#Abomination Is Confirmed for Shang-Chi, But Is He Really Fighting Wong?

A new Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings trailer arrived during the NBA finals last night, and with it comes the reveal that the movie will feature the return of the Abomination… but is that Wong he’s fighting? Back in 2008, Tim Roth played the Abomination opposite Edward Norton in The Incredible Hulk. Mark Ruffalo has since taken over the role of Bruce Banner from Norton, though it’s been announced that Roth will return as the Abomination on the upcoming She-Hulk series on Disney+.

Watch the brand-new trailer for Marvel Studios’ #ShangChi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and experience it only in theaters September 3. pic.twitter.com/PXQrZxXSyG

— Shang-Chi (@shangchi) June 25, 2021

As it turns out, fans won’t have to wait for She-Hulk next year to first see the Abomination’s return. The character appears in the new Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings trailer in some sort of fighting arena to take on a powerful opponent in front of a cheering audience. Some fans speculate that the other fighter is Benedict Wong’s Wong, and though that seems likely, that’s not officially confirmed. Meanwhile, there’s no mistaking that we’re looking at the Abomination, as the closed captioning on the YouTube video confirms that it’s him. It’s the first time we’re seeing him since The Incredible Hulk in 2008.

In The Incredible Hulk, Tim Roth portrayed Emil Blonsky, a Russian soldier who becomes the powerful Hulk-like monster called the Abomination after he’s injected with Bruce Banner’s blood. The Hulk nearly kills the Abomination in the end of the movie, but ultimately spares his life so the supervillain can be taken into custody. He has not been seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since, although we do know that he’ll be serving as a villain in She-Hulk next year. Ruffalo will also return as Bruce Banner for the Disney+ series.

This isn’t the first attempt Marvel had made towards getting the Abomination back in the MCU. In 2014, Roth revealed that he was even considered for a return in one of the Avengers movies, but Marvel ended up going in another direction. As explained by the actor, there was consideration of him playing the villain in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but as the title of the sequel would suggest, Ultron (James Spader) ended up becoming the chosen antagonist.

“They were going to do it. They did do that. They were thinking, in The Avengers 2 or something,” Roth told Crave Online at the time. “There was a movie we could do that at one point, but way back when. It just kind of got swept under the carpet I guess. That would be hilarious.”

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Shang-Chiand the Legend of the Ten Rings was written by David Callaham, Andrew Lanham, and Cretton. Based on the Marvel Comics character created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin, the movie stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, a skilled martial artist who’s forced to confront his history with the Ten Rings organization. Also starring are Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Michelle Yeoh, Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, Ronny Chieng, and Benedict Wong.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is set to be released in theaters on Sept. 3, 2021. A release date hasn’t yet been revealed for She-Hulk on Disney+, but the series is expected to hit the streaming platform sometime in 2022. The new trailer for Shang-Chi comes to us from Marvel Studios.