Speaking to the relationship between Shang-Chi and Katy, Cretton enjoyed being able to show a strong, "deeply caring" friendship that is rarely seen in superhero films, adding that it never felt right to have the two characters end up in a romantic relationship since it would have been forced.[73] Yeoh requested a scene be added between her character Ying Nan and Zhang's Xialing that would empower Xialing to "step out of the shadows for the first time"; this scene became an important part of Xialing's journey in the film and was one of the many scenes that also addressed the sexism presented in the story.[23] Cretton felt seeing Xialing become the new head of the Ten Rings organization in the film's post-credits scene was reflective of her beginning to take control of her life. Various versions of the scene existed throughout the production before it was moved to be after the credits since they thought it was "a juicy idea for where the story might go in the future".[43] Cretton also noted there was more material created regarding the ten rings that was purposely withheld to be explored in future projects.[42]
The film's official trailer in June 2021 revealed that Benedict Wong would reprise his MCU role of Wong, along with the appearance of the Abomination;[100][28] the Abomination first appeared in The Incredible Hulk (2008), portrayed by Tim Roth,[101] with Roth providing uncredited vocals for the character in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.[41][42] Feige enjoyed returning to the Abomination after over a decade since his last MCU appearance, especially with the fans recognizing and embracing the reference.[28] Cretton added that, beyond being a pairing that "felt really great", the Abomination and Wong were chosen because they "made sense to what's happening in the MCU around the time of our movie" and linked it to future MCU projects.[42] Both characters appear in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,[102] and because of Gao creating a substantial storyline for Abomination in the series, he was added to Shang-Chi as a way "to seed him so that people can get excited but also remember him".[103] Wong was thrilled to be part of the film and its Asian cast, expressing excitement to be "sat at a table of Asian excellence".[104][105]
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The film's mid-credits scene, which features Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, was conceived late in the film's production by Cretton to address the origins of the ten rings. Callaham noted that there were many different origins created in the film for the ten rings, before it was decided to leave the origins ambiguous to be addressed in more detail in a later MCU property. Callaham said this was an intentional choice after they realized "it doesn't make any difference at all where it comes from [in this film]. That's not the story we're telling."[43] Cretton had hoped the scene would feature Wong, as well as him going to karaoke with Shang-Chi and Katy to sing "Hotel California", but was unsure which additional Avengers characters would appear until late in post-production.[106] Banner and Danvers were both chosen for the scene since they each represent the science and space aspects of the MCU, respectively,[43] with their appearances also lining up accurately with other events in the MCU happening around the time of the scene.[106] Additionally, Callaham believed Larson was added because she previously worked with Cretton on Short Term 12 (2013),[43] The Glass Castle (2017), and Just Mercy (2019). Though Cretton reiterated that Danvers' appearance made sense for the scene, he jokingly acknowledged that this continued the streak of her appearing in his films and said that he enjoys including "people that I love in the movies that I'm making".[42] Ruffalo and Larson filmed their roles in early 2021 during the film's additional photography.[106] Feige said the scene was meant to indicate "how vital and important" Shang-Chi was to the MCU, likening it to Nick Fury's appearance in the post-credits scene of Iron Man.[107]
Sixteen visual effects vendors worked on the film, with up to three vendors on a given shot, creating over 2,000 shots, of which over 1,700 were in the final film. Visual effects supervisor Joe Farrell described the process like "moving chess pieces around". 40 to 50 of the 168 shots in the bus fight sequence were mostly digital, with the entire environment requiring digital pieces including the bus, buildings, and people. Farrell stated the motion of the sequence made editing difficult, especially in regards to the nine passengers. They were mapped out to know where they were at all times and sometimes were digitally moved around. Farrell, who had to remain in Sydney due to the COVID pandemic, planned the San Francisco shoot using Google Street View and hired crew members who had worked on the Fast & Furious franchise to film the sequence. Because the fight sequence in Macau takes place on scaffolding outside of a glass building, crews built an expansive 360-degree blue screen around the set in order to prevent the crew's reflection from appearing on film, with Rodeo FX doing the rotoscoping work necessary for the sequence. Much of downtown Macau was created digitally, with Farrell remotely supervising the sequence from Sydney after having drone crews map out the area on Google Earth.[77] Rising Sun Pictures contributed to over 300 VFX shots in the film and was primarily responsible for creating the digital environment for Ta Lo. Artists of the company created the geography of the forest, and took inspiration from locations in Southeast Asia and also integrated some practical elements from material shot in Sydney, which was later adjusted for proper lighting in post. Sets for Ta Lo were carefully designed in order to allow for the easier combination between practical and CG elements, such as adding in erosion to various trees and also adding more water and species of trees and other plants to the shots. The team also worked with the Australian Institute for Machine Learning in order to develop an advanced technique for facial replacement, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), which was used to replace the stunt double's faces with the principal actors for the action scenes located in the area.[108]
The film's first full trailer was released on June 24, 2021, during ESPN's NBA Countdown. Sean Keane at CNET enjoyed seeing more of Leung in the trailer and called the fight sequences "super-impressive". He was surprised by the inclusion of Abomination at the end of the trailer and noted that the character looked more like his design from the comics than when he appeared in The Incredible Hulk.[124] Digital Spy's Gabriella Geisinger felt the Abomination's role in the film would just be a cameo appearance to set up the character's story in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) but also felt it could still have "wide-reaching implications" for the MCU.[125] Germain Lussier of io9, Susana Polo of Polygon, and Jennifer Ouellette of Ars Technica all felt the trailer was a better showcase for Shang-Chi than the teaser was,[126][127][128] with Ouellette highlighting the different narration for the trailer that expanded on Shang-Chi's family background.[128] Lussier also noted that the trailer featured a lot of new visual effects that were not in the teaser, and felt that Shang-Chi would soon become a "huge star", despite not being a well-known character, similarly to Iron Man before Iron Man.[126] Polo highlighted the martial arts and magic seen in the trailer.[127] An episode of the series Marvel Studios: Legends was released on September 1, exploring the Ten Rings organization using footage from its previous MCU appearances.[129]
Meanwhile, Brainiac is on the attack, and a much more violent and terroristic Batman is causing havoc. Luckily, Superman has Wonder Woman to help as well as Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern ring join the fight against Superman. It's a topsy turvy world in Red Son, but it's one with rich history and storytelling that culminates in a worthwhile conclusion in the comic books, as well as in this different movie version.
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