Spider-Man 4: Shang-Chi and Spider-Man’s History in Marvel Comics, Explained

Spiderman 4 is getting underway. After reports that Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton is in talks to helm the Marvel Studios-Sony Pictures production, speculation has begun to mount that the next installment of Tom Holland’s wall-crawler will feature a team-up with Simu Liu’s Master of Kung Fu (who last appeared in his own solo film in 2021). That would continue a trend for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has paired the webhead with co-stars Iron Man (in the 2017 film Spider-Man: Homecoming), Nick Fury (in 2019 Spider-Man: Far From Home), and Doctor Strange (2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home).

Shortly after his debut in the pages of 1973 Special Marvel Edition #15 by co-creators Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin, Shang-Chi first took on Spider-Man in 1974 Giant Spider-Man #2. The martial arts master was accused of crimes committed by his father, Zheng Zu (then known as Fu Manchu, based on the criminal mastermind he licensed from Sax Rohmer’s novels). Zheng Zu pitted the two heroes against each other under the false pretense that the other was the leader of a gang planning to destroy a power plant.

The hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, proved formidable despite Spider-Man’s strength, skill, and endurance, so the fight ended in a stalemate. Spider-Man and Shang-Chi called a truce upon realizing his father’s manipulations, and the pair joined forces to thwart the diabolical Doctor Fu Manchu (who Spider-Man mistakenly believed to be a fictional character).

Spidey and Shang-Chi crossed paths again in a two-part story with Nick Fury and Black Widow in the 1979 film. Marvel Collaboration #84-#85, in which the terrorist Viper—along with her bodyguard, the Silver Samurai, and the assassin Boomerang—plans to crash a SHIELD Heli-Carrier into the United States Capitol and destabilize the U.S. government.

After teaming up with Captain America and the Falcon in 1993 to defeat a gang of supervillains, including Spider-Man villains such as the Rhino, Shocker, Tarantula, Speed ​​Demon and Scorpion Captain America #413), Shang-Chi trained Spider-Man in “the Way of the Spiders” — spider-fighting — after the web-slinger lost his Spider-Sense (in 2011’s Amazing Spider-Man #664).

Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense was eventually restored after the Jackal infested Manhattan with genetically engineered bedbugs that spread Spidey powers with their bites, turning the borough into Spider-Island. Shang-Chi had his own spider-powers for a time (in the companion comic Spider-Island: Deadly Hands of Kung Fu) and joined forces with the Avengers and Iron Fist’s Immortal Weapons — Bride of Nine Spiders, Dog Brother, Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter, Fat Cobra, and Prince of Orphans — to defeat the Spider-Queen’s mutant army (in Amazing Spider-Man #672).

In 2021 Shang-Chi series by Gene Luen Yang and Dike Ruan, the titular hero took over as supreme commander of his father’s cult-like organization, the Five Weapons Society, with his half-sister, Zheng Esme. No longer needing to compensate for his lost Spider-Sense, Spider-Man admitted that he had stopped practicing the Way of the Spider, despite Shang-Chi advising him that their fighting style would only make his extrasensory abilities stronger. When the villain King Wild Man transformed Spider-Man into a Spider-Monster (in Shang-Chi #1) Brother Hand and his half-sister, Zheng Esme/Sister Dagger, were able to contain and heal his mutated form.

Most recently, Shang-Chi used the Society’s criminal power as a force for good when a city-wide gang war broke out (in Amazing Spider-Man: Gang War: First BattleAs the all-out war between New York’s crime families reached Chinatown, Shang-Chi, who controlled the Ten Rings, warned rival gangs led by Mister Negative and Lady Yulan that Chinatown was under the protection of the Five Weapons Society.

Shang-Chi assured Spider-Man that the Society “is not a crime family” (in 2023 Deadly Hands of Kung Fu: Gang Warfare #1), and in the final battle of the gang war, Spider-Man’s superhero team — consisting of Shang-Chi, Daredevil (Elektra), Luke Cage, Iron Fist, She-Hulk, and Spider-Woman — defeated the Madame Masque-led Maggia to end the Gang War event (in Amazing Spider-Man #44).

For more ComicBook Back Issues, read Spider-Man’s Weirdest Stories With the Sorcerer Supreme, Matt Murdock Defends Spider-Man and Peter Parker in Court, How Doctor Strange Solved Spider-Man’s Identity Crisis, The Death (and Return) of Spider-Man’s Aunt May, The Osborn Legacy: Green Goblin as Spider-Man’s Maniacal Mortal FoeAnd Spider-Man’s deadliest enemies are the Sinister Six.