A Tragic Shang-Chi Moment Wasn't So Bad After All - Theory Explained
In Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, it appears there's a tragic moment that happens when a villain destroys a woman's computer, but the scene may not be so bad after all. In Shang-Chi, Simu Liu's titular character tries to hide from his past, laying low in San Francisco to avoid his supervillain father, Wenwu (Tony Leung). However, Wenwu eventually has his Ten Rings terrorist organization attack his son on a bus, and Shang-Chi believes his sister could be next. Wenwu later reveals he coordinated his attacks to bring the family together to save their mother, Ying Li (Fala Chen), who Wenwu thinks is a prisoner. However, Ying Li died years before, so Shang-Chi isn't buying his father's plans.
Besides Simu Liu, Shang-Chi brings several notable actors to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Awkwafina's Katy is Shang-Chi's best friend, initially acting as a comedic sidekick before holding her own in the major battle in the end. And Meng'er Zhang portrays Xialing, Shang-Chi's estranged sister who ultimately succeeds her father as the leader of the Ten Rings. The film includes several surprise MCU returns as well. Wong (Benedict Wong) appears in a scene to go up against Abomination (Tim Roth), and Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) returns to make up for playing the fake Mandarin in Iron Man 3.
A woman's laptop gets destroyed on a bus during Shang-Chi, but the moment might not be so bad after all. During Shang-Chi's iconic bus scene, which has the martial arts master fighting against his father's goons, Shang-Chi momentarily takes a woman's laptop to block oncoming attacks. Unfortunately, a villain slices the computer in half. And to make matters worse, the woman, a.k.a. Yuchen (Stella Ye), was apparently doing a research paper on the laptop moments before. While it seems like all of Yuchen's work was lost when Razor Fist (Florian Munteanu) cut her laptop, one theory (via TikTok) claims the scene wasn't as bad as everyone thought. According to the TikToker, Yuchen was using an HP EliteBook Folio 9470m laptop, which is a machine that doesn't have its hard drive centered. If that's the case, her work likely wasn't lost when Razor Fist sliced the computer in half. Since the hard drive isn't centered, it wouldn't be damaged.
The revelation should be a stress reliever for Marvel fans. The sliced laptop is an unexpectedly tragic moment in the bus scene. After all, Yuchen was simply trying to do a research paper during her commute, and a conflict broke out that she had nothing to do with. Fortunately, the Shang-Chi theory is a promising insight for Yuchen's academic future. Razor Fist's blade, which glows red hot, is still concerning. However, if the heat from the blade didn't damage the hard drive and the laptop was sliced perfectly in half, there's a chance Yuchen could recover her paper.
Even if Razor Fist damaged the hard drive, it's possible that Yuchen didn't lose too much. Katy claims Yuchen is working on a research paper, but she doesn't genuinely know what Yuchen is writing. It could be something far less important. Additionally, Yuchen isn't far down the page when she's typing on the computer, so it's possible she wasn't far into her work in the first place. Yuchen still needs a new laptop in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, but at least a man with a sword for a hand didn't kill her entire academic career.