Characters / Kung Fu Panda – Other Characters

Kung Fu Panda franchise character index
Protagonists | Antagonists | Other Characters
Legends of Awesomeness | The Paws of Destiny | The Dragon Knight

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Valley of Peace

Mr. Ping's Noodle Shop

Mr. Ping

Voiced by: James Hong^{Foreign VAs}Zhen Jinhua (Cantonese), Hubert Gagnon (Canadian French, first three movies), Michel Tureau (EU French), Lutz Mackensy (German), Francesco Vairano (Italian), Naoki Tatsuta (Japanese), Ki Yeong-do (Korean), Sun Decheng (TW Mandarin), Pietro Mário (Brazilian Portuguese), Octávio Matos (EU Portuguese), Oleg Forostenko (Russian), Juan Fernández (EU Spanish), Ismael Castro (LA Spanish); Wojciech Paszkowski (Polish)

"We are noodle folk. Broth runs deep in our veins!"

Po's adoptive goose father. He runs a noodle shop, and would rather like to see Po become a noodles seller, but just the same, he is very supportive of Po's dream to become a kung fu master.

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• Accidental Hero: This happens a lot due to his virtues.
  • His pep talk to Po about "secret noodle soup" in the first film ends up giving Po exactly the wisdom he needs to understand the scroll and the courage to face Tai Lung to save Shifu.
  • His adoption of Po ended up cementing that the Valley of Peace would be safe from Tai Lung. Mr. Ping also unknowingly saved the survivor of brutal genocide, ensuring that Po would be alive to face the perpetrator decades later.
• Action Survivor: He lacks the kung fu skills of Po, Shifu, and the Furious Five. But sometimes throughout different movies and shows, he's thrown into the thick of action alongside Po against his enemies and manages to come out in one piece while sometimes getting in some hits against the villains.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • In past movies and Loose Canon animated shows, he's somewhere between a Non-Action Guy and an Action Survivor. But in The Dragon Knight, running concurrently with him being an Adaptational Jerkass, Mr. Ping is shown to have a pirate past where he plundered and engaged in high seas battles. And during the third season in particular, he's given a few action scenes that show he can still fight like in the old days.
  • In the TV shows, whenever the plot calls for it, Mr. Ping is able to fly casually with no problems. However, when we see him fly cinematically for the first time in the fourth movie, his flight seems to be very limited when he and Li Shan are going up a set of uneven mountainous steps and Mr. Ping even requires Li Shan to give him a push to get airborn for a short burst of flight to the next step.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Like how Legends of Awesomeness made Po more rude, lazy, and prone to Aesop Amnesia, The Dragon Knight gave Mr. Ping a shady past as a pirate leader who pillaged towns, robbed, and didn't shower to the point even Po loses faith in him. Past movie and Loose Canon animated spinoff installments never portrayed him as anything other than a loving adoptive father in flashbacks and present day.
  • In The Paws of Destiny, despite having come to terms that Li is part of Po's life just as he is in the third movie, in the show he still acts as a jerk around Li and continues to see him a rival to Po's attention.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: In the second movie, he packs Po a lunch for the road and his Furious Five action figures... in front of the Furious Five. In the TV show when he stays at the Jade Palace, he tells the Furious Five embarrassing stories about Po when he was a child.
• Ambiguously Gay: During the fourth film, he and Li have become much closer, to the point where Li has moved in with him, adventure together to find Po during his journey to fight The Chameleon, and are later seen sitting down and watching her forces get taken down while enjoying drinks together. The fact that they refer to Po as their son throughout the film makes it seem like they're a couple now.
• Ascended Extra: He has a much more prominent role in the TV series and third film compared to the first two films.
• Bash Brothers: He and Li Shan team up in the finale of the third movie to distract Kai's jombies while Po goes after Kai. Their "Double Dad Defense" works quite well.
• Bizarre Gambling Winnings: He's the owner of a noodle restaurant, which he owns by family inheritance. Said business was acquired generations ago when one of his ancestors won a bet on a game of mahjong.
• Career Not Taken: In the first film, Po (who himself dreams of being a Kung-Fu master) asks his adoptive father Ping whether he ever wanted to do anything else with his life besides running a noodle shop.
  Ping: Actually, when I was young and crazy, I used to dream about making tofu!
  Po: So, why didn't you?
  Ping: Because it was a stupid dream. Can you imagine me making tofu? (laughs to himself, clearly remorseful, before he suddenly slams his cleaver into a chopping board) No! We all have our place in this world!
• Character Development: He gets some in the third film. At first, he greatly hated Li Shan because Ping was worried that he would steal Po from him. But when he found out that Li lied to Po about knowing how to master chi to stop Kai, he comforts him, telling him that they both lied to Po about something (Ping lied to Po about him being his real father) and ceases his hostility towards Li for the rest of the film.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: After decades of raising his son (a panda), he is capable of flinging Po around with ease when motivated enough.
• Department of Redundancy Department: His family's signature soup, "Secret Ingredient Soup," is made with a secret ingredient. Subverted and turned into a Non-Indicative Name when he reveals that there is no secret ingredient.
• Everyone Has Standards: Hilariously, When Mr. Ping hears of Po going to train and defeat a "Monster", right when the Panda village preps for evacuation, Mr. Ping assumed Po meant his Father Li Shan, and criticize him for trying to kill him, saying he still his father. Despite the jealousy he had against Li Shan, he didn't want any harm dealt to him.
• Family Business: Together with Po, he runs the noodle shop that he inherited from his father, who inherited it from his father, who won it from a friend in a game of mahjong.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Downplayed and later completely averted. At the beginning of the first film, he comes across as a well-meaning but ignorant dad who believes noodles are both his and Po's lively-hood. When Po admits to him his real love is kung fu, he just tells him "let's get back to work" when Po initially fails at seeing the Dragon Warrior choosing ceremony. However, as he says this, he does show a look of guilt on his face. Later on in the film, he says to Po that he's sorry his dreams didn't work out the way he hoped for when Po is disappointed over the apparent meaningless nature of the Dragon Scroll. This shows that he did always care about Po's happiness, its just that his noodle shop is all he really knows about because its a multi-generation business. Once Po defeats Tai Lung, Mr. Ping becomes incredibly supportive of Po's real passions and it stays that way for the rest of the franchise.
• Feather Fingers: And he uses them a lot. He's a chef after all.
• Flight: He can fly, being a goose, but is never seen doing so. Even Po has never seen him fly despite living with him for 20 years, and expresses surprise at the realization that he can.
• Friend to All Children: Implied in the third film. Even as they eat his food and destroy his things, he can't resist fawning over a crowd of baby pandas who reminded him of Po.
• Frying Pan of Doom: Uses one as his weapon in the battle against Kai's jombies in the third film, even using it to take out jombie-Shifu.
• Furry Baldness: Averted despite seemingly looking like he has this. When he is seen hatless, he has no hair on his scalp, but at the same time it is also colored in flesh, indicating no feathers as well.
• Good Parents: Despite their obvious differences, he truly loves Po as his own son and didn't think twice about adopting him after no one showed up to claim him. Po has the same amount of love and respect towards his dad and the two share an incredibly strong bond. This show that Ping did a good job raising him and only gets better as shown in the end of the first film and onwards.
• Green-Eyed Monster: In the third movie, after Po's birth father appears.
• Helicopter Parents: He displays this attitude in the third film when Li Shan suddenly re-emerges, even displaying signs of jealousy and fear that Li Shan might try to displace him as the primary parental figure in Po's life.
• Hidden Depths: Quirky goose, awesome cook, surprisingly skilled at Chinese chess. In both films, he is also wise in the general themes that the films play upon before anyone else grasps them, such as the importance of being yourself in the first and the ability to let go of the past in the second.
  • He claims that he keeps his shop open late on the solstice because he makes more revenue off the lonely diners, but he turns down a chance to serve food at the Jade Palace because many of the people who come to his restaurant during the Festival would have no where else to go.
• Honest John's Dealership: A mild case in that he is a loving father and has a nice sense of community, but he's also a canny restauranteur who sees nothing wrong in taking advantage of morally dubious opportunities to enhance his business' profits, such as charging extra for lonely people to eat at his place's Winter Festival night dinner or displaying his son's old possessions as tourist attractions after Po gets famous.
• I Am Not Your Father: Confesses this in the second movie. Ironically, Po says he already knew; he just wanted his dad to admit it. Po just didn't think it really mattered up until questions of self-identity came up.
  Mr. Ping: You... might have been... kind of... a-a-adopted.
  Po: ...I knew it!
  Mr. Ping: You knew?! Wha- Who told you?!
  Po: No one! I mean, come on, dad!
  Mr. Ping: But if you knew, you didn't you ever say anything?!
  Po: Why didn't you say anything?!
• Informed Attribute: According to a comment he makes in the third film, he can fly just fine. He just chooses not to (as Po himself is shocked to learn). Probably because Po can't fly and so his wings don't get too tired/sore to inhibit his ability to cook. Subverted in the "Legends of Awesomeness" episode: 'Enter the Dragon' in which he really does fly back to Po after Po defeated Kepa.
• Interspecies Adoption: He is a goose who is the adoptive father of a panda.
• Karmic Jackpot: He gets fringe benefits of having adopted the panda who would become the Dragon Warrior, from his booming business to everyone singing his son's praises. It becomes clearer, however, that for him having Po in his life is all he wants. He then learns to manipulate chi to save Po and bring him back from the spirit realm.
• Ki Manipulation: Is the second character after Li Shan to learn how to do so in the third movie.
• Large Ham: At times.
• Last-Name Basis: He's only ever called "Mr.Ping". We don't yet know his first name.
  • Though there are hints in the first and second movie that it's actually Western First-Name Basis. In the first movie he first says early on that the Xiao are noodle folk, he later reiterates it as we are noodle folk. And in the second movie he refers to Po by his full name of Xiao Po. So it's possible his full name is Xiao Ping, and consider that in China (and most Asian countries) family name comes first, given name is last.
• Like Father, Like Son: Both he and Po share personality quirks, most notably that when embarrassed, they turn sideways and peek nervously at those looking at them.
• Long Neck: Of course he has one, he's a goose.
• Married to the Job: Mr. Ping isn't married or seen with a love interest, instead focusing on his restaurant and raising his son above all else.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Despite his sometimes selfish behavior, he's a mostly good guy who clearly loves Po very much and supports him (even if sometimes he does so to promote his business). He also comforts Li Shan, who he had previously showed resentment towards, after him and Po had their falling out.
• Muggle Foster Parents: The untrained noodle chef and adopted father of a Kung Fu Master spoken of in a 500 year old prophesy.
• Non-Action Guy: He's the (adoptive) father of a kung fu master, but that's as close to the action as he gets. Averted in the third movie and during some episodes of the television series.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Averted. He has a prominent Chinese accent in contrast to his American-accented son. Being voiced by actual Chinese-American James Hong has its advantages.
• Parental Substitute: Served as Po's paternal figure for all of his life. Po makes it clear that, no matter what, he sees Mr. Ping as his dad.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Eventually proves to be this in all of the films. While he is surprised that Po is into kung fu and is chosen as the Dragon Warrior, he is genuinely saddened when Po thinks the scroll and prophecy is a fake. Then he apologizes, gives the pep talk Po needs to go save Shifu, and says So Proud of You when Po saves the day.
• Red Is Heroic: He wears a red robe and hat.
• Papa Wolf: Shows up more often in the TV series and at the climax of the third movie, but he's fiercely protective of Po when it counts.
• The Power of Love:
  • His love for Po allows him to do great feats if his son is in danger. In the third movie, he learns to master chi to help Po in the spirit realm and give him the power to go back.
  • It's implied that his love for and belief in Po was what allowed his son to become the Dragon Warrior. He tells Po in the first film that you just need to believe something is special to make it special while giving him an adoring look. Yes, Mr. Ping believed in the panda who is his son. This leads to Po's "Eureka!" Moment that "there is no secret ingredient" to being the Dragon Warrior.
• Retired Badass: In the alternate continuity of The Dragon Knight, Mr. Ping actually used to be a pirate in his younger days, even becoming acquainted with the Pirate Queen Forouzan. However, he one day faked his death and stowed away in a ship to return home to China and start up a noodle shop.
• Shown Their Work: In general, the way Mr. Ping acts is a highly accurate, on-the-nose portrayal of traditional Chinese parents. Loves his son, expresses his affection for him through food, wants him to continue on the family business, and encourages him to become the best kung fu master he can be. Even the scene in the third film where Mr. Ping gets excited at the prospect of Po running the Jade Palace is exactly like a Chinese parent wanting their adult child to get a promotion at work.
  Mr. Ping: A teacher? Teaching kung fu? That's a promotion! Take the job, son. And someday, when you're in charge of the whole Jade Palace, I can sell noodles in the lobby!! (chuckles, then pauses) Why are you still here taking a bath like a baby? Get out, get out! Go, go, go! Franchise expansion awaits us!
• Skewed Priorities: In The Paws of Destiny, he's really concerned with his cart that he suffers a breakdown when it gets damaged, he even takes the time to find new carts in midst of the final battle in the series finale.
• Small Parent, Huge Child: His son Po towers over him from a young age by virtue of Interspecies Adoption.
• So Proud of You: He's fully supportive of Po being the Dragon Warrior, even renaming his noodle shop after him in the second film.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: In contrast to the Five Furious and Master Shifu's diminished role in latter sequels and shows, Mr. Ping passes from a Minor Major Character in the first two movies to the second most recurring character behind Po, having a role of relevance in all of the sequels and the shows. What makes this a particulary egregious example is that Mr. Ping is a) Not a Kung Fu Master, b) only important to the plot of the movies through his relationship with Po and c) working at his noodle shop, which would give him a very valid reason to not be a part of every adventure, in contrast to the Five or Shifu, who in theory should be more constantly around protecting the Valley of Peace.
• Supreme Chef: Where do you think Po got it from?
• Team Chef: During the training of the panda villagers in the third film, he assists Po by feeding the baby pandas.
• The Talk: Averted. When Po asks where he came from, Ping tells him "Well, you see, son, baby geese come from an egg... DON'T ask me where the egg comes from!"
• Took a Level in Badass: In the first two films, he was a supporting character and Non-Action Guy. But in the third, he follows Po to the panda village and assists Li Shan in fighting Kai's jombies with a frying pan.
  Po: (as jombie-Shifu is chasing him) Oh, no! Master Shifu! I can't hit Shifu!
  (CLANG)
  Mr. Ping: (holding the Frying Pan of Doom he just used to hit Shifu) I can!
  Li Shan: And so can I!
  Both: (activates their improvised set of armor) Double Dad Defense!
• Tritagonist: Of the third film, as the story is about Po meeting his birth father, Li Shan. Ping at first isn't that happy about the situation and tags along when Li takes Po to the panda village. He eventually realizes that he doesn't have to worry about losing Po and helps Li to realize that in a wonderfully sweet talk between them.
  Mr Ping: I didn't really come along because I was worried Po would go hungry. I was worried about you.
  Li Shan: Worried that I'd go hungry?
  Mr Ping: No, I was worried you'd steal Po from me.
  Li Shan: I'd what?
  Mr Ping: I know. That was crazy. But I realized having you in Po's life doesn't mean less for me. It means more for Po.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He calls out the Furious Five in "Sight For Sore Eyes" for not helping Po save Shifu. When Crane makes a slight remark against Po, Ping grabs his beak and pulls him down!
• Wisdom from the Gutter:
  • He's just a humble noodle chef, but his personal philosophies include at least two pieces of ultimate kung fu wisdom, the secret of the Dragon Scroll and the path to inner peace, and he just developed them during his life while cooking food.
  • Despite being the only character present at the time who has neither formal kung-fu training nor a common ancestry with anyone who does, he is the second character to learn how to successfully manipulate chi (beat out only by Li Shan).

Jade Palace

Zeng

Voiced by: Dan Fogler (Films), Mick Wingert (TV Series), Andrew Kishino (first video game, Legendary Warriors) ^{Foreign VAs}Kinson Lai (Cantonese), Martin Watier (Canadian French), Pascal Sellem (EU French), Gerald Schaale (German), Massimiliano Alto (Italian), Wataru Takagi (Japanese), Jeon Tae-yeol (Korean), Zhai Wen (PRC Mandarin), Ryan Huang (TW Mandarin), Reginaldo Primo (Brazilian Portuguese), Manuel Marques (EU Portuguese), Ilya Bledny (Russian), Aleix Estadella (EU Spanish), Óscar Flores (LA Spanish); Zbigniew Suszyński (Polish)

"We're dead. So very, very dead."

Shifu's timid messenger goose. Bears witness to Tai Lung's escape when he attempts to warn the patrols to step up their security.

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• Acrophobic Bird: Averted. He's the only goose in the cast who's ever been shown flying so far.
• Ascended Extra: He was a minor character in the first movie but gets a bit more focus and development in Kung Fu Panda Holiday, Legends of Awesomeness, and Paws of Destiny.
• Bearer of Bad News: And Vachir is not happy about it. Shifu on the other hand is simply stunned.
  Shifu: Thank goodness, Zeng. I could use some good news.
  Zeng: Um...
• Butt-Monkey: All through the film, Zeng is, in order of misfortune, pressured by Master Shifu into going to a terrifying prison to check on one of the most dangerous enemies of the Valley of Peace, mistreated and berated by Vachir, who clearly enjoys seeing him squirm; watches as several guards are (presumably) killed and comes face to face with the scary snow leopard himself and barely spared. To add salt to the wound, he's the one who has to return with the bad news. Although, he got off lightly on that last one, since he could have been easily killed as well.
• Cowardly Lion: The first to hide from dangerous villains.
• Disaster Dominoes: It all started with one little feather...
• Foreshadowing: When he takes off from the Jade Palace to deliver the message to Chorh-Gom, several feathers are seen falling off of him.
• Furry Reminder: He honks nervously when faced by an enraged Tai Lung.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: In the Legends of Awesomeness episode "Shifu's Ex", Zeng confides in Mei Ling than he actually hates his boss, Shifu (unaware she and Shifu have switched bodies and "Mei Ling" is getting increasingly ticked off). Somewhat justified as the show really amped up Shifu's shabby treatment of Zeng in several episodes.
• Neck Lift: On the receiving end, first from Vachir while preventing him from fleeing the prison to tell Shifu Tai Lung broke free of his restraints, and then again by Tai Lung himself once he blasts his way out of the prison.
• Nervous Wreck: When he's in Chorh-Gom Prison. Being surrounded by belligerent rhinoceros and being in Tai Lung's presence doesn't help.
• Oh, Crap!: Constantly whenever Tai Lung is involved, though the worst would be when Tai Lung performs a Neck Lift on him after blasting his way out of the prison with the re-purposed dynamite.
• Sequel Non-Entity: Despite appearing in some other media after Kung Fu Panda like the tv series and holiday special, he is conspicuously absent in both the second and third film.
• Shoot the Messenger: Played with. Vachir doesn't kill him for bringing Shifu's message that states his restraints and guards may not be adequate (he's technically a good guy, and Zeng did warn him he was "just the messenger" and it was Shifu questioning his authority, not him), but he does everything else he can get away with—a Neck Lift, Minion Maracas, threats, sadistically enjoying Zeng's fear when he forces him to view Tai Lung and the safeguards holding him, and refusing to let him leave during the prison break (thus putting his life in danger) because he didn't want anyone to know of his failure to hold Tai Lung.
• Spare a Messenger: Finds himself on the receiving end of this by Tai Lung, who politely yet sinisterly tells him to fly back to Shifu and tell him "the real Dragon Warrior is coming home."
• Shrinking Violet: He is quite neurotic all through his visit to Chorh-Gom Prison, not helped by Commander Vachir's taunting. He probably had the right attitude, after all.
• Small Role, Big Impact: In the first film, he's only a minor character but helped set the story in motion since it was because he went to Chorh-Gom Prison to begin with and accidentally had one of his feathers fall down near Tai Lung that the snow leopard managed to escape in the first place.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After bringing Shifu the news of Tai Lung's escape, he completely disappears from the rest of the movie, save for a picture in the end credits. Not that he was important for anything else. Downplayed because he has made appearances elsewhere in the series: A voiced appearance in the Holiday special, assisting Po in picking the chef and talking about the forbidden hand wave, and several times in Legends of Awesomeness and Paws of Destiny. He is completely absent from the second and third film, however, and is also absent from The Dragon Knight despite being a notable Ascended Extra in animated spinoffs.

Other Citizens

JR and KG Shaw

JR voiced by: JR Reed^{Foreign VAs}Norman Matt (German), Simone Veltroni (Italian)
KG voiced by: Kyle Gass^{Foreign VAs}Klaus-Peter Hoppe (German), Paolo Bernardini (Italian)

Pig siblings whom Po meets on his way to the Jade Palace in the first film.

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• The Cameo: For Kyle Gass, Jack Black's rock comedy partner, and JR Reed, a frequent collaborator for the band, as well as one half of a duo with Gass on the band Trainwreck with Kyle Gass.
• Consolation Backfire: Seeing Po struggling to carry the noodle cart up the stairs makes them pity him enough to promise him "a souvenir". Po simply decides to get one himself.
• Shout-Out: Several layers of it.
  • Their surname is inspired by the Shaw Brothers Studios, which specialized on making kung fu movies in the 1970s.
  • JR reflects the initials of his actor, JR Reed.
  • Doubling as a Punny Name, KG represents the initials of his actor, Kyle Gass, as well as his stage name in his and Jack Black's rock comedy duo, Tenacious D.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Their attempt to console Po over his perceived failure to climb the Jade Palace stairs to see the tournament is what gives the panda the push to abandon the noodle cart and just walk all the way up, kickstarting the movie.
• Theme Twin Naming: Both have their initials as their name: JR and KG.

Chorh-Gom Prison

Commander Vachir

Voiced by: Michael Clarke Duncan, Dave Carter (Showdown of Legendary Legends) ^{Foreign VAs}Du Benli (Cantonese), Benoît Rousseau (Canadian French), Philippe Dumond (EU French), Tilo Schwitz (German), Claudio Fattoretto (Italian), Daisuke Gōri (Japanese), Han Sang Deok (Korean), Yin Lei (PRC Mandarin), Lin Ku Chen (TW Mandarin), Olavo Bilac (EU Portuguese), Vladimir Zaitsev (Russian), Jordi Rollo (EU Spanish), Rubén Moya (LA Spanish); Piotr Bąk (Polish)

"You doubt my prison's security?"

The head of security at Chorh-Gom Prison, where Tai Lung was held for twenty years.

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• Asshole Victim: He's an abusive warden who needlessly torments Tai Lung and even strongarms Shifu's messenger so once Tai Lung breaks out, one doesn't have to feel too bad that Tai Lung goes on a rampage and hurls dynamite at a frightened Vachir.
• Berserk Button: Having his prison and its guards insulted. Shifu's mild Freak Out about Oogway's vision causes him to send a message to Chorh-Gom Prison with an order to double the guards, which infuriates Vachir and prompts him to make a demonstration of how effective the prison is and inadvertently providing Tai Lung with the means of escape.
• Big "WHAT?!": His very first line, indicating he's not very happy with Shifu's concerns.
• Braids of Action: What hair he does have is in a long braid.
• The Bully: He unnecessarily badgers Shifu's messenger and makes a point of tormenting Tai Lung to show how tough he is.
• Crazy-Prepared: To his credit he is a competent warden and has set a lot of security measures and failsafes to prevent Tai Lung from escaping such as having only one elevator as way to get in and out of the pit where Tai Lung was held, ballistaes to shoot at him, archers to rain hundreds if not thousands of arrows on the elavator in case Tai Lung tried to use it to escape, and lastly dynamite charges attached to the ceiling to make stalactites and rocks fall on Tai Lung and the prison platforms as a last resort measure. Unfortunately for him even all of these are not enough for someone such as Tai Lung, who uses the last of the dynamite to blown up Vachir and his guards.
• Good Is Not Nice: He runs a heavily secured prison keeping Tai Lung imprisoned, but he's not very generous and comes off as a bully in an important position more than anything.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Literally as Tai Lung uses the last of the dynamite used by Vachir and his guards to blow up the ceiling to blow them up instead.
• Jerkass: He is disrespectful, boastful, and uncompromising.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Calling him a Hero is a stretch, but he knocks out Zeng's feather, and Tai Lung uses it as a lockpick to escape.
• Nominal Hero: Technically on the side of the good guys as he is keeping a public enemy imprisoned, but he's such a Jerkass that it's hard to see him as respectable for such a duty.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • He's fairly confident that he can prevent Tai Lung from escaping, up until Tai Lung climbs onto the ceiling stalactites and grabs the dynamite.
  Zeng: (as Tai Lung is flying towards them, wielding a bundle of dynamite on a rope) Can we run now?!
  Vachir: (nervously whimpers) Yes.
  • He gets a briefer moment of this at the start of the sequence, where, upon seeing Tai Lung free himself from the shell holding him, he shouts "Oh, no!", clearly not expecting that anything could have gone wrong.
• Police Brutality: Evil and destructive Tai Lung's rampage might have been, but there's nothing beneficial nor in Vachir's job requirements involving degrading and inflicting physical pain on him while he's already completely immobilised. Even without knowing about Tai Lung's status as a Tragic Villain, Vachir's treatment of the imprisoned villain shows the rhino to be unnecessarily and cravenly cruel.
• Rhino Rampage: Inverted, he's not the rampager, Tai Lung is. His guards are supposed to prevent Tai Lung from rampaging.
• Scary Black Man: Courtesy of Michael Clarke Duncan.
• Smug Snake: He constantly brags how escape-proof Chorh-Gom prison is, not realizing that the restraining shell is the main, if not the only thing that keeps Tai Lung there... and indirectly provides Tai Lung means to escape.
• Uncertain Doom: His final scene shows him utterly terrified as Tai Lung hurls explosives at him and his soldiers. After that, we see the subsequent explosion blowing open the entrance door with many rhinos falling out onto the ground and some even falling off the cliff, and then his golden horn clattering down right in front of Zeng before Tai-Lung grabs the messenger by the throat. Beyond that, it's not clear if Vachir himself survived, got killed by the explosion, or was among those rhinos who fell off the cliff to their doom.
• Underestimating Badassery: His smug assurance that Tai Lung could be kept in prison is quickly proven wrong as the former prisoner bulldozes through all of his guards and security measures.

Gongmen City

Council

Master Thundering Rhino

Voiced by: Victor Garber (KFP2), Jonathan Groff (Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special) Paul Scheer (Secrets of the Masters)^{Foreign VAs}Chen De (Cantonese), Denis Mercier (Canadian French), Philippe Peythieu (EU French), Bodo Wolf (German), Roberto Draghetti (Italian), Fumihiko Tachiki (Japanese), Meng Xianglong (PRC Mandarin), Li Yingli (TW Mandarin), Mikhail Georgiou (Russian), Jaume Comas (EU Spanish), Jorge Santos (LA Spanish); Grzegorz Pawlak (Polish)

"That is a warning. You are no match for our kung fu."

The benevolent leader of the Kung Fu Council, which protects the vast metropolis of Gongmen City. He has descended from a long line of masters and is the son of the legendary Master Flying Rhino.

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• Advertised Extra: He was all over the official website and other advertisements. In the film itself, he gets a good three minutes of screen time before being killed off.
• Ascended Extra: He gets a much bigger role in Secrets of the Masters.
• Call-Back: He is the son of Master Flying Rhino, whose armor is stored in the Jade Palace, as mentioned in the first Kung Fu Panda movie.
• Character Death: Blown to bits by a giant cannon.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In his first appearance in Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special, his eyes are brown and his horn is shorter and thicker without its cloud patterning.
• Gentle Giant: Outside of battle, he is well known for his sense of humor and vast wisdom. This is backed up by his appearance in the Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special, where he happily regales a group of children with tales of his adventures.
• Gory Discretion Shot: You never actually see him get blasted, just the cannonball firing and the crater afterwards.
• Heroic Lineage: He's the son of Master Flying Rhino.
• The Juggernaut: Tigress says he is impervious to all techniques. This is why Shen does not use a technique.
• The Leader: Of the Kung Fu Council.
• Only in It for the Money: Initially agreed to help defeat the Wu Sisters because he thought he would be rewarded with great financial riches, though it's implied that he also thought it would make him more like his father.
• Rhino Rampage: His Unstoppable Force charge; once he gets going, nothing can stop him. Except for Shen's cannon.
• Sacrificial Lion: Killed off mainly to show that Shen means business.
• Stone Wall: His main strategy is to tank hits, as his skin is impervious to all techniques. But not to cannonballs...
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: He was a very formidable combatant and master of his martial art craft, giving Shen some trouble. However, when up against Shen's cannon, it... doesn't end well for him. Somewhat justified since firearms were never seen before this point in the series setting, so he didn't know what he was facing.
• Tempting Fate: The above quote.
• Weapon Tombstone: His cloud hammer is planted in the crater let behind by Lord Shen's cannon. The villains left it there as a reminder of their weapon's power.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: For a long time he felt as though he could never quite live up to his father's heroic legacy.
• The Worf Effect: Is shown to be very powerful and formidable to make Shen and his cannon seem like more of a threat.

Master Storming Ox

Voiced by: Dennis Haysbert, Phil LaMarr (second video game), Dave Carter (Showdown of Legendary Legends) ^{Foreign VAs}Ip Chun Sing (Cantonese), Yves Corbeil (Canadian French), Paul Borne (EU French), Dieter B. Gerlach (German), Francesco Pannofino (Italian), Tesshō Genda (Japanese), Cheng Yuzhu (PRC Mandarin), Lin Ku Chen (TW Mandarin), Vladislav Kopp (Russian), Alfonso Vallés (EU Spanish), Octavio Rojas (LA Spanish); Zbigniew Konopka (Polish)

"It's time to surrender, panda. Kung fu is dead."

Thundering Rhino's star pupil and loyal friend, and a member of the Kung Fu Council of Gongmen City.

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• Achilles in His Tent: After seeing how much damage Shen's cannon can cause, he becomes a Play-Along Prisoner together with Croc, and tells Po that they will not join him in his fight against Shen. However, both Ox and Croc join the final battle after Shifu convinces them off-screen.
• Awesome by Analysis: Is capable of analyzing his opponents weaknesses, but may not be able to capitalize on this information on his own.
• Brutish Bulls: He's pretty impulsive and temperamental. That said, he's a lot nicer than Kai in the next film.
• Dual Wielding: The above axes.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He's in Po's dream (as a bad guy) in the first film.
• Genius Bruiser: Despite his size and strength, his real specialty is analyzing his opponent's weaknesses at a glance.
• Heroic BSoD: After seeing the power Shen's weapon possesses and getting imprisoned, he and Croc decide they'd rather stay in a jail they could easily break out of. Shifu talks them out of it.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Seems to lose his temper pretty easily as it doesn't take much for Shen to provoke him into attacking.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: He doesn't wear a shirt, though he does wear some kind of harness thing over his chest.
• Only in It for the Money: Initially agreed to help defeat the Wu Sisters because he thought he would be rewarded with great financial riches.
• Play-Along Prisoner: The Gongmen City prison bars don't keep him imprisoned. He could leave whenever he wanted but he doesn't because of his fear of Shen's cannon, and because he fears that if he and Croc don't play along, Shen will turn the cannon on the city.
• Scary Black Man: Well, his voice actor is black, and he certainly looks imposing. But Lord Shen is a lot scarier than him.

Master Croc

Voiced by: Jean-Claude Van Damme (films), Tony Leondis (Secrets of the Masters), Robin Atkin Downes (Showdown of Legendary Legends) ^{Foreign VAs}Ken Yeung (Cantonese), Louis-Philippe Dandenault (Canadian French), Patrice Baudrier (EU French), Lutz Schnell (German), Franco Mannella (Italian), Masafumi Kimura (Japanese), Tian Zhijie (PRC and TW Mandarin), Dmitry Polyanovsky (Russian), Domenech Farell (EU Spanish), Carlo Vázquez (LA Spanish); Mikołaj Klimek (Polish)

"The only hero in this town is a dead one."

A former bandit gang leader who had a change of heart and acts as a member of the Gongmen Kung Fu Council.

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• Actor Allusion: When he arrives to fight the Wolf Army, he performs Van Damme's signature split kick.
• Badass Cape: Owned at least one in his lifetime.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: That big spiky ball on the end of his tail isn't just for show.
• Call-Back: He's the former leader of the Wool-Stealing Crocodile Bandits that Mantis battled in Secrets of the Furious Five.
• The Cameo: Returns in the third film as one of the masters who goes after Kai before becoming a jombie. Ox isn't seen along him, however, but it's possible that the latter had already fell victim to Kai by that point.
• Carry a Big Stick: A metal club he used against Lord Shen.
• Defeat Means Friendship: According to Word of God, he was a lawless bandit who decided to use his skills for good after being defeated and spared by Thundering Rhino. Later Retconned when Secrets of the Masters talked about a completely different story on how he became a good guy and met up with Thundering Rhino, which also included Ox and Oogway.
• Demoted to Extra: Granted, he wasn't that prominent in Kung Fu Panda 2, but in Kung Fu Panda 3, he doesn't have any lines and spends most of the story as a jombie.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He's in Po's dream (as a bad guy) in the first film. He also shows up in Mantis' story from Secrets of the Furious Five.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: One of his greatest victories was beating up a bunch of Badger Bandits for insulting his mother.
• Glory Seeker: Out of the three masters in their youth, he sought fame above all else.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Never seen with a shirt.
• Ink-Suit Actor: He looks like a crocodile version of Jean-Claude Van Damme.
• Made of Iron: His 'Impenetrable Hide'. Unfortunately, the rest of him isn't quite as durable.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: Averted, he used to be a bandit leader, but he reformed and became a benevolent kung fu master. And we soon learn that Lord Shen is a lot more dangerous than him.
• Only in It for the Money: Initially agreed to help defeat the Wu Sisters because he thought he would be rewarded with great financial riches.
• Spectacular Spinning: 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.
• Unexplained Accent: KFP characters usually speak in American accents, occasionally Chinese, with the odd Evil Brit. Being played by Jean-Claude Van Damme, Master Croc is rather inexplicably Belgian. It gets worse in Secrets of the Masters; Tony Leondis doesn't put much effort into sounding like Van Damme and makes Croc very distinctly French.

The Soothsayer

Voiced by: Michelle Yeoh, Sumalee Montano (Showdown of Legendary Legends) ^{Foreign VAs}Pheobe Chow (Cantonese), Danièle Panneton (Canadian French), Jocelyne Darche (EU French), Arianne Borbach (German), Roberta Greganti (Italian), Tomoko Shiota (Japanese), Cao Lei (PRC Mandarin), Sheila Lee (TW Mandarin), Lyubov Germanova (Russian), Ángeles Gonyalons (EU Spanish), Yolanda Vidal (LA Spanish); Anna Gajewska (Polish)

"Your story may not have such a happy beginning, but that doesn't make you who you are. It is the rest of your story, who you choose to be!"

An elderly goat with the power of foresight, who served as an adviser to the ruling family of Gongmen City, the Peacocks. Upon request by Lord Shen's parents, she had foretold what the future held for their son should he continue his current path: defeat at the hands of a warrior of black and white.

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• Actually Pretty Funny: She clearly takes no offence to Po winding out about how she has a beard, reacting with nothing more than an amused smile while stroking said beard.
• The Atoner: She holds tremendous guilt for telling Shen the prophecy that he would be defeated by a "black and white" warrior, inadvertently making herself responsible for the ensuing panda genocide. She helps Po recover his forgotten memories of the traumatic event and helps him achieve inner peace by reminding Po of the wonderful life he's had despite the tragedy.
• Cool Old Lady: While helpful and funny, she replaces Oogway's serenity with a good dose of bluntness.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  Soothsayer: (telling Shen's fortune) I see...*plucks Shen's feather*...pain...
  Shen: Ow!
  Soothsayer: And anger... *bites Shen's robes*
  Shen: How dare you! That is the finest silk in the province!
  Soothsayer: ...followed by denial...
  Shen: This is not fortune-telling! You're just saying what's happening right...
  Soothsayer: ... now?
• Defiant Captive: Shen keeps her as a prisoner and while she never tries to escape, she still doesn't make her imprisonment easy for him. Indeed, she irritates and lectures him. Subverted in that she was never really a prisoner, and Shen simply sends her away, presumably to get out of the line of fire once things get violent.
• Didn't See That Coming: A tragic one, as she notes that while she saw what would happen to Shen, she could have never predicted his reaction to it and is clearly remorseful for unintentionally instigating the genocide of the pandas.
• Everyone Calls Her "Barkeep": Her actual name is never revealed, she has foresight, and she's called The Soothsayer.
• Extreme Omni-Goat: Played with; although she does take a bite out of Shen's silk robe, close inspection reveals that it - and the feather she plucked - are dropped in her scrying bowl (using the magical principle of contagion.) But she must have liked the taste - or liked messing with Shen - because she keeps trying to go back for more.
• Girls with Moustaches: Or rather, a lady with a beard. Justified because she's a goat.
• The Good Chancellor: Loyally serves the rulers of Gongmen City, estranged son included.
• It's All My Fault: She blames herself for telling Shen a panda would stand in his way.
  Soothsayer: This was a thriving village. Young Shen was in line to rule Gongmen City. But he wanted more. I foretold that someone would stand in his way. A panda. But I never could have foretold what came next.
• Morality Pet: The only shred of Shen's conscience is how he acts around the Soothsayer. When he makes his final decision to conquer China, he simply tells her to leave, the last of his conscience being gotten rid of.
• Neutral Female: Averted. She isn't physically capable of stopping Shen, but she regularly gives him the Kirk Summation or And Then What? as she tries to push him away from his Evil Plan. She also saves Po's life after finding him floating in the river have taken a cannonball to the chest.
• Parental Substitute: To Shen. All There in the Manual, though some of her interactions with Shen imply this. You get the feeling that if anyone else tried to take a bite out of his robes, they would get a knife to the throat. When Shen first appears, notice there's a hopeful look from Soothsayer before it collapses into annoyance because it's apparent Shen hasn't changed. She later begs Shen to not continue, knowing it'll be his undoing.
• Prophecy Twist: It turns out that the "warrior of black and white" she foretold leading to Shen's downfall wasn't a panda at all. It was Shen himself.
• Seers: Though she is a true seer, she does not prophesize on command or bother using her powers if the original prophecy has not changed. Instead, she states the obvious until Lord Shen gets mad.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: With Master Oogway gone in the first film, she replaces him as a wise old mentor to Po.
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Po mistakes her for a man when he first meets her. He claims the beard threw him off.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She predicted that Shen would be defeated by a black and white warrior if he didn't renounce his current ways. Shen reacted by trying to exterminate all pandas to change his destiny.
• Visual Pun: She's a literal "old goat". Shen calls her such directly when he returns to Gongmen.
• We'll See About That: She gives this line to Shen when he returns from his exile.
  Shen: Ah, there you are, Soothsayer. It seems your fortune-telling skills are not as good as you thought.
  Soothsayer: We shall see, Shen.
  Shen: No, you shall see, old goat...

Shen's parents

The previous rulers of Gongmen City. When their son Shen started to use the art of fireworks to create new destructive weapons, they became concerned for him and asked the Soothsayer to predict his future.

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• Animal Facial Hair: Like his son, Shen's father had a mustache in the form of two thin feathers growing from the corners of his beak.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Shen seems to have inherited his large eyebrows from his father. His eyebrows are in fact even larger than his son’s!
• Blue Is Heroic: They are blue, in contrast to Shen's white.
• Death by Despair: The Soothsayer reveals that the grief of having to banish their son for his crime ended up killing them.
  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...
• Emperor Scientist: Their invention of fireworks delighted the people of Gongmen. Unfortunately, their son saw a darker power in them...
• The Good King: Their reign is said to have brought great joy and prosperity to Gongmen City.
• Morality Chain Beyond the Grave: The Soothsayer tries to invoke this trope when she tries to convince Shen to stop his Evil Plan, using their memories to try to reach him. However, even though Shen briefly hesitates, it doesn't work.
• No Name Given: Their names are never revealed.
• Parental Abandonment: Subverted. When Shen sees his exile as an act of abandonment, they were justified in their choice to punish him, as he basically committed a genocide.
• Parents as People: They tried to raise their son well, but it's implied that they let the Soothsayer do a good chunk of the actual parenting and when their son basically committed a genocide they were left with no choice but to banish him as punishment.
• Posthumous Character: Both are long dead when the story starts and merely appear in a flashback.
• Small Role, Big Impact: They only appear in one flashback at the beginning of the second movie, but they are the ones who asked the Soothsayer to predict their son's future. Had this prediction not happened, the events of the trilogy would have been very different.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: They only wanted to help their son change his ways by asking the Soothsayer to predict his future. The result... was not what they expected.
• The Voiceless: They only appear in flashback and have no speaking lines.
• Where Did We Go Wrong?: They had to face the fact that their son was a monster willing to commit genocide in order to further his own ambitions.

Panda Village (Old & New)

General

A community of peaceful panda denizens living high in the mountains.

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• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Almost none of them wear shoes unlike Po himself. It's likely to emphasize their rural, peaceful nature, or it may have something to do with the fact that they have "bear feet" because they're panda bears.
• Big Eater: Knowing who Po is, it's really clear that all pandas eat just as much as Po. Li Shan even claims that an average panda eats more than Po.
• Big Fun: They’re mostly made up of lazy, fun-loving goofballs. One of them is even named Big Fun.
• Endangered Species: Shen's genocide really did a number on them. There are roughly between thirty to forty pandas living in the village, which is considered critically endangered. That being said, there appears to be more cubs than full grown pandas. So at least they're trying.
• Jabba Table Manners: The villagers are surprised by Po using chopsticks to eat one dumpling at a time instead of using both hands to shove as many dumplings as he can into his mouth. They also allow the cubs to crawl around and on the food as they please.
• Put on a Bus: None of the named characters of the village return in the fourth film besides Li, though some extras are shown to have moved to the Valley of Peace alongside him.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: After their introduction, the panda villagers been getting more installments of the franchise focusing (i.e., a webseries, a short, etc.) on them more than Shifu or the Furious Five in recent years. The fact that Paws of Destiny seemingly focuses mostly on the village with the Jade Palace residents being absent does not help. This lessened after Dragon Knight didn't feature them at all and Kung Fu Panda 4 only had Li return.
• Training the Peaceful Villagers: What Po ultimately is forced to do. By teaching them to expand each of the panda's favourite activities, such as rolling and hugging, into combat.

Li Shan

Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore (KFP2), Bryan Cranston (KFP3 and KFP4), Christopher Swindle (Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny), Chris Cox (Showdown of Legendary Legends) ^{Foreign VAs}Stephen Wong [KFP2], Jackie Chan [KFP3] (Cantonese); Sébastien Dhavernas (Canadian French); Jean-Baptiste Marcenac [KFP2], Emmanuel Jacomy [KFP3, Paws of Destiny] (EU French); Bert Franzke (German); Paolo Marchese (Italian); Naomi Kusumi [KFP2], Jin Urayama [KFP3] (Japanese); Jackie Chan (PRC Mandarin); Kang Dianhong (TW Mandarin); Pedro Bargado (EU Portuguese); Alexander Novikov (Russian); Gonzalo Abril (EU Spanish); Carlos Segundo (LA Spanish); Paweł Szczęsny [KFP2], Szymon Kuśmider [KFP3] (Polish)

Po's biological father, seeking to reunite with his son after having defended his village and people from Lord Shen's raid years before.

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• Adults Are Useless: Played with; he takes Po to the panda village to protect Po from Kai, where Po learns such panda activities as rolling, relaxing, and sleeping, which are impractical concerning fighting Kai; when Kai approaches, Po demands that he show him how to learn chi, and he tells him that none of the other pandas, including himself, know how to do chi since they've forgotten the skill. On the other hand, Li Shan and the villagers offer to become an army for Po, and he's the first to figure out how to give Chi and manipulate it.
• Ambiguously Bi: He has long since moved in with Ping during the fourth film, goes with him to find Po during his quest to face The Chameleon, both refer to Po as their son when in public without clarifying Ping adopted him, and later is seen enjoying a drink with him, all making it look like they're more than just friends. Li also seemed to have never remarried after losing his wife.
• Bash Brothers: He and Mr. Ping team up in the finale of the third movie to distract Kai's jombies while Po goes after Kai. Their "Double Dad Defense" works quite well.
• Beware the Nice Ones: To an even greater degree than Po. He's extremely relaxed and laid-back, but is also perfectly willing to resort to violence if you hurt his family. Just ask the Wolf Boss.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Silly as he is, Li Shan can prove dangerous when pushed. After all, he's the reason Wolf Boss only has one eye.
• Big Eater: Pulls off the same challenge of stuffing bean buns into his mouth as his son, doing more than double Po's best (Po's seen best is 40, Li's is 103, and he claims that was as a warm-up).
• Big Fun: Immediately becomes the life of the party upon his arrival in the noodle shop.
• Chekhov's Gunman: First appears in the second film, but seems to be relegated to flashbacks like his wife up until the ending.
• Cowardly Lion: When Kai arrives in the village, he takes Po to the secret panda village under the pretense that Po can learn chi when in reality, the panda villagers had nearly forgotten about it until Tigress arrives and helps Po and the village re-discover their inner abilities and they use their renewed chi abilities to help revive Po so he can battle Kai in the spirit realm. He also has a subplot in the fourth film about this, with Ping inspiring him to at least pretend to have more backbone.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His wife was murdered by Shen and his wolves. And he believed for more than twenty years, with good reason, that his only child suffered the same fate.
• Deuteragonist: For the third movie. The story is about him finding Po after they had been separated by Shen's massacre and reconnecting with him, as well as realizing that even parents make mistakes, even if it's for the right reasons.
• Didn't Think This Through: He lies to Po to convince him to come back to the village with him to live in safety from the approach of Kai. This only means that whenever Kai does show up, Po will be completely unprepared for him. He's called out on this.
• Easily Forgiven: Next time he and Po speak after learning he was lied to, Po no longer seems angry with him. Granted, it's because Kai was coming and Po needed an army. Although by the end, it's played straight and Po accepts his biological father in his life, in part because Li Shan helped him save everyone who was jombified.
• Fat and Proud: He is proud of his large physique and is proud to see Po also has a noticeable belly.
• Foil: To Mr. Ping. Both serve as paternal figures to Po. While the high-strung Mr. Ping is Po's adoptive father who raised him all his life and knows what to say at the right time, the mellow Li Shan is Po's missing biological father who is just now getting to know what being a father means.
• Friend to All Children: While catching up with Po, some rabbit children jump on his lap. He doesn't really mind and pats them on the head.
• Good Counterpart: For Wolf Boss. Both characters have humorous traits yet are capable of planning ahead and holding themselves in a fight, even though they aren't Kung Fu masters. Both have a sense of protectiveness over their groups, with Li Shan buying his family and other pandas time to escape Shen's forces, and Wolf Boss refusing to follow Shen's order to fire at his own wolves.
• Heroic BSoD: Goes into one after revealing he lied, because he feels he deserves Po's hatred. Mr. Ping helps him to get over it.
• Iconic Sequel Character: He's bar none one of the most important characters in Po's overall story arc but doesn't make an official appearance until the second movie and plays a much bigger role in the third.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Lies to Po about teaching him Ki Manipulation, to ensure he would be safe from Kai in the village. Not that it worked anyway.
• Improbable Weapon User: When Shen's wolves stormed the village, he defended himself with a heavy rake. (That's why Wolf Boss wears an eyepatch.)
• It Runs in the Family: Doesn't catch on that Po is his missing son at first, much like Po failed to realize he was adopted. Likewise shares his son's enthusiasm for bean bun stuffing challenges and dislike of stairs. Their shared silliness is especially apparent when they played with the Jade Palace's Kung Fu artifacts like a pair of little kids. Really, Li Shan sometimes feels like an older and slightly larger Po.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The very fact that he's still alive used to be a major twist at the end of the second film. Needless to say, it's not so shocking anymore.
• Manchild: Subtle, but it's there. As he never raised Po past his first year at the most, he never got experience in parenting and takes Po's rejection of him extremely seriously. Ping relates to him on this, stating it's just part of parenthood to have your child get mad at you.
• Nice Guy: Li is an extremely pleasant, friendly, huggable, and laid-back character.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He lies to Po that he can teach him chi and takes him back to the village. This leaves China without the Dragon Warrior, making it even easier for Kai to pick off the country's kung fu masters, and makes Kai even more of a threat - one that Po, being sheltered at the village, is even more helpless to stop.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: He has this reaction on learning that Kai is coming and targeting Po. Having just reunited with his son, Li Shan doesn't want to lose him again. So he lies for Po to come to the secret panda village, since logically they've kept themselves hidden for twenty years. When it seems that Po dies for real taking Kai to the spirit world, Li Shan gives him chi in the hopes of him returning.
• Only Sane Man: Often falls into this role, especially in Paws of Destiny. He's one of the few pandas in the panda village who actually wants to learn kung fu from Po in the third movie, and Paws of Destiny he is the only panda who tries to learn the chi techniques of the ancient guardians of the wellspring. In the second season, he's paired up with Zhizhu who is a Cloud Cuckoo Lander, Mr. Ping who is greedy and has skewed priorities, and Grandma Panda who's somewhat senile, and is the one who keeps reminding them that they have a mission.
• Papa Bear: The Wolf Boss attempts to kill his infant son during Shen's attack. Li responds by taking his eye.
  • Deconstructed in the 3rd film, where he lies to Po about being able to teach him how to channel chi, in a futile attempt to protect him. It sours his relationship with Po until Mr. Ping helps him through it. It is then reconstructed during the climax, when Li would be the first one to channel his chi, purely out of love and concern for his son.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Settles into something like this with Ping as they both come to terms with being Po's two fathers and agree to both be there for him. They spend pretty much all of their screentime in the fourth movie together.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: As the mayor of the panda village, he actually listens when Po or others bring their concerns to his attention.
• Shadow Archetype: The official Kung Fu Panda website describes Li as Po "if the discipline of Kung Fu had never entered his life". Po felt like he wanted to run when the news of Tai Lung's jailbreak reached his ears until he's actually taught Kung Fu and learns the secret of the Dragon Scroll thanks to Mr. Ping's words. Likewise, Li's reaction to Kai's return is to take Po with him to the Panda Village and then to evacuate when Tigress informs of Kai's approach. However, following Po's disappointment in him and a pep talk from Mr. Ping, Li asks Po to train him and the other pandas so that they can help him, becoming the first one who learns to channel his chi to help Po.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: He's understandably still shaken to the core by Shen's genocide of his people that he believed for many years took the lives of his wife and son in the blink of an eye. The lighting turns red when Li learns Po is going to go and defend the Valley from the jombies, showing he's reliving his worst memory all over again at just the thought of Po being in danger.
• Spanner in the Works: If he hadn't studied the scroll that Tigress had brought with her, then he wouldn't have learned how to master chi to save his son in the spirit world. Then he motivates everyone else to give chi to Po, in the hopes that he is alive.
• Survivor Guilt: He blames himself for losing his family all those years ago, giving him a lack of self-confidence not unlike Po in the first film. It also leads to him lying to Po to try and keep him safe, as he's terrified of losing him again after finding him.
• Tragic Keepsake: A small painting of his wife and then-infant son in his house, lit by a single candle—all he had left of them, until he realized Po was alive.
• You're Not My Father: On the receiving end when Po learned that Li has been lying all along, at least until Ping help them reconcile.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Tries to pull one by telling his wife and son to flee while he holds off Shen's wolves, but subverted in that he survives.

Mei Mei

Voiced by: Kate Hudson (KFP 3), Chrissy Metz (Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny), Melissa Van Der Schyff (Showdown of Legendary Legends) ^{Foreign VAs}Charie Lo (Cantonese); Émilie Bibeau (Canadian French); Alison Wheeler [KFP 3], Elsa Bougerie [Paws of Destiny] (EU French); Magdalena Turba [KFP 3], Jessica Walther-Gabory [Paws of Destiny] (German); Emanuela Damasio (Italian); Mayumi Sako (Japanese); Yang Mi (PRC Mandarin); Lin Mei-hsiu (TW Mandarin); Ana Catarina (EU Portuguese); Anastasia Lapina (Russian); Meritxell Calvo (EU Spanish); Mariana Treviño (LA Spanish); Elżbieta Romanowska (Polish)

A ribbon dancer from the secret panda village who takes an immediate interest in Po.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Downplayed. Po isn't exactly repulsed by her, but her constant flirting does freak him out a bit.
• Acrofatic: She can really move fast despite being a Big Beautiful Woman.
• Action Girl: Uses her ribbon dancing skills to take out jombies.
• Big Beautiful Woman: She's one of the most obese pandas in the village, and as a panda, it's not surprising for her chubbiness to be considered attractive. Also Truth in Television, since chubbier women were considered beautiful in imperial China.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: When Tigress arrives and Po rushes to her, Mei Mei looks upset and asks who Tigress is.
• Dance Battler: Her fighting style after receiving training from Po.
• High-Class Fan: She's an elegant ribbon dancer who always has a fan in her right hand. She often makes use of it when flirting with Poe.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Almost the case. She was originally meant to be voiced by Rebel Wilson, and her design clearly shows that.
• Large Ham: Gloriously so during her ribbon performance.
• The One Who Wears Shoes: The only villager shown with any kind of footwear, except for Po, who lives in the Valley of Peace.
• Ship Tease: She becomes attracted to Hom-Lee after his face gets accidentally hit by her nunchucks, straightening his unusual smile near the end of the movie.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Li Shan adds that she's the best ribbon dancer in China... according to her. But by the end of the movie, it could well be true.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Bright red and pink clothing, long eyelashes and eye shadow, floral designs, and a heart-shaped nose. She just screams feminine.

Lei Lei

Voiced by: Liam Knight^{Foreign VAs}Anita Ferraro (Italian)

A young panda girl who takes an instant liking to Po's Tigress action figure and eventually, the actual Tigress.

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• Big Sister Worship: Quickly gains such an attachment to Tigress once she shows up. Tigress comes to return the sentiment.
• Cuteness Proximity: She tends to cling to things that she thinks of as cute, such as Tigress' action figure. And Tigress. And Mantis.
• The Cutie: Even Tigress, who is not exactly an emotional softie, finds her adorable.
• Iconic Item: She just doesn't let go of that Tigress action figure once she gets a hold of it.
• Meaningful Name: "Lei" in Chinese means "bud", like the bud of a flower. Notice that she wears a flower.
• Nice Girl: Kind, sweet, and lovable.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Like all the panda children.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Red and pink clothing, and a flower on her head.

Bao

Voiced by: Steele Gagnon (KFP3), Gunnar Sizemore (Paws of Destiny)^{Foreign VAs}Mak Tse-Hang (Cantonese); Timothé Vom Dorp [KFP3], Sauvane Delanoë [Paws of Destiny] (EU French); Pablo Ribet-Buse [KFP 3], Vincent Borko [Paws of Destiny] (German); Gabriele Meoni [KFP3], Gabriele Patriarca [Paws of Destiny] (Italian); Patrick Guo (PRC Mandarin); Liu Hung Lin (TW Mandarin); António Contente (EU Portuguese); Matvey Nekrasov (Russian); Jan Tello (EU Spanish); Matías Qintana (LA Spanish); Jan Barwiński (Polish)

A young panda cub who resides in the secret panda village. Initially just one of the many residents of the panda village, he later appeared as one of the main characters of Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny.

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• Adaptational Badass: With Kung Fu Panda 4 and subsequent creator interviews effectively de-canonizing all the shows, Bao's portrayal in Paws of Destiny is this, having grown older, learned martial arts, unlocked his chi powers, and become one of the Four Constellations and a decent warrior in this own right.
• Ascended Extra: Becomes a main character in Paws of Destiny.
• Badass Adorable: An adorable baby panda who helped take out the jombies by kicking firecrackers at them.
• Barrier Warrior: How his powers from the Black Tortoise manifest. The size ranges between something large enough to hold four kids to something handheld.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: He's top-notch at playing some kind of hackey-sack game. Po trains him to weaponize this skill.
• Meaningful Name:
  • The name "Bao" has several meanings, including "precious", which also happens to be the meaning of Po's name.
  • It is a homophone for another Chinese word that means "bun" as in bread. Given the pandas' appetites...
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Bao sounds a lot like a wannabe rapper at times: "What-what?"

Grandma

Voiced by: Barbara Dirickson (KFP3), Amy Hill (Paws of Destiny)^{Foreign VAs}Louise Chan On Ying (Cantonese); Katharina Lopinski [KFP3], Denise Gorzelanny [Paws of Destiny] (German); Graziella Polesinanti (Italian); Coco Sung (TW Mandarin)

The elder of the panda village.

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• Ascended Extra: In Paws of Destiny, especially in the second half of the season, accompanying Mr. Ping and Li Shan on their adventures outside the village.
• Butt-Monkey: Her life becomes a series of pratfalls once the younger villagers start training under Po. Eventually she gets sick of it and...
• Groin Attack: ...kicks Po in the tenders during the training.
• Never Mess with Granny: Ultimately, she ends up learning kung fu just like everyone else.
• Parental Substitute: To Nu Hai and Bao in Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny.
• Running Gag: Getting clocked on the head by something and falling down.

Dim & Sum

Dim voiced by: Willie Geist^{Foreign VAs}Fung Chi-Kwan (Cantonese), Steffen Henssler (German), Giampiero Luciani (Italian), Clement Fu (TW Mandarin)
Sum voiced by: Al Roker^{Foreign VAs}Fung Chi-Kwan (Cantonese), Steffen Henssler (German), Gianluca Cortesi (Italian), Guo Lin (TW Mandarin)

Po's cousins, and identical twins.

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• Meaningful Name: Named after the Cantonese dish dim sum.
• Single-Minded Twins: Almost always seen together, and completely on board with whatever the other is doing.

Big Fun

Voiced by: Wayne Knight^{Foreign VAs}Jordi Royo (EU Spanish); Jacek Król (Polish)

A large panda who loves giving hugs to people.

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• Bear Hug: He loves to give out random hugs; this proves helpful when Kai invades the panda village.
• Big Fun: It's in his name. He's big, chubby, and fun-loving like the other pandas and loves giving hugs to others.
• Character Catchphrase: "Let me get some of that!"
• Cuddle Bug: He loves hugging everyone and everything.
• Gentle Giant: A significant part of his character consists in giving out hugs.
• Nice Guy: He’s very friendly and affectionate.

Hom-Lee

Voiced by: Wayne Knight^{Foreign VAs}Jordi Royo (EU Spanish)

A goofy panda with an even goofier smile.

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• British Teeth: His teeth are hideously crooked. His teeth get straightened out after they take a hit from Mei Mei's nunchucks, though they’re still a bit crooked.
• Horrifying the Horror: Played for Laughs. Even Kai is startled when he gets a close-up look at his horribly crooked teeth.
• Meaningful Name: His name sounds like “homely” and he’s not exactly one of the most attractive pandas due to his ugly teeth. This changes when he gets hit by Mei Mei's nunchucks.
• Scary Teeth: Played for Laughs. His misshapen teeth makes Po jump back in surprise when first meeting him. Even Kai is taken back when he sees Hom-Lee’s mouth wide open through the eyes of his jombies.
• Ship Tease: With Mei Mei when his smile gets straightened out after he gets accidentally hit by her nunchucks.

Po's Mother

Po's Mother

Po's biological mother, who sacrificed herself to save her son from Lord Shen.

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• Big Eater: Li Shan mentions she had a huge appetite in the third film.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Po has only happy memories of her giving up her life to save him. Li Shan speaks of her highly and with wistfulness.
• Headbutt of Love: Her last gesture to Po is to press her forehead to his, before leaving him in the radish crate.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Hides Po in a radish crate to protect him from Shen's wolves and then waves at the enemies to chase after her in the other direction. Unlike Li, she doesn't make it out of this.
• Hope Spot: She seems to outrun the wolves with a baby in her arms, fleeing the village as it burns. There's a moment where she loses them briefly. Then the realization hits her as the wolves come closer, and she places Po in the radish crate. Given her expression, she knows she'll never see him again.
• Killed Off for Real: When we find out a village of pandas survived, including Po's father, there's hope that maybe she survived. The third movie confirms, however, that Li Shan's wife didn't make it out of the bloodbath.
• Light Is Good: During Po's flashback of her, she's literally glowing a golden light.
• Mama Bear: A literal example, since she is a panda bear; she made sure Po was in a relatively safe place before pulling her Heroic Sacrifice. Unlike most examples, she's more of a Guile Hero than an Action Mom given that her method of saving her son is luring the threat away instead of standing her ground.
• No Name Given: Is only known as Po's mother.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Her death isn't actually shown. All you see is her running off-screen, chased by Shen and his wolves, then the scene just fades away over the sound of Po's crying. Though if you listen closely, just after Shen is shown you hear the characteristic noise of Shen throwing his flurry of knives.
• Posthumous Character: Is long dead by the start of the series and is only seen in flashbacks.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Her Heroic Sacrifice introduced the Dragon Warrior to the Valley of Peace, as well as ensuring that Shen's destiny would come to light.
• The Voiceless: Doesn't say a word throughout any of her brief appearances (save "Shh!".) Po's dream version of her does speak, but it's only Jack Black doing an intentionally-poor feminine voice.

Juniper City

Zhen (Unmarked Spoilers)

Voiced by: Awkwafina ^{Foreign VAs}Pascale Montreuil (Canadian French), Leung Ka Ki (Cantonese), Olivia Dalric (EU French), Maria Hönig (German), Mini Yang (PRC Mandarin), Sophie Chiang (TW Mandarin), Cristina López (EU Spanish)

A corsac fox thief who attempts to rob the Hall of Heroes before being caught by Po. She assists him in trying to stop the Chameleon.

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• Adorable Fluffy Tail: Fluffy enough to hold a deluge of wooden gamepieces.
• Actor Allusion: This isn't the first time that Awkwafina has voiced a snarky thief in a film from Dreamworks Animation who undergoes a Heel–Face Turn.
• Affirmative-Action Legacy: A woman taking on the mantle of the Dragon Warrior. Whether women have held this title before is never stated, although Tigress spent her entire life training for it, only to lose it to Po.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Zhen says nothing about her family other than that she doesn't have one. Po calls her an orphan, but whether her parents abandoned her or died is never stated.
• The Artful Dodger: As a child, Zhen's pickpocketing and thieving skills were so great, the one person she failed at trying to rob recruited her rather than punish her.
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: She wears bandages on her ankles, but her paws are exposed.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Being that she spent much of her life being ostracized for being a thieving vagrant, she has a tendency to latch onto those who seem to show her kindness. This initially leads to her being loyal to the Chameleon after she rescued her from the streets, only to turn on her after she finds out that the Chameleon only ever saw her as a tool. She goes on to legitimately bond with and help Po because Po acted as a legitimately kind mentor towards her.
• Being Evil Sucks: While Zhen is revealed to be working for the Chameleon all along, it is shown that she regrets betraying Po and is uncomfortable with the morals that the Chameleon had taught her. She is horrified when the Chameleon tries to kill Po with a Disney Death and is dismayed when the Chameleon reveals how she only sees Zhen as a valued tool unless she outlives her usefulness. This leads Zhen to pulling a Heel–Face Turn against the Chameleon by siding with Po.
• Boxed Crook: After revealing her knowledge on the Chameleon to Po, she forces him to recruit her out of the prison he put her in.
• Breaking Old Trends: Counting only the films at least, Zhen is the first villain that Po successfully redeems.
• Classy Cat-Burglar: With her sleek black outfit and playful attitude, she fits the archetype for fictional thieves.
• Combat Pragmatist: She pretends to be dead to get Po to lower his guard on their first fight. In the Tavern, she pulls a few similar tricks, including throwing a bowl of chili pepper into someone's face to blind them.
• Cunning Like a Fox: After seeing Zhen's pictures on wanted posters which are hung around the city, Po learns to his shock that she is a criminal. Unfortunately for him, Zhen poses in front of a large wall covered in them, showing that her cunningness most likely helped her evade the law.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has a sarcastic wit for various situations, such as when Po faces her with Oogway's Staff of Wisdom in the Hall of Heroes.
  Zhen: Oh, no! He's got a walking stick! What are you going to do, stroll me to death?
• Decomposite Character: Upon becoming the future Dragon Warrior, she and Po amusingly become this to the latter's Legends of Awesomeness characterization, who had aspects of his film personality blended with moments of being more arrogant, sassy, and underhanded, traits more organically instilled into Zhen's Loveable Rogue archetype than the gentler personality Po has in the films.
• Deuteragonist: She is the second main character of the fourth movie after Po. It is her who leads Po to face The Chameleon and is also the one he chooses as the next Dragon Warrior.
• The Dragon: To the Chameleon, hired and raised as an accomplice until the time came to buddy up to Po for her evil plan.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • As a thief, she initially looks down on Po's kindness, seeing him as an easy mark because of it. When he offers her a cookie, she immediately tries to gauge what the catch is, and keeps a close eye on him after she accepts it, expecting a backstab.
  • Although it's subtle, when Po tells her his woes about choosing a new Dragon Warrior, her first assumption is that he wants to keep the power for himself ("Once you're on top, that's where you want to stay, right?") rather than considering the burden of responsibility.
• Facial Markings: Two black dots on either side of her nose, just at the corners of her eyes.
• Five-Finger Discount: She admits to enjoying this herself (Calling it the "Four Finger"), and lives up by stealing Mahjong pieces at the Happy Bunny Tavern.
• From Zero to Hero: She was initially a thief who was Hated by All in her homeland for siding with the Chameleon. After she helps Po defeat the Chameleon though, she is not only hailed as a hero, but Po even takes her up as a successor as the Dragon Warrior.
• The Gadfly: She loves getting under Po's skin, and mockingly refers to Shifu as a "squirrel".
• Go Through Me: After abandoning her master, she vigorously tries to stop Po from facing her, knowing it will be a death sentence. She switches from persuading, physically blocking him, fighting him and, at fail of all, hugging him and pleading for him to stay put.
• Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: When the time comes for her to betray Po and bring his staff to the Chameleon, Zhen is not happy about it at all, due to having grown genuinely fond of Po. She can barely even look at him, and is horrifed when he seemingly perishes.
• Heel–Face Turn: She initially worked for the Chameleon whom she was genuinely loyal to. After the Chameleon attempted to kill Po though and outright admits she sees her as nothing more than a tool, Zhen is quick to realize she is on the wrong side.
• A Hero to His Hometown: Zigzagged. Although the people of Juniper City know she’s a thief and con artist, she’s very popular, and everyone who sees her smiles at her and greets her, even a pig painting her wanted posters. The thieves of the city, on the other hand, don't like her at all for siding with the Chameleon.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Feels unworthy of being the next Dragon Warrior because of her actions in the fourth film. Po let's her know that he trusts her to be a worthy successor.
• In the Hood: Her thieving outfit covers up with a hood and mask similar to the fox in another Dreamworks film, although it leaves her tail fully out.
• Interspecies Adoption: She's a corsac fox who gets adopted by the Chameleon herself after Zhen tried to steal from her, though the Chameleon sees her adopted daughter as more of a tool for her agendas than family, and Zhen has clearly disowned her after she's defeated.
• In a Single Bound: She's rather excellent at jumping many times her own height, which allows her to traverse the rooftops of her home city easily.
• Ironic Echo: As she shows remorse for betraying Po, the Chameleon reminds her "The rules of the street". She later uses these same rules to justify joining Po. 1. "Trust no one" (returns to the temple to save Po). 2. "Somebody is going to get hurt, make sure it's not you" (attacks her with Po's staff). 3. "Nobody cares about your feelings" (in response to telling Zhen to do something as Tai Lung is taking her to the Spirit Realm).
• I Shall Taunt You: Getting under her opponent's skin with snarky jabs is a favored tactic of hers, as well as something she does for fun. When leaving the Valley of Peace's prison, she silently shakes her wrists at the chained up Shifu with a big grin to make fun of him for being chained up behind Po's back.
• Jabba Table Manners: Initially distrusting Po's food offer, she ends up messily and loudly eating it as fast as possible right by his ear when she finally accepts.
• Kick Chick: She uses a lot of kicks in her fighting style.
• Legacy Character: Po chooses her to be the second Dragon Warrior.
• Loveable Rogue: Zhen is a clever and mischievous thief who ends up befriending Po, pulling a Heel–Face Turn against the Chameleon, and becoming Po's chosen successor as the Dragon Warrior.
• The Mole: She claims to be helping Po in trying to stop the Chameleon. In actuality, she is working for the Chameleon to get Po's Staff of Wisdom, waiting until Po willingly hands it to her. Of course, once she realizes she is nothing more than a tool to the Chameleon, she starts helping Po for real.
• The Most Wanted: Zhen is heavily, heavily wanted in Juniper City, as demonstrated by the massive number of posters for her.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: She starts helping Po for real after she finds out that the Chameleon never cared about her and was going to dispose of her after she stopped being useful.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Zhen is horrified when the Chameleon seemingly murders Po, and consequently finds out that her master never actually cared a lick for her and is willing to get rid of her if she feels she isn't useful to her anymore. This revelation causes her to apologize for betraying Po upon discovering his survival and help him in stopping the Chameleon.
• Nerves of Steel: When they first meet, the Chameleon is impressed at how Zhen faces her head-on without fear after being caught, despite the Chameleon having a reputation as a merciless mob boss. This is ultimately what leads to the Chameleon recruiting her.
• Noble Top Enforcer: Zhen's heart, small as it may have been before meeting Po, was what the Chameleon needed for her to lure Po into a false sense of security. This backfires when Zhen starts to feel remorse for misleading Po, and after realising how psychotic her master truly is, Zhen switches sides entirely.
• Not What I Signed Up For: Zhen went through with tricking Po for Oogway's Staff of Wisdom but is horrified when the Chameleon sadistically sends him to his supposed death, not thinking he would get seriously hurt in the process of the scam.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Upon The Reveal she was working for the Chameleon, Zhen, who has been nothing but sassy, energetic comic relief the whole movie prior, becomes quiet, cold, and militant. In the moment it is convincing that her whole personality was just the act of a sinister villain, though as her master starts torturing Po, it becomes clearer that she is trying to suppress her guilt over betraying him.
  • Similarly during the final battle against the Chameleon, Zhen makes far less quips and at many points is visibly cowed and intimidated, signifying how terrifying it is facing her abusive mentor at the peak of her shapeshifting powers.
• Playing Possum: During her initial clash with Po, she pretends to have been knocked unconscious in order to get him to let his guard down.
• Recruited from the Gutter: The Chameleon saw potential in Zhen as a child for her thieving skills, and took her in as an apprentice rather than punish her.
• Recruiting the Criminal: Zhen is recruited as an expert on the area and the Chameleon after being caught attempting to rob the Hall of Heroes.
• Running on All Fours: A trademark of hers when she needs to get somewhere is this, including along walls.
• Sad Clown: She's a smart-mouthed and exuberant Loveable Rogue. However as the film goes on, Zhen is revealed to have been a desperate thief since she was a child, and aligned herself with a cruel master to escape it. When she realises Po is going to face the Chameleon- certain death in Zhen's eyes- she tearfully pleads with him not to go, wanting to do at least one good action to the only positive influence she had.
  Zhen: [quavering voice] Please, Po. Just let me do one thing right.
• Siding with the Suffering: Zhen's perspective of the Chameleon is completely shattered after she gleefully tortures Po before kicking him off a tower bridge to his supposed death, as she assumed Po would be spared in their plan. This is furthered when she witnesses her master absorb the powers of multiple spirit masters and coldly imprison them.
• Sixth Ranger: A new character who soon becomes as prominent as Mr. Ping and the Furious Five.
• Sticky Fingers: She tends to steal a lot since she is a thief and she needed the skill to survive.
• Street Urchin: Zhen spent her early childhood on the streets, robbing to get by.
• Treasure Chest Cavity: She stores a massive amount of gamepieces in her tail to cheat in a tavern game, which is implied to be one of her many pickpocket skills. When they're fleeing later, she stores another robbed belonging in it and requires a perp shake from Po to dislodge it.
• Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: The Laughable Lackey. Zhen is played far more comedically than the Chameleon is, and her seeming good nature and Lovable Rogue tendencies are what hide her Double Agent status.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Despite being a criminal, Zhen appears to have a good reputation in Juniper City. Passerbys greet her warmly, and even the person putting up her wanted poster says nothing to her despite clearly seeing her. Only the guard makes an effort to capture her, which she notes may just be because it's a slow day for crime.
• Waif-Fu: With no muscle mass, she's able to kick and beat down opponents many times her size, including breaking wood banisters with one attack.
• Wall Run: One of her abilities she demonstrates while fighting Po is running vertically up walls.
• Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about Zhen without revealing she is working for the Chameleon before eventually becoming the next Dragon Warrior after Po.

Han

Voiced by: Ke Huy Quan ^{Foreign VAs}François Sassevile (Canadian French), Jean-Loup Horwitz (EU French), Stefan Krause (German), Zhai Wei (PRC Mandarin), Guo Lin (TW Mandarin), Enrique Fernández (EU Spanish)

A Sunda pangolin who is the leader of the Den of Thieves, and Zhen's adoptive father.

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• Be the Ball: As a pangolin, he can roll himself into a ball and uses this as a transportation method within the pipes leading to the city's underworld.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: He agrees to help Zhen, not because he's had a change of heart and wants to start over, but because he wants to overthrow the Chameleon so he and his criminals can be free of her hold on Juniper City.
• Parental Substitute: He took in Zhen and raised her as his daughter, though their relationship soured over time.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He is very similar to Sanzu, a one-shot villain from Legends of Awesomeness, being a pangolin criminal acting as the leader of a group of thieves.
• Toothy Bird: He's a pangolin with teeth.

Fish And Chip

Voiced by: Ronny Chieng (Fish)^{Foreign VAs}Jean-François Beaupré (Canadian French), Franck Lorrain (EU French), Zhang Le (PRC Mandarin), Chen Sixian (TW Mandarin), Héctor García (EU Spanish)

Chip flying, Fish steering.

"Goose dad? Panda dad? Guess it takes all kinds. Right, mom?"

A mother-son duo who share(?) the rank of captain on their vessel. They give Po and Zhen a ride to Juniper City, for a price.

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• All There in the Manual: Fish and Chip's names were only revealed via a Discord interview.
• Animal Stereotypes: Two creatures associated with the sea as captains, and a fish obsessed with drinking water.
• The Captain: Fish and Chip seem to share the title, although the rabbit barkeep only says 'He's the captain'. Whether this is a case of Lady Looks Like a Dude or she means only Fish counts because he's the one doing the thinking for both of them is unclear.
• Captain Crash: implied. Fish crashes the boat at Juniper and immediately tries to play it off, but to be fair, he wasn't the one driving.
• Dissonant Serenity: During the bar brawl, Chip sits quietly at the bar and doesn't move until she's bumped into and loses Fish. At some point after retrieving him, she leaves and gets her ship just in time to catch Po and Zhen.
• The Dividual: Type two. Fish and Chip are one character for all intents and purposes, sharing jobs and personalities. Fish does the talking, but seems to prefer staying safe inside Chip's beak while she moves and gesticulates for them. They seem to think along the exact same wavelengths, as Chip's motions perfectly match what Fish is saying, leaning away from Po when Fish is being protective and getting in his face when he's confrontational.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Chip feeds Fish water from a canteen, resulting in Fish's slightly slurred speech. Combined with his being themed after a pirate, it implies a G-Rated Drug version of The Drunken Sailor. Po even wonders if he should be driving, and is proven correct when Fish (Or Chip, depending on how their actions are carried out) crashes the ship.
• A Dog Named "Dog": Played straight with Fish, averted with Chip.
• Edible Theme Naming: Fish and Chip(s).
• Every Man Has His Price: Fish is reluctant to give Po a ride, attempting multiple times to haggle for price before finally giving in when he sees the money Po has.
• Fish Eyes: ironically, Chip. Her eyes are always pointing in either direction and she never seems fully there, relying on Fish for emotiveness.
• Friendly Pirate: Despite being initially standoffish, Fish warms up to Po after he saves the captain's life and admits to being adopted much like Fish.
• Happily Adopted: Fish is clearly pleased with his adoption and approves of Po upon finding out he's a fellow adoptee.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: Chip can only squawk, and no one understands what that means except Fish. This becomes an issue when Po's fathers come searching for him, ask Chip if she's seen him, and leave before Fish can clarify.
• Interspecies Adoption: Fish is Chip's adopted son, which endears him to Po, who was similarly adopted by a different species.
• Lady Looks Like a Dude: Chip is initially mistaken for male by Po, owing to her lack of clear sexual dimorphism. Fish doesn't bother to correct him, but nonchalantly mentions that Chip is his mother later.
• Macho Masochism: Upon being introduced, Chip downs a glass of flaming water. Although we don't see it, this surely douses Fish inside as well.
• Mobile Fishbowl: An odd variant. Fish is carried around on land via the water resting in Chip's beak. When she loses him in a scuffle, she gulps him down alongside a glass of water to make sure he can breathe fine in there.
• No Cartoon Fish: Fish is one of the few non-anthro animals in the world of Kung Fu Panda, and rendered slightly more realistically save his cartoon eyes.
• Parent-Child Team: Chip and Fish are mother and son, although they seem to prefer to avoid trouble.
• Pelican Package Pouch: How Chip carries Fish around, letting him come onto land and giving him a place to duck into until he needs to talk.
• The Philosopher: In between swigs of water, Fish argues that time is the greatest enemy of life, and cheekily suggests Zhen be the next Dragon Warrior after approving of her own personal worldview.
• Predator-Prey Friendship: Owing to their close familial bond, Fish is perfectly comfortable with spending his days living out of the beak of his natural predator.
• Protection in Mouth: Chip keeps her son in her mouth the entire time they're together. The one time he's flung out, he nearly falls in a fire and has to be saved. When they overshoot the dock and run their boat into it, Fish silently closes Chip's mouth on himself to save face.
• Semiaquatic Species Sailor: A Pelican captain and her fish son.
• Small Role, Big Impact: They stay out of the action and don't accompany Po and Zhen on their journey, but provide crucial transport to Juniper City on their boat.
• Translator Buddy: Fish, although Chip doesn't talk much anyway.
• The Unintelligible: Chip only squawks, requiring her son to translate.
• Voice for the Voiceless: While Fish can understand her, Chip rarely talks anyway, only squawking a select few times (and seemingly only Yes or No answers) and preferring to let Fish communicate what she's thinking.

Shorts

Grand Master Viper

Voiced by: James Sie

Viper's father, a descendant of the Viper clan who protected his village from bandits. Appears in Secrets of the Furious Five, in Viper's story.

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• The Ace: He is the greatest of the fabled Viper clan, with his poison-fang technique considered invincible.
  Po: One touch of his ivory tips could fell fifteen gorilla warriors! ...And a mid-sized crocodile.
• Action Dad: A skilled fighter and the father of little Viper.
• Crippling Overspecialization: His poison-fang technique is seemingly unbeatable, but he's rendered completely helpless when he meets a gorilla bandit who challenges him to a fight while wearing poison-proof armor.
• The Dreaded: As Po put it, "Evil itself trembled before him, before the awe-smacking awesomeness of his poison fang technique."
• Good Parents: Even if he was disappointed by his daughter's lack of fangs, he still loved her very much. Her dancing offered him a small bit of happiness after his many years of fighting off war mongers.
• Logical Weakness: As it turns out, trying to inflict a deadly poisonous bite on an opponent clad in metal armor is a bad idea.
• Non-Mammalian Hair: He is a snake with both Big Ol' Eyebrows and a long, drooping mustache.
• Oh, Crap!: When his newborn daughter smiles at him and opens her mouth, revealing that she has no fangs.
  Grand Master Viper: ... No venom. (faints)
  • And again when his poison fang technique is no-sold by a gorilla wearing poison-proof armor.
  Grand Master Viper: but... how...?
• Old Master: He's implied to be quite old, judging by his white eyebrows and mustache.
• One-Man Army: Was the only individual capable of protecting his village until Viper mastered her dance combat.
• Parents in Distress: Viper learned how to fight with her ribbon dancing by trouncing a gorilla bandit who was beating him up.
  Viper: No one beats up my daddy.
• Snakes Are Sinister: Very much inverted. He is a heroic snake who protects his village from the bad guys and loves his daughter.
• So Proud of You: He finally smiles at Viper when he defeats the gorilla bandit with her ribbon dancing. D'aww.

Mei Ling

Voiced by: Stephanie Lemelin

A kind young kung fu student who supported Crane in his path to becoming a kung fu master. Appears in Secrets of the Furious Five, in Crane's story.

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• The Ace
  Po: (narrating) "The best of the best [at the academy] was Mei Ling. She was a total knockout!"
• Action Girl: And she's better then all the other (male) students in the short.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The Masculine Girl to Crane's Feminine Boy, as she was already a kung-fu student while Crane was a meek janitor.
• Nice Girl: In fact, she's the only one who is nice to Crane at the kung fu school he works at.
• Panthera Awesome: She's an Asian golden cat who uses speed and agility to defeat rhinos.
• Ship Tease: With Crane.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: Doesn't wear sleeves.
• The Mentor: A psychological example. She doesn't teach Crane combat, but she teaches him confidence by encouraging him to train and unlock his inner potential.
  Mei Ling: You should try out for the school.
  Crane: (laughs awkwardly) No, that's... craziness... talking. No.
  Mei Ling: (smiles, walks away) Well, you'll never know unless you try.
  [Cut to Crane training.]

Wo Hop

Voiced by: Jack McBrayer

A rabbit chef who was accidentally dishonored by Po and tried (and failed) to commit suicide because of it. Appears in the Holiday Special.

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• Dumbass Has a Point: Gave Po the idea to use Kung Fu to get the winter feast preparations done... although not intentionally.
• Honour Before Reason: His first response to his cooking skills being dishonored is to try and kill Po. His second response is to attempt suicide. Repeatedly.
• Suicide as Comedy: In an effort to reclaim his honor no less. Possible Shout-Out to The Book of Bunny Suicides. He stops when Po restores his honor.

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