Kung Fu Panda/WMG

Here we discuss wild mass guesses on the subject of the movie Kung Fu Panda.

Tigress was adopted when Tai Lung was a teenager or at least still there.
In the short, Shifu could be seen smiling. According to a legend, Shifu used to smile. However, it could be a case of the Unreliable Narrator Po is. It wasn't specified when Tigress was adopted but if it is true, then Tigress and Tai Lung used to have a big brother-little sister relationship. If you ignore the Foe Yay, you can see that Tai Lung still cares about his 'family' especially Shifu. The 'family' fell apart when Oogway denied Tai Lung the Dragon Scroll.

Tai lung was a closeted homosexual.
The REAL reason he had the rampage was because Oogway found out about it a denied him the dragon scroll as a result.
 * Sounds a bit out of character then, specially when ancient China even had a deity favouring gay men
 * Why do people always add at least one wmg that a character is gay? At this rate, there are going to be more gay characters than there are gay people.
 * Or more gay people than straight people, leading to a massive drop in the birth rate. Though given that we just hit the seven billion mark, that might not be a bad thing...

The movie has a hidden theme about self-control.
Many viewers have noticed that Tai Lung and Tigress share many, if not most, of their traits. The main, and possibly only, difference is that a true warrior has control over their emotions, rather then allowing the emotions to control them. Tai Lung gave into his anger and became a villain, showing a stunning lack of control for someone as well trained as himself. Tigress, on the other hand, was able to control her anger and disappointment, though she was probably just as pissed as Tai Lung. In the end, this single difference between them makes all the difference in the world, as it sent Tai Lung down a dark path, yet it also marks Tigress as being a truly worthy and honorable warrior.
 * Tigress' self-control failed in exactly the same way as that of Tai Lung. When denied the goal their master was raising them for, they both decided to grasp for it anyway. Directors' commentary on the DVD even specifically points to the gravity of her disobedience. Tai Lung went on a rampage as a result, and Tigress would have died if not for Tai Lung's mercy (if he really just wanted to frighten Shifu and the Dragon Warrior, sparing only Crane was sufficient). If there is a single positive trait that Tigress has and Tai Lung doesn't, and that is not founded on clear difference in their talents, it's her unselfishness. Tigress is capable of blaming herself or thinking how others might feel, even when she feels wronged (by being passed for the Dragon Warrior) or hurt (by her adoptive father not showing any love). Tai Lung... isn't, and maybe never really was, although after he spent twenty years stewing in his own hate it is hard to say for certain.

Oogway isn't entirely gone.
The sequel has him in the cast (as The Obi Wan ?) and there's a hint that his spirit remains during Tai Ling's fight with Shifu. Tai Lung attempts to use the Staff of Harmony to strangle Shifu, but instead, it shatters; peach petals drift by as it releases its spiritual energy.
 * He didn't appear in the sequel, not counting flashback cameos. The DVD commentary states that a part of Oogway's spirit indeed lingered in the Staff of Harmony, but is gone now, since it was broken by Tai Lung.
 * But it would seem that Shifu repaired it and uses it as his main weapon, himself.
 * In context of the mythos, Oogway could return/is still around but he'd have very little reason to.
 * He did briefly show up in one episode of the animated series...

Oogway sealed his soul into the peach tree sprout.
He did not die, he allowed his own body to fade away after sealing his essence into the only thing longer-lived than him: the only sprout of the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. That's the only way another plant other than the grass and the original peach tree could survive on the hilltop, if it had a soul of its own. Also reference the seal shown when Shifu causes a peach to fall during his "I failed" rant.

Tai Lung wanted to be killed by the Wuxi Fingerhold.
Between being denied the post of Dragon Warrior and returning to kill Oogway and Shi-Fu, Tai Lung discovered a way to become immortal by possessing hundreds of people at a time... the only way to do so was to have one's body vaporized and inhaled by others quickly enough that your spirit hasn't yet realized you're dead. Tai Lung's plan had been for Shi-Fu to destroy him so as to allow him to possess him, Oogway, and whatever monks were studying there at the time, but Shi-Fu chickened out and Tai Lung was merely imprisoned. He escaped with intent to either PO Shi-Fu enough that he'd disown him and use the Fingerhold, or at least kill him and get revenge for the years of imprisonment. It wasn't fear of Po knowing the Wuxi Fingerhold that had him scared, it was fear of him not knowing it that had him scared. Splatterization doesn't have near the same probability of becoming immortal as does vaporization.
 * ... You mean like the Jar of Whispering Warriors?

Po hasn't finished his Hero's Journey.
Tai Lung was only the threshold guardian and Po has made it past the Belly of the Whale, or has yet to get there.
 * Given that the movie is apparently the first of a series, this is pretty much a given.
 * You mean, Po is going to be even more awesome?!

Mei Ling turns evil after her time as Crane's peer.
Less a wild mass guess than an educated one ... in The Art of Kung Fu Panda, Tai Lung was originally intended to have an army that would help him pillage and burn. A trio of lynx assassins called the Wu sisters were dropped from production, but they are dead ringers for Mei Ling as she appears in Secrets of the Furious Five. With sequels planned, I think we may see some heartbreak in Crane's past...
 * Or perhaps the similarity in character design is because she's related to the Wu Sisters. Hmmm...

The Wuxi Finger Hold is a "Pull my Finger" writ large.
Explains why "The hardest part is cleaning up afterwards."
 * That's what I assumed when I saw that gigantic puff of gas it caused...

Po is actually the son of a (or two) great kung fu master(s)
His birth parents - assuming both Mother and Father taught kung fu, as you see by the parenthesis - must've believed Po was simply too out of shape or just not capable of learning kung fu, so instead of leaving him at the Jade Palace as a baby (, they left him at the Noodle Shop and the rest of the movie explains it all, and his unknown-to-him kung fu heritage shines in the end of the movie.

Knowing Dreamworks, this idea is too good to pass up. Or his parents simply couldn't afford to raise him or disappeared without a trace.
 * A nice idea, but according to Word of God in Art of Kung Fu Panda, Dream Works "didn't want to make an issue out of it [Po's parentage], to suggest that Po is considered special or different...Po's strength and talent comes from within, neither because of nor despite the fact that he is adopted." So even if him having kung fu trained parents is possible, Dream Works would never pursue it because of their 'anyone can be a hero' Aesop.
 * Or Po is the son of two great noodle makers. His dad did say broth ran deep through their veins. But he didn't say it was the same broth, so...
 * Or, Mr. Ping won the baby Po in a game of mahjong.
 * I like that one, make it canon.
 * I have to agree!
 * Maybe Mr. Ping really is his dad, and his mother was a panda. Wait, ew.
 * Whoever made this entry is Made of Win.
 * You know, when I learned Mr. Ping was his father, that was EXACTLY what I assumed.
 * On the other hand, judging by the details which have been released about the upcoming sequel, it seems that Dream Works could not resist the lure of making their Chosen One actually special after all, with cool powers: apparently, whatever this mysterious threat to kung fu is, the only way Po can counteract it is by something he learned or inherited from his long-lost family/parents. Way to go in undermining your own Aesop and your professed motivation. Face Palm.
 * Have faith, maybe they're just purposefully misleading while telling no lies, it could be that he's inherited something completely unrelated to Kung Fu that ends up being helpful.
 * We shall see. Even if you're right, the fact that they're revisiting Po's past at all when they initially said they wouldn't is rather disappointing. While it would be interesting to know where he came from and how he ended up as Ping's son, it's not necessary and may even be a detriment.
 * Possibly Jossed.

Po is actually the son of Shifu!
Yes, yes, think about it! Po is obviously not really the son of the duck who owns the restaurant. Because he's a bear and not a bird, correct? Wrong! Panda bears are not really bears, they're raccoons, their true name being "giant pandas" with "red pandas" or simply "pandas" being a subspecies of large reddish raccoon. Who in the Kung Fu Panda universe is a reddish racoon, and not only that, but one who was good enough a martial artist to have fathered the Dragon Warrior? I rest my case.
 * Science Marches On: Pandas are indeed bears. Shifu is a red panda, though.

Oogway was making it all up as he went along.
But in a totally zen way, so it all worked out anyway.
 * Alternately he could be Genre Savvy enough to know that appointing The Chosen One to be someone who actually trained and prepared for the task would fail spectacularly. Which actually makes sense, since the five apparently spent all their time training. That's what Tai Lung did and that's precisely why he didn't get the message of the blank scroll, because he had nothing real to connect to, whereas Po did.
 * In fact, appointing someone as the chosen one is exactly the opposite of the message of the scrolls - that would imply that the chosen one simply 'is' whereas the message of the scroll is that anyone 'is'. So, yes, Oogway probably knew better - that telling Shifu how to beat Tai Lung wouldn't really accomplish anything because the lesson is simply something one must realize.

Oogway planned the whole thing.
"There are no accidents", remember? If Oogway hadn't made Shifu paranoid about Tai Lung's escape, Shifu wouldn't have sent the messenger and Tai Lung would still be imprisoned. Okay, so it's a bit of a Xanatos Roulette, but still. As for why Oogway did it, it could be him trying to give Shifu closure about happened with Tai Lung - making him face the problem instead of putting Tai Lung in prison and forgetting. Or he's just a dick.
 * In fact, he told Shifu he had forseen that: "One often meets his destiny on the road to avoid it"
 * Word of God supports this theory. In the DVD commentary, it's revealed that Shifu originally started his training hoping to become the Dragon Warrior, and later, hoping to train the Dragon Warrior when he found Tai Lung. When that didn't work out, Shifu sees himself as having failed his mission in life. When Oogway was trying to show Shifu that his destiny was really to take over for Oogway when he leaves.
 * He definitely did. At the beginning of the movie he knew his days are numbered, and there is no candidate for succeeding him. Shifu learned jack from Tai Lung's debacle, and in fact refuses to learn or grow personally, and so is limited even in his ability to pass Oogway's kung fu techniques, never mind Oogway's wisdom. The next master in the assumed line of succession, Tigress, is an emotional wreck, and doesn't yet have necessary skills. They are far from being personally happy as well. So Oogway took steps to rectify this. In the end things worked out for the best of everyone involved (well, excluding rhino guards, buried under a couple thousands tons of rock). The only question is, was he truly able to see the future, or just was a transcedentally awesome judge of character.

Po is not adopted.
He's not a panda. And his family aren't geese. It's really a universe with one sentient species that has lots of extremely diverse races that happen to look vaguely similar to earth species. Po was the resultr of a whole bunch of recessive genes that happened to hit all at once, and made him look like a panda. Sort of like a blond being born to two brunettes, only to the extreme.
 * I like this idea. I mean, why not? Why can't this be canon?

Kung Fu Panda is set in the same world as Skunk Fu.
Just one generation earlier. Panda from Skunk Fu is Po.
 * Where's Dragon this whole time?
 * Running other errands for the gods. His job as an all-powerful guardian does tend to keep him busy. In fact, Po was probably his first, and maybe only, friend as the other villagers were too busy hailing him as some sort of demi-god. Either that or, like the role of the Dragon Warrior, the role of Dragon is passed down too, with new dragons created to take up the role when the previous dragon is incapacitated. The Gods decided not to create a new Dragon after the previous one's "betrayal" because it was getting too troublesome.
 * Some of the animals in Skunk Fu might be descendants of (or related to) some of the characters in Kung Fu Panda:
 * Master Tigress --> Tiger. He tries to live up to his ancestor's name.
 * Master Mantis --> Praying Mantis
 * Master Viper --> Snake
 * Master Crane --> Crane
 * Master Monkey --> Ninja Monkeys (possibly the spy in "The Art of the Double Cross")
 * Master Oogway --> Dr. Turtle
 * Wo Hop --> Rabbit

"Sinlong" will be a fake Sealed Evil in A Can.
While it's supposed to appear that somebody screwed up, he's really the second test for the Dragon Warrior. The first is a test of heart/mind/whatever, and when someone passes it, Sinlong tries to kill them. Anyone who survives gets to learn special secret Dragon Style mystical techniques before fighting the real Sealed Evil in A Can in the third film, who could easily flatten Sinlong (but there's a chance that anyone who can defeat him without using the techiques can defeat the true final boss with them).
 * The number one flaw with this WMG is that SINLONG DOES NOT EXIST. That was an unverified rumor. The villain of the next movie is a PEACOCK voiced by GARY F*DGING OLDMAN.
 * No need to be so harsh, the OP most likely hadn't seen the newest information. There is also no guarantee they won't use Sinlong for real later on, considering there are supposed to be more than just one sequel movie, plus the TV show...
 * The guess was originally made very soon after the Sinlong rumors hit TV Tropes, and long before the official Gary Oldman Peacock release, so yes.

Said final villain can use either necromancy or mind control.
And brings back Tai Lung, possibly giving him the army of underlings that were originally set for the first film.

Po did not use the Wuxi Fingerhold to defeat Tai Lung
Remember, Shifu never taught Po the move, and the kung fu master said there was a lot of "cleaning up" afterward. Po says he "figured it out," but how could he have done so if he'd never seen it demonstrated or even knew for sure what effect it was supposed to have?

This leads us to the conclusion that Po, instead, invented an entirely new move, based on the Wuxi Fingerhold, but distinct, and the creation of this move signifies his ascent to kung fu master.
 * Po is enough of a kung fu fanboy that he probably already knew a lot about how the Wuxi Finger Hold might've worked (Wild Mass Guessing) before the movie started. Figuring it out after he went through training wouldn't be unreasonable.
 * If it was just a straight up physical hold, yes. But how do you "figure out" a move that seems to be a chi explosion of some sort? Clearly there was much more mystical than physical involved in the move, while Po's training was almost entirely physical. The point remains, he's never seen it actually performed, and never been instructed on how to do it properly. So, in all likelihood, he created a move that imitates what he's heard, but is different somehow.
 * Ah, so Shi-Fu's Wu-Shi Fingerhold is to use the ripples to tear the gripped into little, squishy pieces and fling them everywhere, and Po's is a chi-enforced Ascent To A Higher Plane Of Being. Sounds good to me.
 * Or it could even cleanse/purify Tai Lung--wipe his insanity and rage, turn him good, remove his memories, who knows? But apparently Dream Works missed the memo that a) a LOT of people like Tai Lung, and not just for the Draco in Leather Pants reasons and b) the possibilities of a team-up for him and Po are limitless, especially since he knows all one thousand scrolls. Sigh.
 * So, is there any clarification on whether Tai Lung was killed or not? This troper saw statements to either effect, claiming to be backed by Word of God. His appearance during the end credits montage, that clearly depicts the stuff characters are doing after the main story, serves as an evidence of survival, at least.
 * I don't know if they may have said anything more clear and specific elsewhere, but all the directors said in the DVD commentary was that "no one knows what happened to him, it's a mystery". This could be them being cagey in case they want to bring him back for a sequel--and if they are, they're keeping their cards close to their chest since no announcement of Ian McShane returning has been made, although I read somewhere that he was slated to appear in the second episode of the TV series. Or they didn't want to confirm that he had been blown to bits, but just so small you can't see them. For what it's worth, though, I doubt they'll bring him back since a) they stated that they had made him Unintentionally Sympathetic, so why give the audience more fuel to care about him? and b) it seems to be a trend in animated movies to create villains who are so far from being flat and one-note that you sympathize for them, only to have the rug pulled out from under you by a denial of their redemption. Sure, Reality Subtext dictates that there will be people in Real Life whom, even if you understand their motivations and sympathize with them, are evil and stay unrepentantly so...but whatever happened to escapism? Seems some people are a little too far on the cynical side of the scale... Anyway, I do happen to concur, though, that Tai Lung's appearance during the end credits which all clearly take place post-movie, is rather suggestive...
 * Considering that Po was ready to forgive Lord Shen, who, as he believed, ganked his entire biological family, the possibility of Wuxi Fingerhold being lethal just went to extremely low. The size of Ki shockwave hardly means anything in a world where accoplished martial artists can survive being slammed into ground with a force of an exploding bomb almost unscathed. The DVD commentary more or less states that the writers wanted a way to end the fight in an epic final blow, that would have made the outcome absolutely clear, but deliberately made its effects ambigious (a gigantic explosion was considered but discarded). They stated the final fate of Tai Lung to be a mistery, but, well, we all know what Never Found the Body is for. Bringing him back in a satisfying way, though, might be a tad difficult - there is little doubt that Tai Lung will be utterly morally crushed by his defeat (as, again, authors went out of their way to ensure that his defeat is crystal clear and total). He cannot go back to villainy without desperately lying to himself, and therefore losing much of his power, and a Heel Face Turn might well be impaired by the fact that Shifu and Po apparently are fed up with him, and everyone else just fear him. I guess we have to wait for TV series and see.

Tai Lung did get the meaning of the scroll
He looks at it and says there's nothing there, but maybe, it clicked for just a moment. He wasn't sure however. After all, something that powerful, that only the Dragon Warrior could claim it, something Shifu was willing to die to protect couldn't be so simple.....right? Then Po tells him that it is just that. And it hits him: He rampaged through the valley, was imprisoned for years, fought his way out of Prison, and was made a fool of by a BIG FAT PANDA....... all for something he already had. He realized in that moment he didn't need the scroll, and his frustration over that realization led to him trying to take it out on Po. Well, live and learn....hopefully.
 * Alternatively... he got an alternative meaning of the scroll. He takes one look at the blank page and all he sees is the lack of acknowledgement he percieved Shifu gave him and the denial of approval; that the others were simply trying to 'trick' him and tease him.

Someone handed Tai Lung a spiked drink when he was Drowning His Sorrows from not getting the dragon scroll.
One depressed kung-fu master with kung-fu metabolism, plus a probably-not-insignificant volume of alcohol, plus something to make him "entertaining", all adds up to one wild rampage. Tai Lung ended up how he was either because he had twenty years in an oubliette to stew and go mad, because the turtle shell prison stopped his metabolism before he got the juice out of his system, or both.
 * Now that has to the most original, striking, and plausible Wild Mass Guessing I've ever seen. It seems a bit like a thinly-veiled excuse to justify everything Tai Lung did by saying he wasn't really in control of himself...but at the same time it does explain why he would so suddenly rage, an act that seemed so out-of-character. Especially since because, as a kung fu warrior, I imagine Tai Lung was rather against 'poisoning' his body with any sort of drug, even alcohol. (And if he wasn't, Oogway and Shifu would have been.) Though now that I think about it, shouldn't Oogway at least have been able to tell he was drugged and thus not lock him away, or at least not until the drug wore off?

Oogway denying Tai Lung the Dragon Scroll was a Secret Test of Character.
Oogway did consider Tai Lung as the Dragon Warrior but suspected he was too proud and arrogant for the job. If Tai Lung had accepted the denial and shown his integrity and loyalty, Oogway would have given the scroll to him. Tai Lung instead went on a rampage, so, in essence, Tai Lung himself screwed his chance to become the Dragon Warrior up big time.
 * Considering Oogway's character, that makes an awful lot of sense.
 * Seconded.

The next movie will involve the invention of firearms and treat it as a "guns are dishonourable" Space Whale Aesop

 * Please, God, no. If this happens I will commit arson, murder, and....
 * Promptly get run over at the next zebra crossing?
 * Hate to say it but it's almost certainly going to be the case; it may not involve the *invention* of firearms, but it would hardly be shocking if Lord Shen's superweapon turned out to be a Shouchong.
 * Makes "Kaboom of Doom" total sense.
 * Partially confirmed. The website and the trailer reveal that Lord Shen did indeed invent the cannon, but the ones seen in the trailer resemble the frame-supported Zhankouchong, not the handheld Shouchong.
 * I've seen the movie, and though Shen uses cannons he invented, no one ever says anything along the lines of guns being dishonorable (thank goodness). I suppose this is jossed, especially considering
 * I knew it.

Expanding on the guessing above, The next movie will be a homage to Jet Li's Kung Fu classic "Once Upon a Time in China."

 * Foreign colonies with no honor invade China with firearms, of course in the movie world, guns are no match for kung fu. The main villain may be an evil sleazy swarmy British animal, played by confirmed British actor Gary Oldman. Expect foreign Slave traders get their asses kick by Po, and flick a bullet with his fingers.]]
 * Jossed, Lord Shen is a handsome peacock, who was born in and ruling over the Chinese city of Gongmen.

In the sequel, the titular "Kaboom of Doom" can be caused by Lord Shen.
Plot summaries have indicated that the villain, who has been confirmed to be Lord Shen, has a weapon so powerful that it threatens the existence of Kung Fu itself. Such a weapon may be an explosive of some kind.
 * Almost certainly the case. Some of the earliest firearms were the Chinese Shouchong, or hand-cannon; they also made an appearance in Princess Mononoke as the Ishibaya. Not a hard bet to say that Lord Shen will be wielding a Shouchong.
 * The official website confirms that Shen prefers to defend himself with cannons, rather than fighting physically.

Tai Lung rejected Shifu's apology because he thought Shifu wasn't being sincere
This verges into Alternate Character Interpretation, but it was something that sort of hit me when I first watched the movie and haven't been able to get rid of it since. Essentially, throughout his entire life growing up, Tai Lung felt that Shifu wasn't proud of him/didn't love him. He claims that Shifu didn't even try to comfort him after he was denied the scroll, it's unlikely that Shifu ever visited him in prison, and when Tai Lung arrives and says "I've come home, Master" Shifu rejects him saying "This is no longer your home, and I am no longer your master". They then get into a huge fight, and it's only after Tai Lung has Shifu utterly beaten and has told Shifu that he always wanted his approval that he starts spouting out his apologies. Take that together and it's not that big of a stretch to think that Shifu is simply telling Tai Lung what he wants to hear in a desperate attempt to stop Tai Lung from killing him. So Tai Lung, thinking that Shifu is lying about his apologies, rejects his apology and demands the scroll.
 * That...actually makes sense. We, as the audience, know very well that Shifu is being honest; but imagine waiting about forty years - twenty of those spent breaking your back, twenty spent rotting in a hellhole prison - to hear that from your own father, coming back to find that he's replaced you with other students, and having him only say it when there's a very good chance it might save him. Big difference.(Not that this pardon's Tai Lung's reaction.)
 * ...why didn't I think of that?! Talk about Fridge Brilliance. Again, it doesn't justify his reaction but it totally explains it.

Po and Tigress will end up as a couple in Kung Fu Panda 2 or perhaps part 3.
Po seemed to me in the first film to be showing signs that he has a crush on Tigress, while simultaneously considering her scary as hell. The mark-out moment he had when she did the split kick is a prominent example. Hey, I'm a natural-born shipper, so sue me.
 * The sequel is being a Master of the Mixed Message about this issue. On one hand, the scenes between Po and Tigress are terribly shippy, but the discovery that Po's parents are indeed pandas seems to suggest that Interspecies Romance isn't the norm for this universe.
 * That might be because it is impossible to have kids with someone of a different species in this universe. Quite a few fanfics assume this to be true.
 * And, of course, there's the duck who's married to a pig in the cartoon series. Interspecies marriage is possible, it just doesn't (usually) produce children.
 * Interspecies breedings are possible in our world as well; just look at mules or ligers. Whether or not they are fertile or producing viable offspring, though...
 * Interspecies breedings are possible in our world as well; just look at mules or ligers. Whether or not they are fertile or producing viable offspring, though...

Kung Fu Panda 2 is a Self Fulfilling Prophecy and Po's parents were ordinary.
From what we've learned in the few tidbits Dreamworks had released, Lord Shen did something horrible after his mother figure The Soothsayer told him about a vision twenty years ago. Given that Po must confront his past in the second movie, it may have to do with what happened to Po's birth parents. My guess is The Soothsayer foresaw Po as either defeating Shen, stopping his plans in some way or was just his biggest threat. Deciding to get rid of Po before he had the chance to stand in his way, he tricked The Soothsayer into revealing where Po was and promptly murdered Po's family. Po somehow managed to escape and was later found by Mr. Ping who adopted him and loved him as his son. Therefore Shen, none the wiser, thinks he's safe never knowing Ping came and took his new son to live in the Valley of Peace where he'd grow up safe and loved. Given Po's age is somewhere in his early twenties it could fit. As for Po's parents and his secret past being revealed, I've noticed that that's caused a stir. Maybe Po's parents weren't Kung Fu Masters. Maybe they were just ordinary citizens who wanted to live their lives and raise their son in peace. But when Shen attacked Po's family, he inadvertently sealed his own fate. Po may never have become a Kung Fu Master if he'd just left him alone.

Oogway ascended and is now one of The Others, allowing him to continue his awesomeness even across genres!

 * Okay, any Stargate fans, did the whole "Oogway's Ascension" Look sorta familiar to anyone? Kinda like, oh, I don't know, what happens to the Ancients or Daniel Jackson? Yeah, he's out there, and he's keeping us safe from the Ori.

Po won't attempt the Wuxi finger hold in the sequel... at first...
Its likely Po would notice that as a Peacock, there's no fingers to use the hold on. Someone will likely point out when he reveals this that he might be being too genre savvy as the feathers may count.

In Kung Fu Panda 2, Mantis will save the rest of the heroes.
In one of the recent trailers, we have a scene of the five and Po in shackles, but the tiny mantis is nowhere to be seen. My explanation: he escaped due to his size, and one of his moments of awesome in this movie is whooping the guards around him with small but deadly strikes to save the rest of the five.
 * Confirmed, partly. The "mantis" in the cage that Po was holding was

The ending of the sequel will tease the return of Tai Lung.
From what I've heard, the ending sets up the plot for the next film. My guess is that Tai Lung will return, swearing revenge on Po, now with the metal gauntlet that appeared in Po's dream in the holiday special.
 * Jossed, though there is a Sequel Hook that involves

Shen killed Tigress's parents too.
You may be wondering why I guessed this. Well, it could be that Tigress's parents were white tigers, or there may have been white tigers in her village. The soothsayer predicted that a black and white warrior would stop Shen, and she may not have specifically said a panda. Shen, thinking ahead, may have decided to get rid of any tigers, white or regular, while he was at it.
 * While this is probably a HUGE stretch given the timeline, Shen may have orphaned Tai Lung as well. Wiping out an entire species isn't exactly something you can do on the fly, so it could have taken years to fully accomplish. Tai Lung's backstory is uncannily similar to Po's, being an orphan of unexplained origins, as well as being black and white (Well... white-ish grey). Depending on the numbers of Pandas and other creatures Shen would have to go through, it may just have given Tai Lung enough time for Tai Lung to be raised, trained and go through the events of the first film.
 * Tai Lung was probably around forty at the time of the first movie(twenty years in jail, another twenty-ish from birth to being presented to Oogway for Dragon Warrior consideration). Po's age averages around mid to late-twenties. Po's village was quite close to Gongmen, just down the river aways, and Shen probably would have gone for the closer ones first. So one way or the other, there's at least ten years difference, long before Shen decided Gotta Kill Em All.
 * If we accept this WMG, in the Kung Fu Panda universe Shen is responsible for making Giant Pandas, Snow Leopards and South China Tigers endangered. The bastard!

If there is a third in the series, the villain would use magical powers of some sort.
The first had Tai Lung who used his melee skills to overwhelm his opponents. The second had Lord Shen who used technology in the form of a cannon in an attempt to destroy Kung Fu. Since both melee and technological themes have been used, it would be fitting that the third villain use some form of supernatural force in the form of magic.

Shen had two daddies
Both of his parents were referenced as peacocks. Considering the degree to which they researched ancient Chinese culture(so much so that China complained that they themselves can't do better), why would they skimp on such an incredibly basic fact about peafowls?

So, for whatever reason, Shen's mother is out of the picture and he was "raised" by two fathers (obviously he was actually raised by the Soothsayer, but you get the idea).


 * I believe that would bring tons of Unfortunate Implications given how Shen ended up, but then again all subversions of the Animation Age Ghetto are rightfully welcome.
 * I highly doubt it. In the opening, one of Shen's parents has a peacock tail and feather crest, the other does not, which must mean that they must be a peahen instead.
 * But peahens also have feather crests, and are brown coloured.
 * Maybe they use 'Peacocks' in the same way that the word 'kings' or 'mankind' would be used?

The Sixth Movie's plot will involve every main villain from the previous films forming a Five Bad Band

 * Kind of a stretch, but Word of God says there will be six movies, which is just enough for a villainous version of the Furious Five to be formed. Seeing as Tai Lung & Shen could be seen as counterparts to Tigress & Crane and the formers' deaths could be taken as ambiguous, the subsequent movies could very well introduce other Evil Counterparts to the other members of the Five. This will eventually lead to a final showdown in the Sixth movie with the addition of that movie's Big Bad as a counter to Po, and it will be Awesome.
 * Tai Lung maybe, but as for Shen, Idunno how "Crushed by giant cannon" could possibly be ambiguous...
 * We never see Shen's body, so unless Word of God says he's dead, its entirely possible that he's still alive.
 * Of course, one could have all of the villains dead but ressurected somehow (maybe they skipped the cycle of reincarnation and went directly to the Buddhist Underworld).
 * Shifu (as an example of another Fragile Speedster), when completely exhausted and beaten, was slammed into solid stone so hard, that the stone cracked, and didn't suffer anything more serious than a headache. The main thing that stands against the possibility of Shen's return is Shen's obvious desire to die - a technical possibility of survival is not a stretch.
 * Shen was said to be sickly to begin with and is visably hurt from Po landing on him. He's clearly not meant to be as durable as the other characters. Plus, the cannon falling on him may have knocked him out and drug him down with it, drowning him.
 * He was briefly winded at most. He survived his ship being demolished with no serious damage. But again, this might be immaterial, compared to Shen's suicidal mood (he could have easily jumped off the wreck in two or tree seconds he had after spotting the falling cannon).

The bad guys for movies 3, 4 and 5.
Expanding on the above idea that the villain will turn into Villainous Counterparts (Psycho Rangers?), and given Mantis' stated desire to find a nice girl, settle down and get his head bitten off, the next villain will be a female Praying Mantis. We get a Fatal Attraction for Mantis.

After that, the villain will be a mind-controlled Great Master Viper. Shen can use his knowledge of metallurgy to make him prosthetic fangs so he can once again use the Poison Fang technique.

Finally, I don't know who Monkey's evil counterpart will be, but he must be portrayed by eitherOwen Wilson or Jet Li.

The Next film will take place outside of China
Just before the reveal of Po's real Dad the camera pans over what seems to be a vast distance, as well as a huge Mountain range that may be the Himalayas. If so this would likely place the Panda Refuge in the area of India. Given Shen's ruthless determination it seems likely that he would have found any remaining survivors in the country, which would force them to hide elsewhere. If so it would allow the creators to draw on a broader set of animals and culture in next film, as well as providing some variation on the the design.
 * Actually, the last shot looks a lot like it's in Sichuan, which is in Southwest China.
 * Fun fact, Pandas were once widespread through most of China, but are today reduced to a few mountain populations in Sichuan.

The next movies will all take turns prominently featuring members of the Furious Five.
If the rumours of six films are true, then this lines up numerically. The first film established Po. The second film put a lot of focus on Tigress. The third one will feature a different member of the Five, and so on, depending on who is most appropriate for the current movie's theme/lesson.

ALL of Lord Shen's Freudian Excuse was in his head
Expanded universe stuff reveals that Shen's parents rejected him for being sickly and an Albino, but in the movie are, showing they DID love him. Shen felt like they rejected him from his point of view, but in reality, they just didn't know how to care for a sickly child and had the Soothsayer raise him because she DID. Shen, like he ultimately did with his banishment, took this as rejection, fueling his own hatred. Whether this makes him more tragic or more evil or both is in the eyes of the beholder.

The Third Film will deal with following your heart and not what others think of you
The first movie dealt with discovering what you already had inside you, the second film dealt with overcoming your past to find peace. The third film will deal with overcoming what others think of you and following what you know in your heart. Meanwhile, a new villain will prepare to attack whose of a species that's always demonized (a Bat would probably be a great choice, I could see it working on many levels) and has allowed himself/herself to become the bad guy because that's what everyone believed them to be. Po, right before the new villain attacks, proving too powerful to defeat without him and capturing the valley. Po, hearing of this, blames at first, but then realizes he was the one who chose to do it and tells this to, who fully accepts his decision, even if he's slightly upset. Po returns to the valley and frees his friends before the final battle. Like the last two films, Po will try to share his enlightenment with the villain, who ultimately rejects it and is defeated for good.

Well clearly it might not go like that, but I think it'd be a good basis for the film.


 * Better yet, the film can make the Ship Tease payoff as Po's learns of his son's closeness to Tigress and dismisses it with an understated species-centrism that Pandas must stick with their own. Po wants to argue, but he doesn't want to lose his  love and he doesn't know what he truly feels for her while Tigress feels duty bound to think of Po's happiness regardless of the strange pain she feels at the thought of seeing him go. At the climax, on top of the above philosophical epiphany, Po realizes he loves Tigress and no one has the right to dispute the worth of that, least of all his, and they come to an "agree to disagree" resolution as he races back to the Valley of Peace. There he finds Shifu and the Furious Five hard pressed by the villain's forces with a whole battalion concentrating on Tigress to overwhelm her (who's a touch off her game subconsciously mourning the loss of her dearest friend). Suddenly, Po charges in to help her and when Tigress asks during the fray why he came back, Po responds with his philosophic realization and his love for her. For Tigress, hearing that is like Popeye's spinach to her as it all becomes clear to her and she shouts that she realizes she loves him too. At that, the invigorated Battle Couple, knowing they are exactly where they belong, together in battle, proceed to wipe the floor with the enemy like a two furry typhoon to the astonishment of the others.
 * At a critical moment in the climactic sequence, Po's biological father comes charging in with a small army with the slightly changed attitude, "Species Traitor or no, he is still my son and I cannot let him die today!" Although they are helpful in some secondary way, Po's father can't help but be astounded at the sight of Po and his love plowing through the enemy as like Gods of War. So imagine they unlock some kind of chi kung fu magic that flares into the Ying-Yang symbol as a side-effect to finally bring about victory with a joined "Skadoosh!" At that, Po's father concedes that his son is exactly where he is should be with a female who is his destined mate. At the end of the battle, Po's father and his men bow low to the pair and Po thinks the gesture is for Tigress alone, only to be dumbstruck when his father says, "No, this is for you too, Dragon Warrior." At that Po, with a little prodding from Tigress, raises his father and hugs him. At that, his father whispers "Please forgive me, I was so blind to not see the truth about you," before pulling Tigress into the hug herself with a whisper "Please, take care of my boy," which moves her to subtle tears.
 * Also, suppose the villain, after he is thoroughly defeated, actually listens and accepts Po's advice for once for the greater goal of better consideration for his people.
 * Not a bad suggestion, either of them. That's be pretty cool, wouldn't it? And this is one of the situations where the villain listening to Po would be completely justified.
 * Something else that just popped in my head is this theme could play perfectly well into Tigress' backstory, since at the orphanage she was feared for not being able to control her strength.

Po was Eddie Riggs in another life.
Aside from the obvious, both are decently competent fighters whose real strength is teaming up with their already powerful allies for absolutely devastating CombinationAttacks.

Po was the ancient ancestor of Peter the Panda.

 * Yes. Just...yes.

The recipient's Reaction upon seeing the Dragon Scroll is really a reflection upon themselves.
When Po first looks at it, he simply says, "It's Blank!" This indicates that he might see himself as a blank slate, or that he doesn't truly see himself. However, when Tai Lung sees it, his reaction is, "It's nothing!" This might show that he doesn't like himself at all.

In the next movie the Five will face a problem of Can't Catch Up.
I think this will be brought on by two things. First off all, Po has been training for a much shorter period than any of them, and yet is roughly as good as them. Secondly, Master Shifu doesn't really know how to train Po. Yes, he's learned, to a degree, what Po's strengths are, but in the end he isn't really teaching him a Panda-specific style, so much as teaching him regular Kung Fu, with some accomodations made. Now, as of the end of KFP2 we know that  Furthermore, in flashbacks it's revealed that   Is he as good a master, in general terms, as Shifu? Probably not. But, is he more capable of playing to Po's strengths? Obviously. So, with him as his master, Po could be a God Mode Sue within a month.
 * Actually, we have no idea how skilled  is in the martial arts. After all, all we see is him scoring one good hit with a rake. That could be a lucky shot for all we know.
 * Well, they showed him fighting. Whether we saw the fight elaborated on or not, the fact that they showed it indicates that they wanted the audience to take that point home. I think its safe to say he's supposed to be a martial artist. Also, I think it was a war hammer, not a rake.
 * Could be a war rake which was a weapon.

Tai Lung will return in the third movie, having survived the Wu Xi Finger Hold.

 * I've been thinking about this for a while and have come to this conclusion: Tai Lung is alive, and the Wu Xi Finger Hold is actually a mutual destruction desperation technique that Po only partially understood. Po is basically a kung fu fanboy, right? Well, when has a fanboy gotten all their facts straight? Po learned the move on his own, but it's doubtful that he understood the full nature of it. Tai Lung, however, being a kung fu prodigy, would have understood completely. Most likely, when he realized Po didn't know what would happen to him as well, he kicked away from Po (knocking him into the cart that put the pan and cloak on him) after the first flash of light, fleeing in the ensuing confusion.
 * As for when Shifu put Po in it in the first movie, that's an easy one: He was BLUFFING. He wanted Po gone, and knew that Po would probably only know OF the move, and not the full details. Best way to get rid of someone you don't want? Threaten him with a deadly move.

There are two dragon warriors.
The other dragon warrior is Tai Lung. Ok, stick with me here. This is actually a combination of two theories above (three if you count the numerous theories that Tai Lung is alive): That Oogway denying Tai Lung the scroll was a Secret Test of Character, and that Oogway would have given him the scroll if he'd shown humility. Secondly, there's the theory that Shen wiped out the Snow Leopards along with the Pandas, in his determination to destroy all possible candidates for "a warrior of black and white." Now, if we accept that Tai Lung COULD HAVE BEEN the Dragon Warrior, that leaves us with a problem regarding destiny: How could he have been the Dragon Warrior, if it was Po's destiny...unless they were BOTH destined to be the Dragon Warrior(s)...and, furthermore, they're STILL both destined to be the Dragon Warrior(s). I think this fits with the series' themes of balance. Yes, Po is balanced within himself, but he's still only one side of the equation: he's friendly, easy going, and focused on soft-style. While all of the Five, to some degree, represent his opposite, none of them are his equal, and thus none of them can fully be his counter-balance. However, Tai Lung is his EXACT counter-balance. Hard-work obsessed, and hard-style focused. Had he shown humility, he would dealt with Shen twenty years earlier, and saved alot of collateral damage. Furthermore, when Oogway announced the second Dragon Warrior, and everyone else mocked Po, the much-humbled Tai Lung would have been there to teach him. To Tai Lung Po's willingness to commit himself would have been a sign that Po was worthy of learning Kung Fu, no matter what anyone else thought, Shi Fu included. Even more significantly, where it took the others so much time to see Po's strengths, Tai Lung would have grasped them almost immediate, the first time he sparred with Po, and his pressure-point techniques proved useless. Had Tai Lung humbled himself, Shen would have been crushed twenty years sooner, Po's training would have gone much more easily, and the valley would now have two Dragon Warriors protecting it. But, there was no Yin to Po's Yang, which caused problems. Now, its up to Po to redeem Tai Lung, and restore balance.

Crane was trying to hint to Po that he could succeed by focusing on his strengths.
Ok, I'm sure we all remember the scene where Crane said that Po should "just leave," only to reveal that he was talking about the room, not the Temple. There are basically two obvious interpretations of that: 1) Crane honestly just meant the room, and used a poor choice of words, or 2) He meant the temple, but then changed it to avoid hurting Po's feelings. But, I realized there's another interpretation: Crane knew that Po could succeed, but that he couldn't learn the same way they did. If you think about Crane's backstory, he knew that what others perceive as disabilities can often be your greatest strengths, if applied correctly. He may have even recognized some of Po's strengths (ability to do anything for food, and protection from damage via fat), but he couldn't just tell Shifu "You're doing it wrong!" Instead, by "this is my room" he was trying to subtly hint "This is the way we do things, you need to find your own room/style." Given Crane's timid personality, this seems like the kind of thing he might have tried to do.
 * Wow. This actually makes a lot of sense, and considering that Po's "Weakness" was the exact opposite of what his was, it adds another layer of interest to Crane. Adding to this, Crane also seems to appreciate Po's other talents, as the 5 almost all at his secret soup, but Crane was the first to acknowledge not the food but the maker with, "You're a really good cook."

Tai Lung believed he was destined to kill Shen
Think about it: "A warrior of black and white". Hmmmmmmmm........
 * Nobody in the Valley of Peace knew about that particular prophecy. How would Tai Lung know?

One of the next movies will involve a toned down expy!Mongol invasion of China.
Because what are the odds that they'll stay solely in the boundaries of China for six whole movies after having a villain threatening all of China in only the second? On the same note, expect expy!Japanese ninjas eventually.

The Wuxi Fingerhold isn't fatal.
What it actually does is drain your Chi and then uses that energy to teleport you somewhere (where depends on the person, possibly?). It does cause a MASSIVE explosion however, obviously, in doing so, which is what Shifu meant by "the hardest part is having to clean up afterwards". This would explain why after, there's no corpse left behind or any sign that the body itself actually exploded.

A future film in the series will involve a villain resurrecting a Kung Fu-Fighting Army of the Dead, which would include all previous villains who died.
Because how FREAKING AWESOME would that be?!
 * How about a version of the famous Terra Cotta Statue army come to life?

Mei Ling is related or somehow associated with the Wu Sisters
They look rather alarmingly alike. Maybe this connection will be explored in the animated show.

The Wuxi fingerhold teleports the victim somewhere far away.

 * Maybe it teleports them to another part of the planet, or maybe to an alternate dimension. Who really knows?

Oogway actually explained why Tai Lung couldn't have the scroll, we just didn't see it on screen.
All we saw in the flashback was him shaking his head and walking away. Tai Lung would probably have said 'what do you mean, no?' then Oogway would have explained why he couldn't have it, but Tai Lung would be too pigheaded to listen and learn from that. Oogway's not an idiot after all.

Monkey will get drunk at some point
And will create a new martial arts form under the influence.
 * Hey, at least he'd actually be contributing something to the plot.

The villain of the third film will have green or black as his color.
The first two films used a lot of color symbolism for their villains, each one using a different color. The color is always used in intense scenes to help establish the serious mood. In the first film, blue was used for Tai Lung, representing his cold and relentless nature. In the second film, red was used for Shen, representing his violent and hateful nature. The villain of the third film will have a color of his own, possibly either bright green (to represent toxicity) or black (to represent darkness).

The third film will be entirely in hand-drawn animation
The second film had more hand drawn than the first.

The gorillas in the sequel are actually Gigantopithecus
Gorillas in China seem to be a serious case of Misplaced Wildlife... but in ancient (prehistoric) China there was a large gorilla-like ape called Gigantopithecus. Maybe a few of the last specimens of Gigantopithecus are serving in Shen's army. This theory is supported by their size, which is quite big compared to Real Life gorillas.
 * Alternatively, gorillas are representing people of African descent, but living in China.

The orphans never accepted Tigress.
Ok, there's a good chance that Po was being an Unreliable Narrator in Secrets of the Furious Five, simplifying much more complicated events into quick Ephiphany Therapy, for the sake of teaching his students An Aesop. Of all the stories, Crane's seems the most likely to have happened more or less exactly as he said it did, and Tigress' seems the most likely to have been alterred. In her story, Shifu seemed much more eager to take her in than in the flashback we saw in the original movie. The more likely series of events: Shifu did teach her to control her strength, but there was still no one willing to trust her (seem odd to anyone else that all the orphans just suddenly started liking her, but somehow they still couldn't find anyone willing to adopt her), so Shifu took her in as a matter of duty, not of real compassion.
 * Well, the kids all lived around Tigress and could see for a fact that there was no reason/no longer a reason to be afraid of her. The adults probably never heard about Tigress's change since it didn't sound like another "adoption day" occured between the time Shifu started training her and the time he adopted her. Personally, even if what was shown was not completely accurate, I think Shifu actually cared about her. It wasn't like her living at the orphanage would kill her. Depressing, yes. Fatal, no. It would have been beyond cruel for Shifu to adopt Tigress and not really care. What she went through was less than pleasant, and I wish it would be addressed directly at some point by the films or the show, but I doubt Shifu would have voluntarily adopted a possible repeat of Tai Lung if he didn't care about her in the first place. Adopting her meant altering his life for at least ten years, probably permanently. He had no duty to do that. He had already done his job. He was not responsible for Tigress. He could have walked away. He didn't.

If Po and Tigress ever become a couple, they will adopt their children.
They were both adopted themselves, so it makes sense that they would want to continue the pattern. Also, the Kung Fu Panda universe isn't the same sort of fantasy land established in the Shrek series (where anything goes), so it's unlikely that Dream Works will give us Mix and Match Critters like they did with Donkey and Dragon. Again, if Po and Tigress become a couple...
 * Given Tigress's voice actress's attitude towards adoption, this would be Art Imitates Life.

Tigress would be a Tiger Mom!

 * Like above, its not hard to imagine Tigress raising hardcore kids.

The reason Master Oogway could defeat Tai Lung so easily is that in the Kung Fu Panda world, Size/Strength/Muscles are meaningless compared to TRUE Mastery.
Oogway may have been an Ancient Mutan...uh, Kungfu Turtle but to casually defeat with a mere touch, a much larger, possibly even stronger and faster, younger, furious, in the midst of a Roaring Rampaging, combatant that was the prime candidate for Champion of your own school of martial arts takes Weak but Skilled Up to Eleven!

Tai Lung could have escaped at any time during 20 years in prison. If he wanted to.
The reason he willingly stayed in jail was probably the same reason Master Shifu (at Kung Fu Panda 2) said about Sages spending an ungodly amount of time staying perfectly still and meditating to attain "Inner Peace".

Saddly, it didn't seem Tai Lung spent much time getting "Inner Peace".

My guess is that, being the Martial Arts Genius he was, he spent that time reverse engineering Master Oogway's attack, inventing ways to counter it and gathering his chi, and waiting for the only one who could stop him to die of old age.

After all, if he wanted to escape earlier, he never needed a duck feather. He had a face full of whisker after all.

He might have decided to just break out right then and there out of sheer coincidence since he was going go do it then anyway, or he knew what news of a new Dragon Warrior meant. Oogway was finally retiring to a higher plane. A new (likely inexperienced) Dragon Warrior is getting the scroll.

The time was ripe for him to snatch it!

Atrophy does not happen, or can be countered with Kung Fu Mastery in this world
IRL, immobilization for even a few weeks would make muscle mass and functional strength shrink to near useless levels. In the Kung Fu Panda world, 20 years locked in a turtle shaped box while shackled still does nothing more than give you a few krinks you can stretch out in a few moments.

Hell, if anything, being locked in a turtle shaped box for 20 years seems to be GOOD for you. (And bad for Rhino guards...)
 * Let's look at the facts here: Shen spent thirty years in exile, Tigress twenty years punching trees, Tai Lung the same time in a box (as was already mentioned), yet they all seem relatively young - though this could also be explained by the art style. Masters Shifu and Oogway are still perfectly capable despite their advanced age, and almost every kung fu master from all the legends and stories told in the story were still alive by the beginning of the story. Finally, Oogway is at least a thousand years old. All in all, it is practically confirmed.

Tai Lung BELIEVED in the supposed Power of the Dragon Scrolls to the very End.

 * Po's speech about the secret ingredient is YOU, probably made a lot less sense to him than: "That stupid Panda got to the Dragon Scroll and took all the Power! That's why this scroll is blank! Well his lies won't fool me! I shall beat it out of him!"
 * Of course, attacking the one that HAD the Power of Dragon Scroll is an act of stupidity I can only assume came from suicidal over confidence (in his defense, he did get the scroll from Po so it wasn't a totally one sided fight) or the effect of so much blunt trauma to his skull, including having a big fat Panda sit on said skull, and him in general, several times.

Po's dad (the goose) is a Zen Survivor of some sort. Rivalling Ugway in wisdom if not brash courage.
He may seem like a humble noodle shop vendor content with his lot in life but it was his advice that was key to understanding the Dragon Scrolls.

Master Shifu, Shen Long, the Furious Five, none of them got it at first glance.

But the GOOSE, had the answer brfore the question was asked.

Lord Shen was not actually responsible for the massacre of the Panda village.
If you watch closely we never actually see him or his soldiers actually killing anyone in the flashbacks. Likewise, he never actually says he did it in his dialogue. He just happened to arrive at the village with his troops just in time to get blamed for it; this is the real reason he's so resentful towards his parents--they actually believed he was capable of something like that and exiled him for a crime he didn't commit without even bothering to listen to his side of the story. Lord Shen does know who is actually responsible, and his whole obsession with building an army and creating cannons was really about protecting the kingdom from this threat, even if they all hated him.

Which means that all Po and the Furious Five actually succeeded in doing in the second movie is eliminating the one thing protecting their kingdom from a massive threat.

Tai Lung was a metaphor for Moses, while Shen was a metaphor for Jesus
Admitely Shen = Jesus is more obvious than Tai Lung = Moses, but let me explain.

Tai Lung, like Moses, was the surviver of a massacre of his people (assumed to be destroyed by Lord Shen alongside the pandas, making Lord Shen also a metaphor for the Old Testament Yahweh, who is thought as having been God the Son before being incarnated as Jesus by some theologists), and was raised by Shifu, who is a stand-in for the pharaoh (Oogway = Ra/Horus).

Much like Moses was raised as being the heir of the throne, Tai Lung was raised to be the Dragon Warrior. This makes the parallel even more obvious when one considers that the pharaoh was the link between Ra/Horus and the people of Egypt, just like Tai Lung would be the emissary for peace as appointed by Oogway. However, external conflicts both made Moses and Tai Lung deviate from their paths for the exact opposite (the freedom of the jews, the "darkness in the heart", which was probably Oogway's B Sing anyways), making them pariahs and tormented by their enemies.

You might think that Tai Lung's final fate is the opposite of Moses', but actually it isn't. Much as we now know the hebrews weren't actually opressed in Ancient Egypt, and might actually have had slaves themselves, Tai Lung's point of view was disproven. This means Po and the Furious Five are actually symbolic of scientific progress, therefore proving how meaningless Tai Lung's rebellion was, leaving him no choice but death, just like Moses is essnecially a meaningless, obsolete figure.

Lord Shen is Jesus for very obvious reasons. Like Jesus in Revelation, Lord Shen is white and red in colour, a figure of divine wrath further solidified by his name, which means "divinity" in chinese. Lord Shen was born to normal parents, who were artificers (just like Jesus' parents were carpenters), but he twisted their profession (Jesus made carpentery a noble pursuit, Shen made fireworks lethal). Eventually, both gather violent cultists, and with them they commit genocide in name of a divine ideal (the death of white and black races for Shen, the violent early christian uprisings for Jesus). This leads to persecution from the local authorithy (the peacocks for Shen, the romans for Christianity, and therefore the Holy Spirit), but return stronger than ever (Shen kills the gay rhino, Christianity destroys paganism and Jesus will return in Revelation) and plan global domination and assimilation.

Once again, Po and the Furious Five return, intending to stop Shen's/Jesus' madness. Shen is revealed as having made Po an orphan, just like newer historical finds show a darker side to Jesus and the early christians. Shen/Jesus then launches a final attempt at taking over the world, but Po/Sophia, renewed with sacred knowledge, promptly destroys the canon/religious fundamentalism, and Shen dies (ironically killing himself with his own weapon, just like Jesus died thanks to jewish faith and just like Christianity undermines itself with it's hypocrisy).

For further bonus, Po and the Furious Five are associted with gold, and thus the light of the Sun, while Tai Lung is associated with blue fire that he carries on his hands (symbolising the parting waters and the primordial, chaotic darkness), and Shen is associated with fire and metal (symbolising both the planet Venus [Jesus is associated with the Morning Star in the New Testament]).

The effects of the Wuxi Fingerhold depend on the victim.
Remember how Shifu mentioned that the worst part of the Wuxi Fingerhold was cleaning up afterwards? Yet when the move is used on Tai Lung, there is just a wave of light. Why? Because the Wuxi Fingerhold is the ultimate form of self-suggestion. The fear of the move is so powerful that one ends up destroying oneself the exact way one pictured it. If used on Po, for example, it would leave quite a mess because that's how Po pictured how the Wuxi Fingerhold worked. Tai Lung on the other hand probably only knew that the hold was very powerful and not to be used by any means. Tai Lung built up an image of a mystical move beyond mortal comprehension, hence the waves of chi.