**Warning spoilers ahead for the end-credits scene from “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”**
Destin Daniel Cretton‘s “Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings” is quickly becoming a sizable pandemic-era hit for Marvel Studios and the new superhero pic has earned $320.6 million at the global box office, according to Deadline. Now, we might have an indication of where Marvel might go next with “Shang-Chi 2.”
Screenwriter Dave Callaham indicated during an interview with Inverse that they originally shot two origins for Wenwu’s ten rings but were indecisive about which one to use, “We didn’t know which one we wanted to say it was.” Instead, they went with a post-credit scene that asked the question rather than answering it with Benedict Wong’s Wong, Mark Ruffalo‘s Dr. Bruce Banner, and Brie Larson‘s Captain Marvel having no idea what to make of the rings as the mysterious objects send out a beacon.
Callaham suggests circling back to the origin in a sequel, “We intentionally chose that as the final version. We realized, in these two hours, it doesn’t make any difference at all where it comes from. That’s not the story we’re telling. But it sure is an interesting question we’d love to talk about later. Or someone will.”
When asked about the meaning of the post-credit scene by Entertainment Tonight, Destin Daniel Cretton responded with, “Really? If you look into the comics, if you watch that end-credit sequence, it’s not– you don’t have to dig very deep to at least point yourself in a direction. (Laughs.) It’s definitely there.”
In the comics, The Mandarin got the rings from a crashed alien ship from a group called the Makluans (same species as the giant dragon Fin Fang Foom) from the planet Kakaranthara. Shang-Chi dealing with the ancient race of space dragons could make sense for a sequel. They previously appeared in the short-lived 1990s cartoon “Iron Man: The Animated Series” as antagonists alongside The Mandarin.
Cretton mentioned to Comic Book they wanted to use a setting but held back on naming it as they might end up using the location in a future film, “I really hope that we get to do it again in another film.”
We could speculate Kakaranthara is what they’re teeing up.
Larson in the end-credit scene might also telegraph a potential team-up in the future, given the cosmic element of the rings and Destin Daniel Cretton previously working with her on “Short Term 12,” “The Glass Castle,” and “Just Mercy.” Last Month, Heroic Hollywood asked the filmmaker directly about making a Shang-Chi/Captain Marvel team-up project, “Sure, that’d be fun…that sounds like a good pitch. You should shoot that up to Kevin [Feige] and see what he thinks.”
READ MORE: ‘Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings’ Is Flawed But Has A Winning Spirit [Review]
I guess we’ll have to wait to see if there will ultimately be a crossover as the director hinted to The Hollywood Reporter a desire to continue his collaborative streak with Larson and lucked out it made sense for ‘Shang-Chi.”