There are so many things to love and appreciate about the latest Marvel masterpiece SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS. But the Abomination isn’t one of them. Oh, he’s in there, just as the trailer promised. He’s fighting Wong, Doctor Strange’s sidekick, in what looks to be a work. A “work”, for those who aren’t marks (i.e. fans) of professional wrestling, is a scripted fight. An entertainment. The two “opponents” aim is to make the fight look good, but they’re working together to accomplish it. That appears to be what Wong and the Abomination are doing. Right up until the fight is ended by Wong using his magic skills to make Abomination knock himself out.
Abomination’s cameo is short even by cameo standards. He’s only onscreen for a matter of seconds. This doesn’t impact the movie in any way, since Abomination being there has no bearing on the plot. But it’s a tad disappointing for those of us who are Abomination marks. (And you remember what a “mark” is, right? I mean, I just told you.)
The big guy is onscreen long enough, though, for us to tell that he looks a little different than the last time we saw him, duking it out with the Hulk in THE INCREDIBLE HULK. He’s more reptilian now, looks more like the character does in the comics, so it would seem that he has been further mutating since he lost that big fight with the Hulk.
I enjoyed the fight, and the movie.
I wish it had been longer. (The fight, that is.)