Referenced By / The Lion King

See "Lion King" Lift for parodies of the scene where Simba is lifted up by Rafiki.

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Comic Books

• Wonder Woman (1987): There's a blink and you'll miss it single panel containing an advertisement for a musical with a different name but similar branding and mascot to The Lion King in Times Square during "The Witch and the Warrior''.

Comic Strips

• In the September 16, 2001 Baby Blues comic, The Lion King is mentioned as one of the movies Zoe and Hammie own.
• Mother Goose and Grimm: Pumbaa is among the Disney characters whose head is mounted on the wall in this strip◊.
• Off the Mark: This strip features, among others, an alternate ending to the film, wherein Simba is devoured by hyenas.

Fan Works

• Loved and Lost: Spike reunites with the dismantled princesses at Unicorn Rock, a huge rock formation shaped like the head of a unicorn. In the 16th chapter, Twilight and Jewelius undergo an argument that has several blatant references to Scar's argument with Sarabi. Jewelius is also killed by the Changelings the same way Scar is killed by the hyenas as payback for double-crossing them.
• Unbreakable Diamond, Protean Rain
  • Katsumi Hamano, Angelo's girlfriend and accomplice does some Evil Gloating when she chokes a restrained Fubuki with dental floss and reveals to him that she similarly tortured Fubuki's dead cousin Shinichi before his death. This echoes Scar's gloating when he held Simba over the cliff like he did to Mufasa. Both scenes even end with the antagonists thrown off of something, and rain plays a role at the end in some way.
  • In this fanfic's version of the Sheer Heart Attack arc, Joel, Jotaro's illegitimate son, panics upon seeing Jotaro get severely wounded Taking the Bullet for Koichi. He desperately begs him to get up in a way similar to when Simba did to a dead Mufasa.

Films — Animation

• Aladdin and the King of Thieves: When Aladdin wonders where his father is, Genie randomly turns into Pumbaa and says "Hakuna Matata!" When he goes back to normal, he comments that he "was having an out-of-movie experience".
• A Bug's Life:
  • At one point, Hopper describes the world as "one of those Circle of Life kind of things".
  • In the city, you can see the poster for the Broadway show on one of the boxes.
• Chicken Little: As Buck struggles on how to start the movie, he brings up a familiar sunrise before deciding it wouldn't work.
• Hercules: Scar makes a cameo appearance as a lion skin briefly worn by the titular hero.
• Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers: Before leaving Mickey to drown, Pete tells him that he's going to the opera to see "a little something called... I just can't wait to be king!".
• Shrek: Shrek and Donkey's conversation about the stars being the spirits of past ogres is a reference to Mufasa teaching Simba about the Great Kings of the Past.
  • Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: When Puss’ life flashes before his eyes, we can see him, Shrek and Donkey walking in single file on a bridge with the moon in the background, mimicking a shot from “Hakuna Matatta” with Timon, Pumbaa, and Simba.
• Teen Titans Go! To the Movies: Robin has a nightmare that is a shot-for-shot parody of the "Circle of Life" scene, that shows Batman on top of a building, showing a baby Robin to all the superheroes just like what Rafiki did with baby Simba. But then, the heroes all start ridiculing Robin for being a "sidekick," which causes Batman to toss Robin off the building.
• Toy Story: "Hakuna Matata" can be heard playing in Andy's mom's car near the end of the movie.

Films — Live-Action

• Be Kind Rewind: This is one of the films the character's have to recreate after accidentally wiping their store's tape inventory.
• George of the Jungle ends with George showing his new son before the jungle animals in a spoof of the "Circle of Life" scene.
• Mousehunt: As an Actor Allusion, one scene has Nathan Lane saying Timon's motto "Hakuna Matata".
• Pinocchio (2022, Disney): One of Geppetto's clocks has a wooden figure of Rafiki lifting the baby Simba.
• Skyfall has the Bond One-Liner "Circle of life" when a man is dragged away by a Komodo dragon.

Literature

• In Wicked Good, Rory has a forgotten Lion King blanket from his childhood in the back of his closet. Archer passes out drunk in his closet and wakes up on top of the blanket. Trish uses the blanket a few times after that.
• By Any Other Name (2013): The night of Katya's kidnapping, Holly put on Katie's favourite film, The Lion King, which she'd already seen at least a hundred times. The movie kept Katie safely indoors despite the danger just outside.

Live-Action TV

• Dans Une Galaxie Près De Chez Vous has an episode where the crew goes to an ion cloud in order to advance. However, since those ions are so powerful, they are given the scientific term "The Ion King".
  Crew: Hakuna Matata.
• When the Doctor is trying to talk about the potential of humans in The Christmas Invasion, he starts quoting "The Circle of Life".
• In The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder, Viv has a copy of The Lion King 2½: Simba's A Lawyer Now.
• In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Phillip sits on a rabbit belonging to his five-year-old son, Nicholas. He tries to smooth over the explanation by referring to Mufasa's death, but Nicholas realizes what his father is doing and interrupts him.
• Home Improvement made a couple references to the film as Actor Allusions, since Young Simba's voice actor Jonathan Taylor Thomas also played Randy Taylor. (It did the same for Toy Story, since Tim Allen voiced Buzz Lightyear.) For example, on Halloween the house was visited by trick-or-treaters dressed up as Buzz and Simba, and Randy hands out "one candy for the spaceman... and seven for the cute little lion."
• In Last Man Standing (2011), Boyd refuses to eat meat after learning it comes from animals. Mike mentions animals being eaten is part of the circle of life, to which Boyd replies "Like in The Lion King?"
• Modern Family: The song "Circle Of Life" is played in Pilot.
• In The Nanny one of the children asks to see The Lion King again in the theater. One of the adults refuses: "The 'Hakunas' are coming out of my 'Matatas'".
• On Schooled, Lainey is asked to stage the Broadway musical for the Drama Club's annual play, despite her complaints that it's too elaborate for a high school production.
• An episode of Scrubs has the Janitor complaining about JD quoting the movie, only to be outed as a fan ("I just like the monkey, OK?").
• An episode of Titans has (half) brothers Hank and Don Hall citing "Hakuna Matata" as their Survival Mantra.
• In an early episode of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Titus stages a one-man mockbuster version of the Broadway show after not making the auditions for the real thing. He gets hit with a cease and desist. In the show's final episode, he does land the role of Rafiki as a replacement.

Music

• Destripando La Historia
  • Referenced in this song at the time of simba's presentation.
  • Mufasa appears in the Hercules´s song hercules and in the remake

Puppet Shows

• Episode 3423 of Sesame Street involves Walt Dizzy creating an Affectionate Parody of the film called "The Chicken King". Elmo trains Telly to get the part of the title character, but Mr. Dizzy casts Elmo as him instead. Also, at one point in the titular film, a lion says, "I should be The Lion King!".
• The Muppets Mayhem: During Floyd's hallcuination in "Break on Through" he sees "Weird Al" Yankovic appear in a cloud formation and asks if Al's going to tell him to reclaim the Pride Lands.

Theatre

• Something Rotten!: As Thomas looks into the future and describes what Shakespeare's greatest work (Hamlet) will be, he says that the evil uncle character will be called "Scar", a reference to all the similarities between The Lion King and Hamlet.
• Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier: The song "Take Off Your Clothes" describes the leaves on the ground spellings something explicit... "SFX"? This is a reference to a controversy about the sky in The Lion King containing the word "sex", although the animators claimed it was an homage to the SFX (special effects) department.

Video Games

• In A Day In The Life Of A Slice Of Bread, one ending has Alex/Alexander/Alexandra the hot dog people holding up the bread and said that it's unlike Rafiki holding up Simba.
• Earthworm Jim 2:
  • The fifth level in the game is called "The Flyin' King".
  • One of the questions in the quiz show portion of "Villi People"/"Jim is a Blind Cave Salamander" is "Who is the king of the animals in Africa?"
  A. Marimba
  B. Help, I Can't Swimba
  C. Earthworm Jimba^note The correct answer is C.
• In Infinite Craft, "Lion King", as well as Simba and Mufasa's names, are all possible crafting recipes.
• Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Indigo Disk DLC has the Savannah Biome in the Terarium, which has a male Pyroar standing on top of a rock, akin to Mufasa on Pride Rock. You can also faint the Pyroar if you want.

Web Animation

• NCHProductions: A Barioth in "MHWorld Shots: MHWorld Iceborne demo in a nutshell" throws a Tigrex off a cliff in an homage to Mufasa's death. They then get booted off the same cliff by a Hunter, killing them.

Web Original

• In an episode of Console Wars, Greg and Dan see whether the SNES or the Sega Genesis had the better licensed game based on the movie. Because of how similar the two games are, Rafiki pays them a visit to help them see which game exceeds in each category.
• The second "Darth Vader" vs. "Adolf Hitler" showdown in Epic Rap Battles of History has the former calling himself "the voice of Mufasa" as an Actor Allusion to James Earl Jones.
• During episode #120 of their Trials series, Hat Films break out into a nonsensical rendition of "The Circle of Life".
• How It Should Have Ended provides an alternate ending to the film. In the prologue, Simba eats Zazu during his pouncing lesson. Also in the episode, during the iconic Mufasa's death scene, Mufasa's Spirit tells Scar off for killing him and lying to Simba, then gets into an argument with Sarabi when she catches up to them. The other lionesses then chase Scar away. In the epilogue, Simba tries to be the new king despite still being a cub, and Scar chases and tries to eat Timon and Pumbaa.
• I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC had "Circle of Life" recreated as "Contract for Life" (with Spider-Man as the cub) to show how Disney buying Marvel could be a positive thing.
• The Nostalgia Critic:
  • In his "Top 11 Saddest Moments" video, scenes from various films from the Disney Animated Canon are placed in the #1 spot, including the scene from The Lion King involving Mufasa's death.
  • At the beginning of his review of Congo, Critic sings his own version the opening chant for "Circle of Life".
    Nyaaaaaaaaa, this movie suuuuuuucks
    You should get a refund
    (Go see Toy Story next time)
    It's in the theater next door
  • He does it again at the beginning of his review of Zeus and Roxanne.
    Nyaaaaaaaaa, this movie suuuuuuucks
    You got totally screwed
    (Did you even see the poster?)
    And you paid money for thiiiiis...
  • In his review of The Flintstones, when the Dicta-Bird claims that he should have worked for Disney if he didn't want to die, the Critic points out that Disney has been killing off plenty of major characters for real, and shows the scene from The Lion King involving Mufasa's death.
  • In his review of Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, the Critic plays "Be Prepared" when the lair of the Nightmare King is shown.
  • In his review of James and the Giant Peach, to parody the abrupt death of James' parents, the Critic rewrites a clip from The Lion King where Mufasa gets eaten by a rhino.
    Mufasa: Look, Simba. Everything the light touches, is our kingdom.
    Simba: Wow!
    Critic (as Narrator): ... And then a rhino ate him up.
    [A photoshopped Rhino eats Mufasa, and "Hakunka Matata" plays over a screen that says, THE END.]
  • In his review of Scooby-Doo, when Scrappy becomes a gigantic demonic dog in the climax, the Critic asks if he's transforming into Pumbaa.
    Critic as Scrappy: HELLO, TIMON! I'VE COME TO EAT YOUR SOUL!
  • In his review of Osmosis Jones, after seeing a scene that's freakishly similar to one in Inside Out, Pissed Off claims he smells a spin-off for the Critic's other emotions and another "original Disney Classic"; "Kimba the White Liar", and shows the emotions from Inside Out alongside the characters from The Lion King. Later in the same review, when the film sets up a scene that the music indicates is supposed to be emotional but falls flat due to Bill Murray's acting, the Critic really gets hung up over the fact that Frank ate a cheeto (actually a circus peanut) near the end of it, and parodies it by acting out some lines from The Lion King where Mufasa dies while simulatenously stuffing his face with a mound of crackers.
  • In his review of The Jungle Book (2016), Critic references the film during the scene where Mowgli hides from Shere Khan in a stampede of water buffalo.
    Critic as Shere Khan: Hmm, I saw another Disney film like this. Doesn't end well for the cat.
  • In his review of The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones, when the Flintstones' shower, consisting of an elephant using its trunk to provide the water, is cold, Wilma decides that she will have the plumber bring in a new elephant the next day, prompting the Critic to worry what they do with the old elephants, showing an image of the elephant graveyard from The Lion King.
  • In his review of Mulan II, the Critic brands Mushu as the film's villain, to the point where even Scar would call him a psycho.
  • In his review of The Rugrats Movie, the Critic notes that David Spade and Whoopi Goldberg were the respective voices of Ranger Frank and Ranger Margaret, and says that he imagined a different animated mashup between the two actors. The image he shows is one of Shenzi about to eat Kuzco in his llama form.
• The React channel features the movie several times in their "Do They Know It?" and "Try Not To..." challenges.
• SF Debris uses the song "Circle of Life" to emphasise the predatory nature of mutant serial killer Tooms in his reviews of The X-Files episodes "Squeeze" and "Tooms".
• In the SuperMarioLogan episode, "Bowser Junior's Nintendo 3DS", when Junior shows off his Game Boy Advance SP to Joseph and Cody, the game he has on it is the Licensed Game for The Lion King 1 ½. He then tells them that the movie's title is misleading, due to the movie being a P.O.V. Sequel focusing on Timon and Pumbaa rather than taking place in between the first and second movies, and that the movie should have been called The Lion King From the Perspective of Timon and Pumbaa. Cody then questions why Disney didn't just call the movie The Timon and Pumbaa Movie.
• In one episode of The Tourettes Guy, Danny's son is watching the film while Danny himself is cussing people out on the phone in the next room. Danny's conversation syncs up surprisingly well during the scenes where Scar kills Mufasa, Adult Simba dries off after a swim in the water hole, and when Mufasa's Spirit talks to Adult Simba.
• The Stinger of the Ultra Fast Pony episode "Makin' Babies" shows Filly Rarity being dragged to her destiny and lamenting that it isn't Pride Rock, just "regular rock".

Web Comics

• Knights of Buena Vista is a Campaign Comic covering mainly Disney Animated Canon films. The Lion King is noted as a Noodle Incident, when Mary admitted one of her biggest screw-ups was nearly causing the extinction of all creatures in The Pride Lands.

Western Animation

• In the OneHundredAndOneDalmatianStreet episode “Power to the Puppies”, Diesel gives out a speech that sounds similar to the one Scar gave out during “Be Prepared”.
• In the American Dad! episode "Stan Knows Best", Stan reminisces of the time when he and Hayley actually loved each other and remembers her sucking on a Lion King blanket.
• A Cold Open for Animaniacs had a parody called "The Tiger Prince", with Yakko in the role of Rafiki. In the end Yakko holds up the Tiger Prince high in the air on "Pride Rock" with all the other animals cheering...only to have Yakko accidentally drop him.
  Yakko: I thought they were supposed to land on their feet.
• The Critic:
  • In "Sherman, Woman, and Child", when Jay first meets Alice Tomkins and her daughter, Penny, Penny tells Jay, "You didn't like The Lion King! You're mean!" and punches him in the nose. When Alice scolds Penny, Jay tells her, "It's all right. Rex Reed did the same thing."
  • In "From Chunk to Hunk", Jay reviews The Cockroach King. In the following clip, a parody of "Circle of Life" is shown, in which New York City wildlife (sewer alligators, pigeons, alley cats, seagulls, rats, and so on) gather in front of a crate to be shown their new king, a cockroach voiced by Howard Stern.
• The Drawn Together episode "Clum Babies" has Wooldoor lifting his first "clum baby" into the air while the other housemates bow in respect.
  • In "Gay Bash", Foxxy tells Xandir that "everything the light touches is gay" while African chanting is heard in the background.
• DuckTales (2017): Ponce de Leon, the Villain of the Week in " The Forbidden Fountain of the Foreverglades!", is an anthropomorphic lion who bears some similarities with Scar, namely having a dark mane, a pointed snout, protruding claws, and Ax-Crazy Manipulative Bastard nature.
• The Family Guy episode "Peter Problems" features a parody where a monkey lifts a lion cub in the air from atop Pride Rock, followed by Peter showing up with a forklift lifting another cub up to a higher height. Two giraffes then comment on when the bris will take place.
• Gargoyles: In "Awakening: Part 4", while Hudson is quickly moving through channels on television, one of them shows the introduction of The Lion King with Rafiki lifting Simba alongside Mufasa and Sarabi.
• In the King of the Hill episode "Won't You Pimai Neighbor?", Hank is talking to a Buddhist monk who only speaks back to him in koans. Hank remarks that he "sounds like a song from The Lion King".
• The Looney Tunes Show: In the "Daffy Duck: The Wizard" Merrie Melodies music video (part of "Sunday Night Slice"), one of the frozen beasts that Daffy roasts resembles Pumbaa.
• The Loud House: In "Ties That Bind", the double-exposed shot of Lincoln sadly walking down the hall parodies the shot where Simba runs across the desert on his way back home.
• The MAD sketch Avaturd has Jake Smelly being named king of the Na'vi for saving them, where Rafiki promptly shows up to lift him into the air.
• Phineas and Ferb:
  • "On the Savannah" is a direct parody of Circle of Life.
  • Early on in "Everything's Better With Perry" from the Made-for-TV Movie, Phineas recreates the exaltation of baby Simba with Perry in his arms.
• The Pinky and the Brain episode "Brain's Song" had the mice subjected to a sadness experiment by watching a parody of the scene where Simba finds Mufasa's dead body, giving Brain inspiration for his next scheme.
• Robot Chicken:
  • A sketch from "May Cause An Excess of Ham" involves a wildebeest couple running over Mufasa. The wife, feeling emotional guilt, thinks it a good idea to leave a note informing Simba that they accidentally ran over Mufasa, to which Zazu agrees.
  • A sketch from "May Cause Internal Diarrhea" has Mufasa appear as one of the inhabitants of the Heaven for dead Disney parents.
• Runaway Brain: Zazu makes two quick cameos.
• The Simpsons:
  • In "Round Springfield", Bleeding Gums Murphy appears in the sky after his death. Mufasa the lion too, in reference to a similar scene in The Lion King, and says: "You must avenge my death, Kimba- I mean "Simba", in reference to the controversy that The Lion King was a rip-off of Osamu Tezuka's Kimba the White Lion.
  • In "Simpson Safari", the African sun rising, accompanied by African chanting, is a direct reference to the opening scene of the movie.
  • The episode "Girls Just Want to Have Sums" opens with the Simpsons attending the Itchy & Scratchy musical Stab-A-Lot, which is a parody of the stage musical version of The Lion King.
• South Park: In the episode "Where's My Country Gone", Cartman and the other kids are discussing how to prevent an uprising from Canada against the U.S. Their plan involves having one of them date a Canadian to bring the two sides together. Cartman tries to remember a similar scenario he heard in a story, and the way he describes it sounds like he's alluding to Romeo and Juliet. But then Butters asks if he means Lion King II, to which Cartman says yes. Later in the same episode, Butters tries approaching a Canadian girl. Because he's nervous and doesn't know what to say, he starts quoting dialogue from the movie word-for-word. Cartman finishes it off with Kovu's "start a pride all our own" line.

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