Shang-Chi 2 is still “alive,” even though it’s been five years since the first one.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton confirmed the sequel remains in development during an appearance on Deadline’s Crew Call podcast, telling host Anthony D’Alessandro the project is still moving and that he wants to “honor” the reception of the first film.
Pressed on specifics — including whether the sequel picks up where the original left off — Cretton kept the door shut, saying only that the “emotional core” matters to the team.
“We’re working on it. The first film’s reception was incredible, and we want to honor that. It’s evolving in a way we’re excited about,” Cretton said, adding about the sequel, “I can’t say specifics, but the emotional core is very important to us.”
Shang-Chi gets a reality check
That’s the good news for fans. Here’s the reality check:
Nearly five years after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings hit theaters in September 2021, the sequel still has no title, no release date, and is not in production.
It was announced years ago — rumored at one point to be subtitled The Wreckage of Time — and has been quietly sitting on the back burner ever since.
Meanwhile, Cretton moved on to his one-and-done-and-canceled Disney+ series, American Born Chinese, and Marvel’s Wonder Man, and now Spider-Man: Brand New Day with Sony. Also, remember he was supposed to do Avengers 5, The Kang Dynasty.
Was Shang-Chi a success?
The fact is you can spin things all you want but if the first film actually worked, we wouldn’t be here.
Marvel fast-tracks sequels to movies that work. Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and Guardians all got their follow-ups greenlit and dated in short order.
Shang-Chi got a sequel announcement and then nearly five years of silence and “we’re working on it.”
Studios don’t sit on franchise-starters for the better part of a decade. The gap is the verdict.
The box office is why. The film did $432.2M worldwide on a production budget reported north of $150M, leaving little room for profit, if any.
Also, blaming things on the “pandemic” doesn’t work because Spider-Man: No Way Home brought in nearly $2M.
Shang-Chi sits alongside other MCU bombs of the time, including Black Widow and Eternals, both of which also didn’t get sequels, and the Eternals characters have disappeared from the MCU completely. The Black Widow follow-up, Thunderbolts, also bombed last year.
We can also add the huge Asian audience loathed Shang-Chi and Simu Liu (Shang-Chi is a loser, a slacker, and outclassed by Awkwafina and Xialing).
The post–Secret Wars logjam
There is also what’s in the MCU pipeline.
Right now, Avengers: Secret Wars is the last official movie on Marvel’s calendar, with a December 17, 2027 release date.
After that, Marvel has staked out three untitled release dates: July 28, 2028, May 4, 2029, and July 13, 2029.
Those slots are widely expected to go to the X-Men relaunch, Black Panther 3 (Ryan Coogler has confirmed it as his next film, with pre-production underway), and possibly long-gestating projects like Blade (another project announced years ago that has gone nowhere), or Thor 5.
Notice what’s not on that list with any confidence: Shang-Chi 2. If it lands one of those dates, the sequel arrives in 2028 or 2029, roughly seven to eight years after the original, and pushing toward a full decade from conception. If it doesn’t, it waits even longer.
So yes, Shang-Chi 2 is “still happening.” It’s happening the way a lot of Marvel sequels are “still happening” — in interviews, not on a calendar. Believe it when there’s a release date attached.
