The Bull Demon King is the main antagonist of the 2014 fantasy film The Monkey King, loosely based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. He was loosely based on the Bull Demon King from the original novel. In the film, he is the leader of the demons who plans to overthrow the Jade Emperor and rule Heaven.
He was portrayed by Aaron Kwok, who would go on to portray the titular character himself, Sun Wukong, in its two sequels, The Monkey King 2 and The Monkey King 3.
Personality[]
The Bull Demon King is a power-hungry warlord who desires to overthrow the Jade Emperor and rule Heaven. He's also very manipulative, having preyed on Wukong and Erlang's desires and issues to make them aid him in his quest. His conspiracy with Erlang to make Wukong a powerful weapon shows that he only treats Wukong as a tool to achieve his goal, rather than a person. Worse still, he even kills Wukong's friends, destroys the latter's home and lies to Wukong that Heaven is responsible just to push Wukong's hatred against Heaven.
Biography[]
During an attack on Heaven, the Bull Demon King lost to the Jade Emperor, but was spared by the latter on the behalf of the Emperor's sister and the Bull Demon King's lover, Princess Iron Fan. Thus he and his demons were banished to the Flaming Mountain.
Years later, while Princess Iron Fan is pregnant, the Bull Demon King secretly plans to invade Heaven again by manipulating Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen, the Jade Emperor's nephew who resents his uncle. Erlang agrees with the Demon King's deal in exchange for getting to kill the Emperor and rule Heaven. The Bull Demon King also manipulates the Nine-Tailed Fox by claiming that he saved her life during his last attack on Heaven. When the Fox, whose real name is Ruxue, reunites with her old friend Wukong, they're attacked by Nezha, who is then killed by the Bull Demon King. Wukong befriends the Bull Demon King, who tempts him with Heaven's treasures, including immortality. In truth, this is a plan between the Demon King and Erlang to make Wukong more powerful in order to use him as a weapon against Heaven.
After Wukong returns from Heaven to find his home, Mount Huguo destroyed and his friends dead, Ruxue included, the Bull Demon King convinces him that Heaven is responsible. Angered, Wukong attacks them while the Demon King battles and defeats Wukong's master, Suhuti. However, during the battle, Wukong notices that the Demon King conjures the same dark substance that killed Ruxue and realizes that the latter is responsible for killing her. This angered Wukong further, and he attacks the Demon King only to be defeated and realizes his errors thanks to the goddess Guan Yin's help. The Demon King defeats the Jade Emperor and Erlang and takes Heaven's throne, but Wukong battles him once more and wins, sending him crashing to Earth. He's last seen in his bull form, having been stripped of all his powers, and is visited by Princess Iron Fan and their son, the Red Boy.