Lord Shen

"China will be mine!"

- Lord Shen "Happiness must be taken, and I will take mine."

- Lord Shen, talking to the Soothsayer as she leaves. "The Year of the Peacock, begins NOW!"

- Shen ordering his wolves to ready his armada. "The only reason you're still alive, is that I find your stupidity...mildly amusing."

- Lord Shen insulting Po.

Lord Shen (simply known as Shen) is the main antagonist of DreamWorks's 22nd full-length animated feature film, Kung Fu Panda 2. He is an evil, disowned prince peacock who wanted to take over China and destroy Kung Fu with his cannons. He is the Soothsayer's former master, and the wolves' leader.

He was voiced by Gary Oldman who also played Baron Ruber, Dreyfus, Mason Verger, Norman Stansfield, General Grawl, Egor Korshunov, Drexl Spivey, Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, Carnegie, and Count Dracula.

Origins
When Shen was ready to become the next peacock ruler of Gongmen City, the Soothsayer goat gave a prophecy to his parents that he would eventually be defeated by a warrior of black and white, but only if he were to continue pursuing his path of using his father's art of fireworks for warfare to take control of China. Shen hears about this while eavesdropping on them, but rather than rethinking over his goals to put in a better destiny for himself, Shen instead decides to avert the prophecy by leading his wolf gang to track down and kill every panda in the land.

After the massacre was complete, Shen returns back to his palace with pride, but is distraught to see that his family are horrified and disgusted by what he has done. Lord Shen's father angrily sentences him and his wolf gang to exile as punishment for slaughtering the pandas. Believing that his parents hated him and feeling he did so as self-defense to further his goals, Shen angrily swore that he will return and reclaim what's rightfully his. Following Shen's exile, his family became very depressed during their rule and later died out of grief, giving their power to the Gongmen Kung Fu Council.

During his twenty years in exile, deep in the mountains, Shen's wolves worked tirelessly to complete their master's ultimate weapon: a cannon that would bring an end to the use of Kung Fu. When Boss Wolf informed him that they had run out of metal to use as material, Shen ordered him to attack the farthest villages and steal all the metal they could find. While he and a group of wolves set out to do so, Shen decided that it was time to move forward with his plans.

Shen's Return and Takeover of Gongmen City
Once two decades have passed, Shen took back the control of the Gongmen City by force while using his new, powerful weapon: A cannon. With it, he killed the senior Master Thundering Rhino, imprisoned the other Kung Fu Masters, Ox and Croc, by threatening to use the cannon against the city, and took back his palace, plotting to spread his power. It was then that Po, Shifu, and the Furious Five learned of Lord Shen's treachery and the threat of his weapon, realizing it could bring about a new style of warfare, which could mean the end of Kung Fu.

With the Council out of the way, Shen began to ransack the tower, even tossing his father's throne out the window and replacing it with his cannon (despite stating his fond memories of the throne). He then questioned the Soothsayer about his future, but she informed him that nothing had changed; he would still be defeated by "a warrior of black and white". Shen declared this to be impossible, but was quickly proven wrong when Boss Wolf returned, informing him that he had battled a panda whom, he commented, "fought like a demon". Shen, furious at this news yet determined to keep his cool, ordered Boss Wolf to bring the panda to him so he could kill Po himself and prove the Soothsayer wrong.

Meeting Po
"A lifetime to plot his revenge and he comes to me on his knees!"

- Lord Shen on Po

Later, when the panda, Po Shan, was brought before him alongside the Furious Five in handcuffs, Shen was taken aback by Po's casual behavior of not being intimidated by him or the situation. Much to the Soothsayer's surprise and Shen's amusement, it soon became clear that Po was unaware of the massacre of the pandas, and of Shen's role in it. He laughed and taunted him about his ignorance, and then ordered the Wolf Boss to fire the cannon at Po and the Five. However, Mantis quickly extinguished the fuse and knocked Boss Wolf out, which bought Viper enough time to pick the lock on Tigress' cuffs. Once they were free, the Five attacked, and Tigress and Mantis destroyed Shen's cannon.

Po lunged at Shen, but upon seeing the marks on Shen's tail feathers, was struck with a memory of his past, and realized that Shen was there the night he lost his biological parents. Shen only confirmed this with satisfaction and made use of the opportunity to escape to the Fireworks Factory, where he had several more cannons waiting. He ordered his warriors to open fire and bring the tower down with Po and the Five inside. Despite this, they managed to escape as the building collapsed.

After a following battle, Shen escapes to his cannon factory, out of the palace, and Po and the Furious Five barely manage to escape. Shen then proceeds with his plan to begin his assault on China using his cannons and expanding his empire, declaring the beginning of "the Year of the Peacock".

Final Moments with Soothsayer
"The dead exist in the past, and I must tend to the future."

- Lord Shen accepting his identity, ignoring the Soothsayers pleads.

Shen later gloated to the Soothsayer that she was wrong about Po, since the panda had failed to defeat him. But she only criticized Shen for destroying his ancestral home. She asked Shen if conquering China would finally satisfy him to which Shen responds "It's a start. I might also convert the basement into a dungeon." When arguing with him failed to change his mind, the Soothsayer tried to reason with Shen, stating that Shen's destruction will never bring him satisfaction and begged him to stop so his parents could rest in peace. Shen insisted that his parents had hated and wronged him, but she said that they had loved him so much that they died of grief. His cold response to this news made it very clear to the Soothsayer that he was determined follow the path of destruction. Shen then ordered his guards to set her free. Deeply saddened, she told him goodbye and wished him happiness as she left.

Fireworks Factory
"You want to know so badly. You think knowing will heal you, huh? Feel some crater in your soul? Well, here's your answer: Your parents didn't love you. But here, let me heal you."

- Lord Shen hypocritically lies to Po

Meanwhile, the Furious Five tried to blow up the factory with the explosives while keeping Po back at the Gongmen city prison, along with Croc and Storming Ox (who was starting to show weakness from discovering the truth of his family). However, Po sneaks into the factory to confront Shen and learn more about his past, inadvertently interfering with the Five's plan. Shen, taking Po's weakness by lying that Po's parents hated him and abandoned him, manages to shoot the panda with his cannon; sending Po out of the factory and into the river. Confident that the Panda was dead, the wicked peacock then orders his wolves to capture the Five and prepare his armada.

Battle at Gongmen Harbor
""How many times do I have to kill the same stinking panda?!"

- Shen enraged upon seeing Po survive from his cannon standing boldly before his armada.

Po is found and healed by the Soothsayer, who helps him attain inner peace and return to face Lord Shen again as he begins his assault. It was then Po realized his father defended him against the wolves from killing him, and his mother sacrificed herself to save him from Shen's wrath.

Shen has the Furious Five chained up and suspended above his ships as they sailed out of the city. But much to his shock and rage, Master Po comes back and tries to rescue his friends and defeat Shen once and for all. Shen orders his gunners to blast him, but Po nimbly moves along the rooftops, preventing them from getting a clear shot, and then jumps onto the ships to engage Shen's army, now that they couldn't fire without hitting their own men. Lord Shen could do nothing but watch as Po freed the Furious Five and joined forces with Masters Storming Ox, Croc and Shifu.

As the battle becomes intense and the heroes were getting closer, Shen, finally losing his patience, ordered Boss Wolf to fire the main cannon, but he refused to kill his own men. In response to this, the enraged Shen coldly strikes him with one of his throwing knives and fires the cannon himself, knocking all the kung fu warriors away and blasting through the boats they had set up to block his fleet. Shen watched as Po swam out to one of the destroyed ships and began making Tai Chi motions. Unphased, Lord Shen ordered his gunners to open fire and finish the panda.

However, Po, having attained his inner peace by letting his memory of his parents flow through him rather than fighting it, manages to redirect all the cannon balls back at Lord Shen's fleet, much to the other kung fu masters' surprise. After the ships were all destroyed and the rest of Shen's army defeated, Po confronts the exhausted Shen on his ruined flagship, revealing to the peacock that he has prevented his own past from taking over his present and urges Shen to do the same thing, stating that what matters most is choosing his own future.

Final Battle And Death
"Po: You gotta let go of that stuff from the past 'cause it just doesn't matter! The only thing that matters is what you choose to be now. Shen: You're right. Then I choose...THIS! (attacks Po in a blind fury)"

- Lord Shen's last stand.

Though Shen agrees of choosing his own future, he refuses to let go of his pain. Without hesitation, Shen attacks Po with his lance and knives, quickly gaining the upper hand. However, as they fight, Shen, in his blind fury, accidentally slashes through the ropes holding up the remains of his last cannon. As the heavy weapon topples over and falls on the wicked peacock, Shen closed his eyes while accepting his fate and then gets crushed to death by the cannon. The gunpowder in the cannon blows up, resulting a great explosion that sinks the remains of the ship into the waters. However, Po narrowly escapes unscathed, thus the prophecy became fulfilled.

Throughout the film, Shen had been troubled by his fear of Po stopping, even killing him. He was also troubled by the memory of how his family had banished him, refusing to accept the fact that his actions against the pandas has made them mad at him in the first place, and instead believe that they never loved him. The Soothsayer and Po both implored him to stop his actions and find peace of mind and happiness. Tragically, in his final moments, Shen did find peace of mind and happiness.

Kung Fu Panda 3
Shen doesn't make a live appearance in the 2016 film, Kung Fu Panda 3, as he is already dead, but he is briefly seen near the end of a recycled flashback told by Po's father, Li Shan of how he lost Po and his wife.

Trivia

 * He has a similar color pattern to Lord Vireka (white and red).
 * His tail consisted of 92 feathers.
 * Lord Shen was originally cast as a devious mayor for the first Kung Fu Panda movie.
 * In the Mad episodes "Kung Fu Blander" (in which his new army were the Angry Birds) and "DestroyBob the Builder Destroyer", he was defeated by Master Po, and then by Black and White Spies.
 * Lord Shen has more fans than Tai Lung (the sole antagonist of the first Kung Fu Panda movie), whom he shares many personality traits with.
 * Lord Shen is the only Kung Fu Panda character to have artificial body parts.
 * Lord Shen has a bit of a comparison to Darth Traya as they share a common goal: to destroy the thing that they rely on (even though she uses the force, Traya intends to destroy since in the hopes of understanding it, she will learn the way to kill it and failed) and even though Shen is a Kung Fu warrior, he intends to destroy Kung Fu.
 * Shen is often regarded as the darkest Kung Fu Panda villain.
 * Shen is the first main villain of Kung Fu Panda movies who has an army.
 * Shen being born white is intentionally symbolic for his character as a villain, as white symbolizes death in Chinese culture.
 * Shen counts as a Greater Scope Villain because had he not attempted genocide on the pandas, Po's birth parents wouldn't have abandoned him, Po wouldn't have been adopted by Mr. Ping, and the series would not have happened.
 * He is similar to Penguin from Batman Returns.  They appear in movie sequels, are born with monstrous traits, disowned by their parents at childhood, grow up to be mortal enemies of the protagonists, accept their identities by putting their deceased parents behind them, and die with honor.