Kung-Fu Panda Has Some Of The BEST Villains

The original Kung-Fu Panda trilogy, despite being films for families with young children, feature some of the best villains ever put to screen - in my opinion. Each film features a villain with a different, complex backstory, distinct characters and genuinely engaging confrontations. They serve the purpose of not only teaching the difference between good and bad, but also the reasons why someone might become ‘bad’.

All three antagonists run the risk of overshadowing the protagonists within their respective films, but personally I’m more interested in ranking them against each other, and comparing what makes them and their narratives great.

My personal least favourite villain is the villain of Kung-Fu- Panda 3, a warrior yak called Kai. His backstory shows him initially being close friends with Master Oogway, a much beloved character from the first film, until he learns how to use chi and take it from others for his own benefit, which leads to him being banished to the spirit realm by Master Oogway - the spirit realm seeming to be a thinly veiled metaphor for death. While in the spirit realm, he steals even more chi from deceased kung-fu masters, until he has enough to propel himself back into the mortal realm and begins his attempts to destroy Oogway’s legacy. There is nothing inherently wrong with this - his character explores the concepts of greed and selfishness and how they can easily become one’s downfall if taken too far. Personally, my issues with him lay in two factors; his comedy and his backstory.

Beginning with his comedy, I feel that despite his supernatural abilities and the power he has, he is immediately undermined as a formidable threat by the consistent jokes made at his expense, where other characters call him by the wrong name, reducing him momentarily to a whiny child. The larger issue, I personally believe, is his backstory. Kai’s actions lack any sort of conviction; whereas the other two villains both have understandable backstories and their own personal sets of reasoning, Kai seems to randomly become evil at the drop of a hat. His relationship with Oogway has the potential to be a huge emotional factor in his backstory, but it is never explored beyond the simple Kai and Oogway were friends - Kai becomes evil out of nowhere - Oogway is forced to banish him - Kai feels betrayed and decides to destroy absolutely everything. Even at the end of the film, there’s no meaningful interaction between Kai and Oogway, leaving the entire arc of his villainy somewhat lacklustre. He’s not bad, he’s just not good.

Coming in at number two, is the villain of the first Kung-Fu Panda film; Tai Lung, a snow leopard who is a former student of Master Shifu. He is first introduced as being in a high security prison, guarded by thousands of rhinos, hidden away in the mountains and kept completely immobilised and pinned to the floor by a contraption I still don’t understand. His backstory is initially presented similarly to Kai’s; he is simply selfish in seeking power and wants the Dragon Scroll for himself, no matter what he has to do to get it. However, later on in the film, it is revealed that he was raised by Shifu from infancy, having been left on the steps of the Jade Palace as a baby. He was fed, clothed and trained by Shifu, who is implied to have told Tai Lung he would receive the Dragon Scroll and become the Dragon Warrior; however Master Oogway refuses to give Tai Lung the scroll. Shifu fails to defend or try and back up his adopted child, and follows Master Oogway’s judgement - while this is ultimately for the best, as the audience knows, Tai Lung understandably feels a huge amount of betrayal. His whole life had been dedicated to working hard and training only to be confronted by the fact it was essentially for nothing. His confrontation at the end of the film where he faces Shifu in battle is, in my opinion, one of, if not, the best fight in any of the original trilogy instalments. Shifu barely fights back, recognising Tai Lung’s feelings towards him as valid and understandable, even if his methods aren’t. Tai Lung confronting Shifu is everything that should’ve been Kai confronting Oogway; what really drives Tai Lung is the build up and betrayal of his master and father figure - the Dragon Scroll only represents that.

However, I find his introduction to be the highlight of his appearance in the film. We barely see him at first; he is covered by the immobilising thing and is simply a chained up heap on the floor. When he frees himself, using a feather to pick the lock, we see his tail, then his eyes - a bright amber colour. In a film where every character is some sort of animal, the combination of familiar voice actors, heightened expressions and human ways of walking and talking help them feel closer to the audience. Tai Lung, however, is introduced as an animal. He doesn’t speak until approximately four minutes into his first proper scene; he only occasionally roars and mostly stays silent. This immediately sets him apart from the more personable characters he is surrounded by, and is a great way to show how distant he is from the protagonists, and what his anger has done to him. His breakout of the prison is a phenomenal sequence, complete with some of the most dynamic shots and movements within the film. His attacking abilities are leaps and bounds more advanced than any of the Furious Five, who the audience were previously led to believe were the greatest kung-fu masters in all of China, which only highlights how terrifying the character is - if he can single handedly fight his way out of a high security prison with thousands of guards coming at him at once, with arrows, axes and maces, what hope could Po have?

Of course, as this is a film aimed at young children and families, Tai Lung doesn't remain scary for the entire duration. In his battle with Po, we see him become comically baffled at the fact the panda is defeating him with moves such as belly-bumping; and while it does seem like Tai Lung’s abilities do drastically decrease out of nowhere in this fight, it does serve the purpose of showing the younger audience that Po doesn’t have to stoop to Tai Lung’s levels to defeat him - it is staying true to himself that ultimately allows him to defeat his adversary.

Taking the top spot is, of course, Lord Shen from Kung-Fu Panda 2. While I didn’t count either of the other character’s voice actors in their rankings, Gary Oldman does such a fantastic job with the character I couldn’t leave it unsaid. Lord Shen is a villain of genuinely biblical levels; genociding all pandas after a soothsayer revealed he may one day be defeated by one, and massively advancing technological discoveries just to build guns and cannons so he could defeat all of China. Sent away by his parents and universally hated, Shen’s power, intelligence and unbridled hatred make him the most genuinely horrifying antagonist in all the films, especially since his goal is not only to conquer China, but also to kill Po - the other two antagonists may see that as a byproduct of their journeys to their goals, but for Shen, it is a goal within itself. He revels in his evil, and takes on a significantly more unassuming form than Kai or Tai Lung - both of whom possess obvious physical strength - whereas Shen is a white peacock with eyes that suddenly open to nearly bulge out of his head. He doesn’t do his own fighting - he has an army of wolves to do his dirty work, and while they are terrifying, his ability to represent such a serious threat just as himself is impressive when we acknowledge the fact that without his army or cannons, he has no real power. Not only does he have the Furious Five and all other kung-fu masters shaken by his looming presence, but the entire country of China lives in fear of him, and remember the atrocities he’s previously committed - showing not only what he’s capable of, but the lengths he is willing to go to.

Shen’s most evil act by far is the panda genocide. Reminiscent of King Herod’s genocide of male Hebrew babies to prevent his throne from being usurped in the Bible, Shen goes a step further and simply wipes out a species (except for Po). This allows for some of the most genuinely devastating scenes depicting war and invasion in a family film, as one particularly harrowing moment shows Po’s mother comforting him as her impending death grows closer - playing out from Po’s perspective which only adds to the heartbreak.

Shen is also the only villain to stay evil right until the end of the film - while Po becomes more lighthearted as he unlocks his inner peace and is confident in his defeat of Shen, Shen himself never engages in these more comic moments the way Tai Lung and Kai did. He simply allows himself to be crushed by his falling cannon, accepting death over imprisonment and facing defeat.

In conclusion, while all three antagonists are great characters, I do feel that Shen, as well as Kung-Fu Panda 2 are the strongest entries in the original trilogy - but I guess it’s all subjective.