Understand Kung Fu Panda’s greatest villain in the series, Lord Shen

Gongmen city, a vast, peaceful metropolis, lost a talent who turned to the dark side of the invention that brought joy and prosperity to the people

Shen, who was born in a noble family, is arguably one of the best villains out of Kung Fu Panda series to date. While his family brought joy and prosperity to the city through the creation of fireworks, he is a power-hungry child driven by misguided vengeance and will slash everything that gets in his way. Overheard that he would be destroyed by a warrior of black and white, he carried out a genocidal raid in the Panda village and eventually was banished from Gongmen city on his way back home by his parents, which planted a hatred in his heart towards them.

On the good side, Shen is a rational and ambitious being, who plotted a world conquest with his creation of cannon. Due to his persistent demeanour, he retaliated and conquered Gongmen city after being exiled from the city a few decades later. His ambition left a mark in history by harnessing the dark and lethal potential of fireworks made by his family, which acted against him in the end. Furthermore, as a perfectionist himself, he rehearsed multiple times just to ensure what he practiced matched what he envisioned when he retook the city. With his successful invention of cannon, he became a powerful and unstoppable force to the Master Council of the Gongmen city, who was passed the throne after the death of the royal family.

Despite the good traits that he possessed, there are quite a number of insidious behavior in him. He was a monstrously ruthless leader. While fighting with Po on the boat, Shen blasted a bridge himself without a second thought after his most trusted subordinate declined his request to carry the act, showing that he was willing to sacrifice his own troops and no regards for the lives of others. He was seen prideful and deranged as he often boasted his own achievements and refused to believe his parents loved him although his parents died because of his permanent banishment from the city. He also has a prickly temperament as seen when he shouted repetitively at the boss wolf to gather the wolves, even after the wolf hurried away to do so.

In conclusion, Gongmen city lost a talent who turned to the dark side of the invention that brought joy and prosperity to the people, the fireworks. In spite of his determination to gain the world, the prophecy from the soothsayer was fulfilled that he was eventually defeated by a warrior of black and white if he did not stop his insidious plot.