WithKung Fu Panda 4set to debut in March, it’s fascinating to see how far the franchise has come. It’s not perfect by all means, but it is an extremely popular franchise among people of all ages, and there are plenty of reasons for it.Kung Fu Panda’s animation style andfantastic fight sequencesare in the top tier and haven’t changed much over the years. The voice-acting talents of all the cast members (Jack Black especially) are phenomenal, and every character inKung Fu Panda(so far) has favorable qualities, including the villains.
Speaking of villains, we will see some familiar faces with the new antagonist ofKung Fu Panda 4. The Chameleon can summon Po’s past enemies from the spirit realm to the mortal realm; that way, she can steal their kung fu. It’ll be up to Po to stop her before she gets too powerful. That means the return of villains such as Tai Lung, Kai, and even Lord Shen. While most fans eagerly anticipate the return of Tai Lung, he isn’t the best antagonist of the franchise, despite being a fan favorite. The one that Po should be most concerned about, and the absolute best villain ofKung Fu Panda, is Lord Shen.
The Best Written Villain in Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda 2
Lord Shen is arguably the best-written villain in the entire franchise. He is similar to two other popularKung Fu Pandacharacters, Tai Lung and Kai, as all three villains are hungry for power, though their reasons why differ. Tai Lung is the most relatable of the villains, as he worked hard for something he was promised (to be the Dragon Warrior), only to be disowned by Master Shifu, whom they equally considered family.
Kai was friends with Master Oogway and was taught chi by the pandas in the Secret Panda Village. But he became power-hungry all on his own, taking chi from others instead of giving it, and Master Oogway banished him to the spirit realm. Lord Shen always had an obsession with power, not just as the prince of Gongmen City but because of the gunpowder his family used to make fireworks. After a tragic event he causes, Lord Shen is exiled by his parents. Each villain returns to enact their revenge on the people who wronged them.
Lord Shen, however, is the most dangerous and one of thebest fighters in the franchise. He is the most intelligent and cruelest among the villains, using his nobility to manipulate others to do his bidding. While he doesn’t fight in the ways of kung fu, he is a weapons expert. He is skilled with knives and swords and is an agile fighter. Of course, he is also an expert when it comes to gunfire. It’s not just his skills that make him the best villain. Unlike mostKung Fu Pandavillains, Lord Shen was evil from a young age. Even though we don’t see much of his childhood, we can safely assume he always had a malicious personality.
He does not fight fair, using every arsenal possible to take over China and defeat anybody who stands in his way, all with no remorse. Unlike Tai Lung (who felt wronged) and Kai (who felt resentment for being forgotten in history), Lord Shen’s reason for vengeance is more deluded, which makes him unpredictable and a master of using other people’s emotions against them.
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Lord Shen Is Ruthless in Kung Fu Panda 2
While no villain in theKung Fu Pandamovie and TV franchiseis pure evil, Lord Shen is the closest embodiment of that. From what we know of his past, he was loved by his family. They brought peace and happiness to their Gongmen City through the colorfulness of fireworks. But Lord Shen saw the darker uses that the fireworks could be used for, which troubled his parents. When they sought a soothsayer to predict their son’s future, she foretold that Lord Shen would be defeated by a warrior of black and white if he continued on this dark path. So, what did Lord Shen do after hearing this news? He caused a mass genocide against the panda tribe.
He and his wolf army slaughter innocent pandas just so he can avoid his fate, which only seals the inevitable. Still, he went that far to keep his reign over Gongmen City once it was his time to rule. He returned to his parents, expecting them to be proud of what he had done, only to be exiled for his crimes. That only made him more vengeful, and he thought that they never loved him. He spent thirty years creating canons to take over China by force. Lord Shen was even willing to kill members of his own army with a canon so that he could attempt to kill Po. Anybody and anything in his way were merely obstacles he could blast through.
Lord Shen Serves as Po’s Antithesis in Kung Fu Panda 2
Po and Lord Shen are polar opposites of one another. While Po is the opposite of the villains throughout the franchise, he at least has some minor similarities with them (not feeling good enough to be the Dragon Warrior like Tai Lung, for example). The only thing the two have in common, until Po learns his, is that they don’t have inner peace. Lord Shen is the reason Po is who he is in the first place. It was Po’s village that Lord Shen and his army struck down to kill every single panda in existence. Po’s mother managed to save him without Lord Shen finding out until the events ofKung Fu Panda 2.
While Po is a kung fu warrior, which is his fighting style, Lord Shen is not and uses his weapons. Po is playful even when serious, while Lord Shen is cutthroat and straight to the point. While Po is brilliant in his own right, he uses his emotions to guide him. Likeclassic movies with highly intelligent villains, Lord Shen uses manipulation to gain the upper hand. Lord Shen deprives Po of his inner peace, using the panda’s scarred and forgotten past to keep him from obtaining it. He is the physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional villain Po has to overcome to discover his inner peace. Eventually, Po learns about his past traumas and uses his newfound peace to defeat Lord Shen.
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The biggest reason why Lord Shen is the best villain is that he accepts his fate, despite spending most of his life trying to avoid what the soothsayer told him. Like most villains in cinema, the villains of Kung Fu Panda are afraid of death. They will do whatever it takes to stay alive and not accept even the concept of dying. Lord Shen realized at the very end that he could not undo what was foretold. Instead of fighting it any longer, he accepts death with the closing of his eyes. It’s like he is finally at peace with the outcome. An evil villain realizes that they are bested and dies with honor. Lord Shen, who is the closest thing to a pure evil villain in the franchise, is the best antagonist ofKung Fu Panda.Kung Fu Panda 2is available to rent on Prime Video, withKung Fu Panda 4set for a Jul 04, 2025 release date.
