*** WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD FOR SHANG-CHI AND POST-CREDIT SCENES***

Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Rings is a massive hit thanks to director Destin Daniel Cretton and screenwriter Dave Callaham, the two have been doing a bunch of interviews briefly commenting about the film’s post-credit scenes, which may or may not being lining up an idea for Shang-Chi 2.

I think folks have been more curious about Banner and Captain Marvel’s connection to the next installment, but the real tease presented was the lingering question of where did the Ten Rings come from?

We know that Shang-Chi’s father Xu Wenwu has had them for countless generations giving him longevity alongside other supernatural abilities.

Wong, Danvers, and Banner all seem to be stumped bringing in their opinions of the occult/magicial objects, world of science, and alien/cosmic side. In the comics, The Mandarin got his version of the rings from a spaceship alluding to their alien/cosmic origins, but Danvers doesn’t seem to be familiar with them.

While speaking with Entertainment Tonight, director Destin Daniel Cretton alludes to the rings’ origins nod in the post-credit scene potentially being similar to the comic books.

“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.”

Screenwriter Dave Callaham went one step further during an interview with Inverse, revealing that they planned-out and shot two different origins for the Ten Rings, but ultimately decided making it more ambiguous in the final cut.

“There were scenes shot for the movie that suggested one origin. There were scenes shot later that suggested a different origin. We didn’t know which one we wanted to say it was.”

Also, hinting that origin might be showing up 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.”

To me, it sounds like the origin could a key element of a Shang-Chi sequel and would make sense to make it part of the post-credit scene, teasing that being a plot in the future.

Last month, the filmmaker mentioned to Comic Book about a desire to use a setting in another film they weren’t able to use in Legend of The Ten Rings. Another element that is seemingly being saved for follow-up films.

“There was one setting that we were not able to do in this movie, but I won’t say what it is because I really hope that we get to do it again in another film.”

Was he potentially talking about the home of The Xian or K’un-Lun/Seven Cities?

Given we saw a glimpse of The Raft with Abomination/Wong, that could also be another option.

Maklu-4 is the homeworld of the Makluans, a group of ancient alien space dragons and are responsible in the comics for the Makluan Rings aka Ten Rings (Mandarin gets them from Axonn-Karr). This is most likely is the comic book link Destin Daniel Cretton is talking about above and could suggest Fin Fang Foom might actually be showing up at some point.

It’ll be interesting to see how Marvel attempts to differentiate the Makluans from the more fantastical dragons like The Protector and Shao-Lao.

Shang-Chi 2 going cosmic would be extremely interesting.

As it stands, Marvel Studios hasn’t announced a sequel but it’s only a matter of time if they haven’t already started developing it. The first installment earned an impressive $94.4 million over the long weekend at the domestic box office and has been getting a solid reception from audiences/critics, a clear sign the studio will keep making sequels.

SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT & INVERSE