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This Hero was Headlined on June 2015. | ||
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This Hero was proposed and approved by Heroes Wiki's Pure Good Proposals Thread. Any act of removing this hero from the category without a Removal Proposal shall be considered vandalism (or a "villainous" attempt to demonize said character) and the user will have high chances of being | ||
| “ | Skadoosh! | „ |
| ~ Po's famous catchprase |
| “ | Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend. | „ |
| ~ Po's opening line in the first film |
| “ | I'm not a big fat panda, I'm THE big fat panda. | „ |
| ~ Po to Tai Lung |
| “ | Am I the son of a Panda? The son of a Goose? A student? A teacher? Turns out I'm all of them. I am the Dragon Warrior! | „ |
| ~ Po confronting Kai in the Spirit Realm |
| “ | My fist hungers for justice! (stomach growl) that was my...fist. | „ |
| ~ Po preparing to battle |
Master Po Ping (born Lotus Shan) is the titular main protagonist of the Kung Fu Panda franchise. He is one of Master Shifu's students, Mr. Ping's adoptive son, and Li Shan and his unnamed wife's biological son. He is also the "Dragon Warrior", though he refused to believe it first.
He was voiced by Jack Black who played Dewey Finn from School Of Rock, R.L. Stine from the Goosebumps movie, Ignacio/Nacho from Nacho Libre, and lastly voiced Lenny from Shark Tale and Zeke from Ice Age.
Personality
Po is usually easygoing, playful, and cocky like a big kid, as well as rather "fanboyish" when expressing his love for kung fu. In the first film, he is seen as a huge kung fu fan, owning posters and action figures of his favorite warriors, but is himself clumsy, portly, and having low self-confidence, only dreaming he could be a great warrior while feeling stuck in his unfulfilling life at his father's noodle shop. But when given the chance, he is all too eager to learn kung fu the hard way, enduring physical beatings and insults in hopes of changing who he is. After learning that "there is no secret ingredient", Po shows the inner strength to save the Valley of Peace by using his own skills and ingenuity and in the end becomes his own hero.
Po possesses a kind and selfless nature, and is generally friendly and laid back. He also has a strong sense of justice, and is willing to risk his life to protect others. His days of learning Kung Fu has allowed Po to mature and grow: Though retaining some of his old immature and oblivious side in some situations, Po is able to take things seriously when it is called for, and is not hesitant to accept heavy responsibility—at times taking on more than he can handle. His unlikely triumph as the Dragon Warrior has changed those around him, his simple and good-natured side and vast determination and selflessness going as far as to even being able to show compassion for his enemies, and having never held any grudges. His light-heartedness and humility, great respect for Kung Fu and justice and his loving heart is what marks him as truly worthy of being the Dragon Warrior and allows him to overcome the likes of Tai Lung, Shen, and Kai. He is also capable of learning things very quickly with the right motivation, as shown in the first film, and has memorized a vast amount of knowledge about kung fu, even being reliable enough to teach a class on his own.
Po also displays an action-craving attitude along with a natural affinity for humor, and isn't above acting clownish and dishing out quips, even making fun of himself, in order to entertain others. Imaginative and adventurous, he continues to act excitable and marvel over his heroes even after he has become the Dragon Warrior, at times leaving them embarrassed by his behavior. As Po tends to be less serious and disciplined than other masters, he also tends to think more outside the box, and will find different, creative ways to solve a problem if need be. Po has also broken some rules and traditions (as well as still having a habit of breaking physical things), though this is often unintentional. Po's lack of discipline and flippant personality often give him an unintentional advantage over his enemies, since, combined with his appearance, it causes them to disregard him or struggle to take him seriously, so they are often shocked when he proves to be a tenacious and incredibly skilled warrior.
One of the recurring plot lines in the television series is Po's struggle to not let his title affect his ego. Throughout the series, he is shown to have many adoring fans and he welcomes the attention, occasionally to the point that it begins to negatively impact his duties or those around him. Despite this, he also possesses the self-awareness to realize when he has made a mistake, and is willing to accept responsibility for his actions.
Though having grown more confident since becoming the Dragon Warrior, Po nevertheless has moments of intimidation and self-doubt. Even as he tries to talk tough, this boisterous behavior tends to become more comical than threatening, and is perhaps a front for the panda's insecurities. Despite this, Po does have a sense of dignity and defiance, as shown in the first film when he argued with Master Shifu as he tried to leave the palace, and in the second film when he argued with Tigress in order to seek out Shen.
Additionally in the second film, Po was revealed to be rather stubborn when it comes to admitting his problems, even to his friends, as he developed confusion about his own identity after learning he was adopted by Mr. Ping, and seeing visions of his biological parents. This inner struggle showed that Po tries to stay true to his idea of a strong "hardcore" warrior who is unaffected by emotions. He was also persistent enough to not heed the warning of his friends and endanger himself in order to find answers about his past. However, after finding the truth about what happened to his parents, the panda was able to let go of this dilemma by retaining an appreciation for the life he had led, and achieved inner peace by not letting tragedy define who he was.
In the third film, as Po is continuously pushed to his limits, first by Shifu making him the Master of the Furious Five and then the arrival of Kai and subsequent defeat of most of his friends, as well as having found his biological father and having to please both him and Ping, Po finally starts to reveal how for all his light-heartedness and optimism, he is not without limits. While confident in his fighting ability, Po is forced to relfect inwardly and rely on his mind and spirit in order to fully understand himself and, therefore, master Chi. He approached the challenge enthusiastically and diligently, but learning Li had lied to him in an attempt to protect him, the guilt of failing his friends and master and remorse of having chosen to fall to his father's deceit finally battered Po to his limits: He displayed an uncharacteristically dark side to himself which first manifested in the form of furious bitterness at both his father figures for having clouded his sense of justice, disowning Li as his father and ignoring Ping when he asked him to run away, before soon displaying his self-loathing and immense regret of having failed as the Dragon Warrior by outright lashing out to Tigress and stating he doesn't really know whether he can stop Kai but he was just so lost in grief and guilt that he believed he just had to do it. It seemed to have had a lasting effect on him in that even after his father redeemed himself in his eyes and Po forgave him, as after learning that the Wuxi Finger Hold doesn't work on Kai normally, he didn't hesitate to use it on himself to forcibly banish Kai along with him to the Spirit World. This along with the fact that Po never tried to give Kai a chance of redemption nor did he show any fear unlike when he normally approached non-serious and even serious situations showed just how deep-rooted the blow of having failed his friends and responsibility as the Dragon Warrior had broke him and how it paved the path to a previously unseen level of darkness inside Po. He seemed to have accepted his fate even after he defeated Kai and showed no interest at first in leaving the Spirit World until Oogway reminded him of his responsibilities. Having accepted fully that he was the Dragon Warrior and Oogway's successor, Po's sense of duty swiftly snapped him out of whatever remained of his dark stupor and he didn't hesitate to return to the real world, afterwards displaying full acceptance of the responsibilities of being both the Dragon Warrior and a master of Chi.
Powers & Skills
- Martial Artist: Thanks to his tough training under Shifu's teachings, Po displays mastery over kung fu & is very adaptive with his combat skills, creating new techniques to defeat new foes. He is also proficient with various weaponry & even tools. Po in particular, is so talented in kung that it's shown to be able to learn legendary and complicated kung fu techniques in a short period of time, whereas most masters and practitioners of kung fu had to train years to learn them.
- Intelligence: By the end of Kung Fu Panda 3, he became wise enough to understand Oogway's sayings & words of wisdom, effectively becoming a Kung Fu teacher and chi master. Po is also very smart when it comes to combat and kung fu, always coming with an new strategy or way to defeat his foes.
- Panda Physiology: His natural physiology is so durable that he is immune to nerve attacks & most forms of physical harm. He took a hit from Shen's explosive cannon, with only moderate injuries & fell into a short coma. He can even use his weight to intimidate his foes, via sitting on them
- Chi-Based Powers: He also has mastery over chi, using it to enhance his physical attributes, levitate or instantly heal others & himself as well. His chi mastery was so strong that he was capable of overpowering Kai, a demonic chi-powered spirit warrior. It revealed in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness episode Enter the Dragon that after Oogway died Po was given a special kind of chi which was called the Hero's Chi. With the Hero's Chi Po has increased Kung fu skills, could fly, and fire blast of energy out of his stomach which allowed him to face against the demon dragon Ke-Pa. The Hero's Chi was also connected to the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom and a small peach tree sapling, which re-energized and enhanced his Hero's Chi, allowing him to destroy Ke-Pa and his demons once and for all.
- Enhanced Strength: Due to his weight and size along with his kung fu training, Po possess an incredible physical strength that makes him an dangerous opponent in hand-to-hand combat, he is able to send flying and lift enemies far more weight and taller than him. However, Po's strength seems to not match with other kung fu masters (like Tigress).
- Enhanced Speed: Despite his size and weight, Po is amazingly fast (though not the fastest character in kung fu panda), in combat, Po is able to perform kung fu moves and techniques with amazing speed and coordination and can dodge or counter attacks even from an entire army of enemies attacking him at the same time.
- Enhanced Agility: Po is incredibly agile and fast as an kung fu master, he is shown to perform incredible maneuvers and jump at high heights with no issue. Po is able to keep with Shifu, the five furious and others kung fu masters in terms of agility and athleticism.
- High Durability/Pain Tolerance: Through the films and TV series, Po is able to survive a lot of punishment, both physical and mental, even before receiving formal training in kung fu he was able to restore himself from many injuries and wounds. While incredible durable, Po's still able to feel pain, but is able to ignore it and keep fighting for long periods of time with no issue.
- Adaptive Combatant: Po is an amazingly clever genius in combat, whenever he faces an new opponent he is always able to adapt to his environment and learn/find new ways to defeat his enemies, even learning new and difficult kung fu techniques in a short amount of time. Po is also not above using the environment, his size, weapons or improvising in order to win a fight if he needs it.
- Cooking: Raised as a son from a long line of noodle makers by Mr. Ping, Po is a talented noodle maker and an excellent chef, having worked in his father's restaurant for years. He knows how to chop up items rapidly and with precision.
Trivia
- Steve Carell, Seann William Scott, Ricky Gervais, Jason Segel, Rob Schneider, Adam Sandler, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Bradley Cooper, Chris O'Donnell, Ethan Hawke, Christian Bale, Cillian Murphy, Adrien Brody, John Goodman, Ed O'Neill, Nathan Lane, Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Perry, Tim Allen, Michael Richards, Thomas Lennon, Steve Zahn, Lewis Black, Robin Williams, Richard Kind, Jonathan Ward and Phil Collins were considered for the role of Po. According to Animator - Steven Pierre Gordon, Ben Rush, Theodore Ty, Kathy Zielinski (showreel) - Steve Carell was originally cast for the role of Po.
- Po was originally called Marv. According to Carlos Grangel and Nico Marlet (character design).
- Po is similar to Alex from another DreamWorks franchise, Madagascar.
- Po is also similar to Goku from the Dragon Ball franchise. Both of them are very friendly, righteous and skillful martial artists who strive to become the best martial artists ever.
- Po made an appearance on the game show Jeopardy!.
- Many fans of the series think Po has romantic feelings for Tigress.
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