Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Despite a relatively small presence in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the Iron Gang was revealed as being responsible for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as fans know it. Incorporating the 1000+ year reign of Wenwu (Tony Leung), it was always expected that the installment would recontextualize Marvel's on-screen mythology. On that front, Shang-Chi didn't disappoint. As well as introducing a great new hero via Simu Liu's titular warrior, the movie visited new realms like Ta-Lo and unveiled how Wenwu's Ten Rings had shaped the timeline's history. He wasn't alone in that regard, however. As it turned out, a lot of things that had transpired in the MCU, so far, could be traced back to one single action by the Iron Gang.
The organization was actually a deep-cut reference for Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to make. In the comics, the Iron Gang was affiliated with Fu Manchu, the problematic character that served as Shang-Chi's father before he was understandably retconned from Marvel continuity. Over time, the Iron Gang was similarly ignored and largely forgotten. On the big screen, they marked one of the many, many enemies Wenwu had accumulated across his extremely long life. The animosity between them eventually led the Iron Gang to attack Wenwu's compound and murder his wife, Ying Li (Fala Chen). The moment was the reason Shang-Chi hid in America as Shaun and generally dictated the paths he, his father, and his sister, Xialing (Meng'er Zhang), would ultimately take in life. Looking even deeper, however, the impact of that moment actually echoed throughout the MCU as a whole.
For starters, Ying Li's death could be seen as the first domino leading directly to Iron Man's creation. After all, Wenwu had put aside his villainy, opting instead to build a family and a life of relative peace with Ying Li. The moment she died, however, Wenwu broke bad again with a literal vengeance. Based on Shang-Chi's age at the time, Ying Li died only a few years before the events of Iron Man. That would explain the public aggression of the MCU's Ten Rings back then, Wenwu going above and beyond to reestablish his empire after those lost years. Equally, it emphasized why the Ten Rings never just assassinated Tony Stark — with Wenwu singularly able to see the bigger picture and how Stark could bolster his renewed quest for power. As such, without the Iron Gang putting Wenwu back on that path, the contract would have gone elsewhere and Tony Stark likely just killed before ever suiting up as Iron Man.
From there, the dominoes would continue to fall exponentially. Without Iron Man, the Battle of New York would have ended far more tragically in The Avengers. Even more tragically, without Tony, The Avengers would have failed to defeat Thanos and restore half of the universe in Avengers: Endgame. Without the Iron Gang provoking Wenwu (a.k.a. The Real Mandarin) to resume his global domination, the entire landscape of the MCU would be completely different. That's all without accounting for the solo movie villains who would have thrived in Stark's absence. The MCU would also be short quite a few heroes. After all, without Iron Man, there would be no War Machine or Vision, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver might never have been created, and Spider-Man wouldn't have been promoted to an Avenger. And with the potential MCU ripples going on and on, that list would be just the beginning.
The moment actually tied into themes established by Loki and Marvel's What If...? Ying Li's death could easily be seen as an absolute fixed point among MCU events — not just for Shang-Chi and his family but countless others. It also highlighted how rich the tapestry weaved by He Who Remains was, with even the obscure Iron Gang profoundly affecting the flow of events with just one action. Furthermore, the tragedy helped to retroactively make Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings intrinsically important to the fabric of the entire MCU.
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