This article contains major spoilers for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
The latest film in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, has finally been released in theaters. And one of the biggest things that’s gotten fans talking about the latest MCU entry is the new villains it introduces to the setting.
Earlier Marvel films were often criticized for their bland and two-dimensional villains — Malekith, Yellowjacket, and Ronan the Accuser often being cited as the most egregious examples. However, the last few years have seen that trend broken, with plenty of iconic Marvel Comics villains brought into the MCU to great acclaim. Beloved comic bad guys like Baron Zemo, Vulture, Mysterio, Ego the Living Planet, and more have quickly become fan favorites among MCU moviegoers, and many fans hoped that the main villain of Shang-Chi would follow suit.
The primary antagonist of Shang-Chi is the titular hero’s father Xu Wenwu, better known to fans as the Mandarin (though Wenwu finds the name comical in the film). That title was previously featured in Iron Man 3, but the man using it — Trevor Slattery, played by Ben Kingsley — was nothing more than an actor hired to serve as a figurehead by the film’s real villain, Aldrich Killian. However, Shang-Chi reveals that there is indeed a true Mandarin at the head of the Ten Rings organization, and that he’s a much more complex figure than fans expected.
In the comics, the Mandarin has always been a fairly straightforward villain with a lust for power and ambitions of world domination. But the MCU’s Wenwu, played by Tony Leung, is a much more nuanced and tragic figure. He’s driven not by any selfish desire for personal gain, but only by a misguided longing to be reunited with his wife. This humanizing characterization forms the foundation of the film’s emotional core — the strained father-son bond between Wenwu and Shang-Chi. But with such a sympathetic central antagonist, the movie naturally requires a few more traditional bad guys to round out its rogues’ gallery.
Due to Shang-Chi’s status as a more obscure hero compared to the likes of Spider-Man or Thor, he doesn’t have too many iconic foes to draw upon for a film adaptation. However, Wenwu’s two primary lieutenants are both reimaginings of little-known villains who debuted in the original Shang-Chi comic, Master of Kung Fu. The first of these is Razor Fist, the man with a bladed mechanical hand — though notably, the MCU version only has one arm blade instead of two. The second obscure comic villain featured is Death Dealer, who is reimagined for the film as a silent, enigmatic assassin instead of a rogue MI6 agent with a playing card motif.
However, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings also brings another Marvel villain to the big screen — one whose appearance couldn’t have been predicted by even the most devoted of comic fans. Said villain is, of course, the Dweller-in-Darkness, the sealed demonic being that has been manipulating Wenwu into freeing it from its magical prison. The Dweller’s presence in the film came as a surprise to fans, since all the movie’s marketing had been building Wenwu up as the main antagonist without even hinting at the possibility of a more powerful villain pulling his strings.
But that isn’t even the most surprising thing about the Dweller-in-Darkness’ role in the film. In the comics, the Dweller-in-Darkness has never once crossed paths with Shang-Chi. Rather, the entity was created in 1974 by Marvel writer Gerry Conway — best known for his Amazing Spider-Man run that featured the debut of the Punisher and the death of Gwen Stacy — for a two-part story in Thor #229-230. The storyline features Thor and Hercules teaming up against the Dweller’s minions, the Shade Thralls, but the Dweller itself did not appear in person. The character’s existence was forgotten until 1978, when writer Roger Stern introduced the Dweller itself in Doctor Strange #30.
Perhaps the most notable thing about the Dweller-in-Darkness’ comic incarnation is its heavy ties to the work of the iconic horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. While the MCU Dweller has a more bestial, dragon-like appearance, the comic Dweller is a purple-skinned humanoid with an octopus’ head, complete with a mouth covered by tentacles. As such, the Dweller heavily resembles the appearance of Lovecraft’s most famous creation, Cthulhu. Even the character’s name is seemingly taken from “The Dweller in Darkness”, a Cthulhu Mythos short story written by August Derleth in 1944. These connections were noticed by Marvel writer Ralph Macchio (no relation to the Karate Kid star), who revealed in 1996’s Adventures of the X-Men #4 that the Dweller is supposedly an offspring of Cthulhu itself.
With all this cosmic horror influence, it’s only natural that the Dweller-in-Darkness has mostly served as an enemy of Doctor Strange throughout the decades. As such, the choice to retool it as the ultimate villain of Shang-Chi’s MCU debut seems like a rather odd one. It’s possible that the Dweller’s unexpected appearance is somehow setting up Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. After all, the Dweller in the comics group of demons known as the Fear Lords, which also includes Nightmare — the villain long-rumored to be the main antagonist of Multiverse of Madness.
Of course, it’s just as likely that the Shang-Chi writers just needed a demonic being from the comics to serve as the final enemy of the film, and the Dweller-in-Darkness just happened to fit the bill. Either way, the Dweller’s inclusion in such a major film role is further proof that the MCU isn’t afraid to draw on truly obscure characters and reinvent them for the big screen. With even the most obscure comic villains getting brought to life on film, the Marvel Cinematic Universe truly has taken on a life of its own.