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Shang-Chi is headed to one of the most incredible places in the Marvel Universe, and his journey might bring a classic pantheon of powerful gods back into the spotlight.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Shang-Chi #8, available now from Marvel.
The more that Shang-Chi uncovers about his mysterious past, the more dire his present seems to become. Shang-Chi has found some closure in bringing his family back together under the roof of the Five Weapons Society, yet doing so has also brought an onslaught of various threats straight to their door. Now the battle against his greatest enemies is about to send the Master of Kung Fu to one of the most fantastical places in the entire Marvel Universe, and Ta Lo might just be bringing Zheng Zu’s entire legacy to its ultimate end.
The Five Weapons Society has been attacked by Shang-Chi’s greatest enemies. Despite his family sticking by his side, the Master of Kung Fu couldn’t stop his mother, Jiang Li, from being taken by his grandfather, Chieftain Xin. As Jiang Li explained, she and her father were torn apart when she left her ancestral home of Qilin Island to begin a new life with Shang-Chi’s father, Zheng Zu. It wasn’t just that Jiang Li abandoned her home which enraged Chieftain Xin, however, but the fact that she hadn’t seen Zheng Zu’s true intentions behind journeying there sooner. Now, Shang-Chi is racing to once again rescue his mother. Furthermore, he’s about to discover why Qilin Island is so important, as well as the terrifying wonders it holds as the bridge to the mythical Ta Lo.
First glimpsed in the pages of 1980’s Thor #301 by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, and Keith Pollard, the fantastical land of Ta Lo is one of Marvel’s God Realms, a pocket dimension adjacent our own that serves as home to one of Earth’s many pantheons. Ta Lo specifically is home to the Xian, an immortal and impossibly powerful race of Chinese gods, as well as a myriad of other mythical beings and their humanoid allies. For centuries, the Qilin Riders under Chieftain Xin’s command have safeguarded the entrance to Ta Lo on Qilin Island, and now that is precisely where Shang-Chi’s latest enemy is headed. Unfortunately for everyone involved, there is no telling how the Xian will receive any of them should Shang-Chi’s journey reach that far.
Ta Lo played an important role in resurrecting the Asgardians when Thor called upon the various pantheons for help. In fact, it was the Xian known as Yu Huang who stood up for Thor’s heroic interventions on Earth, directly in opposition to the other God Heads during 2003’s Thor #61 by Dan Jurgens and Ben Lai. Though the Qilin Riders protect Ta Lo from the human realm, the Xian who rule over Ta Lo are neither as callous nor cruel as Chieftain Xin, and their blessing might be all Shang-Chi needs to overcome this latest threat.
If Shang-Chi does make the journey all the way to Ta Lo, it could be the perfect opportunity for him to rewrite the dark legacy he has been working so hard to escape. Chieftain Xin and the Qilin Riders have stood opposed to the Five Weapons Society for decades, yet that feud itself is rooted in the history of the deceased. Should the Xian see Shang-Chi’s heroics for what they really are, he won’t have just gained a host of powerful new allies, he will have opened the door for Ta Lo to step back into the spotlight of the Marvel Universe after more than four decades.
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