10 Alternate Endings To 2021 Movies You Almost Saw

10. Wenwu Survives - Shang-Chi & The Legend Of The Ten Rings

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings climaxes with Shang-Chi's (Simu Liu) father Wenwu (Tony Leung) being manipulated by the Dweller-in-Darkness into opening the Dark Gate that contains it, unleashing it upon the village of Ta Lo.

Shang-Chi ultimately ends up battling and defeating Wenwu but decides to spare him. Yet in a tragic twist, Wenwu is killed when the Dweller-in-Darkness consumes his soul while he sacrifices himself to protect his son.

But director and co-writer Destin Daniel Cretton confirmed shortly after the film's release that an earlier version of the script actually had Wenwu survive the final battle.

And while he didn't elaborate further on the implications of Wenwu being alive, it clearly would've created a totally different dynamic for the film's ending.

As for why Wenwu was killed? Cretton said that it felt like a "cheat" for the character to survive in their original version:

"Some things work and some things don't... We're constantly searching for the version of the story that feels most authentic to the characters... I mean, even though these characters are operating on a very operatic level, there's still things that you try that just feel like cheats. And [Wenwu surviving] was one of them."