History Main / TarzanBoy

An {{Expy}} of ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}'', and the [[DistaffCounterpart Spear Counterpart]] to JunglePrincess. A Tarzan Boy, or "Tarzanesque", is a [[MightyWhitey white man]] who lives in [[JungleOpera the jungle]], usually in the DarkestAfrica. He's usually RaisedByWolves after being marooned in the jungle as a child. Expect the NubileSavage trope to be in play, as the Tarzan Boy will always be handsome and [[NubileSavage surprisingly well-groomed and clean-shaven]] for a guy who lives completely isolated from civilization. Often he will have one or several animal companions and [[SpeaksFluentAnimal is able to communicate with them]]. He'll be an EarthyBarefootCharacter wear a LoinCloth and [[WalkingShirtlessScene no shirt]], and travel around by VineSwing.

** The trope was a {{Deconstructed}} in the episode "Kilimanjaro", where Captain Patch hires a guide named Barefoot Ben; a man who was an orphan of missionaries if Africa, who now lives in the jungle, likely carrying on his parents business. His knowledge of the jungle is so keen that he simply lives in the wilderness. "I live in the jungle. Everyday I get to work under the sun; every night I get to sleep under the stars. Who want's to live in a house when you can enjoy the beauty of God's creation" He also knows how to find food and avoid predators, sleeps in trees with hammocks he carries around and even has a pet Bush Baby. He speaks fluent English, and is implied to be fluent in Swahili as well. Although he does use modern tools and cloths, opting for an AdventurerOutfit instead of the {{Loincloth}}, he still PrefersGoingBarefoot due to his keen knowledge of the jungle allowing him to avoid obstacles. According to his hilarious theme song preformed by the local monkeys for some reason, he has TheStrengthOfTenMen. He is also given more character in how he values godly wisdom and his faith rather than being merely a NatureLover.

[[caption-width-right:350:Most definitely ''not'' Franchise/{{Tarzan}}]]

* ''[[ComicBook/{{Thunda}} Thun'da]], King of the Congo'': Created by FrankFrazetta, who drew the whole first issue, interiors and all. Thun'da initially started in a LostWorld filled with dinosaurs, but was soon relocated to DarkestAfrica. Unlike most Tarzan Boys, he wasn't marooned in the jungle as a kid, but instead crashed his plane there as an adult. He was enslaved by the local FrazettaMan cavemen and escaped, and soon encountered and fell in love with a BettiePage-esque NubileSavage princess Pha who ruled over a white human tribe in a Forgotten City. In 2012 Dynamite Comics published a modern retelling of Thun'da's story.

An {{Expy}} of ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}'', and the [[DistaffCounterpart Spear Counterpart]] to JunglePrincess. A Tarzan Boy, or "Tarzanesque", is a [[MightyWhitey white man]] who lives in [[JungleOpera the jungle]], usually in the DarkestAfrica. He's usually RaisedByWolves after being marooned in the jungle as a child. Expect the NubileSavage trope to be in play, as the Tarzan Boy will always be handsome and [[NubileSavage surprisingly well-groomed and clean-shaven]] for a guy who lives completely isolated from civilization. Often he will have one or several animal companions and [[SpeaksFluentAnimal is able to communicate with them]]. He'll wear a LoinCloth and [[WalkingShirtlessScene no shirt]], and travel around by VineSwing.

An {{Expy}} of ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}'', and the [[DistaffCounterpart Spear Counterpart]] to JunglePrincess. A Tarzan Boy is a [[MightyWhitey white man]] who lives in [[JungleOpera the jungle]], usually in the DarkestAfrica. He's usually RaisedByWolves after being marooned in the jungle as a child. Expect the NubileSavage trope to be in play, as the Tarzan Boy will always be handsome and [[NubileSavage surprisingly well-groomed and clean-shaven]] for a guy who lives completely isolated from civilization. Often he will have one or several animal companions and [[SpeaksFluentAnimal is able to communicate with them]]. He'll wear a LoinCloth and [[WalkingShirtlessScene no shirt]], and travel around by VineSwing.

An {{Expy}} of ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}'', and the [[DistaffCounterpart Spear Counterpart]] to JunglePrincess. A Tarzan Boy is a [[MightyWhitey white man]] who lives in [[JungleOpera the jungle]], usually in the DarkestAfrica. He's usually RaisedByWolves after being marooned in the jungle as a child. Expect the NubileSavage trope to be in play, as the Tarzan Boy will always be handsome and [[NubileSavage surprisingly well-groomed and clean-shaven]] for a guy who lives completely isolated from civilization. Often he will have one or several animal companions and [[SpeaksFluentAnimal is able to communicate with them]]. He'll wear a LoinCloth and travel around by VineSwing.

* ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'': Spider grew up in the jungle (albeit ''not'' RaisedByWolves), he's always shirtless with a {{Loincloth}}, is something of a WildChild, adopts a PrimalStance sometimes, and manages to keep up with Na'vis when they swing and run in the canopies of Pandora's forests. And he's the son of a white human who died in the jungle.

An {{Expy}} of ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}'', and the [[DistaffCounterpart Spear Counterpart]] to JunglePrincess. A Tarzan Boy is a [[MightyWhitey white man]] who lives in [[JungleOpera the jungle]], usually in the DarkestAfrica. He's usually RaisedByWolves after being marooned in the jungle as a child. Expect the NubileSavage trope to be in play, as the Tarzan Boy will always be handsome and surprisingly well-groomed and clean-shaven for a guy who lives completely isolated from civilization. Often he will have one or several animal companions and [[SpeaksFluentAnimal is able to communicate with them]]. He'll wear a LoinCloth and travel around by VineSwing.

** One-time ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' rogue Micah Synn was a villainous example. He was a direct descendant of English settlers that lived among an East African tribe, and became chief through AsskickingEqualsAuthority. He lived by a SocialDarwinist "might makes right" philosophy that resulted in him stealing food, fighting cops, and eventually becoming [[Characters/MarvelComicsTheKingpin The Kingpin]]'s minion. However, his body had difficulty adjusting to Western civilization and he was weakened to the point that he got beaten up by a gang of hobos and needed Daredevil to SaveTheVillain.

* ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'': Spider grew up in the jungle (albeit ''not'' RaisedByWolves), he's always shirtless with a {{Loincloth}}, is something of a WildChild, adopts a PrimalStance sometimes, and manages to keep up with Na'vis when they swing and run in the canopies of Pandora's forests. And he's the son of a human who died in the jungle.

* [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094325/?ref_=nv_sr_6 Wild Thing]] is an urban twist on this trope. In this film the main character grows up wild in the city's slums after witnessing drug dealers murder his parents. The story revolves around him helping the city's residents who are being terrorized by street gangs and drug dealers.

This trope was extremely popular up until TheFifties. As with many pulp tropes, its popularity waned in the second part of the twentieth century, but there were still occasional attempts to revisit it, either parodic or serious. Interestingly, this trope's DistaffCounterpart, JunglePrincess, eventually surpassed it in popularity.

* Wild Smurf of ''Franchise/TheSmurfs'' is a Tarzan Smurf. Introduced in the AnimatedAdaptation and brought into the comic books in the 1990s, Wild was a Smurf who, upon the night of his "birth" by DeliveryStork, was lost in the forest and raised by squirrels until his public discovery by the Smurfs. Although animalistic in his behaviors, Wild at least knew how to assemble a Smurf hat out of leaves, and in the comic books eventually learned how to speak in very primitive Smurf language when the Smurfs had him stay in the village during the winter.

* The first ''{{ComicBook/Superboy}} volume featuring a two-part imaginary story (183 and 188) respectively where Superboy landed in Africa, was raised by apes and become such a character. This would be revisted for the Elseworld and crossover ''Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle''.

* Jungle Boy (Jack Perry) from Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling plays this trope to a T. The TropeNamer is even his official entrance theme.

* In the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' episode "The Kangaskhan Kid", the titular kid is a human boy who got lost in the Safari Zone and was raised by a pack of Kangaskhan. He's even known as ''Tarsan'' in the Japanese version.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqlXMQAlhhI 23rd Pokemon movie]], ''Anime/PokemonSecretsOfTheJungle'', features another jungle boy named Koko.

** The upcoming [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqlXMQAlhhI 23rd Pokemon movie]] will feature another jungle boy named Coco.

** ''Ka-Zar''. He started as a short-lived cheap Tarzan knock-off in the '30s, described as an American kid who was raised by lions after his parents' plane crashed in the Congo jungle. Ka-Zar was revived decades later by Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby in an ''X-Men'' comic and given a more fleshed-out characterization. Surprisingly, they made him ''more'' similar to Tarzan. Now he was Kevin Plunder, son of a British nobleman who had discovered the tropical LostWorld of Savage Land in the middle of the Antarctic. After his father got killed by a local FrazettaMan tribe, Kevin was raised by a mutant intelligent sabertooth tiger named Zabu. He eventually hooked up with Marvel's flagship JunglePrincess, ''ComicBook/ShannaTheSheDevil''.

An {{Expy}} of ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}'', and the [[DistaffCounterpart Spear Counterpart]] to JunglePrincess. A Tarzan Boy is a [[MightyWhitey white man]] who lives in [[JungleOpera the jungle]], usually in the DarkestAfrica. He's usually RaisedByWolves after being marooned in the jungle as a child. Expect the NubileSavage trope to be in play, as the Tarzan Boy will always be handsome and surprisingly well-groomed for a guy who lives completely isolated from civilization. Often he will have one or several animal companions and [[SpeaksFluentAnimal is able to communicate with them]]. He'll wear a LoinCloth and travel around by VineSwing.

* ''ComicBook/{{Planetary}}'' features a modern and rather morally ambiguous take on the Tarzan Boy trope in Lord Blackstock. A scion of a shady British family of adventurers, he's considered a hero of the African continent. However, he doesn't concern himself with anything besides relieving his boredom, and prefers to think of the natives as his subjects.