Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Kung Fu Panda 4!

Summary

• Tai Lung returns in Kung Fu Panda 4 after leaving the Spirit Realm, thanks to The Chameleon's opening to another realm.
• The revelation connects to Kung Fu Panda 3 and what happens when Po uses the Wuxi fingerhold as he did on Tai Lung.
• Tai Lung and the other returning villains all return to the Spirit Realm after respecting Po as the Dragon Warrior.

Tai Lung is back in new Dragon Warrior. Kung Fu Panda 4's villain is a new threat known as The Chameleon, whose plan involves bringing familiar villains back to the franchise.

This threat was confirmed through the first Kung Fu Panda 4 trailer, as it shows the return of Tai Lung. The powerful kung fu master was the antagonist in the original 2008 animated movie and proved to be a worthy opponent for Po. However, the franchise seemingly got rid of him forever during the film's climax, as his fight with Po appeared to end with his death. That means that Tai Lung's presence in Kung Fu Panda 4 naturally raises questions about how he is back in the movie, if he is alive, and what his role is.

Tai Lung Returns From The Spirit Realm In Kung Fu Panda 4

Kung Fu Panda 4 confirms that Tai Lung returns through the Spirit Realm and The Chameleon's plan. At first, The Chameleon simply impersonates Tai Lung to make villagers afraid and draw out Po. Once she steals the Staff of Wisdom from him, she gains the power to open a doorway to the Spirit Realm. Possessing the power of the Staff of Wisdom allows her to call forth any person from inside the Spirit Realm, as Kung Fu Panda 3 confirmed its connection to the realm, and Tai Lung is the first master villain she brings back.

Tai Lung's return in Kung Fu Panda 4 coming as he leaves the Spirit Realm has some major ramifications. Although the original Kung Fu Panda did not make the villain's fate clear, the franchise set up his place in the Spirit Realm in the sequels. Kung Fu Panda 3 confirmed that the Wuxi fingerhold sends people to the Spirit Realm. This revelation directly applies to Tai Lung's fate since this is the exact move Po used to defeat him. As a result, Tai Lung is not back from the dead per se in Kung Fu Panda 4. He is rather pulled from the Spirit Realm temporarily.

The Chameleon also brings General Kai and Lord Shen back using the same methods in Kung Fu Panda 4

Why Tai Lung & The Other Villains Return To The Spirit Realm

Tai Lung's return to the land of the living is not permanent, as Kung Fu Panda 4's ending shows him and the other villains returning to the Spirit Realm. They do so as Tai Lung holds The Chameleon in his grasp and takes her with them. The villains return to the Spirit Realm because they all come to respect Po as the Dragon Warrior. Po frees them all from The Chameleon's grasp using the Staff of Wisdom, with Tai Lung directly stating that Master Oogway chose right by making Po the Dragon Warrior after all.

While the villains potentially could have teamed up to try and defeat Po and reclaim their lives outside of the Spirit Realm, Kung Fu Panda 4 takes a different approach to their stories. The movie smartly moves the villains back out of the main realm while also setting up the possibility that they are not that villainous anymore. There is even a tease that Tai Lung could return again, but his interactions with Po suggest that they would not be enemies in such a scenario now.