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.
Plenty of characters in the Marvel Universe have unhappy home lives but none perhaps as corrosively toxic as Shang-Chi, Marvel's resident Master of Kung Fu. Since birth, Shang-Chi grew up under the murderous tutelage of his father Zheng Zhu, an immortal, villainous mastermind who ran a vast criminal empire that spanned the entire globe. And beyond his dealings with his father, Shang-Chi has had not one, but two evil half-sisters to contend with, carrying their father's sinister legacy even after Zheng Zhu finally perished. And as Shang-Chi comes out of his self-imposed retirement to take on his family's latest twisted plot, the martial arts superhero finally admits he's hit his personal breaking point.
After enduring a surprise attack from his long-lost sister Shi-Hua, Shang-Chi discovered his magical wounds were gradually transforming him into an undead jiangshi. While searching for a means to both thwart Shi-Hua as she asserted control over the Five Weapons Society and cure Shang-Chi from his insidious curse, the superhero comes across the grave of his uncle Zheng Yi. Presenting a traditional offering of food as a tribute to his fallen ancestor, Shang-Chi successfully raises the ghost of Zheng Yi. Thanking his nephew for such a much-appreciated offering, Zheng Yi notices Shang-Chi's wounds and asks him what his greatest wish is after reconnecting with his family member.
For Shang-Chi, the thing that he wants the most isn't Shi-Hua and the Five Weapons Society being defeated or even himself being cured of the jiangshi curse that is progressively taking over his body. Instead, Shang-Chi just simply wants to be free and clear of his family once and for all. Given all the pain that Zheng Zhu and his ilk have caused Shang-Chi over the years, this is completely understandable. Zheng Zhu had raised Shang-Chi to be a hardened martial arts assassin, tasking him with killing his enemies abroad when Shang-Chi left China for the first time. After learning how despicable his father truly was, Shang-Chi spent much of his life systematically dismantling Zheng Zhu's criminal empire leading to the crime lord's eventual death.
While Shang-Chi retired following his father's death to become a fisherman at a remote coastal village, finally free of Zheng Zhu's legacy, Shang-Chi was dragged back into the superhero life before too long. An undead Zheng Zhu rose from the grave intent on using his son's life force to complete his resurrection, only for Shang-Chi and the Secret Avengers to team up and destroy the villain seemingly for good. And while Shi-Hua had been one of Shang-Chi's few sources of comfort as a child under his father's cruel upbringing, Shang-Chi's latest attempt at a peaceful life as an unassuming baker in San Francisco's Chinatown was disrupted by his half-sister breaking bad and targeting him after taking control of the Five Weapons Society for herself.
Shang-Chi's confession to his uncle's ghost is a rare moment of emotional vulnerability for the normally stoic martial arts superhero. While Zheng Yi provides his nephew with a story revealing Zheng Zhu wasn't quite as evil as his son believed, the martial artist still finds himself unable to escape the more sinister elements of his family's shadow. Shang-Chi is a man that strove to atone not for his own actions under his father's influence but for his entire family. And as Shang-Chi finds himself on a collision course with his sister, the martial artist really just wants to be free to strike out on his own for once in his life.