Kung Fu Panda 4: Do the Furious Five Show Up in the Movie?

Kung Fu Panda fans have been hoping to see Tigress and the gang again.

By Charlie Ridgely

The beloved Dragon Warrior returned to theaters this weekend with the release of Kung Fu Panda 4, the franchise's first film in nearly eight years. Jack Black's Po is back in action, but the trailers for Kung Fu Panda 4 showed him without the allies that fans are used to seeing him fight alongside. The legendary kung fu team known as the Furious Five helped train Po to become the Dragon Warrior, and continued fighting by his side throughout the franchise. Needless to say, fans were surprised when the first Kung Fu Panda 4 trailer was released and the members of the Furious Five were nowhere to be found.

Trailers, of course, don't paint the whole picture. So do any of the Furious Five actually show up in Kung Fu Panda 4? Or is Po flying solo in this new adventure? WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Kung Fu Panda 4! Continue reading at your own risk...

The Furious Five are technically in Kung Fu Panda 4, but not as major characters in the film. They're absent for almost its entire run time and it should be noted that none of them have any dialogue. At the very beginning of the movie, Po explains that all of the Furious Five members are off on different, important missions. They're scattered around the land trying to keep peace and stop evil. That's all we get until the credits.

A major part of the story in Kung Fu Panda 4 is Po being required to choose his Dragon Warrior successor, as he was essentially moving up to oversee the Valley of Peace. He ultimately chose Zhen, the fox he worked alongside throughout the movie, and the final scenes showed him returning to the Valley to train her. When he mentions that she should learn from the best, the Furious Five show up to help.

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The members of the Furious Five train Zhen as some of the credits come across the screen, and Jack Black's cover of Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time" plays over the footage. So none of the characters actually talk. 

The Furious Five have been made up of an all-star cast throughout the Kung Fu Panda franchise, one that was likely very expensive. Angelina Jolie (Tigress), Jackie Chan (Monkey), Lucy Liu (Viper), Seth Rogen (Mantis), and David Cross (Crane) lent their voices to the kung fu heroes in the first three films. By only having them show up in the final credits sequence, Kung Fu Panda 4 is able to still include the characters without having to hire their A-list performers.

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