Lord Shen

Lord Shen
Background Information
Films	Kung Fu Panda 2
Television	Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness (briefly mentioned in "Enter the Dragon")
Voice	Gary Oldman
Character information
Quote	"The only reason you're still alive is because I find your stupidity mildly amusing."

Lord Shen is the main antagonist in Kung Fu Panda 2.

Lord Shen has come a long way from the silky leucistic peacock whose parents deemed him too weak and pitiful to deserve attention. Vowing to accomplish something so great that the world would never ignore him again, Shen relentlessly pursued his lust for power. Through his devious cleverness and the sheer force of his will, he has (after many years) created the most devastating weapon the world has ever known. Now, on the verge of his greatest triumph, he is about to find out that something stands in his way — something he thought he dealt with thirty years ago.

Shen's nanny was once the Soothsayer, and she gave him the love the young nobleman was deprived of from his family.

Biography

Beginnings

Shen was hatched small, sickly and milky white. His parents, ashamed at their son's weakness and bland appearance, ignored him, leaving him in the care of an old nanny goat most of the time. Desperate for his family to accept him, young Shen poured his heart and soul into their family's tradition of firework making. Shen became obsessed with the power of the rockets, wondering if they could be used for more than celebrations. One day, his nanny had one of her visions of the future. She told him that his supposed destiny would be destroyed by a warrior of black and white. Fearing any delay in his plans, Shen lead his lupine guards to attack and decimate a nearby farming village, populated by giant pandas.

During the raid, one of the farmers struck Shen and knocked him into a cooking fire, burning his feet. When his crime was discovered, Shen was exiled from his home and his throne turned over to Master Thundering Rhino and the Kung Fu Council. He has spent the past thirty years plotting his revenge.

Kung Fu Panda 2

Deep in the mountains, Lord Shen's wolves worked tirelessly to complete their master's ultimate weapon. When Boss Wolf informs him that they had run out of metal to use as material he orders him to attack the farthest villages and steal all the metal they could find. While he and a group of wolves attended to that, Shen decided it was time to move forward. He traveled to Gongmen City and marched up to his former home. Once there he confronted the Kung Fu Council, telling them he was there to take back what was his. In the skirmish that followed, Shen easily fought Master Storming Ox and Master Croc, but was pushed back by Master Thundering Rhino who shattered several of Shen's blades. However, Shen was prepared for this and revealed his new weapon, a cannon. Thunder Rhino prepared for battle but was no match for Shen's device.

With Thundering Rhino dead, Lord Shen threatened to turn his cannon on the city unless Storming Ox and Croc surrendered. He had the two masters imprisoned in Gongmen Jail and planted Master Rhino's Cloud Hammer in his courtyard as a trophy. With the Council out of the way, Shen ransacked the Peacock Palace, even throwing his father's throne out the window and replacing it with his cannon. He then questioned the Soothsayer about his future, but she informed him that nothing had changed, he would be defeated by a warrior of black and white. He declares this to be impossible but is quickly proven wrong when Boss Wolf appeared and informed him he fought against a panda. Shen, greatly angered by this, orders him to bring the panda to him so he could prove the Soothsayer wrong.

Later, when Master Po and the Furious Five are brought before him in handcuffs, Shen taunts Po not only about his appearance but his ignorance about his past and Lord Shen's role in it. He orders Boss Wolf to fire the cannon at them, but Mantis quickly extinguishes the fuse and knocks Boss Wolf out. This buys Viper enough time to pick the lock on Tigress' cuffs. Once they were free, Tigress and Mantis destroy Shen's cannon and Po tries to attack Shen. However, when Po sees the marks on Shen's feathers he realizes Shen was there the night he lost his biological parents. Shen confirms this and uses the distraction to escape to the fireworks factory, where he had several more cannons waiting. He orders his men to open fire and bring the tower down with Master Po and the Furious Five inside, but they manage to escape. Frustrated, Lord Shen orders his troops to move out and to begin his conquest.

Sometime later, Po infiltrates the factory to confront Shen, ruining the Five's plan to destroy the building. As the two fight, Shen easily manuevers Po, and teases him again, telling him he saw his parents abandon them and that they never loved him. This distracts Po enough for Shen to reach his most powerful cannon and blast Po out the factory into the river. Confident that the panda was dead, Shen has the recaptured Furious Five chained up and suspended above his ships as they sailed out of the city. But much to his shock, 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 Master Po freed the Furious Five and joined forces with Masters Storming Ox, Croc and Shifu.

Finally losing his patience, Shen ordered Boss Wolf to fire the main cannon, but he refused to kill his own men, thus standing up to Lord Shen for the very first time. In response to this, an angered Shen strikes him with one of his throwing knives and fires the cannon himself, knocking all the kung fu warriors away and blasting through the boats they had set up to block his fleet. Shen watched as Po swam out to one of the destroyed ships and began making Tai Chi motions. Unphased, Lord Shen ordered his gunners to open fire and finish the panda.

However, Master Po used a technique that Grand Master Shifu had showed him earlier to catch and deflect the cannonballs, sending them back and destroying all of Lord Shen's cannons, eventually killing his army. When Po confronts him on his main ship Shen asks him how he did it, how he could find peace after what he did to him. Po tells him that it was time to let go of his past and choose his own future. Shen agrees, but refuses to let go of his pain without a second thought, and attacks Po with his lance and knives. Despite having Master Po on the defensive, Lord Shen accidentally cuts through the ropes holding the wreckage of his cannon. He realizes this too late and as the heavy weapon falls on him Shen closes his eyes, excepting his fate and as a result gets crushed to death by the cannon, the gunpowder in the cannon explodes blowing up the ship, sinking it to the waters and ending Lord Shen's reign.

Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness

Shen is not appear in TV series. Only in the flashback and mentioned.

Personality

Shen was extremely smart, supremely lethal, and burns with ambition; it was a combustible combination. His past has forged in him the notion that he's been wronged and that the world owed him something. He intended to do everything in his power to take it, which included inventing a powerful weapon unlike anything the world has ever seen. Shen was intent on using this weapon to wipe out Kung Fu and take over China. This put him on a collision course with Master Po and the Furious Five.

Shen was unspeakably ruthless, willing to decimate an entire village just because a simple fortune-telling warned him one of its inhabitants would be his downfall, and he showed some cowardice a few times in the movie, such as when he was willing to kill an infant, and preferred to let his cannons and henchmen do his dirty work rather than dealing with his obstacles himself. He had no regard for any life but his own, as he blasted a bridge in his way without hesitation, despite there being villagers on it. He was also willing to sacrifice his own troops, which puts him in a conflict with his most trusted subordinate, Boss Wolf, who refused to kill his own men, leading to Shen striking him down simply for his disobedience.

He was rather sadistic, claiming to Master Po that his parents abandoned him and did not love him, taking advantage of his pain, and enjoying the emotional scars he inflicted on Po. Shen saying Po's parents abandoned him may have been a result of Shen being jealous that Po's parents loved him while Shen's own parents, to him, did not love him, which was a primary reason to his taking a wicked path. Possibly, the only one Shen ever really loved was his childhood nanny, the Soothsayer, despite the threats and insults he gave her while she was his prisoner. But still, he remembered her love and kindness and set her free, claiming "She is of no further use to [him]."

Fighting Style

Even though Lord Shen is a skilled and accomplished Kung Fu fighter, he is more likely to use his cunning or his cannons than his physical prowess. He excels in sword combat, however, and hides an armory of blades in his robes, which he can unleash in lightning speed. Shen also has a pair lethal-looking metal talons to protect his feet. These also serve as weapons and as a means to light the fuses of his cannons. In battle, his tail becomes another limb, which he can shape and use to attack or defend. His "Funnel Cloud Attack" and "Feather Attack" are daunting and deadly. Shen's fighting style is both graceful and lethal.

Clothing/Outfit

In keeping with his state as a white peacock, Shen wears a long, white robe (which matches his plumage) with a black belt. Underneath his robe is where he keeps his halberd and a large supply of throwing knives. To hide the burn scars on his feet, Shen wears metal talons that protect his feet and serve as formidable weapons.

Gallery

Trivia

• According to the director, Shen proved to be a great challenge to animate, so much that the complexity of the character was like that of doing six characters all at once.