Ivan the Gorilla

Ivan the Gorilla is the titular protagonist of the 2020 Disney+ film The One and Only Ivan, based on the . He is the main attraction of a small circus located in the Big Top Mall with all his friends, so Ivan pretends to behave like an angry gorilla to the crowd but over time he realizes that he would only like to be free.
==Background==
Ivan, then a young gorilla commonly known as Mud because he liked to play in the mud, lived in the wild with his father, his sister Tag (so named because she loved to play tag) and the other gorillas until the day when poachers attacked. His father was able to save him by placing him in a tree, but the adult gorilla was not so lucky.
After this tragic event, Mud was picked up and renamed Ivan by a human couple named Mack and Helen. As he grew older, Ivan was doing some big silly things without really realizing it, eventually pushing Helen to leave. When Mack set up a circus at the Big Top Mall, Ivan became the main attraction, his role was simply to pretend to be an angry gorilla for the next twenty years. During this period he became friends with other animals, especially with Stella, an old African elephant and Bob, a stray dog not belonging to the circus. The gorilla is also the friend of Julia, the daughter of George the feeder and one day Julia gave Ivan a stuffed gorilla which reminded him very much of his lost sister so he named it Not Tag because it could never replace the real Tag.
===Personality===
In his early childhood, Ivan was carefree, cheerful and loved to play with mud and paint with it to draw his world. He was also very fond of his sister Tag with whom he often played, as well as his father who although sometimes trying to show his son how to behave like a gorilla, accepted his son as it was. The young gorilla was visibly upset when he realized his father would never come back. Later in his youth, Ivan was very boisterous and loved to ravage Mack's furniture.
As an adult, Ivan was easygoing, calm, understanding and level-headed. Even though he pretends to be an angry gorilla to the crowd, he has openly stated that he never gets angry. Although he sometimes got a little annoyed by Bob's antics, Ivan always considered the little dog to be his best friend. Ivan is very good at making friends with young people like Julia, his human best friend or Ruby, who saw from the start that he was not a scary gorilla and despite the little elephant stealing the show at the circus, he had no problem with that, even helping Ruby overcome the crowd stalking. He also had a strong bond with Stella until her death, promising her to offer Ruby freedom even though it tore him with his old loyalty to Mack. Although claiming not to remember his life in the jungle, Ivan actually remembered it but he tried to forget it because of what he had been through but he eventually got over it and both found it again, his pleasure as a painter and the desire to regain freedom.
==Appearances==
===The One and Only Ivan===
After another typical day at the Big Top Mall, business isn't going so well for the circus, to the frustration of a tired Mack. When Ivan has, he seems to understand the problem but knows that he is not doing better than he is already doing. Julia then comes to see Ivan to show him drawings of him and even encourages him to try to draw.
In the evening when most everyone is asleep, Ivan expresses his concerns to Stella about the shrinking audience and believes it is because he has lost his inner spark while also expressing his misunderstanding for the satisfaction that people are getting for the savagery. In the end, Ivan assures Stella that he will find a solution, which the elephant is sure will.
A few days later, a new animal joins the troop, Ruby a baby elephant from a bankrupt circus in New Jersey, who according to Mack will revive their business. At nightfall, Ivan is by no means convinced that the little elephant could be the solution and goes to bed. He is then disturbed by Ruby who asks him several questions and claims that she does not find him terrifying at all. The next day, Ivan's show is cut short to make way for Ruby's introduction, leaving the gorilla feeling left out. The days pass and Ruby quickly wins people's hearts, much to the dismay of Ivan who does not believe that it is the role of a baby to save the circus but his own. Later that evening, Ivan and Bob listen to a story about Stella's youth as well as the existence of a place like nature where humans are good. The next day, Stella can't do her act because of her paw problem, forcing Ruby to do it on her own but she can't find the courage to do it until Ivan encourages her and she arrives. to overcome his stalking.
Tonight, Ivan notices that Ruby cannot sleep because of her hunger so the gorilla draws her a carrot to be patient while asking her to keep the secret to preserve his reputation as Silver Back. Ivan then tells him about his youth with Mack and Helen until he arrived in the Big Top Mall. Once Ruby is asleep, Ivan goes back to sleep too until Stella calls him. With her health declining for a while, Stella asks her friend to make her a promise that he will take care of Ruby and make her a different life than the one she had, a life not in. cage. Saddened, Ivan gives his Silver Back word to Stella that he will help Ruby, much to Stella's delight. The promise being made, the two share one last moment together before the wise elephant dies.
Stella's death plunges the Big Top Mall into deep grief and mourning. Ivan begins to regret having made this promise since he does not know how to go about it and he does not want to harm Mack either after what he has done for him since his youth but Bob assures to the gorilla that he will succeed because he is the one and only Ivan. Worried more and more for the little elephant, Ivan watches Ruby's training imposed by Mack and he doesn't like it at all. When Mack gets in too much demand, Ivan grunts from his cage to make him sess until Ruby sneezes on Mack. Later, Ivan tries to use his drawing skills to make Julia understand that he needs the key to get Ruby out. Things don't go as planned when Mack sees the drawings and decides to introduce Ivan as a painter to attract even more people to the circus.
At the time of his first artist number, Ivan drops the stage, partially ridiculing Mack who then berates him because he no longer believes that Ruby is their chance to avoid ruin but now the talent of the gorilla. In the evening, Ivan finds a plan to go out: sent Bob lures Castello into the cage and takes his key from him. The plan succeeds and Ivan kicks Ruby out and then everyone else. First blocked by the locked doors, Ivan ends up breaking them down after Bob is reminded of how physically strong a gorilla is.Once outside, the group crosses the road separating them from the woods but in the crossing, Murphy nearly gets run over by a car until Ivan saves him in time, at the cost of leaving the rabbit's truck to be crushed. At first delighted with what he believes to be a new life, Ivan discovers shocked that the wood is very short and surrounded by the city. Warned by a Castello who remained locked in the cage, Mack tracks down the animals and despite the hostility that Ivan initially shows towards him, the old Ringmaster manages to convince the gorilla that Ruby is not safe here and that they are a family. Ivan finally resigns himself and all the animals return to the Big Top while Castello gets fired.
Feeling ashamed of having failed, Ivan is approached by Ruby who asks him what true nature looks like. Ivan denies remembering his wild life until Bob only tells him as Stella said: there is a difference between not remembering and not wanting to remember. Faced with another supplication from the little elephant, Ivan ended up recounting his youth that he had forced himself to forget and although he was at first happy when he spoke of his pleasure in drawing in the mud and playing with his sister, he becomes sadder as he recounts how he was separated from Tag and how he saw his father die, an event he blamed himself for because he never tried to learn to fight like his father rather than playing in the mud. Bob claimed that it was only the humans' fault he considered ruthless but Ruby reminded everyone that not all humans are bad before telling Ivan that she is sure his father loved him for who he was. Once Ruby is back asleep, Ivan dips his hand in the water and begins to see flashbacks of him painting with mud.
Finding hope again and understanding what remains for him to do, Ivan spends the rest of the night and then the whole day painting a representation of nature on the window of his show to make his desire to be free understood. After the crowd viewed the gorilla painting in awe, Julia first understood the message and with the help of George and reporters who attended the show, several protesters marched outside the Big Top Mall to demand that Ivan and Ruby be released.
In the end, Mack eventually gave in and closed his circus. While all the animals are moved elsewhere, Ivan shares one last moment with Ruby, encourages her not to be afraid of change and that all the elephants she meets will love her. After Ruby's departure, Bob comes to say goodbye to his best friend who give him Not Tag as a farewell gift. They then exchange a last smile before their path separates. As the last remaining animal, Ivan then bids farewell to Mack, remembering the good times they had together before being embarked too.
The gorilla wakes up in a closed place, which makes him panic until Dr. Maya Wilson opens the shutter giving him access to a gigantic enclosure in Zoo Atlanta. Amazed by his new natural environment and crossing other gorillas, Ivan hears the sounds of elephants coming from not far away, urging him to go and see. He then climbs to the top of a tree and finds with joy that Ruby has been installed with the elephants who live right next to the gorillas. Having finally fulfilled his promise, Ivan tells Stella that Ruby is finally free.
Some time later, Ivan receives a visit from Bob, now adopted by Julia who has also come to see him with her father and Mack. Ivan concludes the film with his catchphrase "That's me. Mighty silverback".
==Gallery==
Ivan Bob.jpg|Ivan with his best friend Bob.
Ivan Awakened.jpg|"What are you... No, I'm a gorilla."
Ivan Stella.jpg|Ivan spending his last moment with a dying Stella.
Ivan Tag.jpg|Young Ivan with his sister, Tag.
Ivan Sad.jpg|Young Ivan, the last time he saw his father.
Ivan Remorse.jpg|"I used to think, i-if I'd learned how to fight like my father... and I hadn't always been drawing in the mud... I coulda..."
Ivan Ruby Goodbye.jpg|Ivan and Ruby say goodbye.
Ivan Bob Goodbye.jpg|Ivan and Bob say goodbye.
Ivan Conscious.jpg|Ivan wakes up in a shed.
Ivan Flower.jpg|Ivan sniffs a flower.
Ivan Successful.jpg|"She's here, Stella. She's free."
Ivan Joyful.jpg|Ivan smiled, having managed to set Ruby free and now living happily among his kind.
Ivan Prologue.jpg|"That's me. Mighty silverback."
==Trivia== 
* In real life, Ivan was never part of a circus. The scene where he smells a flower is also taken from the actual event. The real Ivan was born in 1962 and spent 27 years in a Tacoma mall where he learned to paint. Following a protest, he moved in 1994 to Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo and later Zoo Atlanta where he lived until his death in 2012.
* The movie Ivan watched at the Silver Moon Drive-In area when he was a baby gorilla is an animated clip from the 1973 Disney animated film, Robin Hood.
*The gorilla with whom Ivan crosses his gaze at the end appears to be an adult Tag.
Category:Circus performers
Category:Gorillas
Category:Males
Category:Adults
Category:African characters
Category:Protagonists
Category:Characters based on real people
Category:Disney characters
Category:Live-action characters
Category:Heroes
Category:Siblings
Category:The One and Only Ivan characters
Category:Zoo Animals
Category:Characters who narrate the story
Category:Characters who break the Fourth Wall
Category:Anthropomorphic characters