'Shang-Chi' Tickets Are On Sale Now As New Teaser Hammers Home The Marvel Connections

Tickets for Marvel's latest, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, are now available to purchase, and the announcement comes alongside even more footage from the upcoming movie. A cynic might look at this as a carefully-plotted distraction from the ongoing messiness between Disney and star Simu Liu, but this is the standard time when marketing ramps up to a fever pitch and the studio does all it can to get butts in seats, especially during a pandemic ... even if this is the worst possible moment to encourage people to venture out into confined indoor spaces. But that's a separate issue and we'll get into that later.

For now, you can check out the latest teaser below.

In case you somehow weren't aware before, it's now impossible not to realize that Shang-Chi takes place in the same Marvel Cinematic Universe as those Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America movies did.

This teaser lays it on pretty thick in a very cloying way, but in fairness that should be the appeal of making a shared universe in the first place. The interconnectedness of these movies has always been a major selling point, reflecting the "You never know who might show up!" qualities of the comics that these movies are based on. It can certainly go a little too far sometimes (see: Iron Man 2, and also that jarring, whiplash-inducing button at the end of the Eternals trailer), but we can give Marvel a pass for continuing their victory lap after the success of Avengers: Endgame.

Shang-Chi will be exclusively releasing in theaters, forgoing the pandemic-induced hybrid release strategy between theaters and the Disney+ streaming service that most recently got Disney in hot water with Black Widow star, Scarlett Johansson. Advance tickets are now on sale through Fandango.

With Delta variant cases on the rise and making up a significant amount of infections in the United States, it's only natural to question the wisdom of essentially pressuring families with young children to decide between seeing the latest highly-anticipated Marvel movie while risking their health or risk getting spoiled on fun surprises and potential plot twists as others with less reservations head out and spill all the details on social media. It's an unfair choice with potentially long-term health ramifications should the worst happen, all in the name of boosting box office numbers that were sacrificed by other recent blockbusters that opted for a safer hybrid release.

As important as it is to support theaters, and to take a mental health break and seek escapism amid such an overwhelmingly stressful time in history, we encourage everyone to be responsible when making choices that would affect your personal health as well as that of others. For better or worse, Shang-Chi releases only in theaters on September 3, 2021.