Shang-Chi: 21 WTF Moments
18. "Beef Or Vegetarian?"
Shang-Chi is a film that seems acutely aware of the potential for new MCU origin stories to end up feeling stale or repetitive, and once again makes fun of origin story tropes when Shang-Chi and Katy catch a flight to Macau.
After Katy insists that he can explain his troubled childhood to her on the plane ride, Shang-Chi begins a lengthy exposition dump flashback, and just as he mentions that his father trained him to become an assassin, the story is suddenly interrupted by the question, "Beef or vegetarian?"
We then violently cut to the interior of the plane to Macau, where an air stewardess is asking the pair what they'd like to eat during the flight.
In addition to amusingly making light of overly verbose expository backstories, it also interrupts Shang-Chi's story just before he can explain the first "assignment" his father Wenwu (Tony Leung) sent him on, as is later revealed to be a crucial piece of the narrative puzzle.
Oh, and to make it even funnier, the stewardess explains they're out of vegetarian meals - which they both ordered - so they'll have to settle for beef. Bummer.