Lord Shen

Lord Shen Happiness... must be taken. And I will take mine. Gender: Male Type: Evil Genius Moral Sociopathy Age: Unknown Species: Peacock Portrayed by: Gary Oldman Status: Deceased Media of origin: Kung Fu Panda 2

Lord Shen is the main antagonist of Kung Fu Panda 2. He's a wicked peacock whose clan rules over Gongmen City. However, that wasn't enough for him as he is possessed by a desire to take over all of China. For that, he invented the cannon, which poses a threat to the very existence of kung fu itself. Shen is voiced by Gary Oldman.

Why He's Our Lord Shen

1. Shen is one of DreamWorks Animation's greatest villains and the most complex and intimidating antagonists, before Death from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
2. Shen is incredibly intelligent, ambitious and charismatic, commands the respect and loyalty of entire armies and is skilled enough to give Po a run for his money in combat. Underneath all this, however, Shen possesses some deep-rooted issues and a very complex internal struggle.
3. Shen is shown to have been extremely rational, ambitious, destructive, powerful, and supremely lethal. His past forged in him the notion that he would have 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.
4. He takes over Gongmen City, by easily defeating Storming Ox and Croc, and killing Thundering Rhino with a cannonball shot.
   • He was able to manipulate Storming Ox into striking first during his return to Gongmen City and subsequently imprisoned both Storming Ox and Croc with fear.
5. His campaign to conquer all of China and destroy Kung Fu is the main conflict and his genocide of the pandas is an integral part of Po's character arc in that film.
6. His entire exchange with Po in the Fireworks Factory was really great. As the two fought, Shen easily outmaneuvered Po until cornered at the highest level of the factory. Unperturbed, Shen mocks Po, telling him that his parents had never loved him. This emotional attack again distracted Po, which was enough for Shen to reach his most powerful cannon, which he then used to blast Po out of the factory and into the river.
7. Shen has a more outwardly suave demeanor than the other two villains, Tai Lung and Kai, and is the most likely to think before acting.
   • He is also the villain who came closest to killing Po and the Furious Five.
8. Shen has inordinate self-worth, a sense of self-entitlement, is violent, unsympathetic and more than willing to kill anyone who questions him.
9. If you ignored that he's a peacock, Shen is a skilled fighter and a cruel and terrifying villain. And sure enough, on top of his glorious white-and-red train, he dresses in elegant and expensive clothes, wields exquisite masterwork weaponry, and is exactly as vain as he is badass.
   • He most likely trained in the art, seeing as how he could hold his own during fights.
10. He is a master of blades with lethal skill in swordsmanship and knife-throwing.
11. He is one of the few villains to accept defeat, as when the cannon is about to fall on him, he just closes his eyes and accepts his fate instead of trying to get out of the way, getting crushed to death by his own weapon while Po narrowly escapes the resulting explosion.
12. Gary Oldman does a really great job voicing him.
13. He has many cool quotes that makes him a great villain:
    • "It's your "parting" gift, in that it will "part" you; Part of you here, part of you there, part of you waaay over there, staining the wall."
    • "My father's throne... he used to let me play here beside him, promising someday that this throne would be mine... A little to the left."
    • "For thirty years I've waited for this moment. Everything must be exactly how I envisioned it... and I envisioned it a little to the left. Perfect. With the weapon by my side... ah, a little bit more. With the weapon by my side... all of China will bow before me. We move out in three days, when the moon is full, and the tide is high."
    • "The only reason you're still alive is that I find your stupidity... mildly amusing."
    • "The dead exist in the past, and I must tend to the future."
    • "Yes, I was there. Yes, I watched your parents abandoned you. It's a terrible thing. I believe it went something like this!"
    • "You want to know so badly? You think knowing will heal you, huh? Fill some crater in your soul? Well, here's your answer: Your parents didn't love you. But here, let me heal you."
    • "Such sad, sad faces. But now is a time only for joy. You are going to be part of something beautiful. Once we reach the harbor, in front of all the world, you and your precious kung fu will die. Then China will know to bow before me. Set sail!"
    • "How did you find peace? I took away your parents. Everything! I I-- I scarred you for life!"
    • "You're right. Then I choose THIS!"

Bad Qualities

1. He committed genocide on a village of pandas, thus, resulted in killing Po's mom.
2. He is highly prideful and vain, extremely assured of his victory and despises anyone interrupting or contradicting him.
3. When his parents banish him for committing genocide, he takes it as further proof they don't care about him instead of as punishment. Even more so because being banished as opposed to being executed may have been an act of mercy on their part.

Trivia

• Lord Shen's tail consists of 92 feathers.
• Lord Shen serves as a darker reflection of Po, representing what Po could have been if he kept on to old grudges and refused to move on from the past.

• Shen is the only main antagonist in Kung Fu Panda who has not interacted with Shifu or Oogway, nor had a shared past with either of them.
• Shen being born white is intentionally symbolic for his character as a villain, as white symbolizes death in Chinese culture.
• Whenever Po saw Shen's "eyespots" on his tail, it brought up traumatic experiences and would temporarily daze him, giving Shen the upper hand in their confrontations. In the wild, peacocks use eyespots to protect themselves from predators as a psychological defense.
• When Shen takes off in flight, his tail opens up completely. In reality, peacocks cannot open their tails during flight, because of their heavy support.
• 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.

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