Tai Lung

"Shifu taught you well. But he didn't teach you everything."

- Tai Lung to the Furious Five

Tai Lung is the main antagonist of DreamWorks's 16th full-length animated feature film, Kung Fu Panda. He was Po's first enemy, Shifu's former student, adoptive son, and Tigress's adoptive older brother.

He was voiced by Ian McShane, who also played Captain Hook and Blackbeard.

Origins
Tai Lung was found as an abandoned cub by Master Shifu. Shifu raised him as his own son, showered him with love, and trained him in the arts of Kung Fu. As Shifu trained him, he grew more and more confident in his abilities, due to Shifu's constant assurance that he was destined for greatness and he would be the Dragon Warrior.

Growing into a proud and formidable fighter, Tai Lung began to see the Dragon Scroll, and being the Dragon Warrior, as his destiny, and the final step in his life as a hero.

The day arrived when Shifu felt that Tai Lung was ready for the Dragon Scroll, but Shifu's mentor, Grand Master Oogway, respectfully refused to let him have it due to seeing a dark potential in his heart. At that point, Tai Lung's pride dissolved into rage, and he rampaged through the Valley of Peace, laying it to waste. He then attempted to take the scroll by force, barrelling through the thick wooden doors into the Jade Palace's Hall of Warriors, where Master Oogway and Master Shifu were waiting for him.

Shifu attempted to stop Tai Lung from getting to the scroll, but was unwilling to harm the one he considered to be his son. However, Tai Lung had nothing but hatred for Shifu, due to the fact that Shifu was unable to stand up for him when Oogway denied him the Dragon Scroll, and violently struck Shifu aside, crippling him in the process. Just before Tai Lung was about to get the Dragon Scroll, he was stopped by Master Oogway, who blocked his chi by jabbing multiple pressure points in his chest, rendering him unconscious.

He was then locked into a prison with thousands of guards, weapons, two boulders chained to his arms, and a stone shell on his back with various jade acupuncture needles placed in every crucial points blocking his chi in the process as well to immobilize him as punishment for his crimes against the Valley.

Escape From Prison
"I'm glad Shifu sent you. I was afraid I'd been forgotten. Fly back there and tell them...the real Dragon Warrior is coming home!"

- Tai Lung after escaping from prison sends Zeng back to the valley to alert his arrival (and his first words).

20 years later, Tai Lung escapes from Chorh-Gom Prison using a molted feather that fell loose from Zeng when Vachir slapped on him in his back; Tai Lung took the advantage by quietly taking the feather through his tail and using it to pick an indicate lock and freed himself from the restraints as well restoring his chi. Once freed, Tai Lung was spotted by the Anvil of Heaven, who mobilized to contain Tai Lung with every weapon at their disposal. Driven by his insatiable fury, Tai Lung used his Kung fu mastery and decimate the guards in the process as he advanced his way up the levels resulting to a battle climaxing in a standoff at the bridge at the door level.

In a last attempt to outsmart Tai Lung, Vachir ordered the bridge to be destroyed by setting off explosives attached to the roof of the prison, causing falling chunks of rock the size of boulders to smash into the walkway Tai Lung was standing on. Thinking quickly, Tai Lung rapidly leaped from rock to falling rock, finally reaching the last bundle of explosives that had yet to be set off—and tossed it in the midst of the guards as it exploded, blasting open the heavy doors and finishing off the remaining guards and Vachir.

Grabbing Zeng by the neck, Tai Lung politely told him to fly back to the Jade Palace with a message of his own: "The real Dragon Warrior is coming home". After letting the goose go, he set out to return to the Jade Palace, bent on revenge and gaining the power of the Dragon Scroll he had been denied so long ago at a top speed.

Tai Lung VS The Five
"Tai Lung: Where's the dragon warrior? Tigress: How do you know you're not looking at her? Tai Lung: [Laughs] You think I'm a fool? I know you're not the Dragon Warrior—none of you!"

- Tai Lung and Tigress

Meanwhile, in the Valley of Peace, the potential Dragon Warrior (Po) is being trained to fight Tai Lung. The Furious Five upon hearing of his escape set out in an attempt to stop him, against Shifu's orders. Upon confronting him at the Thread of Hope, a rope bridge that served as the only passage through the mountains.

Though managing to fight him for a time, he defeats them without serious effort (by using nerve attacks), paralyzing all except for Crane, who sends him back to the Jade Palace along with his paralyzed companions as a warning. This action caused Shifu to evacuate the Valley to protect the villagers from Tai Lung's wrath and the Furious Five to lead them to safety, leaving Shifu to await Tai Lung's arrival.

Fight with Shifu
"Tai Lung: I rotted in jail for twenty years because of your weakness! Shifu: Obeying your master is not weakness! Tai Lung: You knew I was the Dragon Warrior! You always knew. But, when Oogway said otherwise, what did you do? What did you do?! Nothing! Shifu: You were not meant to be the Dragon Warrior! That was not my fault! Tai Lung: NOT YOUR FAULT?! WHO FILLED MY HEAD WITH DREAMS?! WHO MADE ME TRAIN UNTIL MY BONES CRACKED?! WHO DENIED ME MY DESTINY?! Shifu: It was never my decision to make! Tai Lung: It is now! (backs Shifu against the wall) Give me the scroll! Shifu: I would rather die! Tai Lung: Whatever I did, I did to make you proud! Tell me how proud you are, Shifu! Tell me! TELL ME!!! Shifu: I have always been proud of you. From the first moment I've been proud of you. And it was my pride that blinded me. I loved you too much to see what you were becoming, what I was turning you into. I'm... I'm sorry."

- Tai Lung, brutally attacking Shifu in full rage.

Though Tai Lung at first gives Shifu a chance at welcoming him home, in disregard of his earlier crimes, he shows no mercy to his surrogate father when he refuses and is challenged, beating him mercilessly and nearly killing him as he demanded the Dragon Scroll which the latter refuses, despite Shifu attempting to reach out to him at one point. Enraged at the crimes that had he felt had been done to him, Tai Lung attacks his master and an intense fight breaks out, where Tai Lung eventually defeats his master and attempts to finish him off upon realizing the Dragon Scroll was missing then starts to strangle Shifu in anger until Po confronts him.



Final Battle With Po And Defeat
"Tai Lung: You're bluffing. You're bluffing! Shifu didn't teach you that. Po: No. I figured it out. Skadoosh!"

- Tai Lung's final moment.

During the final battle, he and Po came face-to-face and continuously fought over the Dragon Scroll. With Po managing to outmaneuver Tai Lung with his unorthodox kung fu fighting skills until the end, where Tai Lung finally gets the Dragon Scroll before he realized that the Dragon Scroll was blank. Not understanding it, Tai Lung attacks Po out of frustration as he attempts to paralyzed him using a nerve attack which proved useless against Po due to his body fat and tickle Po in the process.

Making one last futile attempt to fight, a weakened Tai Lung was finally caught on the legendary Wuxi finger hold as Po finishes Tai Lung, causing him to disappear in a rippling golden wave. As the outcome of the hold would be revealed in the third movie, it is rumored that the panda didn't kill the leopard, only sent him to the spirit world (though it must be noted that the spirit world is the afterlife).

Kung Fu Panda 2
While not actually appearing in Kung Fu Panda 2, Tai Lung was briefly mentioned when Po was put in eight-point acupressure cuffs, with the panda pointing out they are the same type of cuffs had once held Tai Lung. Tai Lung was also seen shortly in the memories of Po during his flashback as the latter attains inner peace in order to stop Lord Shen and his army of wolves from taking over China.

Kung Fu Panda 3
Tai Lung makes a minor cameo in Kung Fu Panda 3 as an action figure of himself. He also appears on one of Kai's Jombie Amulets, but his amulet is only briefly visible in certain shots and is never used against the heroes.

Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness
Though Tai Lung makes no live appearance in the series, he is shown in flashbacks and is mentioned on more than one occasion: At first, he was shown in the flashback during his escape in Hundun's point of view. Then a kung fu prodigy named Peng whom Po just met revealed to have traced his family lineage and discovered that Tai Lung is his late uncle.

Later, in episode Master and the Panda, Peng ended up learning the truth about what had happened to Tai Lung and attacked Po, who tried to reason with Peng that his uncle was evil. Peng later ended up corrupted by the Gong Lu Medallion, and fought Po in a battle that mirrored Po's fight with Tai Lung. Po later used a shift stone to assume the form of Tai Lung in order to convince Peng to remove the Gong Lu Medallion as wel as succesfully convinced Peng about how Tai Lung's power hungry and pride has consume him.

Personality
Tai Lung is best described as a warrior whose pride and ambition led him down a dark path. As a young cub he showed promise in the art of Kung Fu and had a close bond with his master, Shifu who in his eyes was his true father. However, as he grew older and more skilled, he became overconfident and arrogant until he believed that it was his destiny to receive the Dragon Scroll and become the Dragon Warrior.

However when approached by Oogway, the old turtle saw darkness in his heart and did not see him as worthy enough to be the Dragon Warrior. After his master and adopted father, Shifu said nothing after hearing this, Tai Lung considered this an act of a betrayal and his pride was replaced with rage. Tai Lung went on the warpath across the Valley of Peace, laying waste to everything in his path and decided to take the Dragon Scroll by force. He hated Shifu and even violently attacked his old master when he was in his way. Eventually Tai Lung was subdued by Oogway and sentenced to Chorh-Gom prison.

20 years in jail did not soothe his hatred, however. Instead, he became even more viciously determined that he was the Dragon Warrior, even telling to Zeng that he was "the real Dragon Warrior" and he was returning to the Valley of Peace. Tai Lung retained his arrogance and brutality; he could not believe for one second that Po, who was an overweight panda, could be the Dragon Warrior which ironically was a factor in his defeat. (Granted he was able to defeat the entire Furious Five himself so maybe his arrogance was justified).

Despite his cold-hearted, hard exterior, Tai Lung was naturally insecure; he did not believe in himself to begin with and needed the Dragon Scroll to believe so. While dueling with Shifu at the Jade Palace, he actually screams to his father that all he ever did was to make him proud, indicating that despite nearly two decades of alienation between the two Tai Lung still wants his old master's approval. Even after hearing Shifu's confession that he had always been proud of him and that his pride blinded him into seeing what he became and made an apology for it, Tai Lung finally saw that Shifu still did love him, but he hardened his heart as he still wanted the Dragon Scroll.

Trivia

 * Tai Lung appeared in the first Kung Fu Panda video game, in which he was the primary villain again and, just like the movie, broke out of jail and went for the scroll; however, unlike the movie, the Furious Five get captured by the leopard and his army of wolves. So it is up to Po to go rescue them and stop Tai Lung.
 * He returns in the video game Kung Fu Panda: Legendary Warriors, in which he's the main villain (again) and also the final boss. This time, he comes with a troop of enemies to aid him. He's once again stopped, defeated, and killed by Po and the others.
 * According to the creator's commentary, the color gold was used to symbolize heroism in the movie, and that Tai Lung saw himself as the hero of the story, hence they gave him golden eyes, despite the fact that he is the villain of the story.
 * Tai Lung is actually 30 years old at the film.