The Marvel Cinematic Universe has an employment problem. A number of its former evil organizations -- from Hydra to AIM -- have been put out of business, leading to numerous highly skilled and dangerous figures seeking jobs. All kidding aside, the notion has cropped up more than once in the MCU, notably with Mysterio and his minions in Spider-Man: Far From Home, who turned out to be disgruntled ex-employees of Tony Stark.
Reddit user Electrical-Adagio-88 has posited a new theory that addresses the problem, at least for one particular group. Taskmaster and the Black Widows -- the remnants of the organization that Natasha and Yelena belonged to and destroyed during the events of Black Widow -- have popped up surprisingly often as freelance assassins and mercenaries. According to the theory, they’re going to find a new home and purpose with the Ten Rings.
The Ten Rings organization stretches back to the origins of the MCU, abducting Tony Stark from the battlefield during the events of the original Iron Man. The group remained murky and mysterious even through Iron Man 3 when its supposed leader, the Mandarin, turned out to be drug-addled actor Trevor Slattery. It took Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to reveal the true nature of the organization, actually controlled for thousands of years by Xu Wenwu. That movie ended with Wenwu defeated and his daughter Xialing taking over the Ten Rings.
That’s where the theory picks up. Xialing was forbidden from joining the organization by her father, and she wasn't allowed to train with her brother or the other men. It left her bitter and estranged, and her journey in Shang-Chi entailed healing those wounds. She ended the film with the Ten Rings under her control and women training with the men for the first time. It’s suggested that she will enact further reforms as well, though their nature – and the purpose of the new Ten Rings – remain a mystery.
The Red Room organization from Black Widow is in an eerily similar position. While the Ten Rings forbade women to join, the Red Room used only women, brainwashed into absolute obedience and controlled in part by exposure to certain chemicals. Natasha and Yelena used the Red Dust to free the Widows from their conditioning, and with the Red Room’s leader General Dreykov dealt with, they began finding and releasing all of the organization’s former pawns. That work continued even after Natasha died in Avengers: Endgame.
The theory convincingly argues that Black Widow's released assassins -- including Taskmaster -- could find a new haven in Xialing’s Ten Rings. Not only can they quickly get up to speed on the physical requirements, but the ostensibly more principled Ten Rings could find a new purpose for them. There’s even an Easter egg in Shang-Chi suggesting that such an alliance may have already begun: the underground fighting ring that Xialing ran in the film included at least one former Black Widow among the combatants. It’s no stretch to think that many of them would gravitate toward the Ten Rings as a matter of course.
Doing so helps consolidate the rapidly expanding ranks of super-powered organizations in the MCU, as well as maintaining one of its most important features: organically developing a living history. Xialing and Taskmaster make natural allies, and a Ten Rings bolstered by Black Widows could be a major player in everything from the upcoming Secret Invasion to further incursions from the multiverse. It also facilitates more interesting crossovers, as rivals and foes of both organizations now have something new to think about. Perhaps most importantly, it would be cool to see the two leaders of these organizations team up, whether they're heroes, villains or something in between.