SHANG CHI (EARTH-7)

Biography 

Origin

 Shang-Chi lived what he considers the first of his lives on an isolated farm in East Asia. It was comfortable, sincere, and what truly shaped his character, or at least the man he once was, before he was confronted with the world.

At the beginning of his adulthood, his aging father fell ill, and fearing that he would remain forever bound to this plane because of an ancient secret, he decided to reveal the truth about the boy's origins.

His true father was a conqueror, and the man lying there was no more than one of his thousands of servants. He knew him as Mr. Wenwu, a stern and elderly man who, by this point, should already have left this Earth. There was therefore no reason left to keep his sins to himself.

The boy's mother was a deity, something between mortal and divine, but her beauty was certainly otherworldly. She had been deceived by Wenwu into giving him the most legendary and powerful weapons of her family, believing that her lover would make better use of them. He did not.

Swearing to correct her mistake, she divided that power into ten parts and hid them throughout the East. But the last of them, the beginning of the key to defeating Wenwu's empire, she returned home to give to her own son, and was then killed by her former lover with a simple sword.

Shang-Chi remembers the eyes, the first face he truly saw, and the first death he witnessed. And now, the event repeated itself. With no debts left to settle with life, the man who raised him passed away in his bed.

The Ring

From that point onward, Shang-Chi would wear his ring of power full-time, concealing its true power beneath a series of other rings around the one worn on the little finger of his left hand. He immediately noticed the changes it brought with it. With a simple thought, he could slow the world around him or become too fast to comprehend.

In a single charge, he could cross entire lands like a blur. Through a series of consecutive strikes, he could destroy fruit hanging from a tree before it reached the ground. He finally understood: his mother had left him the path to glory as her inheritance.

Sons of the Tiger

 In order to begin his journey toward becoming the greatest champion in the world, he sought out the greatest legends he had ever heard of, warriors who had once protected his village from invaders, legendary fighters known as the Sons of the Tiger.

When he finally found them, however, he discovered that the group had already disbanded. Lin Sun, the member of the trio who remained in Asia to pursue an isolated, hermetic life, told him the story. According to him, the three originated from a place beyond time, a world where the mystical was the rule: K'un-Lun. He claimed they had renounced their places in paradise to become diplomats of peace and justice.

But as the decades passed, those men found themselves increasingly immersed in human experience, in the tangible rather than the metaphysical. They abandoned their positions and powers, transforming the three pieces of jade they carried into a single amulet and leaving it in an isolated temple capable of containing its magic.

One of them adopted the name Abe Brown, built a family in Europe, and chose to remain by their side. The other became Bob Diamond, discovered that fame was his true aspiration, and pursued a career in entertainment.

Shang-Chi also shared his story with Lin Sun, who recognized the power he carried: one of the Ten Rings of Zheng-Zu, the great sorcerer of his dimension. The one carried by the young man had to be the Spin Ring, the one capable of distorting time. It was what kept the sorcerer immortal and prevented him from aging whenever he traveled to the Earthly Plane. Without it, he could no longer leave his post.

He then warned him: if he continued using the ring's abilities, he would never be able to truly separate himself from it. As the decades passed, the moment he removed it, all the time he had consumed would come rushing back. Age would catch up with him, and he would be reduced to nothing more than dust. A morbid price, but one Shang-Chi was willing to pay.

Becoming Master Hand

 After learning his first lessons from Lin Sun, he encouraged Shang-Chi to find Shen Kuei, the first student he had trained during his golden years. Even though he carried shadows within himself, it was his duty to repay his mentor's guidance if his master desired it.

Shen Kuei now worked as an agent of his government, China, and was ruthless in his techniques as the spy known as "The Cat." Although he did not want to train the young man, he was forced to do so because of his oath.

For more than a year, Shen taught him everything he knew in the harshest way possible. Extremely severe, he had no fear of hurting his student, but Shang-Chi did not seem to mind dealing with such a demanding teacher. Because of this, Shen developed a fascination with his student, which evolved into a passion for the man, one that could not be consummated, went against his instincts, and had to be suppressed.

Fearing that he would give in to his heart, he abandoned Shang-Chi's mentorship. Believing himself finally ready to assume his place as the greatest champion in the world, he decided to wander across the globe, searching for an opponent capable of defeating him.

Currently

 After so many decades spent perfecting his abilities without finding anyone capable of matching him, several other martial artists have sought him out for mentorship, and he has never dishonored his agreement. Among them were Leiko Wu, a special agent of the British government with whom he fell in love; Yukio, the surviving mutant who sought to build her own empire; and Shen Kuei II, the son of the original The Cat, who always listened to his instincts, unlike his father, and became obsessed with Shang-Chi after being rejected by him.

But Shang-Chi never found fulfillment in teaching or in any other field. Immortality had drained away all the pleasure he once found in life, and the ring was the only place that still made him feel alive. For that reason, he accepted Mandarin's proposal to become the representative of the Ten Rings in every fight held across the globe.

Mandarin is a just man who believes he can change the world, something Shang-Chi considers nonsense. His organization is inspired by the legends from which the champion's own power originates, the magical rings, but he prefers to keep that secret. He has never told anyone about the origin of his powers, as he cannot risk having his most valuable possession coveted or even stolen. The old man, however, seems eternally bitter, disillusioned by the fact that he may never find the artifacts he so desperately seeks, and he still curses his own son, whom he calls the "Cursed Child," claiming that he is the unlucky talisman that ruined his plans.

Everything changes, however, when a mysterious American government agent seeks out the fighter. His name is Jimmy Woo, sent by the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony Stark, and he believes the young man is the only person capable of helping him locate the other legendary Ten Rings.