Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has been playing in theaters for a couple of weeks, and Marvel Studios has slowly begun to reveal more of the MCU adventure's secrets. Now, concept artist Jarad Marantz has shared his design for a creature who turned out to be the real villain of the movie, the monstrous Dweller in Darkness.
This dragon-like beast could be glimpsed in some of the later TV spots, but this marks our best look yet at the evil soul-sucker. In his post, Marantz reveals that Marvel usually asks him to dial-back his scarier designs a little, so he was surprised that this "terrifying" take on the Dweller in Darkness was left untouched.
"My favorite elements of the design are the many tales/tendrils coming off of his back and wings. I knew that the creature would be too large to have any real interaction with the human characters if he didn’t have something that he could actually used to fight them. I was looking at a lot of Chinese Kites for inspiration there, trying to tie in some cultural element to the design."
Towards the end of Shang-Chi, it's revealed that this demonic dragon has been posing as Wenwu's late wife in order to lure the warlord to the mystical land of Ta Lo and trick him into using the power of the ten rings to set him and his minions free. The Dweller does manage to escape, but the Master of Martial arts then uses the rings to destroy him and avert the threat to his mother's people.
What did you guys make of the Dweller in Darkness? Let us know in the comments down below.