With our first good look at Disney’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings having dropped on Monday, we’ve also got the inevitable deluge of tie-in merchandise giving us a sneak peek at plastic incarnations of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new heroes and villains. While they mostly give us an opportunity to see new character designs up close, we also get a glimpse of Awkwafina’s peculiar new friend.
Marvel Legends Shang-Chi
Hasbro has dropped new looks at the toys tying in with Shang-Chi’s theatrical debut in September, all set to release sometime this fall. Kicking off with its Marvel Legends line of 6″ action figures ($30 a piece), we of course start with Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi himself, who comes with a bo staff as well as alternate hands to pose him ready to kick butt.
Marvel Legends Wenwu
Next up in the wave is Wenwu, played in the film by Tony Leung — Shang-Chi’s father, a new character created for the MCU with ties to the more traditional version of the Mandarin from the comics, compared to the persona adopted by Ben Kingsley’s Slattery in Iron Man 3. As well as a similar set of alternate hands like Shang-Chi, Wenwu comes with a mean-looking hook sword.
Marvel Legends Xialing
Next up is newcomer Meng’er Zhang’s Xialing — Shang-Chi’s estranged sister, who eventually joins him in his fight against the Ten Rings terrorist organisation. Although not seen here, she also comes with a traditional martial arts weapon like Shang-Chi and Wenwu, a rope dart.
Marvel Legends Death Dealer
Rounding out the villainous additions is Death Dealer (Marvel has yet to confirm the mysterious actor behind the mask). In the comics Death Dealer is one of Shang-Chi’s sworn enemies, a former MI6 agent who went rogue and began working with the evil sorcerer Zheng Zu, but in the movie, he’s Shang-Chi’s former mentor, now working with Wenwu as an agent of the Ten Rings. As a toy, he’s got cool knife throwing hands!
Although no pictures of the completed figure were revealed, buying all the figures in the Shang-Chi wave will net you the pieces to build the comic book version of Mr. Hyde, the sinister alter ego of biochemist Calvin Zabo and occasional member of the Thunderbolts. Twin Peaks legend Kyle MacLachlan played Zabo on ABC’s Agents of SHIELD as the father of Daisy “Quake” Johnson, but Mr. Hyde’s presence in these figures is not likely to have anything to do with the movie itself.
Marvel Legends Katy
Rounding out the movie figures is Awkwafina’s Katy, a new character made for the movie and Shang-Chi’s best friend in the decade he spent away from his father’s training trying to live a normal life of his own. It seems that, according to her figure at least, she’ll eventually be caught up in his battle against the Ten Rings, joining from afar with her bow and arrow and…I’m sorry, what is that thing?
Say Hello to the Dijiang
It’s got wings, six legs, and a weird little tuft of hair? It’s furry? It’s got no face? It’s actually a mythical beast from Chinese myth: the Dijiang, a representation of a small divine god of the Tian Shan mountains mentioned in the Han Dynasty mythical bestiary Shan Hai Jing. Apparently, it’s also rather fond of singing, despite not having a face. Why does Katy team up with a little Dijiang? I guess we’ll have to wait till September to find out.
Shang-Chi Brick Breakers
For younger kids, Hasbro is also releasing a series of small collectible figurines called “Brick Breakers.” Each brick (which retails for $10) comes with five two-inch mini-figures of characters from the movie, which you smash open by performing a single chop to the destructible packaging.
Shang-Chi Battle Pack
For parents who want some slightly less pricey figures for kids, there is a basic line of 6″ figures from the movie separate from the Marvel Legends line. This two-figure Battle Pack ($25) comes with Shang-Chi and Death Dealer, the former of which has a twisting roundhouse kick action feature.
Action Feature Shang-Chi
There’s also a version of Shang-Chi on his own ($20), who will strike with his Bo staff if you squeeze his legs. Which, that’s what you get for squeezing a martial arts expert’s legs, I guess.
Ten Rings Blast Wenwu
Wenwu will also be a part of this basic line, utilising what Hasbro calls a “Ten Rings Power Attack” activated by likewise squeezing his legs. It would seem that the rings seen around Wenu’s forearms in the trailer are the actual Ten Rings the organisation gets its name from, which makes sense if Wenwu is some version of the Mandarin.
Battle FX Bo Staff
For kids who don’t want action figures to pretend to beat stuff up and would just prefer to pretend to beat stuff up themselves, the Battle FX Bo Staff ($25) features sound effects that change depending on just how quickly kids swing the weapon about, so… safeguard your valuables whenever they decide to break it out.
Ten Rings Blaster
For something that will probably be a little less precarious, there’s also the disc-firing Ten Rings Blaster ($25), inspired by Wenwu’s gauntlets, which fires up to five small blue discs in a row, presumably to fend off whichever poor sibling is trying to swing that bo staff in their direction.
Titan Hero Series Wenwu
Lastly, Hasbro will also release a series of basic 12″ figures as part of its Titan Hero Series line. Wenwu and Shang-Chi will be available from the film, but only pictures of Wenwu’s figure were made available to press, presumably because Hasbro (correctly) assumed we want as many Tony Leung action figures as possible.
Hasbro’s Shang-Chi toys are set to come out this spring, around the film’s September 2 release.