WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Shang-Chi #3, by Gene Luen Yang, Dike Ruan, Philip Tan, Sebastian Cheng and VC's Travis Lanham, on sale now.
If there's one supervillain that has loomed large menacingly over Shang-Chi, even after his death, it's the martial arts superhero's father Zheng Zhu. An expert fighter in his own right, Zheng Zhu survived for centuries through his mastery of dark magic while steadily building an international crime syndicate whose legacy persisted after he died at the hands of his son and the Secret Avengers. And as Shang-Chi continues to battle his family, now through his villainous sister Shi-Hua, flashbacks reveal how Zheng Zhu broke bad and expanded his criminal empire beyond China.
Previous flashbacks revealed that Zheng Zhu and his brother Zheng Yi came to power centuries ago after using their prodigious martial arts skills and magical abilities to protect their homeland from the extraterrestrial dragon Fin Fang Foom. The latest flashback jumps ahead to the year 1900 as the Chinese pushed back against foreign powers that had forcibly made in-roads in their attempts to colonize and industrialize China in a conflict that was known locally as the Eight Nations Invasion and in the Western world as the Boxer Rebellion. Zheng Zhu leads his Five Weapons Society against the invaders only to learn that the House of the Deadly Sabre has fallen to the foreigners.
As Zheng Zhu leads his commanders to the fallen house and reprimands his commander for not properly preparing his subordinates for such an assault, the hapless lieutenant begs for forgiveness and mercy for his failure. Zheng Zhu lets the Sabre commander in on an old secret: Zheng Yi had similarly been weak and, rather than being held back, Zheng Zhu murdered his own brother and added his spirit energy to his own. Realizing that China couldn't remain isolated from the rest of the world any longer, Zheng Zhu decided to spread out the Five Weapons Society to different secret bases around the globe, maintaining his headquarters in China while establishing new strongholds in England, Japan, Russia, and France.
Decades later after learning the extent of his father's villainy, Shang-Chi had systematically dismantled much of Zheng Zhu's international crime syndicate before his final showdown with the ancient enemy. And while Zheng Zhu has evidently been dead for some time, the villain's return from the grave has been teased as undead visions of his father have plagued Shang-Chi after a recent betrayal at the hands of his long-lost sister Shi-Hua, who now leads the Five Weapons Society in her father's absence. And with the Five Weapons' base infiltrated in Paris, Shang-Chi faces his father's global legacy as his conflict with his sister intensifies.
Originally hailed as a hero for China after defeating a fearsome dragon, Zheng Zhu turned on his own brother and added his power to his own. This cruelty and an insatiable thirst for power have only increased over time and, despite facing a costly setback during the Boxer Rebellion, decided to expand his reach beyond Chinese borders. It took his son to overthrow him and seemingly topple his empire but, like Zheng Zhu himself, the Five Weapons Society has continued to operate from the shadows under new leadership as Shang-Chi begins to ponder if he will ever truly be free from his father's influence. And with several Five Weapons bases established after the Boxer Rebellion still active, Shang-Chi's international journey has only just begun.