Furious Five Battle Royale-Smackdown Warm-Up!

: The Furious Five. Five Kung Fu masters who have dedicated their lives, their blood, and their bodies to the art of fighting, and the protection of the Valley of Peace.

: They have dutifully served the valley for years, and have worked themselves to the precipice of perfection, the apex of their physical limits. 

: But…what would happen, if each of them desired to prove their superiority over the rest?

: Master Tigress, the de facto leader of the group.

: Master Monkey, the trickster.

: Master Viper, poised and elegant.

: Master Crane, the king of the skies.

: And Master Mantis, the ultimate proof size isn’t everything.

: These five warriors are all incredibly powerful as a team, but who is truly the strongest?

: Time to find out…in a SMACKDOOWWWWNNN!

Master Tigress

: When she was a cub, Master Tigress had it…rough, to say the least. She was dumped at an orphanage and treated like a monster, without any hope of escaping her horrible life. That is…until a certain kung fu master came around.

: His name was Shifu, and he saw the potential in the tiger cub that no one else did. And so, he played dominos with her, teaching her the value of control and discipline, until she had finally learned to keep her impulses in check. And so, seeing she could be trained further, he took her back with him to the Jade Palace, where she began to learn the art of kung fu herself.

: Years later, a powerful warrior named Boar was rampaging towards the Valley of Peace. Tigress, still chafing under the harsh instruction of Shifu, was sent to find four warriors to fight Boar when Shifu fell ill. However, she accidentally misplaced Shifu’s list of names and picked up the list dropped by a certain panda, causing her to find four others: Viper, Crane, Mantis, and Monkey. And although Shifu doubted their abilities, together the team was able to defeat Boar after Tigress learned to follow her own style, and the team became known as the Furious Five, with Tigress assuming the position of leader.

: As the leader, Tigress is absolutely an accomplished martial artist, specializing in the tiger style of Kung Fu. This style prioritizes rapid, strong strikes in a head-on fashion, brutally overpowering opponents. To accomplish this, Tigress has trained her hands to feel no pain by punching iron wood trees by the Jade Palace, allowing her to deal out heavy damage while taking less in return.

: Tigress’s strength is also pretty damn notable. With a single punch, she pulverized a massive boulder into little pieces! And keep in mind, this was a younger, far less experienced Tigress doing this.

: Tigress is also notable for being the only member of the Furious Five to leave any kind of impact on Kai. Sure, she was stomped immediately after, but she did manage to at least stagger him. That’s gotta count for something. She could also fight on par with a casual Po in Kung Fu Panda 3, but it should be noted that a serious Po can easily mop the floor with her.

: Moving on, Tigress is also an extremely competent weapons master, effortlessly wielding the Tri-Bo-Yao mace staff and knocking out Junjie’s leopard kung fu squad with it. However, most of the time Tigress tends to go in unarmed, and does rather well. It helps that she’s quite flexible, being able to do a perfect split in midair to break two stone blocks, as well as stretch her leg into the air in an obtuse angle.

: Tigress is overall a very powerful fighter, but she is by no means infallible. Her focus on power over precision can lead more precise foes, like Mistress Mugan, to get several hits on her before she can counter. She also can be prone to anger at points, interfering with her fighting capabilities, though this seems to have largely faded by Kung Fu Panda 3. And lastly, Tigress is very much a close ranged fighter, with absolutely no range techniques to speak of. Yet in spite of that, Tigress has proven her mettle time and time again, and will continue to stand tall going forward.

Strength:

-Could hold her own against a casual Tai Lung for a fairly long time.

-Threw a stone hammer across the Training Hall courtyard.

-Could bench a stick with two iron balls attached to the ends.

-Lifted and threw the giant crocodile Lidong into the air and kicked him off of the Jade Palace. Crocodiles at their maximum weigh 2,200 pounds.

-With one hand, could hold up a group of 3-6 normal sized crocodiles, as well as a massive stone statue.

-Comparable to Shifu, who grappled with Kai, who could casually push around massive boulders with his chain swords.

-Along with the rest of the Furious Five, could hurt and restrain a weakened Ke-Pa, who previously destroyed the Jade Palace.

-Balanced five filled melon-sized bowls filled with water on her arms, legs, and head.

-Fought with Master Kweng the Unstoppable, who could fight a semi-casual Po.

-In the games, her claws can slice through shields.

Speed:

-Caught a flaming arrow without looking.

-Caught an arrow from Master Porcupine.

-Can likely move faster than real life tigers when on all fours, which move at 40 mph.

Durability:

-Feels no pain in her hands.

-Survived a portion of a blast from Shen’s cannon.

-Survived being crushed by Ke-Pa’s telekinesis along with the rest of the Furious Five.

Powers and Abilities:

-Levitation Kung Fu: Allows Tigress to fly, although she is only seen using it once.

-Chi Manipulation: Although only used briefly, Tigress sent her chi into the Spirit World to help Po.

-Non-Physical Interaction: Could harm the Hopping Ghosts, which are intangible, with her physical attacks.

-Mental Focus: Tigress is easily the most focused of the Furious Five, which allowed her to use Master Ding’s spirit orbs to invade Po’s mind.

-Tiger Claw: Tigress slashes forward with her claws, dealing heavy damage to shields.

Weaknesses:

-Attacking Tigress’s armpit will leave her in a vulnerable state.

Master Monkey

: When Monkey was a child, he was a bit of a prankster, getting his jollies from messing with the people in his town. However, his brother Wukong was more content with doing crimes, and as such he was sent to jail, shaming Monkey’s family.

: Not wanting to have his rep dragged down, he left to parts far off, where he continued his pranking ways and being a general nuisance to the town. He easily bested all the warriors sent to run him out of town, until one day Oogway himself appeared. All of Monkey’s tricks were useless, and he found himself about to be crushed by a pillar, until Oogway saved him. From that moment on, Monkey was indebted to the master, and eventually he found himself training in monkey style kung fu at the Jade Palace. This ultimately resulted in a clash with his brother, ending with the death of his mother and a promise to protect his family, as well as the Valley of Peace, from further splintering.

: As a master of Monkey style Kung Fu, Monkey focuses a lot more on being quick and agile than Tigress. Monkey is a generally good all-around fighter, being above average in strength and speed but not necessarily being the best in said categories. However, he makes up for it with his sheer unpredictability, always pulling out underhanded tactics and even resorting to tripping up opponents with banana peels, which gives him a major edge in many fights.

: Like Tigress, Monkey generally goes into battle unarmed, but on occasion he has used a sword and a bo staff to extend his attack range a bit, along with some banana peels. Using these tools, he has done some rather impressive feats, such as defeating his brother Wukong, defeating the pig brothers Tsao, Lao, and Bao, and fighting off the Hopping Ghosts.

: Despite his gifts, however, Monkey’s traps can occasionally backfire on him as seen in his fight with Oogway, and he does have a tendency to be cocky, which can result in foes getting the jump on him.

: Regardless, Monkey is still a powerful and capable fighter, and truly bad. As in, badtacularly good!

Strength:

-Could hold his own against a casual Tai Lung for a fairly long time.

Speed:

-Can run up walls briefly.

-Ducked under a set of flaming arrows.

-Can likely move faster than real life monkeys when on all fours, which move at 50 mph.

Durability:

-Had a boulder dropped on him and was fine.

-Po sat on him several times with no damage dealt. Po weighs 290 pounds.

Powers and Abilities:

-Levitation Kung Fu: Allows Monkey to fly, although he is only seen using it once.

-Chi Manipulation: Although only used briefly, Monkey was taught the technique of chi control by Po at the end of KFP3.

-Non-Physical Interaction: Could harm the Hopping Ghosts, which are intangible, with her physical attacks.

-Mental Attack Resistance: Could overcome Scorpion’s mind control through the power of friendship, seemingly.

-Leaping Monkey: Monkey leaps towards a nearby enemies and then jumps off them to gain more height.

Weaknesses:

-Grabbing Monkey’s tail will leave him off-balance.

-Can slip on his own banana peels.

Master Crane

: When Crane was a young bird, his mother constantly babied him out of fear he would get hurt. The final straw was when Crane got beat up at a kung fu class, forcing Crane to promise he would never do kung fu again, for fear of giving her heart palpitations.

: But, still wanting to experience it, he became a janitor at the Li Da Kung Fu Academy, watching the students and especially his idol Mei Ling partake in kung fu. He wanted to join himself, but he was seen as a weakling, lowering his confidence. However, when Mei Ling encouraged him, Crane trained every night, and finally passed the entrance exam for the academy. One thing led to another, and Crane became a member of the Furious Five.

: As a master of Crane style, Crane generally tends to stick to the air when he fights, attacking from above so as to disorient the opponent. As a result, he is definitely one of the more nimble members of the Furious Five, but lacks somewhat in striking power. This isn’t to say he isn’t strong, however, as he was able to carry the rest of the Furious Five all the way from the mountains to the Jade Palace after being exhausted in a fight with Tai Lung, showing both his strength and stamina. 

: Crane’s speed, however, is arguably his greatest attribute. He was once able to fly from the Northern Mountains all the way to the Valley of Peace in just a few seconds while diving, and he was even able to outpace Po in KFP3 by doing the same technique. As in, the same Po who dodged lightning attacks from Bian-Zao and Pang Bing. So, pretty fast.

: Crane generally chooses to fight with just his wings and talons, but he has also wielded a bo staff on some occasions. That by no means is a hindrance, considering some of the feats Crane has accomplished. Most notably, he singlehandedly defeated the Lin Kuei, a clan of wolves capable of besting the rest of the Furious Five, Po, and Shifu in the same episode. Even more impressively, he is the only member of the Furious Five to go one-on-one with Fenghuang and win. Fenghuang, for reference, is the most powerful member of the original Furious Five, who casually overpowered the current Furious Five in a later episode, and was so powerful she could even contend with Oogway for quite a while. Granted, this is somewhat inconsistent with other showings of Fenghuang effortlessly defeating the Five by herself, but she didn’t use the Impossible Moves on Crane, which might explain it. 

: Despite this, Crane does suffer from some notable downsides. He does have quite a few allergy and sinus issues, which might cause him to mess up in battle at a random, inopportune time, and he does have some lingering confidence issues. 

: Still, Crane is one of the most respected kung fu masters for a reason. Get on his bad side, and you will almost certainly regret it.

Strength:

-Could hold his own against a casual Tai Lung for a fairly long time.

-Carried the combined weight of the rest of the Furious Five into the air.

-Knocked Fenghuang into a wall hard enough to incapacitate her.

-Somewhat fazed Kai by throwing a barrel at him.

Speed:

-Flew from the Northern Mountains to the Valley of Peace in seconds.

-Can likely fly faster than a normal crane, which can go 100 kph at max speed.

Durability:

-Tanked a portion of Shen’s cannon blast.

-Got smacked in the face by a Lin Kuei Chain Hammer with little damage.

Powers and Abilities:

-Natural Flight

-Chi Manipulation: Although only used briefly, Crane was taught the technique of chi control by Po at the end of KFP3.

-Non-Physical Interaction: Could touch Ke-Pa’s shadow demons, which are normally intangible.

-Spinning Feather Blossom: Crane flies upward, damaging anything in his way.

-Wings of Justice: Crane launches a blast of wind to knock foes off balance.

Weaknesses:

-Performing a leg sweep on him leaves Crane off-balance.

Master Mantis

: Not much is known about Mantis’ origins, outside of him growing up in a small town fawning over another mantis named Hao Ming, before eventually finding himself growing up and being captured by crocodile bandits. It is here where Mantis gained the ability to be patient, adding onto his already excellent kung fu abilities, ultimately resulting in his recruitment to the Furious Five.

: Despite Mantis’ small size, he is absolutely not to be underestimated, for he hides a strength and speed level comparable to the rest of the Five. In fact, his strength might be the most notable aspect of him, shown by him being able to hold up an entire rope bridge with Tai Lung and the Furious Five on it, as well as shake it. Not only that, but he can easily lift the 290 pound Po into the air and toss him around.

: As a master of Mantis style, Mantis focuses primarily on dealing a series of lightning fast strikes in specific locations in order to bring down larger enemies while darting out of harm’s way to avoid being squished. As such, most opponents can be defeated without even knowing who it is they’re fighting, or even how to hit Mantis due to his small size.

: Much like Crane, Mantis does occasionally wield a bo staff, but for the most part he prefers to fight unarmed. However, he is also. a skilled acupuncture user, trained in pressure points in the same way Tai Lung was. While he doesn’t have Tai Lung’s power, Mantis is still capable of using pressure points for a variety of options, such as silencing an opponent, stopping their heart, tweaking their facial. nerves, or even inducing paralysis in them, although he rarely uses these options in combat.

: Mantis’s feats are also quite impressive. Like Tigress, he was able to defeat Lidong, with Tigress even admitting Lidong was a formidable opponent. Mantis also has defeated another mantis, Dosu, in combat with relative ease, and overpowered a gang of croc bandits singlehanded. He also…tried, to fight Kai. It didn’t work. 

: Mantis does still have some setbacks, though. While his Mantis style generally allows him to avoid getting hit, there are opponents who can simply shrug off Mantis’ strikes if they’re resilient enough, at which point Mantis generally struggles to deal lasting damage. The only reason he could defeat Lidong was due to going inside his body and attacking his organs and stomach lining. Mantis also can be incapacitated somewhat easily by stepping on him.

: Overall, though, Mantis is a warrior unlike any other, and his feats of power and speed are not to be trifled with.

Strength:

-Could hold his own against a casual Tai Lung for a fairly long time.

-Held up the combined weight of a rope bridge, the Furious Five, and Tai Lung.

-Knocked out a giant Lidong by attacking his insides.

-Can lift Po into the air and toss him around.

-Sliced two metal swords into pieces.

Speed:

-Appears as a blur when he fights enemies.

-Can leap five feet into the air in a second.

Durability:

-Tanked a portion of Shen’s cannon blast.

-Can get squished by Lidong and other Furious Five members without sustaining much damage.

Powers and Abilities:

-Acupuncture: Used by sticking his claw barbs into the opponent at precise points.

-Chi Manipulation: Although only used briefly, Mantis was taught the technique of chi control by Po at the end of KFP3.

-Levitation Kung Fu: Allows Monkey to fly, although he is only seen using it once.

-Size Manipulation: Although he no longer possesses it, Mantis once used a Gong Tau potion to increase his size to building tier heights.

-Natural Weaponry: With his claws.

Weaknesses:

-Has a blind spot on his right side.

-Small size can be a hindrance when moving around.

-Gong Tau potion decreases Mantis’ fighting skill.

Master Viper

: Viper was born to the family of the illustrious kung fu master Great Viper, who defended the land with his Poison Fang technique. However, the great master was getting on in years, and desired a successor who would carry on his venomous legacy. Imagine his disappointment when he saw his newborn daughter had no fangs, and therefore no venom.

: So, the great master had to continue defending the land on his own. That is, until one day, when a gorilla showed up and began rampaging. The great master tried to bite him, but the gorilla was clad in poison-proof armor, shattering his fangs. With her father in danger, Viper found true courage and stood up to the gorilla, beating him down with her ribbon dancing skills and proving herself a true kung fu master, eventually finding herself as part of the Furious Five.

: As you can probably guess by this point, Viper specializes in the Viper style of Kung Fu, focused on constricting enemies and striking with precise, elegant movements, performing actions like tripping up foes or even making them punch themselves.

: Viper generally wields no weapons, but on some occasions she has shown the ability to use a ribbon for combat, and used shurikens when preparing for the Winter Feast.

: In terms of Viper’s feats, outside of her general fighting capabilities alongside the rest of her team, she was instrumental in bringing down the Ladies of the Shade criminal organization, and defeated the serpent Fu-Xi, who was able to fight on par with a casual Po.

: Viper does possess some shortcomings though. For starters, unlike most serpents, she does not seem to use her venom that much, if at all. There’s also the fact that Viper is relatively weak against frontal attacks, and she generally seems to be more of a jack-of-all-trades fighter.

: These small instances aside, Viper has proven herself a cunning and capable fighter many times over, and should not be underestimated for fear of invoking the wrath of her kind’s dragon ancestry.

Strength:

-Could hold her own against a casual Tai Lung for a fairly long time.

-Could pull back against Po’s momentum in a rickshaw.

-Knocked a wolf guard into a set of drums with her tail.

–Defeated the serpent Fu-Xi.

-Ripped an aqueduct support beam from its moorings.

Speed:

-Can likely move as fast as a real viper, which strikes at 200 mph when biting.

Durability:

-Tanked a portion of Shen’s cannon blast.

-Survived being choked by Tai Lung.

Powers and Abilities:

-Chi Manipulation: Although only used briefly, Viper was taught the technique of chi control by Po at the end of KFP3.

-Natural Weaponry: With her fangs.

-Possible Venom Manipulation: Although she didn’t use it on Po, it is implied she has the ability to impart it onto someone.

-Paralyzing Shoulder Pinch: Allows Viper to briefly knock out an opponent by pinching their shoulder.

-Levitation Kung Fu: Allows Viper to fly, although she is only seen using it once.

-Viper Crush: Allows Viper to squeeze foes out of their armor.

Weaknesses:

-Weak against frontal attacks.

-Fangs can be broken when biting on metal.

Kung Fu Panda! When five kung fu masters enter the ring of battle, only one can emerge victorious! Who will it be? The high flying Crane, the queen of claws Tigress, the venomous Viper, the mighty Mantis, or the meddlesome Monkey? Find out soon!