Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will introduce a brand new hero into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that doesn't mean that the movie doesn't also include a few familiar faces as well. The trailer for the movie surprised a lot of people when it revealed that Abomination, the massive creature that Bruce Banner fought at the end of The Incredible Hulk, would be returning. He was spotted in a scene that showed him in a cage fight against Doctor Strange's friend Wong.
Abomination, and the man he was before he transformed, was played in The Incredible Hulk by actor Tim Roth, but since Abomination is entirely a CGI creation, there wasn't necessarily a need for the actor to come back to reprise the role. And yet, that's exactly what happened. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings producer Jonathan Schwartz recently spoke with The Direct and confirmed that Roth did come back to "voice" the character, though it's not like he had that much to say. According to Schwartz...
Roth did some vocalization for us... he certainly was part of that process.
As with the classic version of Hulk, Abomination doesn't exactly speak. He mostly just yells and grunts and maybe makes simple vocalizations in an attempt to make words. Really, anybody could have done that for Abomination in Shang-Chi, but Tim Roth was the one who brought the character to life, so Marvel Studios did go back to him to provide the sounds necessary to reflect Abomination in a cage fight.
While The Incredible Hulk has been a somewhat forgotten installment of the MCU, largely due to the fact that the role of Bruce Banner was recast for The Avengers, we've seen other characters, like William Hurt's "Thunderbolt" Ross, return for more than one movie since then. Is the return of Abomination and Tim Roth part of new plans for the character going forward? Apparently so. It seems the decision to put Abomination in the fight was made by picking who would be the most interesting or fun character from among those that have a future in the MCU. Schwartz continues...
There will be more of Abomination to come, so more of that story to be told. With regards to Shang-Chi, it sort of came down to who would be the coolest character for this moment? Who do we want to see in that ring? And then understanding who would make sense for whatever ongoing stories they have going on out there in the bigger universe.
So it looks like we'll be seeing Abomination again down the road. Exactly why or how or what it all means is still very much a question. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings does give us some hints of what may be to come, and of course, with the multiverse in play, literally anything is possible.
