Viper is a green tree snake who is a member of the Furious Five and a major supporting character in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. Along with the other four members of the same group she is a master of the Kung Fu martial art, restricted mainly in the snake style. She is voiced by Lucy Liu.
Personality
Compared to the other members of the Furious Five, Viper is perhaps the most sympathetic, especially towards Po. This is first noticeable when Po arrives at the Jade Temple and is proclaimed the Dragon Warrior by Master Oogway.
History
Origins
Viper was born without fangs, a sign of which meant she was not worthy of becoming a warrior. Despite the setback, she was able to become a talented ribbon dancer. Eventually however, her father was eventually attacked by an unnamed gorilla bandit who seemed to have the upper advantage over him. Viper, using her skills as a ribbon dancer, was able to fight back and overpower the bandit, thus saving her father from certain death. Viper eventually grew to become a kung fu master and formed the Furious Five under leadership of Master Shifu and Oogway.
Kung Fu Panda
When first meeting Po after he made an unexacting entrance to see the Furious Five compete to see which one is to become the chosen one, she was astonished that Oogway had chosen him, but was skeptical of the panda's abilities as the Dragon Warrior.
That night, after Po humiliated himself in front of the Five, they began gossiping over his lack of ability in the art of kung fu. Though Viper did laugh at the jokes they made about the big panda, she was the only one who didn't mock the panda directly, instead she expressed sympathy for him, stating, "the poor guy is just going to get himself killed.".
Despite the evidence that Po seemed to have quit, she was surprised to find in ready for training the following day. Shift had instructed Po to battle against Viper first, but when he was about to answer about being ready, she overpowered and incapacitated him within a few seconds, she however apologized afterwards.
After Shift sparred and defeated Po, who was sent falling down the stairs leading to the Jade Palace, Viper and Mantis attempted to heal Po's injuries with acupuncture, there Po expressed his doubt about being the Dragon Warrior, and suspected that Shifu was trying to get rid of him, but Viper assured him with a smile that it was just his harsh demeanor. Later on, Viper was surprised to find out that Po was actually a skilled chef after tasting the noodles he made, she even laughed while Po impersonated Shifu, only for him to enter in the middle of the act and announce Agway's death and Tai Lung's escape from prison, which all of the Furious Five and Po were shocked to learn.
Tigress eventually journeyed to battle against Tai Lung (despite Shifu's denouncement against the action), to the other four members joined up. They eventually encountered Tai Lung on the Thread of Hope and participated in a fierce battle against him, only for him to end up defeating and paralyzing all except Crane. Crane was able to retreat back to the Jade Palace where he used the last of his strength to carry the paralyzed Five, Shifu was able to revive them, but after learning of the Five's defeat, he decided to take drastic measures and reveal the scroll to Po, to which Viper, Po, and the rest of the Five were shocked to find out that the scroll was blank and empty.
Thinking that the valley was in great danger, Shifu instructed Viper and the rest of the Five to gather the villagers and escape to safety. Viper was tasked with gathering those within the southern portion of the region. Meanwhile, Tai Lung arrived at the Jade Temple and battled against Shift and defeated him, only for Po to join in, despite the fact Tai Lung had the upper hand, Po eventually used his weight as a means to counter him later on, eventually incapacitating Tai Lung and finally defeating him with the surprised usage of the Wushi finger hold by proclaiming "skadoosh", causing a shockwave of gold dust to erupt from the valley (and presumably killing Tai Lung). The Five witnessed the shockwave and returned to the valley to find that Po was victorious in defeating Tai Lung, Viper and the Five then bowed in front of the Dragon Warrior in respect, followed by the villagers in return.
Kung Fu Panda 2
In the second film, Viper is first seen with the Five watching Po consume as many bean buns as he could fit in his mouth; after Po succeeded in this challenge, Viper fainted from the terror she witnessed.
Soon afterwards, Po and the Five are tasked to travel to Gongmen City after learning of a new threat towards the valley, a power-hungry peacock named Shen. Along the way, Viper overhears Po discussing about his issues with his father to Tigeress, to which Viper shows the most sympathy upon hearing. They eventually arrive and disguise themselves as a festive dragon to witness Shen's militia brutally abusing the townspeople.
The six of them purposely got themselves captured so that they can gain access to Shen's tower, Viper freed the other members by lock picking cuffs binding them, and the six of them headed into Shen's throne room to attack and destroy Shen's cannon, while this succeed, Po failed to capture or defeat Shen when his opportunity was foiled after the peacock escaped, the Five scolded him in the jail afterwards and despite pleading to the Five about the failure, Po was defeated by Tigeress, to which Viper told them to stay down as a means to stay safe rather than as an act of punishment.
The Five travel to destroy an arsenal of Shen's cannons located in a foundry, but there planned is caught red-handed after Po is spotted battling Shen, his Wolves then attack and capture the Five, seeming as though Viper and the Five had lost.
Aboard Shen's battleship, the Five were bound together by chains as natives to Shen, who plotted on killing them before his invasion begun. Miraculously, Po intervened when it seemed all hope was lost and freed the Five, in an attempt to get to Shen, Viper used a technique called "Puppet of Death" during a battle against Shen's wolves to manipulate and unconscious wolf. Eventually, Shifu joined the battle and brought along masters Ox and Crocodile to fight alongside Po and the Five. When it seemed as though Viper and the Five as well as their allies had won, they were all blasted into the harbor by Shen's flagship cannon, while Shifu and the Five were incapacitated, Po was able to stand his ground and fight back by deflecting the many cannons fired upon him by Shen, eventually destroy to entire fleet of his, and rendering his flagship severely damage, Po attempted to change Shen's mind, but he refused and attempted to attack the band, but unexpectedly cut the ropes holding his prized cannon to plummet down upon him and crush him to death.
In the end, the Viper and the Five were once again victorious.
