Furious Five (Kung Fu Panda)

Furious Five
Kung Fu Panda characters
The Furious Five
First appearance	Kung Fu Panda (film)
Voiced by	Angelina Jolie (Tigress), Lucy Liu (Viper), Jackie Chan (Monkey), Seth Rogen (Mantis), David Cross (Crane)
In-universe information
Species	Tiger (Tigress), monkey (Monkey), mantis (Mantis), snake (Viper), crane (Crane)
Occupation	Kung fu warriors
Fighting style	Kung fu

Tigress

Tigress is a tiger kung fu warrior. She is the leader of the Furious Five. She was seemingly very upset after Po was chosen to be the Dragon Warrior instead of her. But when Po defeats Tai Lung, Tigress is very impressed, and the first to bow to him as a master of kung fu. As the film series progresses, Tigress grows very close to Po, more so than any if her other friends in the Jade Palace.

In Secrets of the Furious Five, it was revealed that Tigress was an orphan living in the Bao Gu Orphanage, and that the other children feared her for her ferocity. Tigress taught herself control by learning to play dominoes. Shifu adopted her later on.

In Secrets of the Scroll, it was revealed that Shifu did not see Tigress' aggression and strength. Oogway encouraged Tigress to grow into her own.

Viper

Viper is a snake kung fu warrior. She has two small lotus flowers on her head. Though she was born with non-venomous fangs, she fights back with her strength and precision.

In Secrets of the Furious Five, it was revealed that Viper is the daughter of Great Master Viper, who used venomous fangs to protect the village they lived in. Great Master Viper wished that his daughter would carry on his wishes, and was disappointed at her lack of fangs. Viper instead took up ribbon dancing at a young age, and showed skill for it.

Monkey

Monkey is a monkey kung fu warrior.

Monkey has an older brother, Wu Kong, who called himself "King of Thieves". Sadly, their mother died from shock and grief of seeing her sons fight. Still, Monkey was a trickster, who shamed the people of his village with his pranks. Oogway put an end to Monkey's trickery, using his shell to hide from his attacks, and the tortoise encouraged Monkey to use his skills for good, putting him on the path to kung fu mastery.

Mantis

Mantis is a mantis and the tiniest of the Furious Five. He is strong for his size.

In the fourth film, he is said to be in a relationship with another mantis and is preventing her from biting his head off.

Crane

Crane is a crane kung fu warrior and member of the Furious Five. He serves by flying the other members of the Five and Po.

Crane was a janitor at the Lee Da Kung Fu Academy (before joining the Furious Five), and due to his very thin body, he was ignored by the stronger. Then, Mei Ling, the top student of the school, saw the skills that Crane used when cleaning the academy, and convinced him to be a student of the school. Crane tried out and soon passed the obstacle course and gain admission into the academy. Later on, in the fourth film, Crane was crowned the king of the crocodilians.

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

In the first film, the Furious Five are the most heroic warriors in all of China. Later, after many years, there would be a ceremony for one of the Furious Five would become the Dragon Warrior after Master Oogway, and Master Oogway would choose. Then, suddenly Po interrupted and then Master Oogway chose Po instead of the Furious Five. They had to humorously fight Po as their master Shifu requested. Later, Tigress wanted to fight Tai Lung who was going back to the Valley of Peace, and left the valley, along with the other four Furious Five members. While the Furious Five fought Tai Lung when they encountered him, Tai Lung did a nerve attack against them, nearly killing them all. They returned back to the Valley of Peace, where they were fixed by Shifu. After Po confronts Tai Lung and fight each other and Po defeats Tai Lung, citizens of The Valley of Peace and the Furious Five bow down to Po, saying "Master."^[4]

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

In the second film, the Furious Five are first seen watching and cheering on Po as he stuffs dumplings in his mouth. After Master Thundering Rhino's death, the Furious Five and Po travel to Gongmen City under the request of Shifu to destroy Lord Shen's weapon. When they arrive to Gongmen City, they sneak around and go to Gongmen jail to find Master Croc and Master Storming Ox so they can team up and defeat Lord Shen. But they get interrupted by Lord Shen's Wolf Boss. Po and the Furious Five chase the Wolf Boss around. While they chase him, the Furious Five go in a different direction than Po. Crane, a member off the Furious Five catches a few baby bunnies, and then says "Gotcha." Later, when Po finishes off the Wolf Boss, the Furious Five run together and meet up with Po. Tigress, a member of the Furious Five holds onto Po since he is dizzy. After, they surrender. People put cuffs on Po and the Furious Five and meet Lord Shen by walking up Lord Shen's palace stairs, along with his Soothsayer and gorilla servants. They talk for a while, as Viper, a member of the Furious Five tries to secretly break open the cuffs for Tigress, a member of the Furious Five. Then Lord Shen activates his weapon, but Mantis, a member of the Furious Five, prevents the weapon from activating. When Viper opens Tigress' cuffs, Tigress punches open the other's cuffs then runs toward the weapon and jumps on it, bringing the weapon flying upward. Mantis goes up in the air and drops the weapon on the floor, breaking through the floor, onto the bottom of the tower. When Shen manages to escape, and activates his other weapons, the fiery balls crash onto the tower where Po and the Furious Five are, burning Crane's wing. They try to leave through the front door but it is blocked so they go through the other way. But then a group of wolf archers fire burning arrows toward Po and the Furious Five, so then Tigress tries to block them. Then, Po and the Furious Five try to escape the tower by climbing to the top as the tower is collapsing, then will jump off it, and hide as the tower smashes to the ground. Then, when they go back to Gongmen Jail, Tigress tries to stop Po from trying to stop Lord Shen, until a settlement between the two. Then, when they go to Lord Shen's factory to end him, they fight him off until Lord Shen blasts Po, as Tigress yells out "no!" After that, the Furious Five are caught and tied on a metal chain. Then Monkey says "we cannot give up hope. Po would want us to be strong. Hardcore. Right, Tigress?" When Po suddenly appears, he grabs an axe as throws it to Tigress who breaks the metal chain and frees all of the Furious Five members, then fight off the wolves together with Shifu, Master Ox, and Master Croc.^[5]

Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

In the third film, after it is Master Shifu's final class to teach and it was now the time for Po to teach the Furious Five (since he is the Dragon Warrior), the Furious Five get beaten up due to Po's poor instructions. Shifu ordered Crane and Mantis to find General Kai, and ordered Tigress, Monkey, and Viper to help out Shifu at the Valley of Peace. When Mantis and Crane encounter Kai, Kai captures them and takes their chi, turning them into "jade zombies." Kai, jade Crane, and jade Mantis go back to the Valley of Peace and fight Shifu, Viper, Monkey, and Tigress. Kai, jade Crane, and Jade Mantis win the fight and steal Monkey's, Viper's, and Shifu's chi, turning them into jade zombies. Tigress escapes and is heading to find Po. Later, Tigress arrives to the secret panda village in pain. Po comes to her and asks "what are you doing here?" Tigress responds "Kai attacked the valley. He's taken every master in China, including Shifu and the others. It's all gone, Po. Everything. Everyone." Later, Tigress and the others fight using chi.^[6]

Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)

In the fourth film, the Furious Five were going on separate Kung Fu missions.^[2]^[3] Tigress was fighting the free range chicken gang, Monkey was searching for a missing macaque, Crane became the king of the Crocodilians, Viper is trying to deal with a battle between the cobras and mongooses, and Mantis is trying to prevent his bride from biting his head off. They are seen at the opening credits helping out Zhen (the new Dragon Warrior after Po).^[3]^[7]

In the fourth film's trailer, the Furious Five don't appear,^[1]^[2]^[3] and the Furious Five don't speak for the entire movie.^[8] Websites have agreed and noted that the Furious Five have very minor roles in the film.^[3]^[8]