Alex the Lion

Alex is the overall main protagonist in the Madagascar franchise. He is an African lion who was shortly raised in the African wildlife reserve before being captured by two poachers, and eventually end up being sent to the Central Park Zoo, becoming one of the most popular exhibits in the zoo. He is the protagonist of the films, appears in a single special episode in the Penguins of Madagascar, and as a cameo in All Hail King Julien.

After Marty leaves the zoo in an effort to take a train to the wild, Alex, Gloria and Melman pursue him and were all shot with tranquilizer darts by humans. 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 wishes to go home but 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.

Before Alex 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 Alex, 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 York tourists 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 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.

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 had 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, especially Gia when they find out that they were actually zoo animals. When they actually get back to the zoo, the gang finds that it is not as great as they actually remembered. That made them realize 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 Chantel DuBois, the leader of the animal control, as they sent them back to the zoo. Upon realizing, the circus animals, the Penguins, the Lemurs and the chimpanzees went to the zoo to rescue and break them out. Alex and his friends later end up joining Circus Zaragoza.