Lord Shen

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This Villain was Headlined on July, 2016.

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This villain was proposed but was rejected by the community for not being heinous enough or lacks what is necessary to be a Pure Evil villain. Therefore, this villain shall be added to our "Never Again List", where proposed villains rejected by the community shall be placed to prevent future proposals of the same evil-doer. They can be proposed again (with the permission of an administrator) if new elements appear in their series that can change their status as non-PE villains. Any act of adding this villain to the Pure Evil category without a proposal or creating a proposal for this villain without the permission of an administrator will result in a ban. Additional Notice: This template is meant for admin maintenance only. Users who misuse the template will be blocked for a week minimum.

Lord Shen, better known simply as Shen, is the main antagonist of DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda franchise.

He is a sadistic, devious, and power-hungry peacock prince who wanted to use fireworks to create deadly cannons in order to conquer all of China and annihilate Kung Fu with his cannons. He was prophesied to be defeated by a warrior of black and white, motivating him into wiping out the pandas.

He is the former master of the Soothsayer, the Wolfs' leader, and Po's arch-nemesis. He is also responsible for murdering Po's biological mother during his orchestrated attack on the panda village, leading to Po being found, adopted, and raised by Mr. Ping, ultimately becoming the Dragon Warrior and the one destined to defeat him.

He was voiced by Gary Oldman, who also played Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Drexl Spivey in True Romance, Norman Stansfield in Léon: The Professional, Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg in The Fifth Element, Egor Korshunov in Air Force One, Milton Glenn in Murder in the First, Spider Smith/Dr. Zachary Smith in Lost in Space, Ruber in Quest for Camelot, Mason Verger in Hannibal, Rocky in True Crime: Streets of L.A., Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol, General Grawl in Planet 51, Carnegie in The Book of Eli, Daniel Clarke in Call of Duty: Black Ops, Father Solomon in Red Riding Hood, Nicholas Wyatt in Paranoia, Dreyfus in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Lord Vortech in LEGO Dimensions, and Vladislav Dukhovich in The Hitman's Bodyguard.

Quick Answers

What is the main motivation behind Lord Shen's actions in Kung Fu Panda 2?

Lord Shen, the main antagonist in Kung Fu Panda 2, is driven by a thirst for power and a desire to reclaim what he believes is rightfully his. He is a sadistic and devious peacock who aims to rule over China, and his primary motivation is to eliminate Kung Fu and make everyone bow before him. His actions are also fueled by a sense of self-defense and a belief that his parents hated him. Despite his villainous ways, his motivations add depth to his character, making him a memorable part of the Kung Fu Panda franchise.

Provided by: Fandom

What weapon does Lord Shen create to conquer China in Kung Fu Panda 2?

In the animated movie Kung Fu Panda 2, the villainous Lord Shen creates a powerful weapon, a cannon, to conquer China. This weapon is a symbol of his power and his determination to overthrow the ancient art of Kung Fu and rule over China. Lord Shen's cannon is a significant part of the storyline, demonstrating his cunning and ruthless ambition.

Provided by: Fandom

Who is prophesied to defeat Lord Shen in Kung Fu Panda 2?

In the thrilling sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2, it is prophesied that Lord Shen, the peacock villain, will be defeated by a 'warrior of black and white'. This prophecy ultimately points to Po, the lovable panda protagonist of the series. Po, with his distinctive black and white fur, is the one who eventually stands up to Lord Shen, proving that even the darkest past can be overcome with inner peace and courage.

Provided by: Fandom

What is the significance of Lord Shen's peacock character design in Kung Fu Panda?

Lord Shen's peacock design in Kung Fu Panda is significant for several reasons. First, it represents his royal lineage as a member of the peacock clan and the heir to the throne of Gongmen City. His atypical white plumage signifies his unique and wicked personality, setting him apart from others. Furthermore, his tail feathers, although anatomically incorrect for a peacock, are used for gliding and as a symbol of his agility and speed. Lastly, the peacock design also adds an element of irony to his character, as peacocks are often associated with beauty and peace, whereas Lord Shen is a ruthless villain.

Provided by: Fandom

How does Lord Shen's character evolve from Kung Fu Panda 2 to Kung Fu Panda 4?

In Kung Fu Panda 2, Lord Shen is a menacing villain, ruling over Gongmen City with an iron claw. He's known for his cunning and ruthless tactics. However, in Kung Fu Panda 4, Lord Shen's character takes an unexpected turn. Summoned from the Spirit Realm by the Chameleon, Shen is stripped of his kung fu abilities. This humbling experience changes Shen, and after Po defeats the Chameleon, Shen returns to the Spirit Realm, perhaps a bit wiser and more humble than before. It's a fascinating evolution for the peacock from Kung Fu Panda, showing that even the most hardened villains can experience change.

Provided by: Fandom

Appearance

Lord Shen wears a long white robe held with a black-colored belt. According to him, the robe is made from "the finest silk in the province". Sewn along the edges of the robe is silver silk patterned with flame-like designs, and it has a flying bird, possibly a peacock, placed on the back. He also wears metal talons that served to protect his feet, light his cannons, and act as formidable weapons. Unlike his parents, Shen has leucism, meaning that his plumage is atypically white.

Spirit Warrior

His physical appearance remains unchanged but outside of the Spirit Realm, his body is surrounded by a golden aura representing his Kung Fu.

Personality

Shen is shown to have been extremely irrational, ambitious, destructive, powerful, and supremely lethal. His past forged in him the notion that he had been wronged, and that the world owed him something, and he sought to do everything in his power to take it. This included inventing a powerful weapon unlike anyone had ever seen. Shen was intent on using this weapon to wipe out kung fu and take over China. Shen proclaims himself to be a benevolent monarch for his technological achievements. But the truth is, he is nothing but a power-hungry tyrant driven by misguided vengeance and will slash away everything that gets in his way.

Shen was shown to be unspeakably merciless and monstrously ruthless, as he led and personally took part in a genocide of all of China's pandas in order to smite any chances that one would defeat him one in the future, as was described in fortune-telling he overheard. Due to being raised as royalty, Shen largely preferred to let his weapons and henchmen do the hard work rather than dealing with such obstacles himself, with a notable exception being when he decided to take on the council that was in charge of his former home, though he would directly engage in combat when necessary.

His ambition to leave his mark on the world drove him to find a dark and lethal potential in his family's celebrated invention of fireworks, and when cast out by his parents for his massacre of the pandas, he swore revenge and aimed to conquer all of China just to prove himself. Shen had little or no regard for the lives or well-being of others, as he blasted a bridge without hesitation, despite there being innocent bystanders on it, and was willing to sacrifice his own troops, which put him in conflict with his most trusted subordinate Boss Wolf, as the wolf refused to crucify his warriors of which, in response to this act of disobedience, Shen struck him down without a second thought afterwards.

Shen was also a perfectionist, which was shown when he took over the Tower of the Sacred Flame and fussed over the position of his cannon, saying that he envisioned the moment he would retake Gongmen City for years and that everything had to be exactly as he envisioned it, and when he rehearsed intimidating lines for his confrontation with his destined foe (which went to waste due to Po's offhanded nature). He also demonstrated a fondness of expensive materials and luxury, as shown when he became infuriated when the Soothsayer chewed off the hem of his robes, which he claimed to be made of "the finest silk in the province".

Shen was also shown to have a rather ill-temper as, when Po and the Furious Five escaped from the collapsing Tower of the Sacred Flame, he got mad and kicked one of his gorilla followers in the nose. Additionally, when he ordered Boss Wolf to gather the wolves shortly after the incident, he hollered at him repetitively to do the task even after the wolf hurried away to do so.

Shen also seemed to have a low tolerance for pain (despite being a seasoned master of kung fu and swordsmanship), as when the Soothsayer plucked out one of his smallest down feathers, he yelped audibly and pulled his wing-back while he was acting as if he were badly wounded. He also did not care about tradition and ancestry, as he ordered his minions to bring down the Tower of the Sacred Flame even though it would have been his family's ancestral home for over twenty years.

Prideful and possibly deranged, Shen seemed to carry little to no remorse for his crimes, and would often boast of his accomplishments. He was also shown to be sadistic, as seen while he was confronting the Kung Fu Council, he gleefully stated that his cannon was a "parting gift" that would part them; "part of you here, part of you there, part of you way over there staining the wall." showing he was rather bloodthirsty. He also took pleasure in telling Po his parents did not love him while he was taking advantage of the panda's pain in the process. This cruelty likely stemmed from Shen's conviction that his parents hated him, which was forged in his mind when they exiled him years ago. Shen's bitterness against his parents went as far as to insulting his father's memory by throwing his throne out the window and replacing it with his cannon, even after commenting that he had fond memories of playing around it as a kid.

The Soothsayer, however, opposed his plans. She tried to reason with Shen to change his ways and, even while she was being his prisoner and displaying acts of occasional ridicule towards him, displayed her concern for the reckless decisions he made. Despite his conviction that his parents wronged and hated him, she related that his parents loved him so much that they died of grief after they had to exile him. Although he paused in thoughtful silence upon hearing this, Shen hardened his heart, freed and dismissed the Soothsayer, and proceeded with his conquest.

Shen chose never to accept failure, as was shown when he angrily struck one of his followers for failing to have Po and the Five slaughtered when they escaped the Tower, stating that "nothing stands in my way." After Po defeated Shen's "unstoppable" weapons, Shen tried his best to kill the panda, but he accidentally sealed his fate by slicing through the ropes that held up his cannon. At the very end of his life, Shen finally accepted that he would have been beaten and did not attempt to save himself when his cannon crushed him.

After some time in the Spirit Realm, Lord Shen seems to have learned his lesson. Once Po defeated the Chameleon, setting Shen and all the other prisoners free, he didn't seem interested in attacking Po and softly bowed to him like everyone else did before happily returning to the Spirit Realm, making peace with the Dragon Warrior.

Powers and Abilities

• Advanced intellect: Shen is a chemist and blacksmith of unparalleled skill, having single-handedly found a way to repurpose the materials used to make fireworks into cannons.
• Master tactician: Shen is good at manipulating his foes, using a combination of sneak attacks, select applications of brute force, and psychological torment to stay on top of them.
• Martial arts: Despite his affinity for his cannons, Shen is a capable martial artist in his own right, being an expert at using bladed weapons and being able to fight toe-to-toe with Po himself.
• Marksmanship: Shen can throw knives with pinpoint accuracy, and while he often delegates the task to his underlings, he is perfectly capable of operating and firing his cannons himself.

Personal Weapons

• Throwing knives: Shen carries an arsenal of throwing knives wherever he goes. Hiding them in his clothing, he can easily draw and fling them at targets.
• Lance: Shen's polearm of choice is a lance with a long, wavy blade, which can be used for both thrusting and slashing attacks.
• Claws: Shen wears a clawed metal shoe on each foot, using them both in combat and to fire his cannons.
• Rope dart: Shen briefly used a rope dart to catch Master Storming Ox.
• Sword: Shen used a wave-bladed sword to fight both Master Storming Ox and Master Croc before throwing it at Master Thundering Rhino.

Other Media

Kung Fu Panda 2: The Video Game

in Kung Fu Panda 2: The Video Game, Lord Shen has no physical appearance, but is still a minor character. A few moments after Lord Shen was defeated by Po and his fleet failed to pass the limits of the of Gongmen City, the citizens celebrated the Dragon Warrior's victory by bringing down his empire, also destroying scrolls with his emblem. The throne without any ruler, some komodo dragons, led by Zhou Dan, plan to take over the city taking advantage of the death of Lord Shen.

Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends

In Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends, Lord Shen appears as a playable character.

Kung Fu Rumble

In Kung Fu Rumble, Lord Shen appears as an enemy to be defeated inside his palace as a combat stage.

Victims

• Nearly an entire Panda village
• Po's mother
• His parents (indirectly)
• Master Thundering Rhino
• The one-eyed Wolf Boss
• The majority of his Wolf Army

Quotes

In film

Deleted from the film

Relationships

Allies

• Tai Lung
• Kai the Collector
• Shen's Army

Enemies

• Po (Arch-nemesis,Forgiven)
• Li Shan
• Tigress
• Crane
• Mantis
• Monkey
• Master Shifu
• The Furious Five
• Boss Wolf - Former Ally and Right hand Man turned enemy
• The Chameleon

Trivia

• Lord Shen's 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 The Spies, who were ironically the black and white warriors from the prophecy.
• Shen and The Chameleon are the only major villains in the Kung Fu Panda films who haven't met Shifu or Oogway.
• Shen is the only major villain in the Kung Fu Panda films who isn't sent or banished into the Spirit Realm. However, The Chameleon did summon him from the Spirit Realm in Kung Fu Panda 4.
• Lord Shen serves as a darker reflection of Po, representing what he would've become if he continued to hold onto his old grudges and refused to move on from the past.
• Shen being born white is intentionally symbolic for his character as a villain, as Shen's white colour symbolized death in Chinese culture, at least in the creator's perspective. Though white normally symbolizes brightness, purity, and fulfilment in the Chinese culture.
• Shen's fighting style shares similarities with Chinese martial arts form "Cai Li Fo", in which a metal fan is used as defense or as a distraction for enemies, represented by Shen's tail feathers.
• Since the release of Kung Fu Panda 2, Shen became one of the most popular DreamWorks villains, topping many lists on "Best DreamWorks Villains".
• Whenever Po sees Shen's "eyespots" on his tail feather's, he gets traumatic experiences and dazes him, to which Shen gets the upper hand. In the wild, Peacocks uses the "eyespots" in their tail feathers to protect them from predators as a psychological defense.
• Despite Shen's beliefs that his parents never loved him, he failed to realize that his parents' act of banishing him was an act of mercy, which, aside from the fact that they both died of grief from losing their son, showed that they truly did care for him, as opposed to having him incarcerated or executed for his genocide of the pandas.
• Some fans have speculated that Shen actually committed suicide and wasn't trying to make one final attempt to kill Po by letting the cannon crush him or die in the explosion, which Po happened to be in the way of, with the reason is all the deaths he has caused now has no meaning at all and he has nowhere else to go. This can't be the case in the first section of the final fight in the boat since none of the ropes suspending the cannon were present. However, it's possible that the fans were right if we consider when the cannon was about to fall on him, which explains why Shen doesn't move and just closes his eyes and accepts his fate.
• As revealed by the director, Shen was incredibly difficult to animate, which was compared to animating six characters all at once.
• Shen and his followers never acknowledged Po's title as the Dragon Warrior, as they only saw him as a threat simply because he was a panda. As such, they are the only villains in the Kung Fu Panda franchise to view Po as a threat not because he is the Dragon Warrior.
• The way Shen's feathers open are incorrect anatomically, as peacock plumage is technically on their backs. Thus, he couldn't open his feathers without completely exposing his robes.
• Although Shen had a massive negative impact on Li Shan's life, the two didn't interact, despite being in the same space in Kung Fu Panda 4.
• In an interview with co-director Stephanie Ma Stine, Shen and Kai were last minute additions during the production of Kung Fu Panda 4, which is why neither Gary Oldman nor J.K. Simmons returned to voice their respective characters, and why both characters did so little in the film.
• Kai, Shen, Tai Lung and the other villains bowing to Po after the Chameleon's defeat mirrors how the Furious Five and the Valley of Peace villagers bowed to Po after Tai Lung's defeat in the first film.
• As a peacock, Shen is the only one of the main antagonists capable of flight entirely on his own.
• Shen's genocide of the pandas is similar to the Slaughter of the Innocents in the Bible. Like King Herod, who feared the birth of a newborn King of the Jews could threaten him, Lord Shen feared being defeated by a warrior of black and white.
• Shen is the only main antagonist in the film series whose ultimate demise doesn't involve any magical element. Instead, he is realistically crushed by his own cannon.
  • Tai Lung has been affected by the Wuxi Finger Hold.
  • Kai the Collector was overloaded with a lot of chi.
  • The Chameleon gets carried into the Spirit Realm.

External Links

• Lord Shen on the Kung Fu Panda Wiki
• Lord Shen on the DreamWorks Wiki
• Lord Shen on the Universal Studios Wiki

Navigation

Villains

Movies Kung Fu Panda: Tai Lung | Criminals Kung Fu Panda 2: Lord Shen | Boss Wolf | Lord Shen's Wolf Army Kung Fu Panda 3: Kai the Collector Kung Fu Panda 4: The Chameleon | Zhen | Chameleon's Army | Granny Boar | Tai Lung | Lord Shen | Kai the Collector | Han | Rabbit Trio | Stingray Short Films Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll: Boar Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters: Wu Sisters Television Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness: Crocodile Bandits (Fung, Gahri, Wall Eye, Irwin, Wong, Lidong) Qidan (Temutai) | Brotherhood of Malfeasance (Hundun, Taotie, Fung, Gahri, Temutai & Tong Fo) | Fenghuang | Junjie | Scorpion | Bing | Heilang | Bad Po | Bian Zao | Fu-Xi | Ke-Pa | Underworld Demons | Ding | Pang Bing | Alien Rice Weevils | Yaoguai Twins | Wu Kong | Tsao, Lao and Bao | General Tsin | Jong Sung | Mugan Kung Fu Panda: Paws of Destiny: Jindiao | Jade Tusk | Rooster | Wing & Wong | Yaoguai | Imperial Army (White Bone Demon, Shi Long & General Fang) Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight: Klaus and Veruca Dumont | Alfie | Sir Drake | Chuntao | Rukhmini | High Priestess | Jayesh | Zuma | Nian Video Games Wu Sisters | Great Gorilla | Fai Suan | Kuai Xun | Kai | Mao Ren | Mei Ling

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