Plot
Long ago, in Ancient China, the peacock rulers of Gongmen City invented fireworks. However, their son, Lord Shen, discovered that the fireworks' gunpowder could be weaponised. Troubled by Shen's obsession, his parents consulted a Soothsayer, who foretold them that if he continued down this path, "a warrior of black and white" would defeat him. Overhearing the prophecy, Shen immediately deduced that the warrior would be a panda and, in an attempt to avoid his fate, led his wolf army to exterminate an entire panda village. Horrified by the massacre, Shen's parents permanently banished him from the city.
In the present day, Po enjoys life as the Dragon Warrior alongside the Furious Five, although Master Shifu warns him that he has not yet achieved inner peace. Meanwhile, Shen's army raids villages for metal to build cannons that Shen will use to conquer China. Po and the Five intercept them, but an emblem on the head wolf's armor gives Po a memory flash of when he last saw his mother. Po consults his father, Mr. Ping, who reveals that he found Po as a cub in a crate of radishes outside his restaurant and adopted him when no one came to claim him. Po and the Five are dispatched to Gongmen City after learning that Shen has killed one of the regents, Master Thundering Rhino, with one of his cannon. Shen imprisons the other regents, Masters Storming Ox and Croc, and takes over the city, but the Soothsayer constantly reminds him of the prophecy.
In Gongmen City, Po and the Five find Ox and Croc, but they refuse to help, fearing Shen will use his cannons on the populace if they do. Po and the Five feign surrender to Shen, who brings them into Gongmen Palace to execute them with his prototype cannon. They free themselves and destroy it, but Po sees the same emblem on Shen's plumage, distracting him long enough for the latter to escape and destroy the palace with his now-completed arsenal of cannons. After escaping, Tigress confronts Po, who reveals that he remembers seeing Shen when he last saw his biological parents. Tigress sympathises but she and the others abandon him for his own safety and head to Shen's cannon factory to destroy it.
Po follows the Five to the factory and confronts Shen, which ruins the Five's demolition plan and gets them captured. Shen claims that Po's parents never loved him before shooting him with a cannon from a close range. Severely wounded but still alive, Po floats downriver and is healed by the Soothsayer at the abandoned village where Po once lived as a cub. She encourages Po to embrace his painful memories instead of fighting them. Po recalls his father fighting off Shen's army, while his mother hid him in a radish crate and sacrificed her life by distracting their pursuers away. Having reconciled with his past, Po finally achieves inner peace.
Po returns to Gongmen City, where Shen is sailing downriver with a fleet of warships. Po frees the Five and, with the help of Ox, Croc and Shifu, take out the foremost ships and stop the army from reaching the harbor. Shen fires from his own flagship to clear the way, scattering the Masters and leaving Po to stand alone against the fleet. Using his inner peace, Po redirects the cannonballs shot at him back at the remaining ships and destroys them, including Shen's flagship. Onboard its wreckage, Po encourages Shen to let go of his pain and hatred, but Shen refuses and attacks Po. In the process, Shen accidentally severs the ropes raising the ship's destroyed cannon, which then crushes him. Shifu and the Five congratulate Po for his victory and return to the Valley of Peace where Po acknowledges Mr. Ping as his father. Meanwhile, in a secret, distant panda village, Po's biological father, Li Shan, senses that his son is still alive.
