WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Shang-Chi #4, by Gene Luen Yang, Dike Ruan, Philip Tan, Sebastian Cheng and VC's Travis Lanham, on sale now.
As Shang-Chi has had to contend with the return of his long-lost sister Shi-Hua, his villainous father Zheng Zhu's secret role in Chinese history has been steadily revealed as Shi-Hua tries to take over his criminal syndicate. Founding a team of martial arts known as the Five Weapons Society, this organization sought to defend China from foreign influence before deciding to expand its reach beyond the East Asian country's borders at the start of the 20th century.
But as British invaders moved to forcibly expand their influence into China in 1860, Shang-Chi #2 revealed that they enlisted the aid of a prominent supervillain from the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Dormammu.
With Shang-Chi suffering from wounds Shi-Hua inflicted on him and gradually turning him into an undead jiangshi, the martial arts superhero visits the grave of his uncle Zheng Yi. Shang-Chi was led to believe that Zheng Zhu murdered his own brother to absorb his power and gain immortality after being frustrated by the perception that Zheng Yi was holding him back. Offering his uncle's grave an offering of food as per Chinese tradition. Zheng Yi's ghost gratefully is summoned and tells Shang-Chi the truth about his 19th-century demise and the hidden history of Dormammu's invasion of China.
The British flooded China with opium in an effort to taking control of the country through the narcotics trade/ When the Chinese understandably resist, Great Britain declares war. As the Five Weapons Society, led by Zheng Zhu and Zheng Yi, is able to hold off the conventional troops, the invaders turn to magical means to turn the tide of battle. Baron Harkness, the nefarious relative of Scarlet Witch's eventual mentor Agatha Harkness, opens a portal to the Dark Dimension, summoning Dormammu and imploring the fiery foe in dispatching an army of Mindless Ones to provide much-needed reinforcements to the invaders and overwhelm the Five Weapons Society.
In a twist to Zheng Zhu's lies about his own fratricide and the extent of his villainy, Shang-Chi's father offers to sacrifice himself to make Zheng Yi immortal and empowered through his life force. Instead, Zheng Yi recognizes that China needs Zheng Zhu's strength and leadership and sacrifices himself as he dives into battle against Dormammu and the Mindless Ones as Zheng Zhu watches helplessly. Grief-stricken by his brother's sacrifice, the magically upgraded Zheng Zhu takes out his fury on Baron Harkness in a fiery display before presumably expanding his criminal empire after driving the British out of Shanghai, at least for a time, as he had lied to his son for years about the origins of his immortality and magical powers.
While Shang-Chi had spent his whole life believing his father Zheng Zhu was a thoroughly despicable villain all along, the ghost of Zheng Yi's story reveals that Zheng Zhu was perhaps not as evil as Shang-Chi once thought in the distant past. The Five Weapons Society proved themselves against an iconic Marvel supervillain before, defeating the fiery Fin Fang Foom when the extraterrestrial dragon menaced China centuries ago. The magical martial artists were able to hold their own against another massive supervillain that attempted to invade China but at a much steeper cost.
With his secret family history reframing the legacy of his father and his villainous half-sister, Zheng Zhu's past may be instrumental in saving Shang-Chi's future.