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Shang-Chi and Katy’s relationship demonstrates that the MCU should be focusing more on friendships than romance.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, now in theaters.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the latest installment to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it follows the titular hero as he tries to stop his father, Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung) from destroying his mothers home, the magical village of Ta Lo. Accompanying Shang-Chi on his quest is his younger sister Xu Xialing (Meng’er Zhang) and his best friend Katy (Awkwafina), who helps form the strongest relationship in the entire film. In fact, Katy and Shang-Chi’s friendship demonstrates exactly why the MCU should be focusing on friendships instead of romantic relationships in the films.
After completing his first assassination mission under the orders of his father, Shang-Chi changed his name to “Shaun” and ran away to San Francisco, where he met and befriended Katy. She had no idea about Shaun’s true heritage or childhood prior to her being swept up in Xu Wenwu’s pursuit of Ta Lo, which returned Shang-Chi to the world he previously fled. Katy and Shaun became friends initially because Katy decided to step in between Shaun — the new kid at school — and a bully to protect him. At that point, Shang-Chi had already committed an assassination and years of vigorous fight training, meaning he didn’t need protecting, but Katy didn’t know that.
Then, when Katy joins Shang-Chi on his mission, not only does she learn more about her best friend, but she also has the opportunity to learn more about herself. By keeping the relationship between Shang-Chi and Katy platonic, there is room in the story for Katy to have a character arc of her own that isn’t completely defined by her relationship to Shang-Chi. Katy doesn’t become important to the plot because she is Shang-chi’s girlfriend — she becomes important because she decides she wants to help protect Ta Lo and finds a way to do so that has nothing to do with her friend.
From the very beginning, the MCU has done a great job with introducing dynamic, and meaningful friendships, starting in Iron Man with Tony Stark and Colonel James Rhodes. Then, of course, there is the friendship between Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers, which grew to include Sam Wilson in later films. These relationships are incredibly meaningful not only to strengthen the individual growths of these characters but also to create some of the most engaging onscreen chemistry in the entire franchise.
However, there are fewer friendships between men and women in the MCU, with more of those relationships being romantic in nature. Some notable exceptions are Nick Fury and Maria Hill and Natasha Romanov with Nick Fury, Clint Barton and Steve Rogers. But other female supporting characters in the MCU are limited by their role as the love interest. Characters like Betty Ross and Jane Foster didn’t have the same room to grow and develop outside of their relationships. Jane is finally getting the chance to grow and develop as a character when she becomes the God of Thunder in Thor: Love and Thunder, but she still is a Phase 1 character. If she had just been a friend or ally of Thor in the original film, maybe there would have been more opportunity to develop her character beyond the role of love interest before now.
The MCU should focus more on developing friendships between its characters regardless of gender and lean into the strength of the franchise, which is dynamic platonic relationships. These friendships are no less meaningful than romantic relationships, and they have the benefit of more easily allowing both characters to grow more completely over the course of a single film.
See for yourself the power of Shang-Chi and Katy’s friendship in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, now in theaters.
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