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The Avengers have always considered themselves “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” but Doomsday merch has just revealed who the most powerful hero is. The stakes are higher than ever before in Doomsday, with three universes colliding even as Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom taking advantage of the chaos. We already know the heroes are going to get a power-up; there have been hints Thor will wield the power of Odin himself, but even then he doesn’t look set to be a match for Doctor Doom. Thankfully, the Avengers apparently have someone even more powerful at hand.
Hasbro has just revealed the first wave of Doomsday Marvel Legends figures, including the Fantastic Four, Shang-Chi, and (of course) Doctor Doom. But attentive fans have already noticed something interesting about Shang-Chi; here’s the official description.
“With the powerful Ten Rings around his arms, Shang-Chi may be the only hero powerful enough to stop the threat the Avengers face.”
Wait, Just How Powerful Is Shang-Chi?
It’s a gorgeous figure, and a superb likeness of Simu Liu. The more interesting comment, though, is that Shang-Chi is positioned as the most powerful Avenger; the Ten Rings are still unexplained, and had been used to defeat entire armies in the past, but it seems we’ve only scratched the surface of what they can do. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ post-credits scene revealed the Ten Rings originate from elsewhere in the multiverse, and we’d assumed Doomsday and Secret Wars would reveal their true origin; that said, Marvel’s plans have been in flux, so there’d been some concern this plot would be dropped.
That clearly won’t be the case. But note the subtlety of Hasbro’s description; Shang-Chi is the only hero powerful enough “to stop the threat the Avengers face.” Hasbro and Marvel seem to be treading very carefully with marketing for Doomsday, leading many to speculate Doom initially presents herself as an ally in the battle against the threat of multiversal collision. If that’s the case, it’s possible this description actually alludes to the Ten Rings possessing enough power to drive back incursions. If this is the case, he’s the Avengers’ greatest asset – which I do find slightly ironic, given how much he’s been overlooked since his movie in 2021.
This does also add some real humor to the first Avengers: Doomsday trailer. This featured a delightful shot of Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi in combat with Channing Tatum’s Gambit, both agile combatants who’ll lend themselves to phenomenal fight choreography. But according to the merch, Gambit is literally fighting Earth-616’s most powerful hero, which means he’s most definitely outmatched. The interesting question, though, is why the Avengers would send their greatest asset to the X-Men’s reality in the first place; in the comics, heroes wound up forced to consider destroying entire Earths to prevent incursions. Is it possible Shang-Chi is there to destroy an entire world? We’ll have to wait and see.
Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18th.
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