Shen
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Shen
Physical
attributes
Species
White Peafowl
Gender
Male
Eye color
Red
Feather colors
White with red
and black eye spots
Clothing
White robes
Other
attributes
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Biographical
info
Also known as
Lord Shen,
Peacock
Status
Deceased
Residence
Gongmen City
Occupation
Lord of Gongmen
City(formerly)
Affiliation(s)
Wolf pack
Gorillas
Family
Shen's father
(deceased)
Shen's mother
(deceased)
Combat style
Unspecified
style of kung fu; weapons expert
Master(s)
Unspecified
Chronological
info
Films
Kung Fu Panda 2
TV shows
Kung Fu Panda:
Legends of Awesomeness (briefly mentioned)[1]
First
appearance
Kung Fu Panda 2
Voiced by
Gary Oldman[2]
“ Call in the wolves! All of them! I
want them ready to move! The Year of the Peacock begins now! ”
—Shen
to Boss Wolf, Kung Fu Panda 2
Lord Shen is
the main antagonist in Kung Fu Panda 2. He was the son of the royal Peacock
family and the heir to the Gongmen City throne.
In his youth,
Shen was obsessed with using the powder of fireworks to create weapons. When he
overheard the Soothsayer (his childhood nanny) foretelling to his concerned
parents that he was to be stopped by a warrior of black and white, he led his
wolves on a raid to annihilate all pandas. But upon his return, his parents
banished him from the city forever. Shen plotted his revenge for many years,
eventually creating an unstoppable weapon, a cannon. Although his weapon and
army had brought him temporarily to power in Gongmen City, the Soothsayer's
fortune did indeed come true when he was defeated by Po, the foretold warrior
of black and white.
Contents
[show]
Biography
Early years
Shen pursuing a
dark potential in fireworks
Shen was born
into the noble Peacock family, who were esteemed by the people of Gongmen City
for their invention of fireworks. But as a young Shen began to dabble in the
making of weapons with the use of the fireworks' gunpowder, his loving
fatherand mother grew worried and asked their courtsoothsayer what his future
held. She proclaimed that if he continued with his dark pursuits, he would be
defeated by "a warrior of black and white".
Shen overheard
this prophecy and sought to defy it, fearing any obstacles in his plans.
Assuming the "warrior of black and white" referred to a panda, Shen
led his wolf followers in decimating a farming village populated by the
black-and-white-colored bears, intending to leave none alive. After the
massacre was complete, Shen returned home, expecting praise from his parents.
However, his parents were horrified at their son's deeds and instead banished
him from the city forever, their throne eventually being turned over to the
stewardship of Master Thundering Rhino and the Kung Fu Council. Shen left
Gongmen City with his followers, fueled with anger and feeling wronged by his
parents, as he considered his actions as bravely defying fate to realize his
goals. He swore revenge, promising he would someday return and rule supreme
over all of China.
In Kung Fu
Panda 2
Many years
passed. 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.
Shen attacking
the Kung Fu Council
Shen returned
to Gongmen City and marched up to his former home, easily dispatching the
guards that tried to subdue him at the gate. Once there, he confronted the Kung
Fu Counciland the Soothsayer, telling them that he was there to take back what
was rightfully his. In the skirmish that followed, Shen easily outfought
Masters Storming Ox and Croc, but was pushed back by Master Thundering Rhino,
who shattered several of Shen's blades. However, Shen was ready for this, and
unveiled his new weapon. Thundering Rhino was fearlessly prepared for battle,
but he was no match for Shen's device, and was killed by the blast of the
cannon. With Thundering Rhino fallen, Shen threatened to turn his cannon on the
entire city unless Storming Ox and Croc surrendered, to which they agreed. He
had the two masters imprisoned in Gongmen Jail and planted Thundering
Rhino'sCloud Hammer in his courtyard as a trophy.
Shen learning
his destined downfall has not changed
With the
Council out of the way, Shen began to ransack the tower, 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 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 him himself and prove the Soothsayer wrong.
Shen meeting Po
and theFurious Five
Later, when the
panda, Po, 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. Shen soon realized 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 then used
this distraction 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
fell. Frustrated, Shen ordered his troops to start loading his ships to begin
his conquest of China, declaring the beginning of "the Year of the
Peacock".
Shen in battle
with Po
Some time
later, the Soothsayer was brought before Shen, who gloated that the panda she
had believed to be a powerful warrior was a fool. Ignoring the peacock's
threats, Soothsayer told Shen that the path he had chosen would never bring
satisfaction, and urged him to stop his plans. When she brought up his parents,
Shen angrily stated that they had hated and wronged him. He was then
momentarily struck speechless when Soothsayer revealed that his parents had in
fact loved him so much that they had died of grief after banishing him. Despite
this revelation, Shen chose to continue with his plans, and had the Soothsayer
released. Soothsayer sadly bade Shen farewell and left.
Soon after
this, Po infiltrated the factory to confront Shen, unknowingly ruining the
Five's plan to destroy the building by doing so. However, Shen had anticipated
his arrival, and took the panda by surprise in the upper levels of the
building. When Po demanded answers, Shen claimed that his parents had abandoned
him before attacking. As the two fought, Shen easily outmaneuvered Po until
cornered at the highest level of the factory. Unperturbed, Shen teased Po
again, telling him that his parents had never loved him. This emotional attack
again distracted Po, enough for Shen to reach his most powerful cannon, which
he used to blast Po out of the factory and into the river.
Confident that
Po was dead, Shen had the recaptured Furious Five chained up and suspended
above his ships as they sailed out of the city, planning on executing them once
his ships reached the harbor. He even callously blasted a bridge out of the way
when Gongmen citizens came to watch. Much to his shock, Po returned to rescue
his friends and to defeat Shen once and for all. Shen ordered his gunners to
blast him, but Po nimbly moved along the rooftops, preventing them from getting
a clear shot, and then jumped onto the ships to engage Shen's army, now that
they couldn't fire without hitting their own men. Shen could do nothing but
watch as Po freed the Furious Five and joined forces with Masters Storming Ox,
Croc, and Shifu to destroy Shen's fleet before it escaped the harbor. Finally
losing his patience, Shen ordered Boss Wolf to fire the main cannon, but the
wolf refused to kill his own. In response, Shen struck him down with one of his
throwing knives. He fired the cannon himself, knocking all of the kung fu
warriors away and blasting through the boats they had set up to block his
fleet.
As his ships
entered the city harbor, Shen watched as Po swam out to one of the destroyed
boats, and then stood to face Shen's forces alone. Unfazed, Shen ordered his
gunners to open fire and finish off the panda, to which Po began makingtai chi
motions. The first cannon was fired, and amazingly, Po used a technique Shifu
had shown him to catch and deflect the cannonball. Though shocked at this, Shen
would not relent, and ordered his men to continue firing. However, Po continued
to deflect the cannonfire, and soon began sending the cannonballs back towards
the boats and destroying them. Shen became increasingly enraged and ordered his
men to fire from his own cannon. Po caught this larger cannonball, and as he
began spinning on the spot with this ball, he briefly transformed into the Yin
Yang symbol from the Soothsayer's vision, a sight which struck Shen speechless.
Po redirected this last ball into Shen's own ship, destroying what remained of
Shen's armada, though Shen survived the impact.
When Po
confronted him on his main ship, Shen viewed the destruction around him, and
asked Po how he did it, how he could find peace after he had "scarred him
for life". Po told Shen that it was time to let go of his past, stating
that what mattered was who he chose to be in the present. Shen agreed, and
declared his choice: by attacking Po with his lance and knives in one last
vengeful attempt to kill the panda. Though Shen's swordplay overwhelmed Po, as
they fought, Shen accidentally cut through the ropes holding the remains of his
cannon. Shen realized this too late, and as the heavy weapon fell on him, he
closed his eyes and accepted his fate, resulting in a great explosion that sunk
the main ship to the waters, which Po barely managed to evade. Soon afterwards,
fireworks were set off over Gongmen City, with the image of a peacock appearing
in the morning sky.
In Legends of
Awesomeness
Though Shen
does not actually appear in the series, his defeat was briefly mentioned by a
villager.[1]
Personality
“Happiness...
must be taken. And I will take mine.”
—Shen's
resolve, Kung Fu Panda 2
Shen facing Po
in the Fireworks Factory
Shen is shown
to have been extremely smart, ambitious, 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 before. Shen
was intent on using this weapon to wipe out kung fu and take over China.[3]
Shen was shown
to be unspeakably ruthless, willing to kill China's population of pandas in
order to smite any chances that one would some day defeat him, as described in
a fortune-telling he overheard. Raised as royalty, Shen largely preferred to
let his cannons and henchmen do the labor and dirty work rather than dealing
with such obstacles himself. 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 to prove himself. Shen had
little or no regard for the life 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. The wolf refused to kill his own warriors, and
for this disobedience, Shen struck him down without a second thought.
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 was rehearsing 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 short temper. When Po and the Furious Five escaped from
the collapsing Tower of the Sacred Flame, he became enraged 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 screamed 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), such as when Soothsayer plucked out one of his
smallest down feathers. He yelped loudly and pulled his wing back, acting as if
he were badly injured. He also didn't care about tradition and ancestry, as he
ordered his minions to bring down the Tower of the Sacred Flame despite the
fact that it had been his family's ancestral home for many years.
Shen
confronting the Kung Fu Council
Prideful and
possibly deranged, Shen seemed to carry no remorse for his crimes, and would
often boast of his accomplishments. He was also shown to be sadistic. When
confronting theKung Fu Council he gleefully stated that his cannon would
literally part them saying "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 that his parents didn't love him and taking
advantage of the panda's pain. This cruelty likely stemmed from Shen's
conviction that his own parents hated him, forged in his mind when they
banished him years ago. Shen's bitterness of his parents went as far as
insulting his father's memory by throwing his throne out the window and
replacing it with his cannon, after commenting that he had fond memories of
playing near it as a child.
The Soothsayer,
however, opposed his plans. She tried to reason with Shen to change his ways,
and, even while being his prisoner and showing occasional mockery towards him,
displayed her concern for the reckless decisions he made. Despite his
conviction that his parents had wronged him and hated him, she related that his
parents had loved him so much that they died of grief after they had to banish
him. Although he paused in thoughtful silence upon hearing this, Shen hardened
his heart, freeing and dismissing the Soothsayer, and proceeded with his
conquest.
Shen chose
never to accept failure, seen when he furiously struck one of his followers for
failing to kill Po and the Five 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
accidentally sealed his own fate by slicing through the ropes that held up his
cannon. At the very end of his life, Shen finally accepted that he had been
beaten and did not attempt to save himself when his own cannon crushed him.[4]
Fighting style
Shen: “ [after
having his blades sliced off] Show-off...”
Thundering
Rhino: “That is a warning. You are no match for our kung fu.”
Shen: “I agree,
but this is.”
—Shen to
Thundering Rhino before killing him with his cannon, Kung Fu Panda 2
Shen in his fight
with the Kung Fu Council
Shen's kung fu
skills were so advanced that he could hold his own against both Storming Oxand
Croc, who were both revered and full-fledged kung fu masters. Shen was also
able to counter each and every one of their moves flawlessly and with lethal
precision, hinting that he could've killed them whenever he chose. However, he
was quickly defeated byThundering Rhino who deflected all of his blades with
his hammer and in one case his horn and then jabbed him with his hammer with enough
force to cause Shen to drop his weapons.[4]
Shen also
excelled in sword and lance combat and hid an armory of blades in his robes,
which he could unleash with lightning speed and deadly precision. Among the
rest of his arsenal was his lance (which he was seen practicing with the most),
and a pair of lethal-looking metal talons. In battle, his tail became another
limb, which he could shape and use to attack, defend, or as a deception tool.
His "Funnel Cloud Attack" and "Feather Attack" were noted
to be daunting and deadly. All in all, Shen's fighting style was both graceful
and lethal. When enraged, however, Shen was more reckless, as shown by his
ferocious assault on Po which caused him to not realize that he was severing
the ropes that held up his cannon, which ultimately crushed him.[3]
Concept artwork
of Shen by Nico Marlet and Raymond Zibach
When Shen
engaged someone in close combat, not one move he made was wasted. He made full
and efficient use of every technique, weapon, and tactic he had at his disposal,
utilizing not only his bladed weapons, but also his tail and talons. As shown
in his fight with Masters Storming Ox and Croc, he used his sword to pin Ox's
weapons while using a sidekick on Croc, and then immediately turning that
side-kick into a roundhouse-kick to knock Ox down. His tail was used to defend
and distract his foes, and even mask his own movements. One example shows in
how he had come very close to killing Croc when he used his tail in a series of
moves: first, he defended with his tail; then he attempted to stab Croc with
his sword (which he barely managed to dodge); and then he finally finished it
with a butterfly kick on Croc's head.
Shen also
seemed to favor spinning or sweeping maneuvers, as well as pinning someone's
weapons or limbs, and was also capable of using his tail to sweep foes off
their feet, as he had done so in his first fight with Po where he grabbed Po's
foot, stopping a kick, before he pinned it down, maneuvered around Po, and he
swept the panda off balance with his long tail feathers.[4]
Shen's arsenal
Shen was a
master of blades with lethal skill in swordsmanship and knife-throwing. Among
his arsenal were:
Guan dao — A
curved blade with extending shaft resembling a European flamberge, allowing
Shen to use it as either a sword or lance.
Throwing knives
— Uniquely-shaped knives which Shen hid among the sleeves in his robes; these
were most likely custom-built, as they appear to be forged into the shape of
feathers, likely so Shen could hide them among his own feathers in the folds of
his robe.
Iron claws — A
metal attachment to his talons; used for armor, combat, and as means to create
sparks and light the fuses on cannons.
Rope darts —
Seen in use only once, when Shen throws the rope with accuracy to ensnare
Storming Ox's horn to bring him down
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