As Shang-Chi just learned, the Marvel Universe has a new kind of undead warrior, and it’s already infected a major MCU character.
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.
Marvel Zombies is one of the most popular horror series that has graced alternate iterations of the Marvel Universe since it first debuted in 2005’s Ultimate Fantastic Four #21 by Mark Millar, Greg Land and Matt Ryan. Similar to the type of undead popularized by filmmaker George A. Romero, the Marvel Zombies are decaying versions of iconic superheroes and villains with an insatiable hunger for human flesh, consuming the majority of their worlds’ populations in a matter of days. As Shang-Chi’s battle against his villainous sister Shi-Hua escalates, he encounters a much different kind of undead in the Marvel Universe, a jiangshi.
After being betrayed by Shi-Hua when the two long-lost siblings reunited, Shang-Chi had endured several wounds from poisoned daggers before escaping. While the bleeding has stopped, the flesh around the wounds themselves are steadily becoming necrotized — and the infection is spreading. As Shang-Chi examines this disturbing development, he realizes that he is gradually being transformed into a jiangshi, the closest Chinese analog to vampires and zombies, as he is taunted by a recurring vision of his deceased father Zheng Zhu.
Literally translated from Chinese as “stiff corpse,” jiangshi share many similarities with vampires and zombies as undead monsters that rise from the grave every night to consume the life force of the living. Often depicted wearing the official uniform of the Qing Dynasty, jiangshi share many of the same weaknesses as vampires, including fire, daylight and weapons made from peach wood, due to the latter’s connection to the five fengshui elements. As indicated by their name, the stiffness in their bodies caused by rigor mortis after death causes them normally to hop towards their victims with their arms outstretched. One of the more familiar jiangshi to western audiences is Hsien-Ko from Capcom’s Darkstalkers video game series.