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Shang-Chi has brought some of Marvel’s most horrifying monsters to the MCU, but Deadpool keeps them in line as their king in the Marvel Universe.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings, now in theaters.
Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings just brought some of Marvel’s most frightening creatures to life in the form of the Soul-Eaters. While these monsters are plenty menacing on screen, the monstrous, interdimensional terrors have a much deeper, weirder history in comics. Instead of being lorded over by any dragon-like Dweller-in-Darkness, they bow their heads to Marvel’s one true King of the Monsters, Deadpool.
As Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings reveals, the Soul-Eaters of the MCU are grotesque, winged beasts who act in service of the dreaded Dweller-In-Darkness, which makes a marked departure from their comic book origins. Introduced in 4’s Doctor Strange #2 by Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner, the Soul-Eaters are beings from the Sixth Dimension who are quite capable of doing just what their name implies. The most famous Soul-Eater, Devondra, even made her home inside of the Soul Stone until she was destroyed by Loki’s Cosmic Avengers. As incredible as that feat proved to be, the arrival of a group of Soul-Eater refugees on Earth was the catalyst for their most shocking turn.
After the magic-hating villain Imperator and his mechanized Empirikul army invaded their home dimension, a number of Soul-Eaters led by Spurrgog the Hell-Breather came to Earth in search of a new home. Initially, they took up residence inside of a young boy’s soul, but Doctor Strange eventually convinced them to infest the worst violent offenders in Ryker’s Island Prison. From there, the Soul-Eaters made their way to Staten Island, where they are now the mostly loyal subjects of none other than the Merc with a Mouth.
In 2020, Deadpool #1 by Kelly Thompson and Chris Bachalo saw Staten Island transformed into Monster Island. The Monster King had somehow claimed Staten Island as its new kingdom overnight, and it fell on famed monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone to deal with the problem. Unfortunately, she refused the job offer, instead choosing to pass it along to Deadpool to carry out. Deadpool eventually killed the Monster King and free Staten from his tyrannical rule. But by the laws of Monster Island, Deadpool also became the new rightful King of Monsters. Not only that, but he chose to maintain his kingdom on the former Staten Island, where he has ruled rather successfully.
Knowing that the most unhinged antihero in the Marvel Universe has a literal kingdom of zombies, devils, and sentient blobs at his command is a less than comforting thought, and the fact that there are Soul-Eaters included among those ranks doesn’t make it any less unsettling.
Despite all that, Deadpool has managed to keep his grotesque, carnivorous subjects in line for the most part. Assuming he can keep up, Wade Wilson might very well be the monster whisperer that the Marvel Universe has always needed. But in the meantime, Deadpool is the only person separating the Soul-Eaters from the rest of the Marvel Universe.
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