Lord Shen

Lord Shen is the main antagonist of the DreamWorks animated Kung Fu Panda franchise.

He was voiced by Gary Oldman, who also played Ruber in Quest for Camelot.

Roles[]

He serves as one of the two unseen overarching antagonists (alongside Ke-Pa) of DreamWorks' sixteenth full-length animated feature film Kung Fu Panda, the main antagonist of DreamWorks' twenty-second full-length animated feature film Kung Fu Panda 2, the posthumous overarching antagonist of the Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness episode ''Enter the Dragon'', one of the three unseen overarching antagonists (alongside Tai Lung and Ke-Pa) of its 2015 short film Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll, one of the two posthumous overarching antagonists (alongside Ke-Pa) of DreamWorks' thirty-second full-length animated feature film Kung Fu Panda 3 and one of the three overreaching antagonists (alongside Tai Lung and Kai the Collector) of DreamWorks' 47th full-length animated film Kung Fu Panda 4.

History[]

Kung Fu Panda 2[]

When Shen was ready to become the next peacock ruler of Gongmen City, the Soothsayer goat gave a prophecy to his parents that he would eventually be defeated by a warrior of black and white, but only if he was to continue pursuing his path of using his father's art of fireworks for warfare to take control of China. Shen hears about this while eavesdropping on them, but rather than rethinking over his goals to put in a better destiny for himself, Shen instead decides to avert the prophecy by leading his wolf gang to massacre a nearby village of pandas.

After the massacre was complete, Shen returns back to his palace with pride but is distraught to see that his family is horrified and disgusted by what he has done. Lord Shen's father angrily considered him to be a disgrace to their family name and sentences him and his wolf gang to exile as punishment for slaughtering the pandas. Believing that his parents hated him and feeling he did so as self-defense to further his goals, Shen angrily swore that he will return and reclaim what's rightfully his. Following Shen's exile, his family became very depressed during their rule and later died out of grief, giving their power to the Gongmen Kung Fu Council.

During his 20 years in exile, deep in the mountains, Shen's wolves worked tirelessly to complete their master's ultimate weapon: a cannon that would bring an end to the use of Kung Fu. When Boss Wolf informed him that they had run out of metal to use as material, Shen ordered him to attack the farthest villages and steal all the metal they could find. While he and a group of wolves set out to do so, Shen decided that it was time to move forward with his plans.

Once two decades have passed, Shen took back the control of the Gongmen City by force while using his new, powerful weapon: A cannon. With it, he killed the senior Master Thundering Rhino, imprisoned the other Kung Fu Masters, Ox and Croc, by threatening to use the cannon against the city and took back his palace, plotting to spread his power. It was then that Po, Shifu, and the Furious Five learned of Lord Shen's treachery and the threat of his weapon, realizing it could bring about a new style of warfare, which could mean the end of Kung Fu.

With the Council out of the way, Shen began to ransack the tower, even tossing his father's throne out the window and replacing it with his cannon (despite stating his fond memories of the throne). He then questioned the Soothsayer about his future, but she informed him that nothing had changed; he would still be defeated by "a warrior of black and white". Shen declared this to be impossible, but was quickly proven wrong when Boss Wolf returned, informing him that he had battled a panda whom, he commented, "fought like a demon". Shen, furious at this news yet determined to keep his cool, ordered Boss Wolf to bring the panda to him so he could kill Po himself and prove the Soothsayer wrong.

Later, when the panda, Po Shan, was brought before him alongside the Furious Five in handcuffs, Shen was taken aback by Po's casual behavior of not being intimidated by him or the situation. Much to the Soothsayer's surprise and Shen's amusement, it soon became clear that Po was unaware of the massacre of the pandas, and of Shen's role in it. He laughed and taunted him about his ignorance, and then ordered the Wolf Boss to fire the cannon at Po and the Five. However, Mantis quickly extinguished the fuse and knocked Boss Wolf out, which bought Viper enough time to pick the lock on Tigress' cuffs. Once they were free, the Five attacked, and Tigress and Mantis destroyed Shen's cannon.

Po lunged at Shen, but upon seeing the marks on Shen's tail feathers, was struck with a memory of his past, and realized that Shen was there the night he lost his biological parents. Shen only confirmed this with satisfaction and made use of the opportunity to escape to the Fireworks Factory, where he had several more cannons waiting. He ordered his warriors to open fire and bring the tower down with Po and the Five inside. Despite this, they managed to escape as the building collapsed.

After the following battle, Shen escapes to his cannon factory, out of the palace, and Po and the Furious Five barely manage to escape. Shen then proceeds with his plan to begin his assault on China using his cannons and expanding his empire, declaring the beginning of "the Year of the Peacock".

Shen later gloated to the Soothsayer that she was wrong about Po since the panda had failed to defeat him. But she only criticized Shen for destroying his ancestral home. She asked Shen if conquering China would finally satisfy him. Shen is clearly shocked, having never considered what he'll do after he succeeds in conquering China, but is quick to brush off his doubt, snarkily replying "It's a start. I might also convert the basement into a dungeon." When arguing with him failed to change his mind, the Soothsayer tried to reason with Shen, stating that his destruction will never bring him satisfaction and begged him to stop so his parents could rest in peace. Shen insisted that his parents had hated and wronged him, but she said that they had loved him so much that they died of grief. His cold response to this news made it very clear to the Soothsayer that he was determined to follow the path of destruction. Shen then ordered his guards to set her free. Deeply saddened, the Soothsayer told him goodbye and wished him happiness as she left. Shen does not watch her leave.

Meanwhile, the Furious Five tried to blow up the factory with the explosives while keeping Po back at the Gongmen city prison, along with Croc and Storming Ox (who was starting to show weakness from discovering the truth of his family). However, Po sneaks into the factory to confront Shen and learn more about his past, inadvertently interfering with the Five's plan. Shen, taking Po's weakness by lying that Po's parents hated him and abandoned him, manages to shoot the panda with his cannon; sending Po out of the factory and into the river. Confident that the Panda was dead, the wicked peacock then orders his wolves to capture the Five and prepare his armada.

Po is found and healed by the Soothsayer, who helps him attain inner peace and return to face Lord Shen again as he begins his assault. It was then Po realized his father defended him against the wolves from killing him, and his mother sacrificed herself to save him from Shen's wrath.

Shen has the Furious Five chained up and suspended above his ships as they sailed out of the city. But much to his shock and rage, Master Po comes back and tries to rescue his friends and defeat Shen once and for all. Shen orders his gunners to blast him, but Po nimbly moves along the rooftops, preventing them from getting a clear shot, and then jumps onto the ships to engage Shen's army, now that they couldn't fire without hitting their own men. Lord Shen could do nothing but watch as Po freed the Furious Five and joined forces with Masters Storming Ox, Croc and Shifu and a tremendous battle ensued and the canal was eventually blocked just before the harbor, preventing the armada from progressing.

Losing his patience (as well as a huge amount of his sanity), Shen orders Boss Wolf to to fire the cannon at the blockage, not even caring their own soldiers would be killed in the blast. When Boss Wolf refused to do the deed, the wicked peacock coldly strikes him with one of his throwing knives and fires the cannon himself, knocking all the kung fu warriors away and clearing away the blockage, leaving all but Po too injured and weak to continue fighting.

However, Po, having attained his inner peace by letting his memory of his parents flow through him rather than fighting it, manages to redirect all of the cannonballs back at Lord Shen's fleet, much to the other kung fu masters' surprise. After the ships were all destroyed and the rest of Shen's army defeated, Po confronts the exhausted Shen on his ruined flagship, revealing to the peacock that he has prevented his own past from taking over his present and urges Shen to do the same thing, stating that what matters most is choosing his own future.

Though Shen agrees with Po of choosing his own future, he refuses to let go of his pain. Losing what very little remains of his sanity, Shen attacks Po with his lance and knives, quickly gaining the upper hand. However, as they fight, Shen, in his blind fury, accidentally slashes through the ropes holding up the remains of his last cannon. Shen notices this too late as the heavy weapon topples over and falls towards him. While Po leaps to safety, Shen, seeing that he has finally lost, makes no attempt to get out of the way and instead accepts his fate and closes his eyes as he gets crushed to death by his own cannon and obliterated by the resulting explosion. Po narrowly escapes just as the ship blows up into splinters and sinks into the waters. Thus, the prophecy had become fulfilled.

Throughout the film, Shen had been troubled by his fear of Po stopping, even killing him. He was also troubled by the memory of how his family had banished him, refusing to accept the fact that his actions against the pandas have made them mad at him in the first place, and instead believe that they never loved him. The Soothsayer and Po both implored him to stop his actions and find peace of mind and happiness. Tragically, in his final moments, Shen did find peace of mind and happiness.

Kung Fu Panda 3[]

Shen makes a cameo in Kung Fu Panda 3 in a flashback when Po's father Li Shan tells how he lost Po's mother to Shen. The film further reveals that despite the death of Po's mother and many other pandas, several pandas, including Li, managed to survive Shen's slaughter on them and fled to a very distant village in the mountains.

Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness[]

Shen does not appear in the series but he is mentioned by a villager in Enter the Dragon when the villagers talk about Po's accomplishments.

Trivia[]

His tail consists of 92 feathers.
Lord Shen was originally cast as a devious mayor for the first Kung Fu Panda movie.
In the Mad episodes "Kung Fu Blander" (in which his new army were the Angry Birds) and "Destroy Bob the Builder Destroyer", Shen was defeated by Master Po, and then by Black and White Spies, who were ironically the black and white warriors from the prophecy.
Lord Shen is the only Kung Fu Panda character to have artificial body parts.
Shen is the only villain in the Kung Fu Panda films who has not met Shifu or Oogway.
Shen being born white is intentionally symbolic for his character as a villain, as white symbolizes death in Chinese culture.
Shen will become Simba's enemy in Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa's Adventures of Kung Fu Panda 2.
Shen will become Pooh's enemy in Pooh's Adventures of Kung Fu Panda 2.
Shen will become Ash Ketchum's enemy in Ash's Adventures of Kung Fu Panda 2.
Shen became Tino's enemy in Tino's Adventures of Kung Fu Panda 2.
He will become Littlefoot's enemy in Littlefoot's Adventures of Kung Fu Panda 2.
Shen will become Bloom's enemy in Bloom's Adventures of Kung Fu Panda 2.
He will become the FT Squad's enemy in The FT Squad's Adventures in Kung Fu Panda 2.
Shen will become Theodore Tugboat's enemy in Theodore Tugboat's Adventures of Kung Fu Panda 2.