5 Years Later, The MCU Brings Back Shang-Chi's Ten Rings With A Surprising Twist

Published Oct 30, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more. Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics." The Ten Rings organization plays a significant role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's latest release, and not only does it come as a surprise, but the franchise decided to use the Ten Rings in an impactful way for a key character and another returning player. The Ten Rings have been involved with the MCU movie timeline since it began in 2008's Iron Man. The Iron Man franchise as a whole was drawn to it time and again, with Iron Man 3 hinging on the plans of a fake version of the Mandarin, Ben Kingsley's Trevor Slattery, who has since returned to the MCU and recently appeared in the acclaimed MCU TV show Wonder Man, on Disney+. Before his most recent MCU appearance, Trevor showed up in a movie. That would be 2021's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which featured both the MCU's fake Mandarin and the real man behind the title, Tony Leung's Xu Wenwu. The character was a formidable fighter, and his use of the magical Ten Rings made him incredibly powerful. After Wenwu's death, Shang-Chi's sister, Xu Xialing, took over as the leader of the Ten Rings organization. Choose the movie with the higher Rotten Tomatoes score. Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for VisionQuest episodes 5 and 6.Since then, fans have waited to see how the MCU's slate of projects would bring back the Ten Rings in live-action. What many might not have anticipated was that the organization would play a significant role in Marvel's latest TV show on Disney+, VisionQuest, but the Ten Rings are indeed deeply tied to the events of the new sci-fi series. The Ten Rings Organization Ties Into VisionQuest's Plot The Ten Rings itself and Xu Xialing do not show up in the Marvel series, but VisionQuest continues to explore how the organization impacts Paul Bettany's Vision and other MCU characters. As far as the Avengers hero is concerned, he is only in any sort of real danger in VisionQuest because of the Ten Rings. After all, Todd Stashwick's Paladin has managed to hurt Vision due to his deals with the Ten Rings. The MCU bounty hunter got Adamantium bullets and armor from the Ten Rings. The metal tied to Marvel's X-Men corner is able to penetrate Vision's Vibranium body. Beyond putting Vision in danger, the Ten Rings organization's role in the MCU has now come full circle. VisionQuest's latest batch of episodes finally saw the MCU return of Faran Tahir's Raza, the Ten Rings Afghan faction leader who captured Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark in 2008's Iron Man. VisionQuest has revealed that after Raza was betrayed by Obadiah Stane and had his failures made public, he spent several years in the Ten Rings' torture chamber. Now, he returns with an army of mercenaries, operating out of Madripoor, and tries to capture Vision for the unnamed character only known as "The Client" for now. When Will The Ten Rings Return To The MCU In A Major Way? As far as the magical Ten Rings weapons go, we already know that they are coming back to the MCU in live-action this year. After all, Simu Liu's Shang-Chi will return in Avengers: Doomsday, which releases in theaters on December 18, and he now carries the Ten Rings after Wenwu's death. In fact, Shang-Chi can be seen using the Ten Rings to fight Channing Tatum's Gambit inside the X-Mansion in Avengers: Doomsday's trailers. When it comes to the wider Ten Rings organization, its MCU future is notably murkier. The Ten Rings and Meng'er Zhang's Xu Xialing are expected to return in the yet-to-be-announced sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. However, the MCU movie has no release date and has yet to enter active development, with director Destin Daniel Cretton busy with this year's Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the 3rd highest-grossing movie of all time, and now the upcoming Naruto live-action movie. For the time being, VisionQuest will have to suffice as a Ten Rings fix for MCU fans. Release Date 2026 - 2026-00-00 Network Disney+ Showrunner Terry Matalas Directors Vincenzo Natali, Christopher J. Byrne, Gandja Monteiro, Terry Matalas Writers Terry Matalas, Cindy Appel, Nicole Falsetti, Christopher Monfette, Matthew Okumura, Michael Taylor Franchise(s) Marvel Cinematic Universe Creator(s) Terry Matalas