threatened, Shifu places himself at Tai Lung’s mercy when Tai Lung demands to be named the Dragon Warrior and rewarded the scroll. Shifu rebuffs him: “Dragon Warrior has taken scroll halfway across China by now. You will never see that scroll, Tai Lung. Never” (Stevenson, Osborne : ). Shifu finally acknowledges Po as the true Dragon Warrior. This moment is when the third generation of masters, Po, is finally recognized. After Po almost witnesses a “death of the mentor” moment, Po becomes the third wave of mentors and enters the “Master of two worlds” phase of Campbell’s monomyth. It is this three-generation set of masters that “flips the script” on the mentor narrative of the monomyth. Not only does Kung Fu Panda include Shifu’s “heroic” or mentorship development, but it also includes Po’s development from disciple to mentor as shown through the “Master of Two Worlds” threshold.

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When Po becomes the third generation of mentors, he enters the “Master of Two Worlds” stage. At this stage, not only is he figuratively able to navigate both the heroic realm and the quotidian, peasant, noodle-making one, but he is also literally a master of Kung Fu once named the Dragon Warrior. After defeating Tai Lung with the special Wuxi Finger Hold, Po returns to the Valley of Peace square. While the villagers applaud Po, his adoptive goose father emerges: “‘That’s my boy. That big, lovely kung fu warrior is my son!’” (Stevenson and Osborne, : ). Po has figuratively become the master of both his humble upbringing as well as his new-found prominence in Kung Fu. His adoptive father, proclaiming him as the Kung Fu Warrior, is his reconciliation with both worlds. Po’s father’s approval is a figurative gate into Po’s mastery of the ordinary world because in the beginning, like everyone else, he doubted Po’s ability to be a great Kung Fu warrior. Po’s father’s praise of Po and his mastery of Kung Fu symbolizes a harmonization of Po’s roles within both realms. Right after he is awarded his father’s admiration, Po is honored by his past idols, the Furious Five. Once his fiercest doubter, Tigress leads the other Five in granting Po respect: “‘Master.’ Tigress bows deeply. The others follow. ‘Master?’” (Stevenson and Osborne, : ). Po is now literally a master of both worlds. Po has gained respect within his Kung Fu world, but is also technically, as Dragon Warrior, the best kung fu warrior. This thus makes him a literal master of kung fu, and he is then supposed to train the Furious Five, which is why they proclaim him their “master”. By becoming a literal “Master of Two Worlds”, Po alters the original monomyth. In the general heroic monomyth, the Hero conquers both the hero world as well as the ordinary, domestic one. The regular hero, at the next stage “Freedom to Live”, is able to do as he pleases. Po has to learn that as Dragon Warrior, he must be a master of Kung Fu and he must teach others in the future.