Monkey King

The third and last character (as far as I can say) that we can spot in the American Born Chinese trailer is the Monkey King himself, seen on his throne. Portrayed by Daniel Wu, the Monkey King will be referred to by his Chinese name Sun Wukong in the series, and apparently he will be the leader of a faction in a civil war among the deities of the Chinese pantheon. This radically differs from his role in the original comic, where he’s the protagonist of one of the three main storylines, but appears also in the other two. Let’s see together.

According to the legend, the Monkey King was born thousands of years ago from a rock, and when he first opened his eyes he cast in the sky a bright beam of light that all the gods in Heaven could see. During his first days of life, he settled on Flower-Fruit Island, where he battled and defeated the Tiger Spirit that ruled it like a tyrant. As he became the new ruler of the island, all monkeys from all around the world came to him and acclaimed him as their king, a just king they loved and respected. In the following years, the Monkey King studied kung-fu, and mastered the Four Major Heavenly Disciplines: Fist-Like-Lightning, Thunderous Foot, Heavenly Senses, Cloud-as-Steed, all prerequisites to immortality. He was now a deity in his own right, and when Heaven threw a party for all gods, spirits and immortals, the Monkey King wished to attend. The Heavenly Sentinel, however, not only didn’t allow him to enter the palace, but humiliated him, saying that, even if he was a king or even a god, he was still a monkey: furious, the Monkey King proceeded to beat the sentinel and all the gods and goddesses in attendance to the party, then he came back to Flower-Fruit Island. From that moment, the king was ashamed of being a monkey: he ordered that all his subjects wore shoes, and studied kung-fu harder than ever, meditating and fasting until he mastered the Four Major Disciplines of Invulnerability: Invulnerability to Fire, Invulnerability to Cold, Invulnerability to Drowning, Invulnerability to Wounds. Forty days later, he mastered also the Four Major Disciplines of Bodily Forms: Giant Form, Miniature Form, Hair-into-Clones, and finally Shape Shift, that he used to assume a more humanoid form. Now calling himself the Great Sage Equal of Heaven, he realized the other gods had sentenced him to death for the chaos at the party, and left the island to greet his fellow gods and convince them to accept him as one of his own.

One by one, the once-Monkey King visited all the gods and immortals, and when they laughed at him he beat them into submission with the twelve major disciplines of kung-fu, forcing them to accept his new name and status. Finally, a new god appeared before him, one who claimed he had created him… and who still called him a monkey. The Great Sage challenged this new god, who called himself Tze-Yo-Tzuh: as the latter said he could have never escaped his reach, the Sage conjured a cloud and rushed to the edges of the universe, escaping the boundaries of reality, until he reached the Five Pillars of Gold, foundations of all creation. To prove his superiority, the Great Sage carved his name on one of the pillars, and even peed on it: then, he returned to Tze-Yo-Tzuh to gloat, but the god showed his hand to him, revealing on one of his fingers the markings (and the pee) he had left on the Gold Pillars. Humbled, the Great Sage accepted to walk with Tze-Yo-Tzuh, who tried to convince him that all his designs were good, and that if he had thought him as a monkey, it was the best for him to just accept it. Relentless, the Great Sage renewed his defiance, and threatened the creator… only to find himself buried under a mountain, one with a seal that prevented him from using his kung-fu. He would have been free when he finally accepted his true nature: five hundred years later, he was still there. After all this time, he was visited by Wong Lai-Tsao, a monk sent there by Tze-Yo-Yzuh on a mission: when it became clear that the monk expected the monkey god to become his disciple, the Great Sage’s reaction was quite hostile, as expected. With kindness, Wong Lai-Tsao tried to convince the Great Sage to give up his humanoid form, as in his true form he would have easily escaped his prison, but the monkey wouldn’t surrender, not even when two demons approached the monk to kill and eat him. When it became clear the monk would have given up his life for his mission, however, the Monkey King finally reverted to his true form, releasing himself from the prison that had been holding him for centuries: he beat the demons and saved the monk, and accepted the wise and kind Wong Lai-Tsao as his master. His journey had finally, truly begun.

The Monkey King is a deity in his own right, wise and just to his people… but when the other gods spur and ridicule him, his thirst for recognition leads him to become something he’s not, and to be constantly angry, aggressive, violent and proud. A king and a god, the Monkey King is immortal and invulnerable, impervious to all damage (even decapitation), he can shape-shift, he can ride clouds as super-fast flying steeds, he can change his size into gigantic or minuscule, he can create clones of himself from his hair, he’s incredibly strong, fast and agile, his senses are keen enough to give him total awareness; he’s a master of kung-fu, an invincible martial artist whose weapon of choice is the Magic Cudgel that can grow and shrink awarded to him by the Dragon King upon his defeat. An invincible warrior on a path to learn humility and self-acceptance, the Monkey King just learnt to be still a student despite everything he knows, and is eager to become the best version of himself he can be, even by becoming the disciple of an unremarkable mortal.