Warning: This article contains SPOILERS forShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

The Eagles song "Hotel California" is a smarter fit for Shang-Chi & the Fable of the Ten Rings than viewers may initially realize. The MCU has a reputation for integrating popular culture into its blockbuster movies. The trend began with Iron Human being, who loved ACDC, and it even became a plot indicate in James Gunn'southGuardians of the Milky way movies - courtesy of Peter Quill's mix tapes.Shang-Chi lives up to this tradition in an amusing mode, even incorporating a couple of karaoke scenes where Shang-Chi and his all-time friend Katy sing together, but it prominently features one particular song: "Hotel California," by the Eagles.

This seems to be one of Katy'due south favorite songs, and she has a habit of panic-singing information technology in a unsafe situation in society to throw enemies off; apparently she sang it when she first met Shang-Chi a decade ago. The song even bookends the picture show, because it turns up in a karaoke session inShang-Chi's mid-credits scene, when Katy and Shang-Chi take Wong out for a night on the town. But why is this vocal so significant?

"Hotel California" works on multiple levels. Information technology'southward appropriate that Katy sang it when she first met Shang-Chi (going past the name Shaun), because - though she didn't know it - he had just arrived on U.S. soil. His showtime experience of life in San Francisco was of a would-be keen interrupted past Katy singing, "Welcome to the Hotel California," which seems amusingly appropriate. But the significance goes deeper than that, considering - though Katy probably doesn't know it - the message of the song is pretty dour. Every bit Don Henley explained when he wrote information technology, the vocal is about the loss of innocence and the toll of naiveté, and how someone who has checked in to the Hotel California tin never truly exit. Information technology parallels Shang-Chi'due south ain journey, the loss of childhood innocence after his mother'south death and his effort to exit the 10 Rings backside him. Shang-Chi has tried to "check out" of his family unit business, but he can never really be free of it.

Shang-Chi's post-credits scene throws a more positive spin on this, though, redeeming it. This scene is about establishing Shang-Chi's identify in the MCU's pantheon of superheroes, every bit he interacts with Wong, Bruce Banner, and Captain Marvel; Bruce makes this explicit when he welcomes Shang-Chi to what he calls "the circus." Shang-Chi has now "checked in" to a new life, as a Curiosity superhero, and he can never be the aforementioned again. Nor does he take any intention of trying to "check out" of this superhero lifestyle, instead welcoming it by bringing Wong into his onetime life for a karaoke session.

"Hotel California" fits with Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings  on several levels, only it is this final twist that truly makes it a satisfying song pick for the latest MCU blockbuster. A vocal that is actually quite bleak and cynical is flipped upside-down, becoming a hope to viewers that Shang-Chi is sticking around in the MCU, and that he will have a lasting impact on the franchise.

More: Shang-Chi Ending Explained: half-dozen Biggest Questions, Answered

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Thomas Bacon (4864 Articles Published)

Tom Bacon is one of Screen Rant'south staff writers, as well as a Peer Mentor for new writers and a fellow member of the Care Team, offering support and a listening ear to members of the Comics group. A lifelong fan of major franchises including Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Marvel, Tom is delighted his childhood is dorsum - and this fourth dimension information technology's cool. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon. A graduate of Border Hill University, Tom remains strongly connected with his alma mater as a volunteer chaplain. He's heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter volition swiftly learn he'due south into British politics too.

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