3867. Tigress

Master Tigress is the tritagonist of the first film and the deuteragonist of the second. She is the foster daughter of Shifu as well as the unofficial leader of the Furious Five, mastering over the Tiger style of Hung Ga Kung Fu.

As a cub, Tigress was an orphan living in the Bao Gu Orphanage, presumably located in the Valley of Peace. Currently, no one knows about her biological parents or how she ended up in the Bao Gu Orphanage. The residents of the orphanage lived in fear of her due to her violent temper and frightening strength. Unsure of what could be done with the tiger cub, the caretakers of the orphanage put Tigress in a separate room from the other children, and summoned the aid of Master Shifu.
Hearing about the trouble at the orphanage, Shifu came to help Tigress. He introduced her to a game of dominoes, which required a still and disciplined hand to master. At first, Tigress couldn't place the dominoes correctly, often breaking the fragile wooden tiles in her grip, which frustrated her. But Shifu was a calm and patient teacher, and instructed her for several months to control her temper and her strength, teaching her the importance of discipline.

Finally, after months of training, Tigress presented her hard work to the adults and other children of the orphanage by skillfully placing the dominoes correctly with precision and agility; when she finished, she tipped the placed dominoes to form the symbol of Yin and Yang, earning the trust and friendship of the caretakers and other orphans.
Sadly, even then, the adults who came periodically to adopt new children were still afraid of her, and she was still left at the orphanage. So Shifu took her in as a foster daughter, giving Tigress a new home and a family.

2275. Tigress

Tigress is the tritagonist of the 1st film and the deuteragonist of the second film. Tigress is the strongest and boldest of the Furious Five. She is generally friendly but the least sociable of the five. In many scenes in which the other four of the Furious Five and/or Po were joking or having fun, Tigress would often remain quiet and withdrawn. It was strongly believed, by Shifu and herself, that Oogway was about to choose her as the Dragon Warrior before Po's entrance, despite Wugui's statements. Tigress bitterly resents Po for thwarting her dream, and is the most vocal of the Five in her contempt for the panda and his perceived lack of respect for kung fu, even while her comrades grow to respect him, they still believed she was the true Dragon Warrior.
Upon hearing Po protesting to Master Shifu that he will never be able to defeat Tai Lung even if Shifu changed him, Master Tigress, feeling that she could defeat Tai Lung instead of Po, took it upon herself to intercept the incoming villain along with the rest of the Five, who came with her. However, they were all defeated by Tai Lung's superior martial skill and nerve attack. When Po defeats Tai Lung, Tigress is deeply impressed, and she is the first to acknowledge Po as the true Dragon Warrior, and as a master of kung fu, giving him a sweet smile as she does so.

2268. Viper

Viper is a green snake with two small lotus flowers on top of her head. Although she has a serious birth defect for her species, being born with barely visible venomous fangs, she compensates with her strength, sinuous nature, beauty, and precision. In defiance of the villainous stereotype of snakes, Viper is the most charming, kind, compassionate and sweetest of the Five as demonstrated with her quickly developing empathy for Po as his indomitable tenacity became obvious and being the only one who didn't mock him in any way.
In Secrets of the Furious Five, Viper was born the loved daughter of Great Master Viper, protector of the village where she lived who relied on his venomous fangs to fell his enemies (referred to by Po, and later on by the Great Master as the awe-inspiring awesomeness of his "Poison Fang Technique", said to fell 15 gorilla warriors and a mid-size crocodile in one strike), and his beautiful wife. The Great Master hoped she would carry on his legacy once she was born, but she was without fangs and never developed them as she grew up, much to the dismay of her father. To make her father feel better, Viper took up ribbon dancing at age six, blossoming into the best dancer in the village. During one Autumn Moon Festival, Viper was too timid to attend the festival and stayed home with her mother. But when her father fought against a gorilla bandit who attacked the village and used venom-proof armor to shatter the Great Master's poison fangs, Viper, seeing him in trouble, mustered the courage she needed to defeat the gorilla by confusing him with her dancing skills and tying him up with her ribbon. Thus her father's legacy was secure with his daughter becoming a mighty warrior on her own terms.

2262. Monkey

Monkey is the friendliest and most approachable of the Five. Monkey was the first of the five to recognize Po's determination and is the only member of the Furious Five who refers to Po by name. He also seems to harbor the strongest sense of humor within the Five as well, responding most strongly to Po's sense of comedy. Unlike the others, Master Monkey prefers to use a weapon in combat. He uses a staff, a traditional weapon used in Kung Fu and other martial arts.
Before he became a kung fu warrior, it is known in the Secrets of the Furious Five that Monkey was the village trickster when he was a teenager, often making people slip on banana peels (from bananas that he would eat) and/or pantsing them in revenge for an incident in his youth that resulted in becoming the laughingstock of a few other children in the town. The townspeople sent many powerful warriors, including rhinoceros guards from Chorh-Gom Prison, to force him out of town dead or alive, but Monkey humiliated each and every one of them (by swiping their belts off, resulting in their pants falling down). Monkey was finally subdued by Master Wugui, who, aside from wearing no pants, also used his shell to hide from Monkey's attacks. Wugui taught Monkey compassion by saving him from a falling beam, which led Monkey to develop into the warrior he is today.[6] Monkey is also the only character to be voiced by both Jackie Chan and his son Jaycee Chan.
In Kung Fu Panda 2, Monkey continues to provide much of the humor. When they break into the prison to free Master Ox and Master Croc, he offers to stand watch and make crane noises if the guards come into view-- insulting Crane, who asks indignantly when he's ever made such noises.
Monkey is also the first to try to rally the Furious Five after Po seemingly dies and the group is in chains, heading for execution. He turns to Tigress in this time, and seems to look to her for reassurance.

2260. Mantis

Mantis is the smallest of the Five, but he is obviously the strongest proportional to his size. He can perform such feats as throwing Po and single-handedly holding up a severed rope bridge burdened by most of his comrades and Tai Lung and still have the strength to snap the bridge when needed. He is also a skilled acupuncturist, although his success does depend on the type of body he is working with; a body like that of Po or Viper can sometimes give him problems until he familiarizes himself with the particular anatomy. Pragmatic and open minded with a dry sense of humor, Mantis was the first of the five to develop acceptance and liking of Po as a person, alongside the factor of Po's girth, declaring size did little to define a warrior and could actually be used as an advantage no matter what style one practices. An unused line from the movie is Mantis saying, "I've got to admit, that panda has a lot of heart. And he's incredibly fun to watch bounce."
When he was a few years younger (in Secrets of the Furious Five), Mantis was extremely impatient, feeling that the world was too slow for him and he was too fast for the world. On a mission to retrieve wool coats back from the Wool Stealing Crocodile Bandits, he was captured due to his overconfidence and lack of listening skills when one of the sheep villagers tried to warn him of the bandits' traps. Mantis was locked in a cage for days and forced to sit and wait for something to happen, and he entered a trance that allowed him to survey the world moving faster than he did. This allowed him to develop the patience needed to devise a plan of escape, playing dead to trick the crocodiles into opening his cage and defeat them.[7]
In the sequel, Mantis' background is further revealed. When the group interrupts Po and Tigress in an effort to give "emotional support," Mantis says wistfully that he never got to know his father, because his mother ate his father's head. Later, when it seems as if they are about to die, Mantis sighs that he always expected to settle down with "a nice girl who would later eat my head."
Mantis is also shown to be able to move at inhuman speeds and break metal with his super strength.

2255. Tai Lung

Tai Lung is the main antagonist of the first film. He is a snow leopard and was the adoptive son and (first) devoted pupil of Master Shifu, and showed more skill in Kung Fu than any other of his students: he himself remarks Shifu taught him skills in kung fu he never shared with even the Furious Five. In fact, Tai Lung was the only one (second to Oogway) to know the Nerve Attack. He believed that he was destined to become the Dragon Warrior, and made it his aim in life. However, as Tai Lung improved his fighting skills, his pride grew overwhelming due to believing that he was to become the Dragon Warrior. It was this overgrowing pride that alerted Oogway of darkness in Tai Lung's heart despite the love that Shifu gave him, and refused him the title. Tai Lung's bitterness and anger were only intensified by the fact Master Shifu said and did nothing to defend his adoptive son when Master Oogway denied him the title. Disappointed and outraged with his master's seeming betrayal, Tai Lung's pride turned into corruption and fury as he rampaged throughout the valley, taking out his rage against the villagers. He fought his way to the Jade Palace, seeking to take the Dragon Scroll by force: Shifu could not bring himself to harm his adoptive son and was crippled by Tai Lung. The leopard though was no match for Master Oogway, who hit him with a lighting fast series of nerve attacks, paralyzing and defeating him. Following his defeat, Tai Lung was sent to Chorh-Gom Prison, a maximum-security institution, for his crimes against the valley until his escape two decades later.

2254. Shifu

Dustin Hoffman as Shifu, a Red Panda
Master Shifu is the deuteragonist of the first film, and an important character in the second. Shifu is the student of Oogway and trainer of the Furious Five, as well as Tai Lung. Shifu once loved Tai Lung like a son after he was abandoned at his doorstep as a very young cub. He tried to subdue him after Tai Lung attacked the Valley and made a bid to take the Dragon Scroll by force, but froze, unable to destroy what he created through love, and failed. In Secrets of the Furious Five, it is revealed that he is Tigress' adoptive father as well. He taught her how to control her own fury by playing a game of dominoes with her and later adopted her as his own daughter from an orphanage despite all the other adults' fear of adopting her. His experience with Tai Lung otherwise stiffened him, unfortunately, causing him to train Tigress and the Furious Five in a harsher and more critical manner than he used with Tai Lung.
He is at first unwilling to train Po, not believing he has what it takes to defeat Tai Lung; he therefore tries to make the training unbearable to force Po to give up. As such, Shifu is greatly annoyed at how Po embraces and endures all his attempts. Shifu also voices his contempt of Po by referring to him as "Panda" rather than his name. After much convincing from Oogway as well as his new responsibility as the guardian of the Valley of Peace after Oogway's ascension into the Heavens, Shifu agrees to seriously train Po until he is ready to face Tai Lung.

2245. Crane

Master Crane is a member of the Furious Five and a master over the Crane style of Hung Ga Kung Fu.
Crane is a master of Crane style of Hung Ga Kung Fu. He is first seen in the training scene where the five attempt to ambush Shifu. When Master Shifu evades them completely he says he is dissapointed, and points out the problems in each of the five's attack strategy; telling Master Crane he needs to go to greater height before attacking.

2238. Baby Po

Po is the main protagonist of Kung Fu Panda. In a fantasy world version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphized animals, he is a giant panda who is improbably chosen as the Dragon Warrior, champion of the Valley of Peace. He is the adoptive son of Mr. Ping and one of Master Shifu's students. Po is also the prophesied Dragon Warrior.
Po lived in a village of Giant Pandas, until Lord Shen had it destroyed in his infancy as part of his campaign to exterminate to avert the prophecy that a black and white warrior would one day defeat him. In the chaos, Shen's wolf followers slaughtered the pandas and destroyed the village. Po's mother fled with her son in attempt to save him, while Po's father stayed to defend the village while ordering his wife to flee with their son. Po's father fights the wolves off. Eventually, Po's mother managed to temporarily elude the wolves and found a crate of radishes which she hid her son while she sacrificed herself to lure Shen's forces away for her son. After that, The crate was eventually shipped across China to a village in the Valley of Peace, where the owner of a Noodle shop, Mr. Ping, found the panda cub. Mr. Ping decided to raise him as his son, giving him the name Po. With no conscious memories of his past life, Po grew up with the Goose and became a studious apprentice in his foster father's restaurant trade. However, Po's real passion proved to be for kung fu, but was reluctant to disappoint his father by revealing it. Unfortunately, despite having a mild and friendly personality, Po also developed a severe self-loathing, thinking he is a failure for being both obese (when in reality he is of a healthy weight for his species) and of a species not known for a warrior tradition. When upset, he usually gorges on food to dull the pain.

2091. Po

Po (also known as Master Po) is the main protagonist of Kung Fu Panda. In a fantasy world version of ancient China populated by intelligent humanoid animals, he is a giant panda who is improbably chosen as the Dragon Warrior, champion of the Valley of Peace.
Po lived in a village of Giant Pandas, until Lord Shen had it destroyed in his infancy as part of his campaign to exterminate the species to avert the prophecy that a black and white warrior would one day defeat him. In the chaos, Po's father stayed to defend the village while ordering his wife to flee with their son. Eventually, Po's mother was forced to leave him in a produce crate while she sacrificed herself to lure Shen's forces away. After that, Po was inadvertently transported away until the crate ended up in the back of Mr. Ping's restaurant, who decided to adopt the apparently abandoned panda cub. With no conscious memories of his past life, Po grew up with the Goose and became a studious apprentice in his foster father's restaurant trade. However, Po's real passion proved to be for kung fu, but was reluctant to disappoint his father by revealing it (though he shows some pride at his father's cooking skill when while he cooks for the Furious Five). Unfortunately, despite having a mild and friendly personality, Po also developed a severe self-loathing, thinking he is a failure for being both obese (when in reality he is of a healthy weight for his species) and of a species not known for a warrior tradition. When upset, he usually gorges on food to dull the pain.
His main interest lies in kung fu, of which he has developed an encyclopedic knowledge. He is able to recall the lore of warriors, famous combat moves, dates and historic artifacts. Furthermore, his deep appreciation of the martial arts extends into its philosophical aspects, enabling to him to sometimes achieve insights that even deeply respected masters like Shifu cannot conceive of.

Sitz im Leben: My niece, Angelica, can't seem to get enough of Kung Fu Panda Po. She asked me to be with Po in the photoshoot and I must say... it's not such a bad picture.