The Furious Five



The Furious Five are, with the exception of Oogway, Shifu, Po and Tai Lung, the most skilled warriors in China. Given that Shifu referred to Po by his species name while and before training him, it is hinted that each member of the Furious Five have or had their own individual names before training to become kung fu warriors. The Five were all trained by Shifu, each of them attaining the rank of master. The Furious Five are homages to the Crane, Snake, Monkey, Praying Mantis, and Tiger styles ofChinese martial arts.[3] All of them refused to believe that Po was the Dragon Warrior, but that majority grew to respect his courage and tenacity. Furthermore, when Po defeated Tai Lung in single combat when they couldn't together, they were convinced that he was worthy all along.

Since the events of the first film, Po has become fast friends with the Five and regularly fights alongside them and they have incorporated their group tactics with him to become an even more formidable fighting force. Discussing Po's new placement with the Furious Five in Kung Fu Panda 2, Jack Black has regarded Po as the "technical leader" of the quintet. However, because he is "still finding his way" through his insecurities and clumsiness, the group doesn't become the "Furious Six", but rather "The Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior" — with Master Tigress as the "real" leader according to Black.

In the Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness episode "Owl Be Back," it was revealed that there had been other members of the Furious Five before Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, and Crane back when Grand Master Oogway was still alive. The original line-up consisted of Master Shifu, Fenghuang, an unnamed rooster, an unnamed clouded leopard, and an unnamed elephant.

[edit] Master Tigress
Master Tigress is the strongest and boldest of the Furious Five. She is generally friendly but the least sociable of the five. In many scenes in which the other four of the Furious Five and/or Po were joking or having fun, Tigress would often remain quiet and withdrawn. It was strongly believed, by Shifu and herself, that Oogway was about to choose her as the Dragon Warrior before Po's entrance, despite Oogway's statements to the contrary. Tigress bitterly resents Po for thwarting her dream, and is the most vocal of the Five in her contempt for the panda and his perceived lack of respect for kung fu, even while her comrades grow to respect him, they still believed she was the true Dragon Warrior.

Upon hearing Po protesting to Master Shifu that he will never be able to defeat Tai Lung even if Shifu changed him, Master Tigress, feeling that she could defeat Tai Lung instead of Po, took it upon herself to intercept the incoming villain along with the rest of the Five, who came with her. However, they were all defeated by Tai Lung's superior martial skill and nerve attack. When Po defeats Tai Lung, Tigress is deeply impressed, and she is the first to acknowledge Po as the true Dragon Warrior, and as a master of kung fu, giving him a sweet smile as she does so.

In Secrets of the Furious Five, Tigress was revealed to be an orphan living in the Bao Gu Orphanage where she was greatly feared by the other children and the matron due to her destructively lacking control of her great temper, strength, fangs, and claws. Left alone and isolated in her room for the safety of the other children, she soon began to see herself as a monster, as everyone else did. Then Shifu, at the request of the orphanage, came to render some assistance. Shifu taught her to control herself by playing dominoes, which requires not only discipline, grace, and precision but a delicacy of the hand and a steady heart that Tigress struggled to gain at first. Eventually, after months of training, she learned to control both her anger and her movements and became friends with the other orphans.

Although she was still feared by all potential parents who visited the orphanage to adopt the other children, Shifu soon adopted her and he took her in as his foster daughter, giving a small but genuinely sweet smile to her as they walked towards Tigress' new home. However, Shifu still carried the emotional scars of previous events, and thus was somewhat more strict and distant in her upbringing. The older Tigress in the main film explains to Po that Shifu loved Tai Lung like no other person before or since, including her.

According to the filmmakers' commentary on the DVD, Tigress is Po's favorite of the Furious Five despite the fact that Tigress shows considerable disrespect and disgust at him throughout most of the main film.[4]

Tigress possesses a deep and complex personality, which may be explained by her tortuous childhood and life as Shifu's apprentice. In spite of her temperate, introspective and sometimes cold attitude, Tigress is probably the most loyal of the Furious, extremely dedicated to the well-being of her friends. The "leader" of the group, Tigress holds an enormous sense of responsibility and she often takes the group's failures as hers: when Po is chosen "Dragon Warrior", she apologizes to Shifu for the Five's "failure". After defeated by Tai Lung, Tigress seems to be deeply ashamed, much more than her friends. She is also extremely polite and methodical and, though aware of her vast skills in kung fu, she is a humble character with no greater ambition than the one of protecting the Valley of Peace and perfecting her own skills. Tigress frequently hides strong emotions, such as joy or sadness, from the others in order to keep the composure of a perfect warrior, even after being "softened" by Po's friendship. In the original film, for example, while the others laugh when Po imitates Shifu, she keeps staring at her meal, not having much to offer to the fun. In "Kung Fu Panda 2", when she is about to answer Po's comment in the ship, she abruptly shuts up when the other Furious appear, remaining mute while they discuss. When Po hugs her after defeating Lord Shen, she freezes and at first does not know what to make of it, but then smiles and watch the fireworks alongside her friends with visible happiness.

However, the efforts of keeping such seemingly perfect appearance do not hide some of her personal issues. Tigress is well aware of how people see her - a tough, strong, responsible warrior, but through Po's single comment in the second film, that she's so hardcore she "can't feel anything" she begins to feel uncomfortable of the vibe she sets off to others. She is shown to be Po's superior in both strength and skill, but her well-rounded ability to conceal her true feelings makes her slightly inadequate in her battles. But through her experiences with Po, he unknowingly teaches her the power of emotions and knowing the right time to be in touch with them.

In Kung Fu Panda 2, Tigress is shown to be less "hard-core," (as Po continuously gushes), than the others think. In fact, she has grown to become a close friend to Po, who not only now better understands his foibles, but also fights most closely with the Panda using tandem combat techniques they have developed together. She is shown to care about him greatly, and even at one point refuses to let him fight because she "can't watch (her) friend be killed." This concern for his safety goes as far as to push him out of the way when Lord Shen fires the Weapon at him. Po is the only character in the series to whom Tigress has shown intimacy, as she talks to him about some events in her past and comforts him when he is troubled. Furthermore, when Po and his comrades are left floating stunned in Gongman City's harbor after Lord Shen blasts his fleet free of the urban river, Po swims directly for Tigress alone, concerned for her well being, before then departing to make his stand against the would-be conqueror. After Po's single-handed defeat of the peacock, Tigress reciprocates that gesture by coming to help him out of the water before warmly complimenting him for his astounding mastery of martial arts, which Po silently answers with a hug.

Tigress also displays a caring personality towards infants. At the end of the original film, when Tai Lung is defeated, she is seen holding a rabbit child and protecting it from the blast's shockwave. In Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special, she playfully feeds one of the village piglets during the festival.

In "Legends of Awesomeness", the contradictions between Tigress and Po's personalities are further explored. In the episode "Chain Reaction", the two characters have a mission together and Tigress is frequently annoyed by the panda's expansive, talkative mood. Tigress' over-calculative and analytical personality becomes explicit, as everything she does is minutely planned or follows a strict protocol, much for Po's distaste. While undoubtedly making her a great warrior, these characteristics contribute to her social awkwardness: when Tigress makes a funny joke and is congratulated by Po, she then explains the very meanings of the joke, ruining the fun of it. When Po confronts Tigress after being insulted by her, stating that she "stinks at friendship and funship", she is shown to be consumed by regret. In the episode "Sticky Situation", while Mantis' grieves after being dumped by his girlfriend, Tigress comments that she avoids romantic relationships in order to avoid emotional turmoils, for Monkey sarcastically responds: "Yeah, that's the reason...", though it was stated by Po that as a teenager, she had a crush on Master Shifu. In the episode "Bad Po", when Po's bad side is created, that evil side goes up to Tigress and says "Hey, good looking, what's shaking?" Which she angrily growls at him as a response.

[edit] Master Monkey
Master Monkey is the friendliest and most approachable of the Five. Monkey was the first of the five to recognize Po's determination and was at first, the only member of the Furious Five who refered to Po by name. He also seems to harbor the strongest sense of humor within the Five as well, responding most strongly to Po's sense of comedy. Unlike the others, Master Monkey prefers to use a weapon in combat. He uses a staff, a traditional weapon used in Kung Fu and other martial arts.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Before he became a kung fu warrior, it is known in the Secrets of the Furious Five that Monkey was the village trickster when he was a teenager, often making people slip on banana peels (from bananas that he would eat) and/or pantsing them in revenge for an incident in his youth that resulted in becoming the laughingstock of a few other children in the town. The townspeople sent many powerful warriors, including rhinoceros guards from Chorh-Gom Prison, to force him out of town dead or alive, but Monkey humiliated each and every one of them (by swiping their belts off, resulting in their pants falling down). Monkey was finally subdued by Master Oogway, who, aside from wearing no pants, also used his shell to hide from Monkey's attacks. Oogway taught Monkey compassion by saving him from a falling beam, which led Monkey to develop into the warrior he is today.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[5] Monkey is also the only character to be voiced by both Jackie Chan and his son Jaycee Chan.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">In Kung Fu Panda 2, Monkey continues to provide much of the humor. When they break into the prison to free Master Ox and Master Croc, he offers to stand watch and make crane noises if the guards come into view—insulting Crane, who asks indignantly when he's ever made such noises. Monkey is also the first to try to rally the Furious Five after Po seemingly dies and the group is in chains, heading for execution. He turns to Tigress in this time, and seems to look to her for reassurance.

[edit] Master Mantis
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Master Mantis is the smallest of the Five, but he is obviously the strongest proportional to his size. He can perform such feats as throwing Po and single-handedly holding up a severed rope bridge burdened by most of his comrades and Tai Lung and still have the strength to snap the bridge when needed. He is also a skilled acupuncturist, although his success does depend on the type of body he is working with; a body like that of Po or Viper can sometimes give him problems until he familiarizes himself with the particular anatomy. Pragmatic and open minded with a dry sense of humor, Mantis was the first of the five to develop acceptance and liking of Po as a person, alongside the factor of Po's girth, declaring size did little to define a warrior and could actually be used as an advantage no matter what style one practices. An unused line from the movie is Mantis saying, "I've got to admit, that panda has a lot of heart. And he's incredibly fun to watch bounce."

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">When he was a few years younger (in Secrets of the Furious Five), Mantis was extremely impatient, feeling that the world was too slow for him and he was too fast for the world. On a mission to retrieve wool coats back from the Wool Stealing Crocodile Bandits (it is unknown if he met Master Croc back then), he was captured due to his overconfidence and lack of listening skills when one of the sheep villagers tried to warn him of the bandits' traps. Mantis was locked in a cage for days and forced to sit and wait for something to happen, and he entered a trance that allowed him to survey the world moving faster than he did. This allowed him to develop the patience needed to devise a plan of escape, playing dead to trick the crocodiles into opening his cage and defeat them.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[6]

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">In the sequel, Mantis' background is further revealed. When the group interrupts Po and Tigress in an effort to give "emotional support", Mantis says wistfully that he never got to know his father, because his mother ate his father's head. Later, when it seems as if they are about to die, Mantis sighs that he always expected to settle down with "a nice girl who would later eat my head."

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Mantis is also shown to be able to move at inhuman speeds and break metal with his super strength. In Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Mantis has a girlfriend in "Sticky Situation" that he was dumped by because she was a butterfly, but then got back together. But in a confusing way, he was almost engaged in "Hometown Hero" by a female mantis named Hao Ming.

[edit] Master Viper
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Master Viper is a green snake with two small lotus flowers on top of her head. Although she has a serious birth defect for her species, being born with barely visible venomous fangs, she compensates with her strength, sinuous nature, beauty, and precision. In defiance of the villainous stereotype of snakes, Viper is the most charming, kind, compassionate and sweetest of the Five as demonstrated with her quickly developing empathy for Po as his indomitable tenacity became obvious and being the only one who didn't mock him in any way.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">In Secrets of the Furious Five, Viper was born the loved daughter of Great Master Viper, protector of the village where she lived who relied on his venomous fangs to fell his enemies (referred to by Po, and later on by the Great Master as the awe-inspiring awesomeness of his "Poison Fang Technique"), and his beautiful wife. The Great Master hoped she would carry on his legacy once she was born, but she was without fangs and never developed them as she grew up, much to the dismay of her father. To make her father feel better, Viper took up ribbon dancing at age six, blossoming into the best dancer in the village. During one Autumn Moon Festival, Viper was too timid to attend the festival and stayed home with her mother. But when her father fought against a gorilla bandit who attacked the village and used venom-proof armor to shatter the Great Master's poison fangs, Viper, seeing him in trouble, mustered the courage she needed to defeat the gorilla by confusing him with her dancing skills and tying him up with her ribbon. Thus her father's legacy was secure with his daughter becoming a mighty warrior on her own terms.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">In Kung Fu Panda Holiday, it is revealed that Viper has sisters whom she loved to cook with during the Winter Feast, but in Secrets of the Furious Five, she is shown as an only child; it may be possible that Viper is merely the firstborn in her family and her sisters could all be younger siblings, though this remains unconfirmed.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[7]

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">In Kung Fu Panda 2, Viper is shown to be the most transparent in her feelings and the most openly compassionate. When the group, hidden inside a Chinese dragon costume, witness the wolves' brutal treatment of the peasants of Gongmen City, Viper's face is shown to be openly horrified. She is also shown to be able to pick locks with her tail, and in Ladies of the shade she can swallow things for awhile.

[edit] Master Crane
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Crane is the most patient of the Five and one of the most sarcastic, and considered to be the "mother hen" of the group despite being male. He will always try to avoid and defuse conflicts between his comrades, whose differing personalities often conflict. During combat situations, especially in dangerous locations where fatal falls are possible, Crane will fly around the combat zone, surveying the area as a scout for tactical advantage as well as catching any of his comrades if they do fall. If necessary, he is strong enough to carry all of the Five in the air, but this very taxing for him. He was the first of the Five to hold a conversation with Po, albeit it being quite awkward. Nonetheless, touched by Po's dedication and admiration of the Five led Crane to have some respect for Po.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">In Secrets of The Furious Five,Crane was the slave-like janitor at the Lee Da Kung Fu Academy, where everybody looked down upon him, even the strict teacher of the academy, due to his particularly skinny build. However the top student, named Mei Ling, saw the skills which Crane used to tidy up the place every night, and convinced Crane to try out for the school. Though his nerve faltered at first, Crane accidentally wandered into the obstacle course and quickly found the confidence to surpass it, and passed with flying colors.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[8]

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">In Kung Fu Panda 2, Crane is shown to be the one responsible for carrying Po around. Unlike Tigress, Viper, Monkey, and Mantis, the panda is unable to fall from great heights and land safely on his feet, so Crane basically breaks his fall when needed. He is shown to be insulted when Po and Monkey insinuate that the noise "Caw-Caw, Kee-Kee," are Crane noises, asking when he's ever made any noises like that. Ironically proving he does make these noises when he performs 'Wings of Justice' during the attempt to blockade Shens fleet.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">When Tigress forces Po to stay behind on the basis that she "can't watch my friend be killed." Crane asks hopefully "Hey, uh...maybe you can't watch ME be killed?" to which she tells him to stop being a wimp.