Alex (Madagascar)

Alex (birthname Alakay) is the overall main protagonist in the Madagascar franchise. He is an African lion who, for a short time, was raised in an African wildlife reserve, before being captured by poachers, and eventually ended up falling out of the poachers' truck into the ocean, and floating to New York City, where he was sent to the Central Park Zoo, becoming one of the most popular exhibits in the zoo. He is also one of the protagonists in Madagascar: A Little Wild, appears in a single special episode of The Penguins of Madagascar, and has a brief cameo in the finale of All Hail King Julien as well.
== Biography ==
Alex was the self-proclaimed king of the New York City Central Park Zoo. As a cub, Alex was born on an African wildlife reserve and named Alakay. He was the son of the alpha lion, Zuba, and was constantly given lessons on hunting, although he displayed no interest in the activity. He would instead dance around rather than pounce on the toy his father used to train him. During one of the sessions, Alex was captured by poachers and, in an attempt to save his son, Zuba chased the vehicle, damaging its safety harness. Zuba was soon shot in the ear and briefly delayed. As the truck turned, the crate Alex was contained in fell into a river, and began floating away. Zuba failed to retrieve him, believing that he was still captured by poachers. He eventually gave up and presumed Alex dead. Alex arrives in New York after floating over the Atlantic Ocean in his transport crate. He was later brought to the Central Park Zoo where he spends the rest of his childhood and proved to be very popular with the public. Due to spending most of his life at a Zoo, Alex didn’t remember his life in Africa or his birth name. When he was a cub he had a high pitched voice and no mane.
=== Madagascar: A Little Wild ===
In A Little Wild Alex appears as a cub along with Gloria, Marty and Melman. He also has a love for acting and is shown feeling excited when he was about to go on Broadway in order for Gloria to become a ballerina dancer. He tries to break into the show business several times throughout the show. In A Roar Is Born he stars in a movie alongside his actor-idol, Harley Hooves. In Rats he tries to be a director in order to prove that he's ready for the stage. He can be stubborn and unwilling to admit when he's in over his head, such as in The Secret of the Dumpling.
=== Madagascar ===
As an adult, he was first seen emerging from the bush, seeing Marty, he goes after him. He appears right in front of Marty, it was just a dream. Alex gives Marty a birthday present. After Marty leaves the zoo in an effort to take a train to the wild, Alex, Gloria and Melman pursue him, but as Alex and his friends taking Marty back to the zoo, they were all shot with tranquilizer darts by humans when they caught up to him at Grand Central Station. Animal-rights activists pressure the zoo into releasing them back into the wild, but on the ship back to the reserves located in Kenya, Alex and his friends fall into the ocean when the Penguins take over the ship. They eventually wash ashore on the beaches of Madagascar, and while Marty is excited to be free, Alex was crying in panic and wanting to go home, however, he later changes his mind. He grows very hungry after days of being unable to eat, not realizing that steak is animal flesh, and starts to regain his hunting instincts. Hunger drives Alex into a crazed state, which causes him to hallucinate everyone as steak and tries to eat Marty. After realizing what he did to Marty, Alex barricades himself in the predator area of the island. Marty pursues him, unwilling to leave his friend, but is attacked by the fossas, the native predators of Madagascar. After overcoming his hunting instincts, Alex works to defend Marty, and is later given sushi by the Penguins to satisfy his hunger.
=== All Hail King Julien ===
Alex only appears in the final episode, "The End is Here", while King Julien and his people are celebrating Clover and Sage's wedding. He is shown being washed ashore by a crate, before spitting out sand as he gets up, which ties into the events of the first film (however, he states "Where are we?", unlike the scene in the first film), as the series ends.
=== Merry Madagascar ===
The animals are still stuck on Madagascar, and they attempt to leave for New York on Christmas Eve. As they go, the kingdom of Madagascar celebrates Julianuary, before they see a red unidentified flying object on the skies of Madagascar. King Julien tells that it is the Red Night Goblin, and having heard the story and believed it, Alex shoots down the object, only to discover that it was Santa and that by shooting him down they've given him amnesia. Feeling guilty, Alex suggests that they can help Santa deliver his presents before Christmas day.
=== Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa ===
Before Alex (whose birth name is revealed to be Alakay) encounters his parents, Zuba and Florrie who were overjoyed to see their son, he re-encounters Nana the old lady, and starts fighting but intentionally allows Nana to win so he could acquire her purse and use her cell phone to search for help. Zuba assumes that Alex is strong after hearing that he is the "King of New York" and arranges a rite of passage into the pride. Makunga, Zuba's rival, persuades Alex to challenge Teetsi during Alex's rite of passage. Teetsi was revealed to be a bulky and strong lion and Alex quickly loses. In order to keep from banishing Alex, Zuba transfers his control to Makunga, and in turn Florrie and himself were banished. Zuba was mad at Alex after realizing that he is not a fierce warrior. The next day, the watering hole is shown to have been dried up, and Alex leaves with Marty to find out the cause of it. They leave the safety of the reserve, prompting Zuba to follow Alex and bring him back. Alex later discovers that stranded New Yorkers had created a dam. They were at first hostile towards him and Zuba, but through the use of dancing, he was easily recognized by the tourists (who were delighted to see the missing lion) and avoided a stand-off. With the help of the others, the dam was destroyed and they safely returned to the reserve. His father learns to respect his habits, and they decided to stay in Africa instead of flying home with the penguins.
=== Madagascar Kartz ===
Alex is one of the many playable racers in Madagascar Kartz.
=== Madly Madagascar ===
Valentine's Day is one of Alex's most favorite holidays. Back in the zoo, he was practically showered with valentines from numerous admirers, but now that he's in Africa, he's finding that Valentine's Day is not like what he was used to. Throughout the story until the end, he struggles to enjoy the day as he's not getting the amount of attention he's used to having, especially since his best friend is getting all the attention instead of him.
=== Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted ===
On Alex's birthday in Africa, he and his friends decide that it is high time that they returned home to New York, as they are tired of waiting for the Penguins to return from their trip to Monte Carlo.
The group ends up going to Monte Carlo on their own via swimming, in hopes of finding the Penguins and convincing them to take them home. Unfortunately, they were spotted by the humans in the casino where the Penguins were hiding and ended up becoming a target of the animal control. Luckily, they end up finding Circus Zaragoza and decide to buy the entire circus so that they could use it to get a contract for an American tour, in hopes of returning to New York City. In the process, Alex meets Gia the jaguar, and develops an interesting partnership with her when it becomes apparent. The circus was not a very good one, and so he and his friends have to revamp it in order to gain credibility and win the contract. Alex and his friends each come up with new acts.
Alex ends up doing trapeze tricks with Gia for his act, and finds himself falling in love with the beautiful exotic jaguar. When they do get the contract, the group returns to New York, upsetting their new friends in the process, Alex ends up deeply hurting the others, espeically Gia when they find out that they were actually zoo animals. When they actually get back to New York City, the gang finds that the zoo not as great as they actually remembered. That made them realise their mistake and miss their new friends, as they decided that they would much rather join the circus and live with them instead.
However, the Zoosters were ambushed and knocked out by Captain Chantel DuBois, the leader of the animal control, as they sent them back to the zoo. Upon realising, the circus animals, the Penguins, the Lemurs and the chimpanzees went to the zoo to rescue and break them out. The mission was a success and Alex and The zoosters later end up joining Circus Zaragoza.
=== The Penguins of Madagascar ===
Alex only appears in the special one-hour episode, "The Return of the Revenge of Dr. Blowhole", and only appears in Skipper's imagination as a spirit guide to aid him when he faces a loss of memory due to Dr. Blowhole's Mind Jacker. Alex helped Skipper on his journey to regain his memory and return to New York to save the place from the evil hands of Dr. Blowhole. He also makes a cameo appearance in the short "Skipper's Nightmare".
== Appearance ==
Alex is a brown and yellow African lion with a glossy mane, which is usually shaped like a pentagon in most viewpoints, like the back or front, with a portion over his eyes extending outward. On certain angles, his mane looks more hexagonal because of this. Since the second film, he's had an Africa-shaped birthmark on his right hand. He also has blue eyes, just like his mother's. In most of the franchise, it is said that Alex has a soft fur and a silky mane.
His color varies as the animation progresses, in the first film his fur was darker and in the third film his fur is lighter.
== Personality ==
Alex has the personality very similar to that of a celebrity because he became the star of the zoo at a very young age.
Alex loves the zoo and was surprised when he heard Marty's wish to leave and live in the wild. As the main attraction of the zoo, he is featured heavily on merchandise and gives an "Alex the Lion" snow globe and other merchandise to Marty for his birthday. He also shows an infatuation with steak, though later remarks that sushi tastes better.
In the first film, he was very scared when he discovered his predatory nature and did his best to isolate himself from others to protect them. Despite his pride and selfishness, Alex is very loyal to his other Zooster friends, especially Marty. Alex never loses the opportunity to show off and boast that he is a star, but sometimes some situations make him nervous, like when he tries to deal with the penguins or his attempts to flirt with Gia in the circus. He is also determined to fix things when he knows he spoiled them, like when he fights with Marty, or his attempt to re-fit into the lion's pride or to convince the Zoosters to return to the circus and apologize to everyone.
Alex is also very energetic, he is able to raise morale to everyone around him and also has good leadership skills, especially in the third film, when he even manages to lead a complete circus.
== Relationships ==
=== Zuba ===
When Alex was young, Zuba gave him lessons in hunting and fighting but was disappointed when he (the name given to him by his parents before losing him) preferred to dance. In one of his lessons, when Zuba is distracted to fight Makunga, Alakay was captured by the poachers, as his father tried to save him before getting shot in the ear by one of the hunters, causing him to fall off the truck, Alakay's box fell into the river and Zuba did not notice, going back to chasing the hunters. Zuba spent weeks looking for Alakay out of the reserve until he reached a certain time where he assumed he would not return because the hunters had killed him. Zuba spent the last years blaming himself for the loss of his son.
When Alex and the zoosters show up with the other animals from Africa, Zuba does not receive them well. On the other hand, Alex keeps looking at him because his face is quite familiar, Zuba mistakes Alex's words as a challenge to his alpha leadership and threatens him, but is stopped by his wife, Florrie, who immediately identifies him as his son. Zuba and Florrie recognize him by the birthmark of his paw, thus finally recovering his lost son. Alex is very happy to know that he has parents. Alex tells his parents that he is the "King of New York", but they interpret him as really being a true king. Zuba is very happy for the arrival of his son, he even introduces him to the pride, but Makunga says he cannot be part of it until he passes the Rite of Passage hullabaloo.
At night, Zuba and Florrie showed Alex where he slept when he was a cub, they even told him how he had disappeared at that time. Zuba was still blaming himself for what happened but Florrie always reminded him that it was never his fault. His parents ended up encouraging him and wishing him good luck for the rite of the next day.
Unfortunately, Alex lost the rite because he believed that it was really a dance competition and not a fight. He and his family ended up being banished when Makunga took control. Alex was disappointed when his father told him that he was not a true lion.
Later, Florrie told Zuba that they should not lose their son a second time, in that, Makunga comes to tell Zuba that his son had gone out of the reserve to find out what had happened to the water before he ran to find him.
Zuba attempts to rescue Alex from the New York tourists but when they are surrounded. Upon realizing that they were from New York, Alex began to dance to let people know that he is Alex, the lion from the Central Park Zoo. Zuba finally ends up joining his son to dance. And they were later rescued by the other Zoosters and together destroyed the dam.
Later, they are both seen safely meeting the other animals. Zuba wanted his son to be the leader of the pride, but when he refused, he decided it would be for both.
After the penguins left, Zuba starts to joke with Alex and looks more excited, rather than before. He and Alex now share a better father-son relationship.
=== Florrie ===
Florrie loves her son, and she also felt devastated when she lost him, believing that the hunters had killed him. She was the first to recognize him when he saw him again, she said it was him when she saw the birthmark but she could actually recognize it when she saw his eyes.
Florrie has a really motherly character, she accepts her son as he is, even if he decides to dance and not to fight. It proved to be very encouraging when her son decided to do something, like when they introduced him to the pride, she was excited when they named him "King", or when Alex decided to do the rite and Zuba had to choose who would start first, but Florrie was too excited to encourage him, preventing Zuba from concentrating. She and Zuba still remember Alex's habits when he was young, she even let him keep his "foofie” although Zuba did not want to, letting him be himself.
She has loving habits like kissing him in the forehead when he said "good night", showing that she really loves him. She is also overprotective and is often terrified of losing him again, as when Zuba told her he was not a real lion, she scolded him and told her not to lose him once again. She was worried when Makunga told them that he left the reserve, but he was relieved when he saw them both (Zuba and Alex) safe and sound. She and Zuba are still calling him by his birth name, "Alakay."
=== Marty ===
Alex and Marty are the best of friends and went through a lot together. They have had a few squabbles but they still remain as buddies.
When Alex arrived at the Zoo, Marty said he thought he was a kind of a show-off, however, they later grew up as best friends. They were both neighbors and liked to sing together. Alex did not support Marty's idea about escaping the zoo but was one of the first to be willing to get it back.
Despite the incident where Alex bit him, Marty decided to go to find Alex in the territory of the Fossas and said he would not leave Madagascar without him. He later Alex thanked him for not having abandoned him and later defended them all from the Fossas.
In the end, Marty asked for a toast to Alex, expressing that his heart is bigger than his stomach.
In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, they both had many conflicts. Alex had been sad for ruining the lives of his parents, did not realize that Marty also had his problems, and because of that he unintentionally said very hurtful things. When Alex decided to leave the reserve, he wanted to apologize to Marty before leaving. He managed to recognize him among all the zebras and both were reconciled, leaving the reserve together.
At the end of Madagascar 2, Alex says that seeing him in the eye, he would always know it would be him, although in reality, he recognized him by the scar on his butt.
In Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Marty and the others made a New York City replica out of the mud for Alex on his birthday, and later decided to go find the Penguins at the casino in Monte Carlo. They had some discussions about who was the leader or who should drive the Penguins' car. On the circus train, however, when Vitaly asked who the leader was, Marty pointed to Alex.
When the group arrived at the zoo, Marty said they would not have to be sad if he had never run away, to which Alex denied, telling him that escape was the best thing that could have happened to them.
=== Melman ===
Alex and Melman are very good friends. If it hadn't been for Melman who woke up to pee (due to his bladder infection), Alex and Gloria would never have known that Marty disappeared. Both have their differences.
In Madagascar, Alex seemed to get angry when Melman used to be very nervous or worried about the number of diseases that could be spread. They were the first two to meet again when washed up on Madagascar. Alex was even bothered with him for having burned the Lady Liberty tiki statue when they were stranded. Alex also tried to eat him along with the other animals when he showed his predatory attitude because of not eating for days.
In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Alex is aware of Melman's feelings towards Gloria, even tried to encourage him to tell them when he saw them fight, but seems to be glad that both are finally together.
In Madly Madagascar, Alex and Marty distract Gloria so that Melman can plan her surprise for her, Alex even tries to prevent Gloria from using the love potion by arguing that she really does not need it and that she was not losing Melman.
In Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Melman and the other Zoosters make a New York City in mud for Alex as a birthday present, then the four of them set off to find the penguins in the Monte Carlo casino, they have a little dispute over who will be leader and Melman argues that it could be him because he is a doctor.
Alex later saves Melman from DuBois by cutting the rope tied to the neck of the giraffe.
=== Gloria ===
Alex and Gloria are very good friends, and she could be considered as an older sister to him. The Zoosters seem to be afraid of her size, she is often seen scolding the other Zoosters, as when she threatened Alex with hitting him if he did not talk to Marty to cheer him up, arguing that he is his best friend. She also encouraged Melman to leave the Zoo saying that Marty needed group therapy and that everyone should go look for him.
Gloria seems to be used to and tired of watching the Zoosters fight among them, and she often ends up as a mediator between Alex and Marty's fights. She stopped Alex so he would not grab Marty when they discovered they were stranded on the island.
Gloria also refused to leave Alex after they escaped him when he tried to eat them, but she also did not let Marty go just because Alex was still too dangerous for them.
In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Alex was aware of Melman's feelings towards Gloria, and he even encouraged the giraffe to tell her when he saw them fight. At the end of the movie, Alex is happy because they were both finally together.
In Madly Madagascar, Alex and Marty distracted Gloria so that she does not discover the surprise that Melman had prepared for her. Alex even tried to convince Gloria not to get involved in Julien's potion, arguing that she did not need it and that she was not really losing Melman.
In Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Gloria was still enduring the fights between Alex and Marty and was even tired of the situation. She tried to direct them, but the glass window under her feet gave way.
=== Gia ===
It has been expressed quite obviously that Alex has romantic feelings for Gia, although his beginnings are somewhat conflicting.
When Alex sees her for the first time, he's amazed by her stunning beauty. Gia, believing that they are from the circus, let them climb into the train when they are in danger. Inside the train, Gia is impressed when Alex says he knows how to do a trapeze.
After the penguins and Two Chimpanzees (Mason and Phil) buy the circus by the fortune from gambling in Monte Carlo Casino, the animals prepare to give their show. Alex quietly decides to listen to Gia while she rehearses alone, before falling down through the partition as it is made of paper. Alex denies that he was spying on her when she asks him, and tries to flirt with her, but fails. He tries asking her not to see him as an authority figure to her, Gia finds him rather clumsy and says she doesn't and that no one has spoken of him since they arrived, assuring that everyone felt sorry for the new circus boss being far away from his own home.
Both collide heads accidentally, but then Alex sincerely thanks her for letting him get on the train, and she seems happy. However, when she sees how he imitates Vitaly, she warned him not to do anything that would endanger the circus, because it means everything for them.
Alex gets nervous and accidentally places his paw on one of the ropes of the circus tent that is untied and pulls it to the ceiling, then falls right into Gia's arms causing the other fabrics that kept them hidden to fall and both are shamefully discovered in front of the rest of the circus.
When the circus takes a break to recover from their last shameful act, Gia supports Alex in the idea of improving the circus, later asking him personally to teach him how to use the trapeze. He refuses at the beginning but then gives in.
Later they were both on a high platform, ready to practice trapeze. Alex says many things while nervously preparing to jump, Gia gives him a push and he ends up accidentally doing some tricks, in which Gia then copies, thinking it was part of the act. When Alex makes an erratic leap and was about to fall, Gia grabs him and both return to the platform where Alex holds her before she falls, staying close together while being surprised by the act he had practiced and begins to fall in love with her. They were later hit by Marty who was shot from his cannon, as they fell into a net. Alex and Gia look at each other, laughing as they bounced off the net.
In the next circus performance, Alex and Gia used pink paints combined. During the presentation, both give different jumps and tricks in the trapeze, many of them where one caught the other. Finally, both closed the presentation lacing together.
After the show, Gia throws herself to hug him excitedly and Alex holds her spinning, then takes her hand and turns her around, Gia expresses how excited she is that they are both trapeze cats and can travel all over the world.
Alex is sad because his plans to return to the zoo seem to change and he sees himself divided between the circus with her and back home with his friends. He tries to tell Gia that he might leave but they were interrupted by DuBois who reveals that Alex belongs to a zoo and that she was coming to take him away.
The penguins are responsible for throwing it out, but Gia finds Alex's note and discovers in anguish that he never was a circus animal, discovering with the others that everything was a lie. Alex tries to explain and Gia looks hurt when she learns that the Trapeze Americano was never real. The Zoosters were sad but Alex was still trying to talk to Gia but she said they had trusted him, then she walks away with the other circus animals.
Realizing he misses the circus, especially Gia, he and the others decided to go back. Despite the deception, Gia and Stefano refused to go on stage without their partners. When they were informed that the Zoosters were captured, Gia was among the first to express that they should help them because they were their friends.
When DuBois shot a poisonous dart at Alex, Gia saved him just in time, and he was excited to see her. Both used the trapeze to reach the flying platform of the circus. When Stefano was in danger, Alex and Gia used the trapeze to save him, but Alex grabbed DuBois and left Gia holding Stefano, she worried when she saw them fly so high. Alex defeats DuBois and uses the thrusters to take Gia and reach the balloons, there they both share a loving look smiling lovingly at each other as they celebrate for having achieved it. Alex and his friends eventually join the circus as permanent members.
=== The Lemurs ===
At first, Alex and the others thought that King Julien and the lemurs were weirdos. But soon they came to befriend the lemurs and even drive away the Fossa for them. They still think they're a bit odd, however.
At the end of Madagascar, King Julien gave his crown to Alex as a sign of how grateful he was because he had thrown the Fossas. Alex still believes that King Julien is a bit irritating. When King Julien announced that he would go with them to New York, Alex was one of the first to refuse but King Julien argued that he would go the same way because it was his plane.
=== Skipper ===
Alex seems to get along with the penguins, but even so, he does not seem to understand them at all. He calls them psychotic and has had some disagreements with Skipper, several of which were about the crashed plane. Skipper is also tough when dealing with Alex, he possibly finds him as one of the most annoying Zoosters although he recognizes his leadership in the group and often addresses him when they must make a decision.
In Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Skipper and the other penguins warned Alex if they saw DuBois, but they also pretended to be offended when the group was discovered by the circus, although it was mostly to blend in and stay with the other circus animals.
In the episode of The Return of the Revenge of Dr. Blowhole, Alex was presented in the imagination of Skipper as a spiritual guide.
Skipper was at first really annoyed by Alex, and he even imagined him to be gone so he would disappear from his mind.
At the end of the episode, however, Skipper understands why his conscience chose Alex and he sees them both with a good friendship.
=== Vitaly ===
At first, Vitaly didn’t trust Alex because he was a total stranger and wanted to change the circus. When Vitaly tried to quit, Alex convinced the tiger not to give up on his friends and try his act again. He then used a hair conditioner on Vitaly, which successfully caused him to nail his act. Since then, the two have become great friends and Vitaly was the one who convinced the other circus animals to save him and the gang from DuBois.
=== Stefano ===
Stefano really admires Alex because of how amazing and talented he is. When Stefano explains to the lion why the circus went downhill, Alex decides to help improve the circus and save everyone’s jobs.
== Powers and Abilities ==
=== Superhuman Strength ===
Alex seems to be fairly strong, but the fact that he loses the challenge in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, and is kicked in the crotch by Nana in Madagascar gives the impression that he is weak; although this is not true, because he reveals right after that he let her win in order to get her purse.
Indeed, even for a lion, Alex is shown to be unusually strong, such as when he broke the zoo's public telephone, and lifted Melman, Marty and Gloria (a being whose weight is more than enough to break apart a thick concrete wall) all at once almost effortlessly. He also defeated many fossa almost single-handedly.
However, he lacks hunting and fighting skills due to his tamed upbringing in the zoo.
=== Great Agility ===
Alex is also very agile, running on four legs and able to reach a moving jeep. (Though weighing an unusual 250 kg or 550 lbs, according to DuBois). He is also good at jumping as he took a great leap on the moving train, making him an incredible trapeze artist. Alex and Gia could be considered the most agile animals in the circus, both were able to take a great turn together from the trapeze to the flying platform of the circus on the Zoo. Alex's agility may be due to his fascination with dancing since he was young, which is demonstrated when he danced with his father in Africa.
== Trivia ==
* During casting of the first film, Adam Sandler was rumored to voice Alex, but DreamWorks dislikes him for actual inappropriate and finally Ben Stiller took over.
* A plush doll of Alex can be seen at the beginning of Flushed Away.
* His shadow can be seen in Penguins of Madagascar.
* Alex can be seen in Harvey Girls Forever! on Super Todd's t-shirt.
* Alex has been injured or almost injured on the groin more than any other DreamWorks character. The only other character from Madagascar that had been kicked in the groin too is Makunga, but he was kicked there just once, and Melman is the only one except Alex that almost got hit there. Alex had been harmed or almost harmed six times onscreen:
** Being kicked by Nana during their fight on Grand Central Station.
** Being kicked by Nana in front of the police.
** Being knocked by the wooden beam of the box that Melman was in, right after Alex broke the whole box with his body.
** Being kicked by Nana during their fight in Africa.
** Being kicked by Nana, right after she won their fight and he was too weak to stand up.
** His private area was almost harmed by the knife that Vitaly threw at him.
* In Monsters vs. Aliens, when the hologram Gallaxhar is talking to the people over the world, Alex and Marty can be seen on the large TV on a building in Japan.
* Alongside Marty, Alex makes a cameo appearance in the new Dreamworks logo.
== Gallery ==
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