Then: Buddha wished to teach Sun Wukong, the original Monkey
King, a lesson in modesty so he challenged him to leap out of Buddha’s hand.
The Monkey King leaps and returns but learns he never left Buddha’s hand….
Fifteen years ago: a cocky gangster calling himself the
Monkey King challenges the crime boss called Lion during a poker game and beats
him. As a gift, Lion takes Monkey King to a cave atop a mountain in China,
telling him it is the final resting place of the real Monkey King whose treasure
awaits. Monkey King enters to find the Monkey King’s rod of power and discovers
he has been trapped in the mountain by Lion. Alone, he sees the real Monkey King
who tells him that if he has evil in his heart he will be cast down to the
Eighth City but if his heart is good, he will go free with the rod…and so he
finds himself in the Eighth City. A hammer crashes down from the sky and
Titania and the Absorbing Man come to claim it; Monkey King escapes at that
time as well and comes back to claim his criminal kingdom with his new powers….
Now: Using his new shapeshifting powers, Monkey King breaks
into Lion’s headquarters in the form of a chameleon then easily defeats a band
of female warriors (one wielding a chainsaw) to find Lion. He tells Lion he has
come to clean up his city and turns into a hawk to take Lion back to the
mountain cave in China. On the way he tells him that he has been punished for
his sins in the Eighth City but when Lion threw him into the hole his soul
merged with that of the Monkey King, gaining his powers, his memories, and his
magic rod. He then throws Lion into the hole and goes forth to bring honor to
his country and peace to his city as the Handsome Monkey King!