WMG / Kung Fu Panda 4

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Pre-Release

Furious Five are either Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer or they are absent in the film

The Furious Five aren't really shown off in the trailer and their actors weren't part of the cast announcement for the film.

So, either they are in this film but like Kung Fu Panda 3, they are once again Demoted to Extra since the film seemed to focus on Po and Zhen's relationship as well the lack of their presence in the trailer.

Or they are already retired by the time the film starts and thus, explains their absence in the film, confirming the former half of the theory.

• Word of God has stated that the Five are in the film in some capacity.
  • Confirmed, more or less. Though they do appear at the end, they are largely absent outside of a mention by Po.

Tai Lung will become a Token Good Teammate and have a Heel–Face Turn

Well think about it, out of all the Big Bads/Villains that were the main antagonists of the film, Tai Lung was the least villainous, as despite having been a threat, including attempting to kill Shifu, he is the only one out of three who was played sympathetically, a Butt-Monkey, unlike both Lord Shen and Kai The Collector, who were both taken very seriously in their roles.

Tai Lung could see the error of his ways, including a change of heart, once he sees how his actions got him not to mention if Po convinces him that it’s not too late for him to change to being good.

• Confirmed, at least the Heel–Face Turn part. After Chameleon is defeated, Tai Lung finally accepts Oogway's decision to make Po the Dragon Warrior and gains respect for him.

The Chameleon will form a group of villains

The plot has confirmed that not only will Chameleon be the Big Bad of the fourth film, but she will free every enemy Po has banished including Tai Lung, Shen, and Kai The Collector.

She will likely form a group of the enemies Po has faced and banished, including his first three archenemies, to take down Po and the Furious Five.

• The Chameleon was confirmed as freeing the villains that Po faced, including Tai Lung from The Spirit Realm.
  • Jossed. She doesn't team up with any of the villains she frees; rather, she steals their kung fu power to fuel her own.

Villains that might join The Chameleon

The Chameleon was confirmed as freeing the villains that Po faced, including Tai Lung from The Spiriti Realm.

So we can think of what kind of enemies if Po and The Furious Five who could be freed by Chameleon and join her on taking down Chameleon.

• Jindiao
• Ke-Pa
• Boss Wolf and his relatives
• Jinjie
• Fenghuang

Zhen will have some connection to the Chameleon.

Maybe a former henchmen, maybe the Chameleon killed her parents... who knows?

• Or it could just be a case of The Chameleon is some kind of Evil Counterpart to Zhen.
• Confirmed. She raised and trained Zhen.

A Sequel Series starring Zhen will follow this movie

It's been said that Po needs to find a successor to helm the title of Dragon Warrior so he could be the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace. All signs are pointing to Zhen as than successor, so perhaps, should the franchise continue, it would continue by focusing on Zhen rather than Po.

Tai Lung will fight Kai.

In the third movie Tai Lung was one of the masters that Kai had stolen the Chi from. So Tai Lung will fight Kai for revenge and to ensure that the only one who takes down his father Shifu will be him.

• Jossed; none of the spirits that were called forth fight each other.

Scenes with villains meeting other characters

• Tai Lung
  • Another fight scene with Shifu.
  • A rematch with Po.
• Lord Shen
  • Meeting Li Shan.
  • A rematch with Po.
  • Personally meeting Shifu.
  • Personally meeting Oogway.
• Kai
  • A rematch with Po.
  • Kai meeting The Chameleon and thanking her for remembering him, since Kai would get angry in the third film when people didn't know about him.
  • A rematch with Oogway.
• Each Other
  • All three fight each other, Kai would be victorious.
  • All three confront Po at the same time.
  • Tai Lung fights Lord Shen (because of how awesome it could be!)
  • Kai has a rematch with Tai Lung (because we never saw how Kai took his Chi).

The Chameleon is Hijacked by Ganon

As The Chameleon's plan gets derailed the returning villains attempt to make their move, mostly likely revenge on Po, or escape setting up a Sequel Hook.

• Not likely, given that the fans will think that Dreamworks is reusing the previous movies. Plus, in trailer Chameleon is shown curb-stomping Tai Lung, so this will make this theory jossed.

Zhen will be Cruz to Po's Lightning.

Oh, come on! When the trailer came out, who doesn't noticed that Po and Zhen dynamic is similar to Lightning and Cruz dynamic from Cars 3? Plus, the movie hints to Zhen becoming Po's successor as the Dragon Warrior, similar to how Cruz finished final race for Lightning at the end of the film.

The Chameleon will be a Complete Monster.

Notice how in each movie the main villain becomes more vile and evil - Shen whilst being the most honorable of Po's foes and having a Dark and Troubled Past like Tai Lung, is Near Pure Evil, while Kai who is NPZ just like Shen, doesn't have a tragic backstory, sympathetic traits, or redeeming qualities unlike the peafowl. Following this trend of Big Bad from new movies becoming more viler than their predecessors, The Chameleon will have no comedic moments, tragic backstory, sympathetic traits, or redeeming qualities and will commit an even worse crime than Shen and Kai ever did in their respective movies. And even if she will have some sort of sympathetic backstory (in a vein to Randall, Syndrome or Lotso), it will not justify her heinous acts in the present day.

The Chameleon will underestimate the previous big bads.

After Po and Zhen defeated The Chameleon, she will try to escape only to run into all three previous big bads. She will try to defeated them and take their powers but they will kill her. After she appears in the Spirit Realm Kai will take her Chi turning her into a jade amulet.

Shifu will die

Like how Oogway ascended to the Spirit Realm and Shifu took his place, Shifu will ascend as well, leaving Po to take his place.

• Jossed. He's alive and well by the end.

If Tai Lung has a story arc in this film, it will be heavily abridged

As much of an Ensemble Dark Horse as Tai Lung is for the fandom, Po is still the protagonist and the movie will have to focus on and build up several new characters (Zhen, the Chameleon, the Den of Thieves), so even in the best-case scenario (assuming the real Tai Lung isn't just a glorified cameo), the snow leopard's role will at most be a subplot. If there's going to be an Enemy Mine and/or Heel–Face Turn arc for him, they'll have to take shortcuts in the story department, such as Tai Lung having already done a lot of soul-searching off-screen while in the Spirit Realm, or sacrificing himself during a battle, because there is only so much they can do with a subplot for a supporting character within the confines of a 90-minute movie that's already packed with characters.

Han will become Ensemble Dark Horse.

His personality and the fact that he's a pangolin - animal that's fairly uknown in animation world - could make him easily popular amongst audience.

Po will need his staff to stop the Chameleon.

As shown in the trailer, Po is able to use his staff given by Oogway in the third movie, to use chi attacks, and at the end, the Chameleon shape-shifts into an alternate Po. Earlier on in the trailer, Tai Lung is brought back and the Chameleon is able to shape-shift into an alternate version of him by taking away his Kung Fu. Chances are, she did the same to Po and he will have to use his staff to stop her.

• It could also be confirmation that she just duplicates her victims' kung-fu rather than stealing it.

Tai Lung will be the big surprise of the film.

In this interview, director Mike Mitchell states that Tai Lung is his favorite Dreamworks villain, and co-director Stephanie Ma Stine says that Tai Lung's relationships with Oogway, Shifu, and Po will be important. When you factor in his prominent appearances in the trailer and poster, as well as the fact that he's apparently getting his own toy, it sounds like Tai Lung might be much more important to the film than the plot summary is letting on.

Po and Zhen will find out they have much in common.

As the trailer shows, Zhen isn’t exactly the most obvious choice to be the Dragon Warrior’s apprentice, with her being a wanted criminal. However, later in the story when Po and/or Zhen have been captured/defeated by the Chameleon they could find out they have much in common, with a possibility that would be great for the story and give a lot of emotion would be that Po and Zhen were both given up by their parents. However, while Po’s did it out of love to protect him Zhen could’ve been abandoned by her parents which would be a great callback to the 2nd movie.

The movie takes place in a Alternate Universe.

• The Chameleon is from a different world and she needs more then what her world has so she uses her magic to gather dragon warriors to her world and absorb them so she can be a dragon goddess.
  • This explains why The Furious Five are no where to be seen or heard of.
  • Why Tai Lung gets absorbed out of the blue.
  • Why The Chameleon has Po's powers even though they just met (it comes from a different Po),
  • Why Po dose not consider using his Panda family for an army like in the third movie he is in a different world and they are not with him.

The Chameleon will be related to Tigress' past.

There's an interesting pattern going throughout all three movies - namely, the main villain of their respective film is related to one of the main character's past in one way or another. Thus, Tai Lung is related to Shifu's past, Shen to Po's, while Kai to Oogway's. Given that Tigress is fourth most important hero character in the series, it could be possible that The Chameleon will be somewhat related to her past - maybe she's the one that killed/separated her from her parents, resulting in Tigress ending up in orphanage.

• Jossed. Based on what the movie shows, Chameleon has nothing to do with Tigress or her past.

The Chameleon line "We're not so different, you and I" which she says when she transforms into Po actually means more than just being Pre-Asskicking One-Liner.

Maybe she also had similar backstory like Po - her people had been massacred and she had suffered Parental Abandonment.

Tai Lung will act as a mentor to the violent bunny children.

In the Chinese poster for the film, Tai Lung is seen taking a stance right behind the bunny triplets, two of whom are also ready for battle. Since the bunnies love violence and mayhem, it could be that they become fans of Tai Lung, so perhaps he takes them in and either adopts them or makes them his students. It could also fit in with a possible Heel–Face Turn for Tai Lung, as he might have to reconcile with Shifu and start improving his behavior in order to set a good example for the bunnies.

The Chameleon is from South America.

If you pay close attention to her temple in the trailer, you can notice that it's adorned by distinctive stonework and statues found common in pre-Columbian temples. Said Mayincatec pattern also is found on her robes, and her guards are iguanas - genus of lizards inhabiting South America. This could mean that unlike previous Big Bad's, Chameleon wasn't born in China and most likely emigrated from some Mayincatec civilization (most likely the one from Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight if this show is canon to the movies) to China for some unknown reasons.

The badger, wolf, half-blind crocodile and golden-tusked boar that appear at one point in the trailer aren't bandits that Chameleon hired, but rather citizens of Juniper City who are offering her gifts in order to let her spare them.

If you look closely in this scene, you can notice that all four of them are holding gold in their hands while crocodile and boar have "worry and concern" looks on their faces. Given that her temple towers over the Juniper City, it could be that Chameleon is a Small-Town Tyrant who forces citizens to give her offerings, in similar way to Magica and Poe DeSpell's.

If the movie will explore Tigress backstory (as explained in the theory above) and her family will appear, her father will be voiced by Eric Bauza.

This will be both Casting Gag and Actor Allusion, given that Bauza already voiced another badass tiger warrior with a code of honor.

• Jossed. As Tigress is absent for most of the movie, it doesn't explore her past at all.

Zhen's jade earring is a Tragic Keepsake from her parents.

Notice that Zhen is wearing a jadeite earring on one of her ears, while no characters that had appeared in previous movies had wear earrings, especially only on one ear. Going by above mentioned theory that Chameleon killed Zhen parents, it could be possible that Zhen's earring is present from her mom, who had give it to her way before Chameleon killed her and her husband, and now Zhen wears it because it's the only thing left from her parents. This could also tie-in into above "Po and Zhen finding out they have much in common" theory.

Zhen is a ninja.

New clip shows that her stealth outfit looks similar to those that were worned by ninjas, she moves in a very ninja-like manner, and seems to have experience in martial arts despite being some common thief. This could mean that either Zhen is kunoichi from Japan or (going by above mentioned theories of Chameleon killing her parents) she comes from a lineage of ninjas, with her parents (who emigrated to China with her) teaching her ninjutsu when she was a child. When Zhen parents infiltrated Chameleon palace for some unknown reasons, they accidentally learned about her nefarious plans, which resulted in reptilian sorceress killing them in cold blood, and making Zhen orphan, forcing her to become thief and using her ninja skills to steal things in order to survive.

Zhen used to work for The Chameleon

Well think about it, she is already a wanted criminal and has heard about The Chameleon.

Besides we haven’t heard that much details about her past or anything besides her having been born in the streets as well as becoming a criminal.

This may give us a both a hint and possibility that Zhen used to have worn for The Chameleon before departing and betraying her.

• Confirmed. Not only did she work for her, during the movie she still does — but after undergoing a Heel Realization, she stops working for her altogether.

Master Pangolin is ancestor of Han.

The new clip also features one of the artifacts in the Hall of Heroes being Indestructible Chain Hammer of Master Pangolin, who's a new master introduced to the series by fourth movie, while one of the prominent characters appearing in the movie is Han, the leader of the Den of Thieves, who is a pangolin. This can't be a coincidence to have one of the new masters introduced to the series share the species with one of the characters that debut in this movie. And given that Han displays some martial arts in one of the spots where he fights with Chameleon army, it could be likely that he's descendant of the long dead kung fu master, who for some reason turned to crime.

The Chameleon will shapeshift into a dragon

Which means Po the Dragon Warrior will have to fight a literal dragon warrior.

• Confirmed to an extent. While she does sort of turn into a dragon, said "dragon" is a mix of various animal parts.

Lord Shen will become allies with Po and try to stop The Chameleon because...

He just wants to die. To be more specific, he wants to return to the Spirit Realm, since it's been hinted in the sequel that death was the only way he could obtain peace. Being forced to return to the Mortal World by The Chameleon only to have his abilities taken away and possibly being caged (and therebefore, suffer again) would infuriate him. Shen would take Po's side in hopes that the latter can recover his staff so the former could return to the Realm properly, without having to experience an explosive death again.

Mr. Ping and Li Shan will rally out Granny Boar and her gang to help out Po.

New clips show both of them in Tippy Tavern, where she and her gang lives. Perhaps after finding information about their son, they will convince her and her gang to help them fight with Chameleon, assuming that even crooks from Den of Thieves won't be able to handle her army. Since Granny Boar and her voice actress are heavily featured in the marketing of the movie, there's possibility that she and her gang have larger roles in the movie than just two scenes that take place in their tavern.

• Jossed. They never join them, and they rally the bandits of Juniper City instead.

The Wuxi Finger Hold will not be able to defeat any of the returning villains.

Po will try to use the Wuxi Finger Hold on Tai Lung and Shen but since they already died it won't work on them because they aren't mortals anymore but spirit warriors. The Chameleon will try to use the Wuxi Finger Hold on Po only for it to do nothing on Po because he already died in his battle with Kai when he used the Wuxi Finger Hold on himself making Po a spirit warrior.

• Jossed. The Finger Hold never gets brought up at all.

Kung Fu Panda 4 will be the darkest installment in the franchise

Putting it out there since the number 4 is considered a bad omen in Chinese culture.

• Jossed. It may even be lighter than 3

Post-release theories

The events of Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight are set after the events of this movie.

Po’s global adventures will come after Zhen is trained and Po is upgraded from Dragon Warrior to Dragon Master.

Shifu will eventually lead a journey of his own that will reunite him with the now significantly changed Tai Lung

Since Tai Lung now respects Po, it would be a nice moment for Shifu to learn that his former student/adopted son has now truly let go of the past and his previous envy, plus letting them mend their relationship now that Shifu has handed the reins to Po as the Master of the Jade Palace and spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace that Oogway once held.

The Chameleon wasn't telling the whole truth about her backstory about how she got rejected by kung fu masters for allegedly being too small or weak for kung fu.

When you think about it, her Freudian Excuse seems sympathetic at first glance but with a deeper analysis, it completely falls apart. For one, there were kung fu masters out there like Oogway or Shifu who would take on smaller animals like Mantis as kung fu students. Second, the Chameleon practically ruled a city as an extremely wealthy crime boss/sorceress and lived as royalty for a long time, given how we see her take in Zhen as a child after Zhen tried to rob her jewels so she clearly wasn't economically disadvantaged and had the funds to hire/bribe kung fu masters to teach her in all that time but chose not to for some reason. What may have been more likely is that in the past, maybe just one kung fu instructor turned her down on account of her size and species while the other kung fu masters turned her down because they saw the darkness in the Chameleon's heart like Oogway saw Tai Lung's darkness and knew a walking red flag when they saw it but the Chameleon's self-serving memory remembered the slight of being turned down for her appearance more and used that as a sob story to give legitimacy to her actions.

The reason why Crane was crowned the King of the Crocodilians in his Written-In Absence excuse was because he defeated the previous one.

The previous monarch of the Crocodilians was a villainous ruler that appeared to have specifically targeted Crane, and the Crocodilians instead chose to crown their savior as their next king.

Sequel Theories

Possible ideas and plots for Zhen’s arc

The sequel has ended with Po and The Furious Five training Zhen into becoming The Dragon Warrior after she stopped The Chameleon.

• Zhen becoming The Dragon Warrior as Po’s successor.
• A group of criminals who plan on taking down Zhen and attempting to become dragon warriors as well.

Possible Villains

Po’s arc of being The Dragion Warrior is over since the beginning to the second and middle till here.

Now that Zhen is becoming a Dragon Warrior with the teachings of Po and The Furious Five, there are possible other villains that Zhen could face while encountering them.

• An Evil Counterpart of Zhen who will become her arch-nemesis except an affable one.
• A Green-Eyed Monster who will become jealous of Zhen being a Dragon Warrior.
• A Magnificent Bastard who wants to become a hero.
• A Anti-Hero who is becoming an Anti-Villain or vice-versa and is a Contrasting Sequel Antagonist to Chameleon.
  • They could be a Komodo dragon or another member of the monitor lizard family to tie in with the whole Dragon Warrior theme and have a Love Makes You Evil backstory. Their motivation to open a portal to the Spirit Realm might be to bring back lost love and family.
  • A Fallen Hero akin to The Scarlet Witch who wants to toy with the Spirit Realm/multiverse to be with lost family or bring them back with forbidden arts. This could possibly escalate the conflict to a multi-dimensional crisis. They might be such a threat that villains from past films including Chameleon herself enter into an Enemy Mine situation. Unlike previous antagonists, they might be guided through their grief by getting the chance to have some of their wishes fulfilled in a safe manner and surrender to be rehabilitated in a correctional facility of sorts.

Ke-Pa will get canonized in a future KFP movie

While Word of God has declared all the shows to be non-canon, there remains the fact that Po in the movies has yet to face a real dragon antagonist, which may be an appropriate Final Boss for him, given his title and motif as the "Dragon Warrior". While it's still probably a long shot, it's not outside the realm of possibility considering in other fictional works, non-serial villains have made the transition to canon (ie: Broly from Dragon Ball starting out as a Non-Serial Movie villain but was brought into official canon later on). And given how Ke-Pa is essentially a proto-Kai (with regards to Po needing powerful Chi to defeat him and being voiced by a Spider-Man Trilogy actor in Alfred Molina) and has had a huge influence on other Arc Villain characters in the shows, bringing Ke-Pa back as the ultimate final villain for Po may be a logical choice for Po to finish his story.

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