Po/Relationships

*This page contains some of Po's relationship information that was too large for the main article. It was moved to this page to help decrease the main article's byte size.*

* The Furious Five
* Villains

As a big fan of the Furious Five, Po's admiration for them is great, so much that his bedroom is covered in posters and he owns an action figure set he had carved himself. He was willing to make several comedic and potentially dangerous attempts to get into the palace arena, just to see the Furious Five perform in the Dragon Warrior Tournament. Po was disheartened when the Five were disdainful of him after being chosen as the Dragon Warrior, though he was eventually able to win them over with his cooking skills and his tenacity.

In the second film, Po has joined forces with the Furious Five and now stands as good friends with them. However, he has a tendency to embarrass them from time to time; for example, when he indiscreetly sneaked into Gongmen City donning a Dragon Costume, and when he later destroyed a model of Shen's cannon, mistaking it for the real one, with the Five staring at him in shock and embarrassment. However, the Five deeply care for Po, evidenced by their despair when Po was seemingly killed, and their ecstasy when he returned alive.

In Kung Fu Panda 3, the Furious Five continue to respect Po and were confident, albeit skeptical when Shifu appointed him their new teacher. Although, Po failed miserably and his attempts at teaching resulted in them sustaining injuries. They were also very excited at the discovery of Po’s Father being alive and happily greeted him. Upon learning of their defeat and transformation into Zombies by Kai, Po was devastated and determined to save them, to the point where he was utterly angered and disgusted at his father for taking him to the Panda village and not allowing him to fight Kai and coldly turned his back on him, saying that Li had lost him for not allowing him to help the Furious Five.

At the end of the film, they all share a hug with Po, after he resurrected their chi. Po accepts his new duties as teacher and the Five continue to stand by his side.

Tigress

After being chosen as the Dragon Warrior, presumably before it seemed Tigress was about to be chosen, Po was treated with contempt by her, as shown during his first night in the Palace's barracks, and he was upset when Tigress blatantly told him he was a disgrace to kung fu and should leave. Although Tigress continued to display resentment towards Po for the majority of the film, he never held a grudge against her. It wasn't until the film's end that Tigress finally accepted Po as the Dragon Warrior, and Po seemed appreciative of it.

In the events depicted in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Po and Tigress are shown as friends as allies. Po makes frequent attempts to bond with her throughout the series, though he often gets in his own way, even getting jealous when others get along with her better. Though Po's many flaws and antics frequently annoy Tigress, she realizes that he is a resourceful warrior who truly deserves to be the Dragon Warrior.

Throughout the franchise, it is shown that Po and Tigress have hidden romantic feelings for each other. Hints for this relationship are shown in all three movies, short films and some of the episodes and comic books.

In the sequel, Po and Tigress seemed to have developed a closer friendship with each other since the events of the first film. This was first seen when Po stuffed forty bean buns in his mouth and Tigress encouraged him, joining in on the fun with he rest of the Five. Furthermore, like the rest of the Five, Tigress has learned to work in unison with Po in combat, as shown when they fought off the wolf bandits in the Musician Village.

When Po became afflicted with an identity crisis when he learned the truth about his adoption, Tigress alone persuaded him to talk about his emotional problems, but during their conversation Po unknowingly made Tigress feel uncomfortable when he claimed that she couldn't feel anything.

Despite their close friendship, Po was extremely reluctant to tell Tigress about his discovery of Shen's involvement in his past when she interrogated him in Gongmen Jail. When Tigress ordered Po to stay behind in the prison after he had allowed Shen to escape, he insisted on leaving, leading to a minor one-sided duel between them. Po eventually revealed his wish to learn the truth about his parents, and stated that the "hardcore" wouldn't understand. He received a shock when she hugged him instead of lunging at him. She told Po she did understand, but wouldn't allow her friend to be killed, showing him that she wasn't as unfeeling as Po thought she was.

Near the end of the movie, during the battle in the canal, Tigress shoved Po out of the line of fire a second before Shen fired his cannon and sent the kung fu warriors flying into the harbor. After the explosion, Po swam for Tigress after spotting her lying motionless on a piece of driftwood, and gently took her paw. Seeing how badly injured she was, Po locked eyes with the Unknown Enemy, giving him a long burning glare. The Unknown Enemy says as a bad consolation that he will kill Tigress after he has killed Po. Po then pushed Tigress out of firing range before swimming away to face Shen¨ and the Unknown Enemy's armada for the last time.

After Shen and the Unknown Enemy  was defeated, Po hugged Tigress after she had complimented his heroic actions as "pretty hardcore". Tigress was bewildered and didn't hug back, but stood alongside Po and the others and happily watched the fireworks above Gongmen City in wake of Po's victory.

In the third film, it is shown that Po and Tigress’ relationship remains strong. Although Tigress continues to be annoyed by Po’s ridiculous statements, such as when he said that she should be teacher instead since she was very instructive. She was still more than willing to accept Po as her new teacher and was confident that he will do well. Po’s teachings resulted in Tigress being shot with an arrow and her ear lit on a tiny flame. Tigress was also very glad to see Po’s father alive and happily greeted him.

After Daniel, Elida, Shifu, Olivia and the rest of Five were captured by Kai, she retreated to the Panda Village, to inform Po that he had to master chi quickly to await a battle with Kai and the Unknown Enemy. When Po began a fierce Kung Fu training to defeat Kai, Tigress stops him and tells him to think straight. Though she wasn't entirely against Po's idea of using the Wuxi Finger Hold on Kai, she cautioned him against using it when watched by his Zombies and insisted he still master Chi. Po angrily admits that he is no master of chi and is uncertain of who he is and Tigress watches sympathetically.

When Po gets the idea to train the Pandas of the village, Tigress remains baffled over what Po decided to do. Later in the film, Tigress masters chi, along with the other pandas to infuse Po in the Spirit Realm with chi, for him to defeat Kai. Po succeeds and returns to the Mortal Realm. Po, Tigress and everyone else share a big hug. Tigress respects Po as her new teacher and continues to stand by his side.

Monkey

Like others of the Furious Five, Monkey expressed doubts about Po being the true Dragon Warrior, but also took it humorously. Though Monkey joked and laughed at the panda, he also laughed the loudest at Po's own jokes, such as his impersonation of Shifu. Po's perseverance in training moved Monkey to respect Po's determination, and he eventually accepted him as the Dragon Warrior and a fellow kung fu master with the rest of the Five.

It is seen in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness that Po and Monkey often laugh and joke with each other, sometimes at the expense of the rest of the Five. They both also have a bit of a competitive streak with each other, shown in "Scorpion's Sting" when they tried to gain points over each other in their feats. However, their friendship was strong enough to break Scorpion's control over Monkey, and allowed them to work together to overcome defeat her.

In the series, Po has referred to Monkey as his best friend, even protecting him when a mob of villagers suspected he was behind a number of robberies in the Valley (which Monkey's brother committed), and he stopped Monkey from fleeing the Valley because of it, eventually helping to clear his name, with Monkey thanking him and calling him "bro".

Mantis

Like the rest of the Five, Mantis didn't believe Po was the real Dragon Warrior at first, and expressed mild, humorous disrespect towards him. He once joked that whenever Po walked, the very ground shook (unaware that at the time, Po was listening in). However, as Mantis gradually warmed up to him along with the others, he rather unsuccessfully tried to treat Po using acupuncture after a painful first day of training, claiming it would help him feel better, and noted that he himself had no right to discount someone based on their size. He was also the first to note Po's excellence in cooking.

While Monkey is stated to be Po's best friend, in many ways Mantis is also shown to get along well with Po, hanging out with Po more often than most of the Furious Five and acting as an older brother figure to Po to ensure he doesn't put himself in danger. Po in turn looks up to Mantis and enjoys his company, often hanging out with him and trying to help him. There have been a number of episodes that focused on or showed their close relationship, including "Sticky Situation", "Hometown Hero", "Kung fu Shoes", "Maltese Mantis", "Huge", and "Mouth Off".

In the Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness episode "Hometown Hero", Po was shocked when he discovered that Mantis had told everyone in his hometown that he was the Dragon Warrior to get back at his ex-fiancee, Hao Ming. Despite this, he displayed his great loyalty by allowing Mantis to continue to facade and rub Hao's nose in it, while Po would disguise himself as his sidekick. However, this led to a brief rift in their friendship when Mantis began to frequently let Po down, choosing to spend time with Hao rather than help Po in a duel with Hao's ex-boyfriend, Dosu. The friendship was mended when Mantis eventually realized that Hao only wanted to marry him for his title, and rescued Po when he received another pummeling from Dosu.

In "Sticky Situation", Mantis was depressed about his girlfriend dumping him because she turned from a caterpillar into a butterfly and Po tried to comfort him throughout the episode (as a subplot of the episode).

In "Kung Fu Shoes", he asked Mantis to watch him and make sure if he came close to achieving the status of Celestial Phoenix by performing the three needles test and when Mantis accidentally told him about an illegal market that sold black market which Po went to in order to get kung fu shoes that would allow him to become the celestial phoenix and get out of training, Mantis frequently advised him it was a bad idea.

In "Maltese Mantis", Po insisted that Mantis go to the fest since he wanted to share with Mantis the experience, where enthusiasts came to trade action figures, play games, and reenact famous battle scenes despite Mantis being reluctant due to the fact he heard it was filled with geeks.

In "Huge", when Mantis showed insecurity about his small size after losing to Lidong who is bigger than most, Po tried to comfort him to no success. After Mantis took a Gung-Tao potion to become bigger, Po supported him and said how awesome he was but when things got out of hand after Mantis took more of the potion to deal with Fung and Lidong, Po was the one to go get the antidote to fix Mantis.

In "Mouth Off" he supported Po in his desire to stop his talking habit to improve his kung fu skills.

Viper

Of the Five, Viper was the only one who showed a more kind and compassionate disbelief that Po was the Dragon Warrior as she feared that Po would just wind up getting hurt or worse. Shown in their brief spar (where she apologized after beating him to the ground), Viper was more friendly towards the panda, and was the first to notice his determination to not quit his training. Like the rest of the Five (sans Tigress), she warmed up to Po more after she was treated to his good cooking and sense of humor.

Crane

Like the rest of the Five, Crane showed disbelief that Po was the true Dragon Warrior, sarcastically and dramatically proclaiming, "He is so mighty - the Dragon Warrior fell out of the sky in a ball of fire!" Additionally, he had no problem mocking Po behind his back, but was more awkward when speaking to him directly, as shown in their first conversation together.

Throughout the first film, Crane mellowed out towards Po, who had eventually won most of the others over with his cooking and sense of humor. When Shifu, Daniel, Elida and Olivia ordered them all to evacuate the Valley, Crane led Po out of the palace, understanding his loyalty to their masters. Shown in the second film, Crane has come to work with Po very well, usually helping Po land safely from high altitudes or helping him with aerial maneuvers and techniques.