History Characters / KungFuPanda2

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Does a spinning leap out of the water when turning up to help the Five and Po. Presumably a reference to how crocodiles latch onto their prey and spin in the water to drown them.

* BigEater: Li Shan mentions she had a tremendous appetite in the third film.

* MamaBear: A literal example, [[PandaingToTheAudience since she is a panda bear]]; she made sure Po was in a relatively safe place before pulling her HeroicSacrifice. Unlike most examples, she's more GuileHero than ActionMom given that her method of saving her son is luring the threat away instead of standing her ground.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. Shen massacred Po's village in an attempt to kill him but Po has no memory of this until later in the movie. Shen finds this rather amusing.

* EverybodyCallsHimBarkeep: Her actual name is never revealed.

** The above also means that they can only hit stationary or immobilized opponents, and firing one into a crowd will kill unintended targets. [[spoiler:Boss Wolf recognizes this and refuses to fire at Po when it means his own soldiers would be caught in the crossfire.]]
** And - although Shen had no way of anticipating it - they are [[spoiler:useless against an opponent who has some way of redirecting the cannonballs... such as, say, a kung fu warrior who has mastered inner peace]].

'''Shen''': My parents ''hated'' me, do you understand?! They ''wronged'' me, and I, I ''will'' make it right.\\

* BrokenAce: Shen is incredibly intelligent, ambitious and charismatic, commands the respect and loyalty of entire armies and is skilled enough to give ''Po'' a run for his money in combat (he's also the villain who came closest to killing him). Underneath all this, however, Shen is the male equivelent of a BrokenBird (pun notwithstanding) with deep-rooted issues and a [[HiddenDepths very complex internal struggle.]]

* EvilBrit: Is ''very'' evil, and has his voice actor's natural English accent.

%%* IJustWantToBeLoved: Gary Oldman mentions this in an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id5oUB5HSaw interview]].

[[center: [- [[Characters/KungFuPanda Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/KungFuPandaTheJadePalace The Jade Palace]] | [[Characters/KungFuPandaMasterPoPing Po]] | [[Characters/KungFuPandaFirstMovieCharacters First Movie Characters]] | '''Second Movie Characters''' | [[Characters/KungFuPandaThirdMovieCharacters Third Movie Characters]] | [[Characters/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomenessTVSeries Legends of Awesomeness]] | [[Characters/KungFuPandaThePawsOfDestiny The Paws of Destiny]] | [[Characters/KungFuPandaOtherCharacters Other Characters]]]]-]

* AdultFear: They had to face the fact that their son was a monster willing to commit genocide in order to further his own ambitions.

** ''Literature/TheBookOfLordShang'' anyone?

* BigBad: Of the second film. His campaign to conquer all of China is the main conflict and his genocide of the pandas is an integral part of Po's character arc in that film.

* BlueIsHeroic: They are blue, in contrast to Shen's white.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Tai Lung was a physically formidable Kung Fu fighter and a OneManArmy who worked alone and whose main goal was to get the Dragon Scroll. Shen is physically smaller but a genius noble who has an army to do his bidding, and his goal is to destroy Kung Fu and take over China. While Tai Lung didn't have any kind of past history with Po, the conflict with Shen becomes more of a personal matter to Po due to Shen's connection with his past.

* {{Foil}}: His backstory has significant parallels with that of Tai Lung -- promised power by his parent figure, denied and exiled, returns to claim his place and prove himself. However, Shen's FreudianExcuse is weaker and his vengeance is more sinister. Tai Lung wanted the Dragon Scroll to prove to himself and Shifu he was worthy of it and was a WorthyOpponent to Po, whereas Shen wants to conquer China and casually kills because he has done too much harm, come too far to stop, and has nothing else left in his life.

* FingerlessGloves: Wore a pair during his time as a street fighter.

-->'''Soothsayer''': It is time to stop this madness.
-->'''Shen''': ''[dismissive]'' Why on earth would I do that?
-->'''Soothsayer''': So your parents can rest in peace!
-->'''Shen''': My parents ''hated'' me, do you understand?! They ''wronged'' me, and I, I ''will'' make it right.
-->'''Soothsayer''': They ''loved'' you. They loved you ''so much'' that having to send you away killed them...

** He shares many similarities with [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Judge Claude Frollo]]. Like Frollo, Shen is a [[KnightTemplar genocidal fascist]] with a [[IrrationalHatred deep hatred]] towards an ethnic group, so he's more than willing to commit genocide towards that group. And, like Frollo, Shen is also a character full of moral contradictions and internal conflicts, and constantly fights against them. The only real difference is that one knows he's evil while the other doesn't.

* BrokenAce: Shen is incredibly intelligent, ambitious and charismatic, commands the respect and loyalty of entire armies and is skilled enough to give ''Po'' a run for his money in combat (he's also the villain who came closest to killing him). Underneath all this, however, Shen is a BrokenBird (pun notwithstanding) with deep-rooted issues and a [[HiddenDepths very complex internal struggle.]]

* TragicVillain: All he wanted was to make his parents proud, and thought that a path of conquest was the way to do it. It's hinted several times that he knows full well conquering China will do nothing to ease his pain and [[WordOfGod Word of God]] paints him as a somewhat remorseful figure. [[spoiler:At the end, when he's finally beaten, he calmly accepts his death, perhaps realizing that his defeat truly was inevitable, or perhaps believing that death is the only way to end his torment]].

** That being said, unlike most sociopaths, he ''does'' have some moral fibre buried deep down (the writers and the movie strongly suggest the reason he doesn't abandon his goals is [[IveComeTooFar because he knows how awful his actions were and he seems to silently acknowledge he has no chance of redemption]]) and has some connection to humanity. Just look at his interactions [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes with the Soothsayer]] or [[VillainousBreakdown his plead with Po to understand how he moved on from all that happened to him.]] In fact, it was the paranoia that his parents didn't love him that caused his StartOfDarkness, rather than any superficial or greedy motivation (though it was shown he was heading towards a dark path even back then adn these delusions just made him worse).

** That being said, unlike most sociopaths, he ''does'' have some moral fibre buried deep down (the writers and the movie strongly suggest the reason he doesn't abandon his goals is [[IveComeTooFar because he ''knows'' how wrong they are and that he recognizes he has no chance of redemption]]) and has some connection to humanity. Just look at his interactions [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes with the Soothsayer]] or [[VillainousBreakdown his plead with Po to understand how he moved on from all that happened to him.]]

* FantasticRacism: A notable aversion. Shen may have led the genocide against the Pandas, but he's never shown to outright ''hate'' them; he only ever targeted them in the first place because of the prophecy. The implication seems to be had the Soothsayer predicted his downfall would come from any other warrior (say a crane or a boar) he'd have done the same thing. Shen may be prideful, but he never displays any outright bigotry (which frankly seems almost out of character [[Ax-Crazy considering the sort of person he is)]]. Additionally, as stated before, his armies consist of gorillas and wolves and he doesn't bat an eye at it, a trait that someone with this viewpoint would be very unlikely to do.

* FantasticRacism: A notable aversion. Shen may have led the genocide against the Pandas, but he's never shown to outright ''hate'' them; he only ever targeted them in the first place because of the prophecy. The implication seems to be had the Soothsayer predicted his downfall would come from any other warrior(say a crane or a boar) he'd have done the same thing. Shen may be prideful, but he never displays any outright bigotry (which frankly seems almost out of character [[Narcissist considering who he is)]]. Additionally, as stated before, his armies consist of gorillas and wolves and he doesn't bat an eye at it, a trait that someone with this viewpoint would be very unlikely to do.

* CowardlyLion: His first response to a battle not going his way is to flee and/or hide behind his cannons. In particular, he tries to avoid a direct confrontation with Po because of the prophecy. However, since he ''does'' fight rather well when necessary, it's likely that these actions are due more to pragmatism than fear.

* {{Narcissist}}: Shen is highly prideful and vain, exttremely assured of his victory and despises anyone interrupting or contradicting him. He also loves to envision himself in a grandeur fashion.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. Shen massacred Po's village in an attempt to kill him but Po has no memory of this until later in the movie. Shen finds this rather amusing.

* ALoadOfBull: His horns are his deadliest weapons.