The newest trailer for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings surprised its viewers with the reappearance of Emil Blonsky, aka the Abomination. The Hulk enemy hasn't been seen since 2008's The Incredible Hulk. Before the trailer, he was believed to be incarcerated for his rampage in the film. However, the new trailer shows him free and looking more comic accurate than ever before with his classic fish fin ears. Still, there is a possibility that the Abomination shown in the Shang-Chi trailer isn't the one from The Incredible Hulk.

One reason that this Abomination may not be the same one that fought Hulk in Harlem has to do with his new appearance. Like the Hulk, the Abomination was born from gamma radiation after Samuel Sterns injected Blonsky with Bruce Banner's blood. Over the years, the Hulk never changed his appearance or mutated, so it could stand to reason that the Abomination shouldn't alter his appearance either. However, the answer to this change may lie in the events still unfolding in Loki.

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Abomination in Shang Chi

In the Disney+ series, the Time Variance Authority confirms that multiple variants of a person exist. Those variants could lead to an explosion of timelines that would bring about another multiverse. In Season 2, Episode 2, "The Variant," the Sacred Timeline is bombed with reset charges that create multiple branches, causing a multiversal catastrophe. While the end result of this attack has yet to be seen, it opens a window for variants to appear at random points in time. One variant could be a more comic-accurate representation of the Abomination, hence why he is cage fighting instead of in custody.

The comics have also introduced various versions of the character, including the female Abominatrix and the Teen Abomination. One of the more recent versions of the character comes from Al Ewing and Joe Bennett's The Immortal Hulk series. To capture the Hulk, General Reginald Fortean takes the remains of the Abomination and combines it with the body of Rick Jones. This new Abomination acts as a suit that can spew radioactive acid while fighting the Hulk.

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The Frankenstein creation is later controlled by Fortean, whose obsession with the Hulk becomes so unhealthy that he transforms his own body to stop him. The Abomination's multiple versions prove that it doesn't have to be Blonsky to be considered the Abomination. While incarcerated, Ross could've used Blonsky as a way to create another Abomination that he believes could be controlled more easily, whether as a clone or an experiment.

The Abomination's return was easily one of the biggest highlights of Shang-Chi's trailer and shows how Marvel Studios continues to take notice of all loose ends in this decade-long franchise. However, his change in appearance also brings into question the possibility that this Abomination is a variant born from the timeline bombing in Loki. However, he could also be an homage to the many comic versions of the character and show how much the universe has grown since The Blip.

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Daniel Callaham, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tony Leung as Wenwu/The Mandarin, Awkwafina as Katy, Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, Meng'er Zhang as Xialing, Ronny Chieng as Jon Jon, Fala Chen as Jiang Li and Florian Munteanu as Razor Fist. The film arrives in theaters Sept. 3.

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