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This Near Pure Evil was headlined on May 2021. | ||
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This Article Contains Spoilers -
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. |
| “ | Get them all!!! | „ |
| ~ Lord Shen ordering his wolves to kill every panda there is |
| “ | 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. Lord Shen: You're right. Then I choose THIS! |
„ |
| ~ Lord Shen rejecting Po's offer of redemption and peace and then attacks him in a blind fury, before being ultimately killed by his own cannon. |
Lord Shen is the main antagonist of DreamWorks' 22nd full length animated feature film Kung Fu Panda 2, the second installment of the Kung Fu Panda franchise, and a minor character in its sequel Kung Fu Panda 4.
He is a deadly and relentless foe of Po, bent on destroying him and the panda species for their part of the prophecy that he will soon be defeated by one and using his firework weaponry to conquer China. By targeting the panda village where Po was born and killing his mother, he is Po's arch-nemesis.
He was voiced by Gary Oldman, who also played Egor Korshunov in Air Force One and Ruber in Quest for Camelot.
His Evil Ranking
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?
- When his parents created fireworks that brought joy and prosperity to the citizens of Gongmen City, he saw to use them for warfare by making weapons from the gunpowder.
- Upon hearing about a prophecy of him being defeated by a panda if he continued his dark path, he led his army of wolves and gorillas to attack a farming village of pandas, killing the majority of the panda race, including Po’s mother, and horrifying his parents who promptly banished him for his actions.
- After falsely believing his parents never loved him, he developed a negative philosophy about parents never loving their children and sought for a destructive quest for happiness, a quest he knew would never succeed but continued anyway.
- He created powerful cannons that would cause mass destruction all across China and threaten countless lives so he could destroy Kung Fu and conquer the country.
- He ordered his lieutenant Boss Wolf to pillage and threaten villages for all their metal for the production of his cannons.
- Upon returning to Gongmen City, he used his first cannon to kill Master Thundering Rhino to take over Gongmen City, eventually throwing out his late father's throne out of spite in place of the cannon to symbolize his new rule.
- He had Master Ox and Master Croc imprisoned, threatening to turn his cannon against the city if they tried to stop him.
- After taking over Gongmen City, he oppressed and extorted civilians for their metal, money, food and other basic favors, sometimes even through death threats.
- He ordered Boss Wolf to kill Po and the Furious Five with the same cannon used to kill Rhino.
- When Po and the Furious Five escaped, he destroyed the tower that was once his ancestral home in one last attempt to kill them, taunting them as he does so.
- When the Soothsayer confronted Shen for his actions and the truth on how his parents died as a result of no longer being able to bear with having to banish their son, proving they did love him, he dismissed their deaths as being in the past and how he must look forward to his ambitions of power in the future despite knowing by now it would not give him real happiness.
- When Po came to confront Shen on the truth of what happened on that night, he sadistically broke Po psychologically by lying about his parents not loving him before shooting him point blank with his cannon, while mockingly promising to "heal" him.
- He had the Furious Five bonded to his ship and forced them to witness the destruction he will cause to take over China, beginning with a bridge filled with civilians crossing just for the sake of it being in the way of his fleet.
- Upon witnessing his carnage, he spreads his sadistic smirk in response to Tigress when she calls him a coward for his actions.
- When Po, the Furious Five and their allies closed in on him, he ordered the cannon to be fired at his own men, and when Boss Wolf rejected these orders out of disgust, he murdered him before firing the cannon himself, destroying multiple ships and killing dozens of his own men.
- Because of that, he never showed any true care for his own men as he killed them without any remorse.
- He tried to kill Po in the climax even after he showed him mercy and offered him a chance to try and redeem himself and move on from the past.
- While he does have comedic moments, they don't detract from his villainy and he is still seen as a serious threat in universe, with his worst actions all being played for horror which overshadows all comedic moments, especially when most of them happen in the first half.
- While he is slightly insecure about his parents abandoning him and also neglecting him as it was revealed by the creators of the story, it is not preventing since it wasn't really played for sympathy, and he largely brought it upon himself by committing genocide against the pandas.
- Gets back at the Chameleon for resurrecting him to steal his Kung Fu by joining the other Kung Fu masters into playing jump rope with the Chameleon's tongue once they take her to the Spirit Ream, arguably giving her a fate worse than death.
- Although he willingly went back to Spirit Realm. That doesn't necessarily redeem him because he isn't remorseful for his genocide of the pandas and attempt to take over China. It's very likely that he wants to stay in Spirit Realm solely because it is the only place he has peace.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?
- He lets the Soothsayer go after her usefulness expires, even though executing her would be extremely beneficial for him as she is clearly against his plots and he views everyone as expendable and murders them if they have no use to him, confirming he indeed cares for her despite calling her an old goat in a couple of scenes.
- He showed respect to Po after he defeated the Chameleon and bows before him before returning to the Spirit Realm, showing a sense of honor.
Trivia
- Concept art by Bill Kaufmann and Sean Eckols show that early versions of Kung Fu Panda 2 considered to have Po saving Lord Shen from drowning so he would repent and regret his actions at the end, but the filmmakers ultimately dropped the concept to show that some villains are irredeemable and full of evil. Had this idea been used in the finished film, it could have affected Lord Shen's Near Pure Evil status depending on how much remorse he would have shown.
- In regards to him showing respect for Po due to freeing him and his fellow Kung Fu masters from the Chameleon's grasp towards the end of Kung Fu Panda 4, co-director Stephanie Ma Stine stated that Shen isn't redeemed even though she thinks it would be totally possible to redeem him if he were brought to the story's forefront, which was a consequence of him and Kai the Collector being last-minute additions to the film which made impossible for the filmmakers to weave him into the plot by re-timing, re-animating and re-scoring scenes to make any possible redemption meaningful.
- In an Earlier Script, it would been revealed his parents abandoned him due to him being an Albino, has this kept in, he could have qualify as Inconsistently Heinous possibly making too tragic which would explain in a deleted scene why he wanted to make his parents happy and why he tells his parents never loved him.
External Links
- Lord Shen on the Villains Wiki
- Lord Shen on the Ultimate Evil Wiki
- Lord Shen on the Dreamworks Wiki
- Lord Shen on the Kung Fu Panda Wiki
 Near Pure Evils
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