Characters / Madagascar

This list applies only to the film franchise and its respective canon. For the character traits applicable to the The Penguins of Madagascar canon, go here. For the characters traits applicable to All Hail King Julien, go here.

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Introduced in Madagascar

Alex the Lion

Voiced by: Ben Stiller, Quinn Dempsey-Stiller (child), Wally Wingert (games, The Penguins of Madagascar), Crispin Freeman (games, All Hail King Julien), Tucker Chandler (child; Madagascar: A Little Wild) ^{Foreign VAs}José Garcia (EU French); Ricardo Tejedo, Raúl Anaya (only in Madly Madagascar) (LA Spanish); Artur Żmijewski (movies), Jacek Kopczyński (games), Marcin Mroziński (The Penguins of Madagascar) (Polish)

Alex (born Alakay) is an African lion and the protagonist of the series. Alex is a headstrong, protective, and self-proclaimed leader of his friends. He is best friends with Marty (Zebra). He is used to the life of comfort in the zoo but learns to adapt to the wild. He is smart, quick thinking, and fast on his feet. He is a dancer by nature, often impressing others with his aerobatic feats. He does tend to be a little self-absorbed, often not seeing the problems of others above his own.

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• All Animals Are Domesticated: An aversion is used as one of the film's main plotlines. Alex is mostly harmless when locked in the zoo and given enough meat. He is even still sane when thrown in the wild for a day. However, that doesn't hide the fact he is a freaking lion, who's an obligate carnivore; he will have to hunt meat if he wants to survive. So come the first several days and his instinct activates...
• Art Evolution: As the animation improved in the sequels, Alex's mane became noticeably puffier. Also, from Escape 2 Africa onwards, he has an Africa-shaped birthmark on his right paw.^note  In-Universe, it was always there, but the only reason it was absent in the first film and Merry Madagascar was because that part of the story hadn't been thought of yet.
• Attention Whore: It is very obvious in the first movie that he loves being the center of attention.
• Butt Biter: Bites Marty on the butt, thinking he is a giant steak, and leaves a visible mark afterward.
• Butt-Monkey: Gets put through many injuries in the first movie.
• Camp Straight: Alex is quite flamboyant and loves to dance, but is in a relationship with Gia.
• Characterization Marches On: In the first film, he seems to have an aversion to water. In the second film, however, this seems to be toned down, and he's even shown swimming in the third film.
• Distinguishing Mark: A birthmark shaped like Africa on his right paw that he gets from his father.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric — passionate, takes the lead, but tends to be egotistical and expects complete devotion.
• Funny Animal: He walks on two legs and is more anthropomorphic than most other characters.
• Game Face: When Alex "discovers" himself, his face becomes more eager.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Marty; their friendship is central to the first movie's plot.
• Horror Hunger: His appetite for meat (and the realization that his friends are made of meat) is one of the main sources of conflict in the first movie.
• Ink-Suit Actor: He is basically Ben Stiller as a lion.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Being the most childlike of the quartet, he has the right coloring.
• It's All About Me: His idea of a birthday gift is to give them his own merch.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Alex may be full of himself and have a full-blown case of Attention Whore, but he still cares deeply about his friends and family.
• Keet: Loud, hyperactive, and somewhat flamboyant.
• King of Beasts: In the first movie, he is referred to as "the King of New York". The second movie reveals that he is the son of the leader of a lion pride.
• Large Ham: Alex has a very theatrical side to his personality.
• Leader Wannabe: In Europe's Most Wanted. The fact that he is technically the leader does not mean that others respect him (especially the members of the circus).
• Manchild: He has a habit of sucking his thumb in his sleep and seems to have a connection to his 'foofie' baby blanket, as revealed in the second film.
• The Merch: In-Universe example. Alex is quite popular in Central Park.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Alex is actually a friendly and caring guy despite the fact he can be a self-loving narcissist sometimes.
• Never My Fault: Of a different stripe than Marty. While Alex is right that Marty leaving the zoo is the cause of what got them transferred, he seems to put the blame solely on Marty's shoulders and seems to willfully ignore the fact that by insisting to Melman and Gloria they go after him, they only exacerbated the problem and got transferred too. Indeed, Alex creates far more unrest with the public running around than Marty ever does, and it is implied the mass breakout is specifically what convinced the humans to go through with the transfer.
• Pretty Boy: Even though he is a lion, Alex fits the bill. At one point in Escape 2 Africa, Skipper refers to him by this nickname, and in the opening scene, young Gloria admits that she thinks young Alex is "kind of cute".
• Reluctant Psycho: Once his hunting instincts show through in the first film, he isolates himself from his friends to avoid hurting them. He gets better when the penguins feed him sushi.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: As a cub.
• Sanity Slippage: Alex is an obvious carnivore, but he never harmed any of the other animals while in the zoo because food was always given to him. While in Madagascar, his craving for meat grows stronger and stronger, and eventually, his predatory nature comes out. Once he finds an alternate food source than steak and his friends, he regains his bearings.
• Super-Strength: He was fully capable of ripping a telephone box off the handle. In the climax, he could knock away a large group of fossa in one blow, as well as carry Marty, Melman, and Gloria all at the same time.
• Took a Level in Badass: Alex started quite inept when thrown out of the zoo. Come the third movie, he is not only able to survive, he even chooses to not go back.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Europe's Most Wanted has Alex shown more positive-minded and willing to help anyone in need. One example has him convincing Vitaly into getting Back in the Saddle, compared to how he doesn't bother much with giving Marty a pep-talk about his wish in the first movie.
• Top-Heavy Guy: He has a large upper body, and short legs.
• Trademark Favorite Food: In the first movie, he loved steak to the point where, when he went savage from hunger, he started seeing everyone as giant steaks. By the end, however, he stops eating steak altogether in favor of fish.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: In Escape 2 Africa, Alex strives to show his father he is a real lion.
• Would Hit a Girl: He is not shy about hitting a psychotic old lady. To be fair, the old lady hit first.

Marty the Zebra

Voiced by: Chris Rock, Thomas Stanley (child), Phil LaMarr (games), Amir O'Neil (child; Madagascar: A Little Wild) ^{Foreign VAs}Alfonso Obregón Inclán (LA Spanish); Klaudiusz Kaufmann (Polish)

Marty is a plains zebra who used to live at the Central Park Zoo, and is a good friend of Alex. Marty is a hopeless optimist; he usually sees the brighter side of many things, taking every situation in stride. He has black and white stripes, a furry coat, a mane, and a tufted tail. Marty is best friends with Alex and the two are rarely at odds. His carefree lifestyle tends to get on the nerves of his friends, but mostly serves to impress them; he is the one who helps hold the group together when things seem to get down.

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• Anthropomorphic Zig-Zag: He walks quadrupedally throughout most of the movie, but he stands up on his hind legs when he is excited.
• Character Catchphrase: "Crack-a-lackin!"
• Decoy Protagonist: Of sorts. The beginning of the film makes it seem like the movie is about Marty and his curiosity about life in the wild. After the group get stuck in the wild, the movie then turns out to be more about Alex and his struggle to stay away from his wild, carnivorous instincts. Alex then remains the central focus for the rest of the trilogy.
• Demoted to Comic Relief: He had a significant role in the first two films of the series, but in the third film, he turned completely into the comic relief and had no significant role in the plot.
• Deuteragonist: He is the secondary main character of the first film.
• Fearless Fool: He is not afraid of going out into the wild, or Connecticut.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine — cheerful, positive, and fun, sometimes rebellious and very talkative.
• Flanderization: In the first two films, Marty had a slightly more unhinged side that occasionally showed itself, but he was otherwise stable and able to take things seriously when required. In Europe's Most Wanted, his more sensible and sensitive attributes are downplayed and his crazier side is played up a lot more, and he actively sabotages the mission multiple times because of it.
• Fun Personified: Marty is the only character out of the group who sees the positive of almost every situation and tries to make fun out of it.
• Funny Afro: The infamous rainbow wig. Worn in Europe's Most Wanted and sings a very catchy song about it.
• Gone Horribly Right: He attempts to reach the "wilderness" of Connecticut... only to end up in the certifiably-wild Madagascar. Subverted in that he enjoys it even more; it is just that his friends loathe it (at least initially).
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Alex.
• Hidden Depths: He's extremely good at building with Bamboo Technology: in the first movie, he builds a house with a functional roof and fireplace (which also would have had plumbing installed later) despite not having opposable thumbs.
• I Just Want to Be Special: He feels this way in Escape 2 Africa when he realizes that all zebras look and act like him.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Designed to look like his voice actor Chris Rock.
• Jive Turkey: He has an African-American accent (courtesy of Chris Rock) and uses a lot of unusual slang (his Catchphrase is "Crack-a-lackin'", for a start.
• Keet: Almost as hyperactive as his best friend Alex.
• The Lancer: He jumps at the chance to do something wild and extreme.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: In the third film, he can drive a car in the middle of the action to avoid having the crew captured by the antagonist. Despite being inexperienced in driving, he avoided both accidents and the antagonist.
• Milestone Birthday Angst: The first film begins with him turning 10, which for him is the equivalent of reaching middle-age. The realisation that he might spend his whole life in the zoo without seeing the wider world, and some prodding from the penguins, is what prompts him to escape.
• National Animal Stereotypes: Marty is an African mammal living in America, making him an African-American, and he speaks in a Jive Turkey manner.
• Never My Fault: When the group gets transferred to another zoo, Alex rightfully calls Marty out for abandoning the zoo (which puts the plot in motion). Marty tries to shift the blame off himself by telling Alex that he shouldn't have come up with the idea of finding Marty after he escaped. Which in fairness, is true: if Alex and the others hadn't run off after him, they would not have been transferred alongside him, and in fact it is hinted that because it was a mass breakout the humans transferred them.
• Nice Guy: Marty is polite to most animals, loyal to his friends, and pretty quick to forgive. At the end of the first movie, he is willing to go back to New York just to make Alex happy.
• Out of Focus: Just a supporting deuteragonist in Europe's Most Wanted along with Gloria and Melman.
• Scars Are Forever: After Alex bites him on the butt, Marty retains the bite marks throughout the following movies. Alex even uses them to tell him apart from the other zebras in Escape 2 Africa.
• Surfer Dude: Polish dub changes him into one, replacing his Jive Turkey jargon by making him speak in a Totally Radical manner.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: In Europe's Most Wanted, Marty acts much more Literal-Minded and has several moments of Comically Missing the Point, generally lacking most of the intelligence and self-awareness that he showed in the other films. The mission to get the penguins in Monte Carlo only goes wrong because Marty chooses to start petty arguments with Alex about the group's leadership, something he never would have done in the previous films.
• Undying Loyalty: In the first movie, he went to go save Alex even though he wanted to eat him.
• Uniformity Exception: Marty has a scar on his butt from when Alex bit him in the first movie, which helps the latter pick him apart from the other identical-looking zebras. On a more subtle note, Marty's mohawk is taller and has a black edge, which only one other zebra shares.
• Wolverine Publicity: Other than the penguins, Marty is by far the most publicly advertised character of the series. This is especially noticeable with the marketing for the third film, which heavily emphasised Marty despite him having a much less important role in that film.
• You All Look Familiar: When he was with the zebras in Escape 2 Africa.

Gloria the Hippo

Voiced by: Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith (child), Bettina Bush (games), Shaylin Becton (child; Madagascar: A Little Wild) ^{Foreign VAs}Dulce Guerrero (LA Spanish); Małgorzata Kożuchowska (movies), Monika Kwiatkowska (first game) (Polish)

Gloria is a hippopotamus who resided in the Central Park Zoo as an attraction, all the while being good friends with Alex and Marty, and Melman's girlfriend (as of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa). She has gray skin, a snout, black fingernails, and a short stubby tail. She acts as the older sister to the gang, often putting her foot down when the boys start to lose control.

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• Acrofatic: And how. Just watch her dancing in the credits of the first film, for starters. And in Europe's Most Wanted, she can even balance on a tightrope without the rope snapping on her weight.
• The Big Girl: She uses more physical power than any other member of the group.
• Big Beautiful Woman: According to Smith, she loved Gloria because she was both huge and sexy. Moto Moto also says she is the fattest hippo he has ever met, and from what we see of the reserve's hippo population, he is not lying.
• Big Eater: Hinted. Melman says her favorite breakfast is six loaves of wheat toast, buttered on both sides, with no crusts; however, the films never depict her liking food any more than the other characters. However, she is seen scarfing down mangos in Madly Madagascar
• Big Fun: Gloria is a big hippo, but the other characters are attracted to her and love her personality.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Melman.
• Fat and Proud: Gloria is proud of being a hippo.
• Fat Comic Relief: Defied for the most part. The filmmakers acknowledged that fat jokes directed at an animal that's normally several hundred pounds in real life would be too predictable. A few times her size is the source of a gag but it is pretty rare.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic — friendly and laid-back Team Mom of the group.
• Funny Animal: Always walks on two legs, and she is very anthropomorphic.
• Gentle Giant: She is a chubby hippo with a heart of gold.
• Hartman Hips: Her hips are as wide as her stomach if her dancing gives any idea.
• Heavy Sleeper: Gloria slept through the entire plane crash in Escape 2 Africa, not waking up when the engines exploded, when the plane went into a nosedive, or the crash itself. She only woke up once the plane finally landed.
• Huggy, Huggy Hippos: A hippopotamus who acts as the good-hearted and protective Team Mom to the other zoosters.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Played With. She is much shorter than Melman as he is a giraffe, but she is far, far bulkier than him due to being a hippo.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Cute and slender Jada Pinkett-Smith may not be heavy and fat like Gloria, but her ecstatic smile is still very blatant in that heavily-built hippo.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: In Escape 2 Africa, her butt gets stuck in the airplane door and the chair, though she didn’t even notice the chair. In Madagascar 3, she gets stuck in a pipe and has to be pulled out by Melman.
• Interspecies Romance: She (a hippopotamus) becomes an Official Couple with Melman (a giraffe) in Escape 2 Africa.
• Lightning Bruiser: Despite her massive bulk, she is quite capable of running quickly (as accurate for her species). This is especially true in the video games, where jalapenos can cause her to run at much higher speeds than hippos are physically capable of.
• Living Emotional Crutch: In Melman's love confession to Gloria in Escape 2 Africa, he tells her that she was the one thing that kept him going while they were at the zoo.
• Love Revelation Epiphany: It is not until she finds out Melman is in love with her that she realizes she loves him too.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Masculine Girl to Melman's Feminine Boy.
• Ms. Fanservice: Invoked/Parodied. A lot of the time, her butt is clearly visible and her curvy figure is played up.
• National Animal Stereotypes: A large African mammal portrayed as a Sassy Black Woman.
• Nice Girl: Quite the caring sort. She serves as the Team Mom of the group.
• Oblivious to Love: She never realized Melman loved her until he indirectly confessed during her failed date with Moto Moto, though to her credit, Melman never openly flirted with her.
• Official Couple: With Melman, from Escape 2 Africa onward.
• Only Sane Woman: She usually acts as the voice of reason to her more quirky male friends.
• Out of Focus: Just a supporting deuteragonist in the third film along with Marty and Melman.
• Sassy Black Woman: Voiced by African American actress Jada Pinkett-Smith.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Gloria becomes a couple with Melman, the giraffe who knows everything about her and only wants her happy, instead of Moto-Moto, the hippopotamus who was only interested in her body.
• The Smurfette Principle: She is the only female in the main quartet (and the only major female until the sequels came along).
• Super-Strength: True to her species, she is a powerhouse that can smash right through brick walls in a snap.
• Team Mom: The girl that holds all of the main cast together. Her voice actress has even commented on this, stating that Gloria "sees the rest of the group as being like her kids".
• Trademark Favorite Food: In the tie-in games, she really loves jalapeno peppers, which allow her to charge forwards at high speeds and destroy anything she hits when consumed.
• Women Are Wiser: She is usually the only major female character in the franchise and she is generally more down-to-earth and level-headed than her friends.

Melman the Giraffe

Voiced by: David Schwimmer, Zachary Gordon (child), Stephen Stanton (games), Luke Lowe (child; Madagascar: A Little Wild) ^{Foreign VAs}Ricardo Mendoza (LA Spanish); Piotr Adamczyk (movies), Jacek Bończyk (first game), Tomasz Bednarek (second game) (Polish)

Melman Mankiewicz III is a male reticulated giraffe. He has a furry coat, whiskers, a snout, a long neck, brown spots, horns, and a tufted tail. He is somewhat of a hypochondriac, having doses of medicine for meals and doctor's appointments frequently. He even complains about having brown spots on his neck (the spots, in real life, are natural).

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• Ambiguously Jewish: His surname is Mankiewicz.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Does a sudden love confession to Gloria when the plane he boards in is about to crash land. Cut to Gloria sleeping and Alex and Marty's puzzling gazes.
• Butt-Monkey: He is a clumsy, paranoid, and neurotic coward played by the actor of Ross Geller, so this trope is naturally given one for a guy like him.
• Camp Straight: Effeminate, does manicure/pedicure, and is generally neurotic on everything. And, yet, Escape 2 Africa reveals that he has been in love with Gloria since childhood.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Gloria. Escape 2 Africa established that Melman had a crush on Gloria since they were little.
• The Eeyore: Melman is often the sad-sack of the group, especially in the second movie when Gloria was in a relationship with someone else.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic — paranoid, insecure, polite, constantly nervous, panicky and a bit shy.
• Genial Giraffe: This giraffe is one of the main protagonists, and he is very kindhearted and gentle.
• Gentle Giant: The tallest of the quartet and a sweetie.
• The Heart: He is very sensitive.
• Hypochondria: Melman's biggest character flaw due is how obsessive he gets about his medical health. He is scared of contracting any deadly diseases and being without medicine or medical equipment like a CAT scan.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Since he is voiced by David Schwimmer, he is basically Ross Geller as a giraffe.
• Interspecies Romance: He (a giraffe) becomes an Official Couple with Gloria (a hippopotamus) in Escape 2 Africa.
• The Klutz: He trips almost everywhere he goes with his long legs.
• Long Neck: Being a giraffe, it's justified. That said, however, his neck is exaggeratedly crooked.
• Lovable Coward: He is so afraid of everything that he is loved even by Gloria.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Feminine Boy to Gloria's Masculine Girl.
• The Medic: He knows all about vaccinations and diseases and becomes the reserve’s witch doctor thanks to all his medical know-how.
• Nearly Normal Animal: He can't stand upright like the other animals.
• Nervous Wreck: He's very anxious, a major hypochondriac, and in the first movie, after he finds out he's getting transferred from the Central Park Zoo, he panics about his medical appointments.
• Never My Fault: Shows shades of this when he tries to call out Marty for telling them his wish, noting he's not supposed to do that. When Marty points out he and the others goaded him to do so, Melman responds in a sneering "Yeah, okay(!)" Also, after Alex's melodramatic reaction to the Lady Liberty beacon being burnt down, Melman, who burned it down in the first place, albeit unintentionally and after Alex made him try to start a fire, deadpanly wonders if they can go to the fun side.
• Nice Guy: He is very soft-hearted, loyal, and quite polite.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Besides resembling his voice actor David Schwimmer, he also seems to be inspired by Woody Allen, if being nerdy, neurotic, and Ambiguously Jewish is any indication.
• Non-Standard Character Design: In Escape 2 Africa, Melman's exaggerated, cartoony proportions stand out a lot compared to the (marginally) more realistic ones of the other giraffes.
• Official Couple: With Gloria, by the end of Escape 2 Africa.
• Out of Focus: Just a supporting deuteragonist in the Europe's Most Wanted along with Gloria and Marty.
• Sickly Neurotic Geek: Very much so — he constantly worries about his health and takes a lot of medication.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Melman has only been in love with Gloria and only her.
• Super Gullible: He always falls for anything that he believes will cure his problems instantly.
• Terrified of Germs: Melman is oddly scared of sickness such as Lyme Disease and yet he washes his face with a urinal and mistakes a urinal cake for a mint.
• Toothy Bird: A mammalian variant. He has comically large buck teeth (befitting his dorky personality), even though real giraffes completely lack upper incisors.

The Penguins

Skipper Voiced by: Tom McGrath ^{Foreign VAs}Mario Arvizu (LA Spanish); Grzegorz Pawlak (Polish)
Kowalski Voiced by: Chris Miller ^{Foreign VAs}Idzi Dutkiewicz (LA Spanish); Jacek Lenartowicz (Polish)
Rico Voiced by: Jeffrey Katzenberg (first film, uncredited), John DiMaggio (Christmas Caper, second and third films), Conrad Vernon (Penguins of Madagascar) ^{Foreign VAs}José Luis Orozco (LA Spanish); Janusz Zadura (second and third film, Christmas Caper and Penguins of Madagascar), Paweł Galia (first game), Janusz Wituch (first film) (Polish)
Private Voiced by: Christopher Knights ^{Foreign VAs}José Antonio Macías (LA Spanish); Tomasz Steciuk (Polish)

A four-man penguin group that often helps out the main characters, and at times winds up overshadowing them. They consist of Skipper, the group's leader, Kowalski, the brains of the group, Rico, who has the ability to upchuck whatever they need at the moment, and Private, the comic relief.

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• Ascended Extra: Skipper is the only member to speak many lines in the first film. All four penguins speak many lines in the sequels.
• Ax-Crazy: All four have many screws loose and are extremely violent, but Rico in particular is very clearly the craziest and most unhinged of the bunch. They have also been called psychotic on more than one occasion.
• Badass Adorable: They are cute little penguins who can be dangerous when provoked (and even when unprovoked).
• Badass Bookworm: Kowalski — though, ironically, he cannot read.
• Badass Crew: All of them pull their own weight and are nothing to sneeze at when united — they broke into Fort Knox just to celebrate Private's birthday, where even their goal was to just steal publicly-discontinued snacks.
• Big Brother Instinct: All of them towards Private.
• Big Damn Heroes: In all three movies, no less!
• Big Good: Despite their various quirks, they are certainly the most competent out of the cast, always the ones responsible for getting the plot going, generally the ones solving the 'bigger' problems (stealing the tanker ship and satisfying Alex's hunger in 1, fixing the plane in 2, and actually running the Circus in 3, though the monkeys helped with the latter two), and are always Big Damn Heroes in all three movies (or at least leading the charge).
• Breakout Characters: They got their own TV series and movie. They weren't even billed as main characters in the first movie.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: By any objective standard, they are completely insane, yet they are also extremely competent — hijacking a container ship, fixing an ancient airplane with wood and creepers, then building a new flying machine out of the remains, and cobbling together a nuclear reactor? All easy.
• Butt-Monkey: Private, being the youngest and least competent (at first glance) of the team, often ends up as the butt of the jokes.
• Cartoon Penguin: The penguins are not supposed to be any particular species, just a generic kind with black with white bellies and faces, orange bills, and feet.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Nothing will cause these penguins to lose their cool (except for Private sometimes).
• Characterization Marches On: Private and Rico in particular. Private was depicted as not being all there and Rico was simply the strong silent type (and possibly a foreign agent with his sushi skills and only saying Hai). Starting with Merry Madagascar, the series instead showed Rico as the one not being all there while Private was simply the nice guy.
• Character Tics: Kowalski has a habit of repeatedly tapping whatever it is he wants someone else to see or read instead of simply pointing to it.
• Comedic Sociopathy: Except for Private, the suffering of others tends to amuse them, particularly Skipper. This and their antics are invariably Played for Laughs.
• Destructive Saviour: They are generally the good guys... and they cause mayhem wherever they go, generally leaving a trail of burning rubble in their wake. So far, the destruction includes but is not limited to: one massive transport ship, one passenger plane (twice), at least half a dozen jeeps, the North Wind's 90 million dollar jet, a modified RV, and a Monaco casino.
• Determinator: The penguins will stop at absolutely nothing to achieve their goals. Their very first scene has them digging an escape tunnel through concrete with plastic spoons.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Private goes through this in Penguins of Madagascar, wanting to be recognized as a meaningful and valued member of the team.
• Everyone Has Standards: Skipper led Gloria and Melman to believe that they killed the ship crew and ate them alive for a hot second, until he revealed that they simply placed them on a life boat heading to China. They are willing to knock them out, but are not monsters to leave them for dead.
• Fantastic Racism: Mild case as the Penguins (especially Skipper) look down on non-Avian species but not in a harmful way; just an annoying air of superiority. And they clearly have a low opinion of humans.
• Flanderization: Rico coughs up a paperclip and a cherry in the first movie. He coughs up a stick of dynamite in the Christmas short, but still realistically struggles, only to be dropped in the second film. The third features a few more Bag of Holding stomach gags as started by the Operation Penguin game and popularized by The Penguins of Madagascar, which had aired since then, and then Penguins of Madagascar takes this gag to the extreme.
• The Heart: Private is the cutest, kindest, and often most sane of the team.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: They are generally good guys, but they absolutely do not care who they have to hurt to achieve their goals — sometimes they even prefer using brute force.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: Rico. He keeps a lot of items in his mouth, which he hurls out when needed. Or rather, he regurgitates. He basically just pukes the stuff up whenever they need it.
• Indy Ploy: The penguins show a remarkable talent for rapid and effective improvisation if caught off-guard or when their initial plans fall apart. The Penguins of Madagascar film is almost entirely based on the team's ability to deal with sudden problems, starting from their earliest days to the present day of the story.
• Informed Species: Despite being officially classed as Adelie penguins, they more closely resemble chinstrap penguins, except they lack the signature stripe and have orange feet and beaks instead of pink and black ones.
• Interspecies Romance: In Merry Madagascar, Private falls in love with Cupid the reindeer, while Kowalski develops a crush on Eva the snowy owl in Penguins of Madagascar.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As their movie shows. Really, they are not bad peop-err-penguins, just a little psychotic. Also, they love each other and they always help zoosters.
• Killer Rabbits: They may look cute and cuddly, but they are 100% capable of spy ops. And building weapons of mass destruction on a whim. See the Nucular reactor in Europe's Most Wanted.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Private is outright confirmed to be this to the others, especially Skipper in Penguins of Madagascar.
• Love Makes You Dumb: Kowalski, the tall, slender penguin who acts kind of stoic through most of the movies, becomes a bumbling, lovestruck dork around Eva.
• Military Rank Names: Private.
• Minor Major Character: Rico in the first film is the least developed of the four penguins, having no dialog, a very standard design (the movies do not even show his scar), and very little screentime or personality until he begins taking on aspects of his cartoon counterpart in later films.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Penguins of Madagascar shows that penguins in this setting are universally docile and content to adhere to routine. The young Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico found this to be agonizingly boring, and took it upon themselves to rescue a lone penguin egg when the penguin adults just gave a "it can't be helped" response. They successfully performed a daring rescue of said egg, found it to their liking, and then the three (and then-hatched Private) set off for a life of adventure.
• The Nicknamer: Skipper. Except for his crew, he calls no one by their actual name.
• No One Gets Left Behind: The Penguins will do whatever it takes to save a teammate. Private even quotes this in Penguins of Madagascar:
  "Skipper wouldn't care! Plan or no, fancy equipment or no... he'd never leave a man behind!"
• Officer and a Gentleman: Skipper has the mannerisms of one. Whether he qualifies is another matter.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Skipper (as a caricature of the machoistic secret agent archetype) shows shades of this starting with the second movie. He refers to the chimps on strike as commies and in the third, he says the others pillow fight like little girls. He also delivers this gem:
  "I never thought I'd say this on American soil, but the Russkie's right."
• Psycho Knife Nut:
  • The first thing Rico does when Alex questions the penguins' authority is pull a switchblade out of nowhere.
  • In "A Christmas Caper", he plays a rather intense game of Five-Finger Fillet with a plastic knife at the dinner table, then runs his flipper down the blade with an interesting face.
• The Quiet One: Rico zigzags this across the franchise. Sometimes he is The Unintelligible, sometimes he gives one response at random, and the The Christmas Caper, he expressed his one-episode-only pyromania with repeated queries of "kaboom?"
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Skipper is The Leader and by far the best fighter in the team.
• Running Gag: Private getting slapped in the head, usually due to fumbling a high five.
• Small Role, Big Impact: The events of the whole franchise are kicked off by them accidentally tunneling into Marty's enclosure and planting the idea of leaving the zoo in the zebra's head. While they become much more prominent in later films, in Madagascar they are relatively minor characters.
• The Smart Guy: Collectively whenever they work with the Zoosters, as they have the most technical know-how and make the best plans. From the team itself, Kowalski fits the bill, as Skipper always asks him for vital information, and more often than not, Kowalski delivers.
• Token Good Teammate: While none of them are evil, they are quite big jerks except for the naive and kind-hearted Private.
• True Companions:
  • Penguins of Madagascar shows how strong the bond between them is, to the point where they consider themselves "brothers".
  • They do grow to care about the zoosters after everything they go through together. Skipper fully intended to retrieve the crew from Africa as he promised, quickly accepted what seemed to be a sincere apology from them for ruining their Monte Carlo heist, and eventually led the circus in rescuing them.
• The Rival: The 2009 Christmas Special Merry Madagascar reveals that the team have a long history with Santa's reindeer and have an intense rivalry. While Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico show disdain for the entire team, Private holds no ill will with Cupid and develops a sweet relationship with her. When Cupid and Private wish each other goodbye on Christmas Day, Private is visibly saddened to see her leave.
• Victory Is Boring: In the first movie, the Penguins are trying to get to Antarctica, and eventually succeed when they hijack the freighter that the rest of the zoo animals are on. When they reach Antarctica, they find it a completely frozen wasteland with nothing to do but stare at an iceberg, so they use the freighter to go to Madagascar, where Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria all wound up.
  Private: [Beat] Well, this sucks.
• The Worf Effect: In the original trilogy, they hijack a ship, beat Nana, and launch DuBois, all without breaking a sweat. Even in their own movie, they effortlessly break into Fort Knox. After that point, they struggle a lot more to take down their opponents, with Dave beating them more easily and the North Wind upstaging them.

King Julien

Voiced by: Sacha Baron Cohen (the three major films), Danny Jacobs (TV shows, specials, games and Penguins of Madagascar) ^{Foreign VAs}Mario Filio (LA Spanish); Jarosław Boberek (Polish)

King Julien XIII is an eccentric, fun-loving, and somewhat self-important ring-tailed lemur. As a self-proclaimed lord of the lemurs, Julien ruled over a great colony of lemurs in Madagascar using mostly his charisma and delegating, i.e. telling other people what they should do since he certainly had very little ability to lead. Nevertheless, he shows more intelligence and calmness compared to the other lemurs (aside from Maurice), which is shown when the very word "Fossa" drives all of them, except himself and Maurice, into a state of panic. He had parties for his people in Madagascar with much frequency.

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• Animal Gender-Bender: Lemur colonies are matriarchal.
• Authority in Name Only: Starting with the second movie, he continues to refer to himself as a king despite leaving his kingdom and having no real royal standing in Africa or anywhere the circus visits.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: The Thin to Maurice's Big and Mort's Short.
• Breakout Character: Julien was actually a minor character in the first film. Fans adored him and his song, and he has since become one of the most popular characters along with the penguins, appearing with them in The Penguins of Madagascar back in Central Park Zoo in place of the main characters, and starring in his own spinoff, All Hail King Julien.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: All Hail King Julien shows that the lemurs consider Julien the best king they have had in years, despite his eccentricities and self-centered nature.
• Camp Straight: He was Ambiguously Gay until the third movie, which gave him Sonya the bear as a love interest.
• Character Signature Song: "I like to move it, move it". While it is not the only song he sings in the franchise, it's the first and most iconic one.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He talks to sky spirits, is very eccentric, and often has no concept of reality in his kingdom.
• Cool Crown: King Julien is constantly exchanging his crowns for larger, more elaborate models based on what he can find. Losing one doesn't bug him, as it is an excuse to trade up for an even bigger one.
  • His most iconic crown is his first crown made of wood and leaves that he gives to Alex as a present at the end of the first movie.
  • His second crown is made entirely out of leaves and, as he is quick to point out, is much taller than his old one, featuring a gecko as the centerpiece. He leaves the gecko in charge of the kingdom in the second movie and loses the crown in a plane crash.
  • He makes a third crown of wood and feathers upon landing in Africa and keeps it for the rest of the movies.
  • He wears an extremely tall wooden tribal crown as part of a volcano sacrifice. This crown seems to be purely ceremonial as he switches back to his feather crown afterward.
• Everyone Has Standards: Julien has a few moments where he does take what’s going on around him seriously, though they’re few and far between. Namely, he tries to tell the chimps to throw them the money when they’re escaping Rome, and later takes part in the rescue operation in New York to save the Zoosters.
• Expy: Very similar to King Louie from The Jungle Book (1967) in that he is an insane primate king who likes to sing and dance.
• Fat and Skinny: With Maurice.
• Flanderization: His selfishness, incompetence, ego, stupidity, and weird accent (although the last one could be chalked up to Danny Jacobs replacing Sacha Baron Cohen in everything outside the main film trilogy).
• Fun Personified: He is a true party animal. Despite being the leader of the lemurs in Madagascar, he seems to be better at leading parties than leading anything else.
• Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: His relationship with Sonya in the third film.
• Hot Guy, Ugly Wife: With Sonya. Although he is more cute and fluffy than "hot", that's still in stark contrast with Sonya, who's a non-anthropomorphic bear.
• Insufferable Imbecile: An extremely self-centered lemur who isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, all things considered.
• Interspecies Romance: With Sonya the bear.
• It's All About Me: Even more so than Alex. Not being the protagonist doesn't help matters.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is egotistical and a bit of a jerk to everyone, especially Mort, but his heart is in the right place, especially when he gives his own crown to Alex in the first film, encourages Melman to tell Gloria how he feels in the second film, and helping the circus animals save the zoo animals in the third film.
• Large Ham: He has lots of this thanks to his dancing skills and charismatic nature.
• The Millstone: For the most part, he has nothing to contribute to the group's plans, and he frequently makes things worse. During the zoosters' attempt to retrieve the penguins and chimps from Monte Carlo, Julien comically draws attention to them with fireworks and loud music while they were trying to remain covert, misses his cue to turn off the lights (before rapidly flickering them on and off like a rave), and opens the van door while the group is being chased by DuBois (which gets him tranquilized and woozy for the rest of the scene).
• Obfuscating Stupidity: The ending of the first film implies this may be the case for Julien. May. The second film also hints at this, as he cannily manipulates the panicking savannah animals into sacrificing Melman (who, to be fair, volunteered) "before [they] come to [their] senses".
• Plucky Comic Relief: Although all characters in the movies are comedic to some extent, Julien steals every scene he appears in.
• Spanner in the Works: In Europe's Most Wanted, he wanders back to the circus tent in a tranquilized stupor after being shot by Dubois outside the Zoo in New York in an attempt to atone with Sophia without any knowledge from the Animal Control that he left. The penguins find the dart sticking out of his tail and begin constructing the Afro Circus for their rescue attempt, fully aware that the Zoosters are in danger.
• The Starscream: Played for Laughs in the second film. The moment he arrives on the reserve, he declares himself the new ruler and thinks they have happily accepted him as such (Maurice quips that it is a non-hostile takeover). He spends the rest of the film trying to amass a following among the animals.
• Those Two Guys: With Maurice — though by the third film, he is clearly hoping his liege will do him a favor and die.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: With Sonya in the third film. He is a small ringtail lemur, while Sonya is a large brown bear.
• Upper-Class Twit: He is a king with no physical knowledge other than knowledge of the Sky Spirits.
• Vocal Evolution: Danny Jacobs' voice for the character gradually evolved over time to becoming closer to Sasha Baron Cohen's original delivery, with Julien's accent becoming less pronounced and his voice becoming slightly higher-pitched.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: Julien speaks with a sort of Indian-meets-African accent. According to Sascha Baron Cohen, it was inspired off of his Sri Lankan lawyer.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: When Jumping Out of a Cake, he wears a coconut bra and a grass skirt.
• Wolverine Publicity: Has appeared in almost everything from the Madagascar film series.

Maurice

Voiced by: Cedric the Entertainer ^{Foreign VAs}Armando Réndiz (LA Spanish); Wojciech Paszkowski (Polish)

Maurice is a "big boned" (overweight) aye-aye; he is King Julien's advisor — not that Julien ever listens to him — and is highly skeptical of his ruler's mad plans.

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• Beleaguered Assistant: Due to Julien often mistreating him, he is thrown into this category.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: The Big to King Julien's Thin and Mort's Short.
• Deadpan Snarker: As he is much saner than Julien and the other lemurs, he often makes sarcastic comments about them.
• Demoted to Extra: Gets hit hard by this after the first movie. In the original, he was a supporting but nonetheless well-defined character, since he served as the Foil and the Hypercompetent Sidekick to King Julien, and like the latter, he was involved in the plot. In the sequels (especially the third film), however, Maurice loses any agency and personality of his own and becomes little more than a Yes-Man to Julien. With that said, he does play a major role in the spin-offs.
• Fat and Skinny: The fat to Julien's skinny.
• Hyper Competent Side Kick: He is a lot more intelligent than his boss, and he's the only lemur who recognizes Alex as a potential threat. Subverted in the sequels.
• Informed Species: The main indicators that he's an aye-aye are his big ears, grayish-brown fur, and long, bushy tail, but otherwise, he lacks many of the features real aye-ayes have, most notably their long, creepy-looking fingers and rodent-like buckteeth.
• Only Sane Man: Among the lemurs, anyway, being the one to point out that Alex is a predator. However, considering that his fellow lemurs are either idiots or varying degrees of insane, he pretty much has this by default. In the sequels he’s definitely this compared to Julien and Mort; in the third film he’s the only one who’s actually trying to help Alex’s plan to retrieve the penguins and later keeping watch during the street chase.
• Servile Snarker: He is a loyal servant to King Julien despite being much smarter and snarkier than him.
• Stealth Pun: He is an aye-aye that spends most of his time being Julien's yes-man (in the sequels, at least).
• Straight Man: He is a serious foil to the insane King Julien.
• The Starscream: Subtly implied. When it appears Julien has fallen to his death early in 3, he starts to break into a smile, only to scowl in disappointment when it is revealed that he survived.
• Those Two Guys: With Julien.
• Yes-Man: In the sequels he mostly goes along with whatever Julien says due to not having anything else better to do, plus usually Julien will include Maurice in whatever benefits he’s reaping from a situation such as first class on the airplane.

Mort

Voiced by: Andy Richter ^{Foreign VAs}José Antonio Macías (LA Spanish); Tomasz Bednarek (films and TV series), Cezary Kwieciński (first game), Tomasz Steciuk (second game) (Polish)

Mort is a small cute and cuddly goodman's mouse lemur. Though quite timid, Mort can also be shrill and vocal in confrontations.

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• Ascended Extra: After being a One-Scene Wonder minor character in the first film, he has a bigger role in the first sequel.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: The Short to Maurice's Big and King Julien's Thin.
• Butt-Monkey: He gets chewed out by Julien, chased by a shark, and berated by the circus animals.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He dreams about feet and King Julien at night.
• Cute Critters Act Childlike: He is a young adult lemur with the face of a cuddly baby.
• Determinator: He doesn't let the fact that he missed the plane keep him from following Julien to Africa.
• The Ditz: He loves feet and has the worst brainpower of the lemurs.
• Eldritch Abomination: While the main trilogy and The Penguins of Madagascar TV series primarily depict him as an unnerving yet mortal Manchild, the later spinoff series All Hail King Julien ultimately reveals Mort to be a powerful, deathless being who has implicitly existed for millennia and wields the ability to absorb the souls of other beings (including divergent incarnations of himself from parallel universes) into his mind.
• Fearless Fool: Mostly in Madagascar 2, where he holds on to the wing of the airplane without worrying that he will fall off (which he does), and is only mildly scared when an enormous Great White Shark lunges at him.
• Flanderization: In the films, Mort liking King Julien's feet is nothing but a passing joke in the first movie, but in All Hail King Julien and The Penguins of Madagascar, he has a complete obsession with them, to the point that he can tear down a tree in his sleep to get to them.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Julien and Maurice both find him quite hard to deal with at times.
• Made of Iron: His immunity to pain has been shown multiple times throughout the series.
• Older Than They Look: According to the movie commentary, he is actually an adult — mouse lemurs all look like babies.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Apparently even more so than Private as seen in the end of the Penguins of Madagascar Movie, where he was used to power the machine to restore Private to normal. He still had side-effects...just not as noticeable as Private's Butt-hand during its first use.
• Undying Loyalty: Mort could quite possibly be King Julien's most loyal and obsessive follower.

Mason and Phil

Voiced by: Conrad Vernon (Mason) ^{Foreign VAs}Salvador Delgado (Mason; LA Spanish); Arkadiusz Jakubik (Mason; first and second films), Paweł Galia (Mason; third film), Jacek Lenartowicz (Mason; second game) (Polish)

Mason and Phil are two sophisticated common chimpanzees at the Central Park Zoo, who prefer to drink cups of coffee and "read" the newspaper in the morning. Mason speaks with a stereotypical British accent, while Phil doesn't speak and communicates through American Sign Language. While Mason is unable to read, Phil can and is used to decipher writing while Mason translates the ASL.

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• Ambiguously Gay: The full extent of their relationship is never disclosed. Made even more ambiguous when Skipper says he could kiss Mason to express his gratitude. Mason then kisses him without hesitation, with his only complaint being that he finds Skipper "so ugly".
• Ascended Extra: Their screentime is fairly minimal throughout the series, but their role becomes more important in the later movies, being responsible for repairing the plane in 2 and pretending to be a human to represent the animals in 3.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Request maternity leave... despite them both being males. Skipper points this out... after taking a moment to check.
• Deadpan Snarker: Mason has quite a few witty and cynical comments.
• Drunk on Milk: Phil drinks Root Beer in the first movie, and generally acts hungover while in his zoo habitat.
• Four-Fingered Hands: Averted for the sake of Phil's sign language.
• Intelligent Primate: Subverted with Mason because while he talks like a stereotypical British gentleman, he is actually illiterate. Phil, on the other hand, is not only capable of reading but can speak fluent sign language.
• Mischief-Making Monkey: Downplayed. They're generally friendly and civil, but they occasionally like to cause trouble, like going to throw poo at Tom Wolfe in the first movie or wrecking their hotel room with the penguins in the third.
• Never Learned to Read: Mason is illiterate. Phil, on the other hand, is the penguins' go-to translator for reading things. Phil, however, only talks in sign language, necessitating Mason to translate for him on a few occasions.
• Nice Guy: The two are fairly pleasant and are always loyal team players to the gang.
• No One Gets Left Behind: They are freed from the ship at the end of the first film and join the main group for the rest of their misadventures in the sequels.
• Odd Couple: The two contrast each other in several ways: Mason is cultured, pretentious, speaks in a British accent, and cannot read, while Phil is slovenly, unkempt, only speaks in sign language, and can read.
• The Pig-Pen: Implied with Phil. When the zoosters sing their birthday song (which mocks the monkeys' stench), Mason's reaction is a Spit Take. Phil, on the other hand, simply smells his armpit and immediately recoils from the stench to the point where he falls out of his tree.
• Road Apples: Mason mentions throwing poo in the first film but is never seen doing it.
• Satellite Character: Although they become more important as a part of the penguins' plans in later movies, they also become defined solely by that, to the point where the Odd Couple character traits they show in the first movie disappear.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Phil, of all people, when Dubois bursts into the casino in Monte Carlo.
• Shown Their Work: Phil's sign language is completely accurate. Though they do admit that what he is actually saying is generally more complicated than what Mason translates (resulting in Bilingual Bonus if you know American Sign Language).
• The Speechless: Phil, who communicates with American Sign Language instead.
• Those Two Guys: The translators and spokes-animals of the zoo.
• Totem Pole Trench: When they try to buy train tickets in the first movie. In Europe's Most Wanted they dress as the "King of Versailles".
• Voice for the Voiceless: Mason, who does all the talking for Phil and serves as his translator.

Nana

Voiced by: Elisa Gabrielli ^{Foreign VAs}Ángela Villanueva (LA Spanish); Mirosława Krajewska (first film, Christmas Caper and second game), Elżbieta Gaertner (second film) (Polish)

Nana is an elderly lady with a Yiddish accent and the archenemy of Alex the lion.

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• Ambiguously Jewish: Her name, along with a thick Yiddish accent, and from Yonkers. However, the prequel short "A Christmas Caper" depicts her celebrating Christmas.
• Arch-Enemy: Of Alex ever since her beatdown on him in the first movie.
• Ascended Extra: She appears only in a short gag in the first movie, but plays a much more important role in the second.
• Badass Bystander: This is a lady who kicked one lion in the wingdings on two separate occasions on two continents and then stared down what was essentially a wrecking ball on a plane without so much as flinching.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: While she's a main antagonist in the second film, she ends up being the one putting Makunga in his place and giving the throne back to Zuba in the process.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Zig-Zagged. She's a crotchety old bag who absolutely hates lions, to the point where she goes out of her way to beat them up for minor provocations. Other animals aren't safe from her wrath either, as she hits Melman with her handbag for no discernible reason, and she creates a dam that resulted in numerous animals suffering from dehydration. However, she's fairly friendly to other people in the second movie, and she has a pet dog who she dotes on.
• Bait-and-Switch: In Escape 2 Africa after seeing Alex dance with his father:
  Nana: [with teary eyes] That was beautiful...! [aims shotgun] Now let's eat.
• Berserk Button:
  • Lions in general are this for her, and no reason is given for that other than comedy.
  • Taking her handbag is another no-no; Alex exploits this by tricking Makunga into taking it, and Nana promptly proceeds to kick his ass.
• Big Bad: For the Christmas Caper short film when she kidnaps Private while he is doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, prompting the other Penguins to launch a rescue mission.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Shares the role of main antagonist of Escape 2 Africa with Makunga.
• Black Comedy Animal Cruelty: Beating up lions is her schtick, always Played for Laughs.
• Blood Knight: She has it out for bad kitties, including lions.
• Character Catchphrase: "You're a bad kitty!", which she uses as a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner or Bond One-Liner.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Her handbag. Not only she "can't survive without it", when Makunga takes it, she proceeds to beat the living shit out of him and finally stop his tyrannical reign.
  • In the first film, Nana uses a can of hairspray against Alex. In the sequel, she uses that same can of spray to make a fire.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Hasn't been seen since the second movie.
• Comedic Spanking: She gives a nasty spank to Makunga, but considering how much of a jackass he was the entire film, it's immensely satisfying to watch as well as being extremely hilarious.
• Cool Old Lady: At least the humans from the second movie consider her this, after she gives them a Rousing Speech.
• Dark Action Girl: Do NOT underestimate this seemingly sweet old lady; she's a ruthless martial artist who can easily knock down a lion twice her size and isn't shy to use a shotgun.
• Depending on the Writer: The first film and Christmas Caper seems to have implied Nana has bad hearing (she doesn't hear the commotion in the station until she sees Alex herself and doesn't wake up when Rico explodes the door of her apartment) and is a nasty jerk to even people who have done nothing to her, as she tells the cab to drop dead and kicks a guy for no reason. However, she seems to be perfectly fine hearing the other tourists in Escape 2 Africa and also acts entirely nice and patient towards the stranded tourists, leading them to survive in the harsh wilderness.
• Determinator: She won't stop until every bad kitty is punished and/or maimed.
• Elderly Blue-Haired Lady: Not literally, but the Penguins identify her by the codename 'Bluehair'.
• Evil Old Folks: Do not expect this old woman to give you cookies and hugs. This is toned down in Escape 2 Africa where all her antagonism has been moved solely towards lions, and she's nicer to people than she's been compared in Christmas Caper.
• Girl Scouts Are Evil: "Brownies Troop 416, Yonkers!" It explains why Nana is the fittest in a survival setting compared to the other tourists.
• Groin Attack: One of her main moves. She does it to Alex three times in the franchise, and is the first thing she does to Makunga when she sees he has her purse.
• Handbag of Hurt: Her main weapon. Nana is incredibly attached to it, even stating that she can't survive without it. Taking it from her appears to be a major Berserk Button, as Makunga discovered too late.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She goes out of her way to torment not only Alex, but the other animals as well. She is not particularly nice with people either; she tells a cab driver to "drop dead" and greets a doorman who wishes her a "Merry Christmas" with a nasty punch. However, she does have a kind, maternal side that she shows towards the other tourists in Escape 2 Africa.
• Karma Houdini: Nana is arguably never truly punished for her repeated beatdowns of Alex, although according to only a very few little fanatics and viewers, attacking Makunga must've made her completely forget about what she already went through with Alex first and foremost, as the DVD commentary confirms that Nana brought Makunga back to New York in a kitty cage.
• Killer Rabbit: That poodle of hers. He even has the incredibly fitting name of Mr. Chew.
• Laughably Evil: She may be a sociopathic old geezer, she's also incredibly hilarious with her fighting skills and (exaggerated) indestructibility.
• Leitmotif: A polka version of the theme song from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
• Made of Iron: While her fight with Alex in the first movie is one-sided, she even beats him in the second when he actively tries to fight back. The penguins throw her out of a moving vehicle and ram her for good measure and she still gets up just fine. In the climax, she gets rammed with what amounts to a wrecking ball and she gets back up.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: She looks like your average old lady, but that woman is a living tank who could easily give Dubois a run for her money.
• Mysterious Past: Other than the fact she was a girl scout in her youth, not much is known about Nana's past, especially where her deep hatred of lions come from.
• Never Mess with Granny: Or she will beat the crap out of you. Even if you're a lion much bigger than her.
• The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: When Alex dances to distract the New-York tourists and save his dad, Nana is shown to be amazed by Alex's dance moves and states with a tear in her eye that his choreography was beautiful... too bad it doesn't take away her bloodthirst for lions and her crave for their meat.
• Pet the Dog: While she still has her hatred of lions, the second movie has her becoming nicer towards other people than she was in Christmas Caper. She thanks the jeep driver for opening the door for her and calls another tourist a "good boy" for bringing her back her handbag, even giving the other tourists a Rousing Speech when they find themselves stranded in the wild.
• Psychopathic Womanchild: Has elements of this. Her idea of fighting includes noogies, titty-twisters and Indian rub burns.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Her motto. It was taken to the extreme in Christmas Caper, where she punches a man for no other reason than wishing her a Merry Christmas. It gets immensely downplayed in Escape 2 Africa, where Nana is nicer towards other people but no wildlife is safe from her, especially if you're a lion.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: When Alex catches Marty at Connecticut, Melman runs over chanting "He's got him!" During this point, Nana hits him with her purse and actually verbally responds to him, saying "I've got something for you!"
• Tastes Like Chicken: She apparently ate a lion before, and she claims it tastes like chicken to the extremely disturbed tour guide (provided she wasn’t just lying to just get everyone on board with eating).
• Team Mom: Towards the New-York tourists in Escape 2 Africa.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Christmas Caper portrayed her as an incredibly rude old bag, by telling her cab driver to "drop dead" and punching the doorman of her apartment for no reason other than being mean. However, she's far nicer (at least towards humans) in Escape 2 Africa, as seen when she thanks the driver for opening the door for her and the camera-recording tourist for giving her handbag back to her. She goes as far as becoming the tourists' Team Mom.
• Waif-Fu: Parodied to hell and back, by having a frail old lady be able to knock out a grown male lion with her karate skills.
• When Elders Attack: A very vicious and nigh-indestructible old woman who can easily beat up a lion.
• Wrestler of Beasts: Not only does she beat up Alex in the first two movies (although he puts up more of a fight in their second encounter), she also beats up Makunga in the second film. All that without breaking a sweat.

The Fossa

Voiced by: Tom McGrath, Eric Darnell

The main antagonists of Madagascar. They terrorize the lemurs and attempt to eat them. According to Julien, "they're always annoying us [the lemurs] by trespassing, interrupting our parties, and ripping our limbs off".

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• Artistic License – Biology: While real-life fossa do sport many cat-like features, they still have very mongoose-like faces◊. Here, their faces are much more cat-like, making them look more like undersized cougars with very long tails. They are also depicted as pack-hunters and are a fair bit larger larger than real fossa when compared to Alex (a lion), while fossa in real life are usually solitary (they do occasionally hunt in pairs but that’s obviously a far cry from the super-pack seen in the film) and max out at 20 lb.
• Character Catch Phrase: “Fossa hungry, Fossa eat.”
• Dirty Coward: Instead of fighting back against Alex, the Fossa almost run away in fear without putting up much of a fight.
• Heinous Hyena: While they aren't actual hyenas, they otherwise fit the stereotype to a T, since they are depicted as moronic, gluttonous, cackling, slobbering, and cowardly pack hunters who get trumped by a lion hero (Alex). Ironically, fossa and hyenas are actually fairly closely related.
• Horrifying the Horror: Terrifying to the lemur population, but Alex scares them off rather quickly. This gives Julian the idea to have him protect them, but that plan ends up crumbling apart when Alex's hunger settles in.
• Hulk Speak: All of the fossa speak like this. Skipper actually uses this to get them to stop on their tracks, and it works.
• King Mook: Since fighting a horde of them off would not be a fitting final battle in the video game, a Fossa who acts more like Alex is introduced here and serves as the Final Boss. He is the fossa king and is a bipedal, hulking brute.
• Knight of Cerebus: A downplayed case; whilst they're not without goofy moments, their presence darkens the film to a considerable degree.
• Nearly Normal Animal: Like Melman, they can't stand upright.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: As the series goes on it quickly becomes apparent how the fossa were ultimately minor nuisances compared to latter threats like Nana and DuBois. On Madagascar, however, they’re a perfectly adequate threat to the small, almost helpless lemur population. They also poise a threat to the small penguins who while competent acknowledge they may be overrun by their numbers; and the inexperienced zoo animals Marty, Melman, and Gloria.
• Starter Villain: Not so much because they are the first villains of the movie franchise, but more due to later antagonists succeeding them both in cunning and in execution of their plans.
• You All Look Familiar: All of them look the same. The only difference is their fur color.
• Zerg Rush: They prefer to attack in packs (which is Artistic License – Biology, since real-life fossa hunt alone or occasionally in very small groups).

Introduced in Escape 2 Africa

Zuba

Voiced by: Bernie Mac ^{Foreign VAs}Rubén Cerda (LA Spanish); Marcin Troński (movie) Cezary Nowak (game) (Polish)

Zuba is a lion who is Alex's father and the alpha lion of the pride in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

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• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He managed to remain the alpha lion by defeating anyone who challenged him, like Makunga.
• Character Development: He starts out wanting Alex to be a fighter like him, but eventually comes around to supporting Alex's choice to being a dancer.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He is not even mentioned in the third movie, likely out of respect for Bernie Mac, who passed away shortly before the second movie released.
• Ear Notch: In the prologue he had part of his left ear shot off by the poachers as he tried to save his son from them. By the time his vision clears from the blow, he doesn't notice that Alex's crate had fallen off the truck into the river and continues to chase the truck.
• King of Beasts: He is the noble leader of the pride, respected by all animals on the savannah.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Despite being smaller than Makunga, Zuba can overpower him easily.
• Mr. Vice Guy: While he may have been insensitive towards Alex's choice to dance over fighting, he is a pretty likable Nice Guy and he loves his son and wife dearly and would do anything to protect them.
• My Greatest Failure: Unsurprisingly, letting Alex out of his sight long enough for him to be lured away to his apparent death deeply traumatized him, coupled with the fact that the last time he apparently saw his son alive, he was crying for help and only moments away from rescue.
• Outliving One's Offspring: He and Florrie were forced to assume that Alex had been killed by the hunters who stole him, and they don’t learn their son is alive until he’s an adult and arrives in the sequel.
• Papa Wolf: His first instinct when baby Alex was kidnapped was to run straight for him...even after being shot. He also doesn't waste time going after his son when he thinks he might be in danger. Zuba even spent YEARS looking for Alex, chasing after so many hunters just to find his son despite the mortal danger that action would put him in.
• Parents as People: He loves his son, but was admittedly disappointed of Alex preferring to dance.
• Parting-Words Regret: After arguing with Alex for choosing to dance (when he didn't know that it was really a fight), he goes as far as to telling Alex that he's not a real lion and says that he means it and immediately regrets it after his wife gives him a "I'm disappointed in you". look and Alex looking like he was slapped in the face.
• Sadistic Choice: Due to Alex having failed the rite of passage among lions, Zuba was forced to do one of two things because of Makunga's manipulation of Alex: either banish Alex from the reserve, or give up his position as alpha to get around banishing Alex. He chooses the latter, but it turns out they wind up banished, anyway.
• Sports Dad: Of a sort. While Zuba tried to raise Alex to be a fighter like him, he was disappointed by his fixation with dancing. Part of his Character Development involves him coming to accept it.
• Wham Line: He says this line after being banished by Makunga and arguing with Alex.
  Zuba: If you were a real lion!
  Florrie: Zuba!
  Zuba: YEAH, I SAID IT!

Florrie

Voiced by: Sherri Shepherd ^{Foreign VAs}Rebeca Patiño (LA Spanish); Joanna Jeżewska-Adamczyk (Polish)

Florrie is Alex's mother, Zuba's mate, and the alpha lioness of the pride in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

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• All There in the Script: She is never addressed by name in the movie, and is credited simply as Mom. Her name is revealed in the film's novelization.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Along with her husband, she is not even mentioned in the third movie.
• Disappointed in You: She looks at Zuba in disappointment after his Wham Line.
• Good Parents: Unlike Zuba, Florrie accepts Alex for who he is and calls out her husband over his stubbornness in the matter.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Not that Zuba had much of a goodbye, but she didn’t get to see Alex before he was poached and presumably killed. Zuba had the dubious honor of seeing his son captured before being taken away. Thankfully, to make up for it, Florrie immediately recognizes Alex as her son when he comes to the reserve.
• Nice Girl: Florrie is caring, understanding, and accepting.
• Outliving One's Offspring: She and Zuba were forced to assume that Alex had been killed by the hunters who stole him, and they don’t learn he’s alive until he’s an adult and returns to Africa.
• Parents Know Their Children: Unlike Zuba, she quickly manages to recognize Alex when he returns to the reserve, even though she hadn't seen him since he was a cub.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Florrie is more accepting of Alex for who he is. She is not disturbed at all by the fact that Alex prefers to dance instead of fight. Due to this, she acts as the voice of reason and tries to encourage Zuba that it is better that Alex came back to them at all, dancing or no dancing.

Makunga

Voiced by: Alec Baldwin ^{Foreign VAs}Octavio Rojas (LA Spanish); Jacek Rozenek (movie), Andrzej Chudy (game) (Polish)

Makunga is a male lion with a large black mane styled in a pompadour (similar to Elvis Presley's hair) and green eyes, and is the main antagonist of the second film. He is Zuba's rival and wants to take his place as alpha lion.

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• 0% Approval Rating: During his reign as the alpha lion, he callously tells the animals that if they want water that was dried up in their reserve, they have to leave the reserve at high risk of being hunted down. It's then that the animals of the reserve decide that Makunga is not the real deal and demand Zuba back in charge.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the video game adaptation of the movie, he doesn't do anything truly villainous, and is merely a jerk to Alex.
• Big Bad Ensemble: He is one of the two main antagonists of the second film as the villain of Alex's storyline, while Nana serves as a wider antagonist whose actions threaten the reserve as a whole.
• The Caligula: Within a day of his takeover, the entire reserve is calling for Zuba to retake control. He’s that terrible and that hated at the job.
• Cats Are Mean: He is a cunning, malevolent lion.
• Cats Are Superior: He is vain, egotistic, and treats the other animals as inferior.
• Dark Is Evil: As the lead villain of the film who's been trying to overthrow Zuba via either direct combat or manipulation for some time, he sports a black mane and has much darker colored fur than the other lions.
• Didn't Think This Through: He’s only up for the job of Alpha Lion simply because he thinks he’s entitled to it and because he wants everyone to do what he says. He has no actual ability to lead. He even has the gall to gloat about how he would presumably win a fight over who would get the last bit of water, and is ignorant of the fact that it’s not even enough for him.
• Evil Mentor: Successfully tricks Alex into thinking he's giving him helpful tips for the coming-of-age ceremony when he's really setting him up to fail so Makunga can take control of the reserve.
• Expy: Of Scar from The Lion King (1994), with his manipulative nature played up for laughs. Unlike Scar, though, Makunga is just more of a pompous, egotistical jerk instead of outright evil.
• Fat Bastard: The lead villain of the film who manipulates Alex and Zuba in order to exile them so he can seize command of the pride, he's also overweight, in contrast to the lean and heroic Alex and Zuba.
• Genre Savvy: He is aware that Alex is a Camp Straight theatre type, and not a warrior, and exploits it.
• Hated by All: Given how he’s both a scumbag as well as an incompetent useless leader, he is hated by pretty much everyone on the reserve. So much that literally everyone cheers when Nana beats the crap out of him.
• Hate Sink: Makunga may not be a monster like Scar, but he is still a thoroughly despicable asshole. The way he manipulates Alex to get rid of him and Zuba just to be Alpha Lion is low especially considering that they just reunited. Also when the watering hole dried up, he doesn't care one bit about the lives of the other animals even cruelly taunting a child to go look for water off the reserve. In the end, that beatdown that Nana gives him is quite well-deserved.
• Humiliation Conga: The only way to describe his final defeat. He realizes that literally no one on the reserve likes him and everyone prefers Zuba's rule, he has to beg Zuba and his family for help, he is tricked by Alex into taking Nana's handbag so she beats him up, is dragged away in front of everyone, and is finally forced to become Nana's new pet.
• Informed Attribute: It’s assumed that he would win a fight over the last remaining water, but given he’s such a wimp, it’s probably not true. Especially since all he did was piss off an entire reserve of animals who already want Zuba back.
• Ink-Suit Actor: He resembles a caricature of Alec Baldwin as a lion, even sharing his actor's trademark gray streak on his black mane.
• It's All About Me: His reason of why he wants to become the alpha lion. "I'm better looking. I've got better hair. I'm deceivingly smart. And I want everyone else to do what I say."
• Jerkass: As an arrogant, manipulative, and power-hungry narcissist, he is this to the lions and by extension, the entire reserve.
• Jerk Jock: He wants to be king so bad and he has got the brawn to do it, although he regularly gets his ass kicked whenever he challenges Zuba.
• Kick the Dog: Calls Alex a pathetic excuse of a son while he's still a cub to his father's face.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He meets his downfall when Alex tricks him into taking Nana's purse, then unleashing the old lady to attack him. Then Nana drags Makunga off the reserve with the other animals cheering.
  • The DVD Commentary confirms that Nana brought Makunga back to New York in a kitty cage!
• Manipulative Bastard: Makunga knew right from the start what would happen if Alex failed the test, which is exactly why he suggested to Alex that he choose Teetsi as his battle opponent and Makunga also knew that Alex knew practically zilch about how this whole rite of passage worked. He took advantage of that, set Alex up for certain failure, and was counting on one of two outcomes to happen after the dominos fell: either Zuba be forced to banish Alex due to failing the test, or Zuba give up his position as alpha lion to get around this. Zuba chooses the latter and Makunga is made alpha, as a result.
• Obviously Evil: Played for Laughs. He is large, imposing, has a darker colour scheme than the other lions, is constantly sneering and manipulating others every chance he gets, and as mentioned above, resembles Scar.
• Pet the Dog: Subverted for laughs. When Alex presents him Nana’s bag, he genuinely likes it and thanks him, but insists that Alex and Zuba are still banished.
• Smug Snake: He relishes the moment when his plan to become leader of the Pride falls into place. And he continues with the attitude even when it’s clear he’s actually an incompetent narcissist who doesn’t know what to do.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: A unique example. He challenges Zuba, which distracts him long enough for Alex to be lured off the reserve and captured by poachers, and as Zuba and Florrie assumed, killed. Makunga unwittingly caused a distraction that led to Zuba being hurt far more than his challenges ever had any hope of doing, and what’s more, Zuba and Florrie had no children after Alex, meaning Zuba would’ve had to concede the title of Alpha Lion to somebody else eventually. It’s all undone by the fact that Alex survives and eventually returns to the reserve.

Teetsi

Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore ^{Foreign VAs}Sebastián Llapur (LA Spanish); Jakub Szydłowski (Polish)

Teetsi is a very muscular lion who serves as Makunga's henchman and Alex's rival.

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• Advertised Extra: Even though his fight with Alex is shown in many of the trailers, Teetsi only appears during two scenes.
• The Brute: He acts as Makunga's muscle.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He easily beats Alex in one blow during their fight.
• The Dragon: He serves as Makunga's main (and only) henchman.
• The Dreaded: Aside from Makunga and Zuba, all the other lions are afraid of him, to the point that they all gasp in terror when Alex challenges him.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Downplayed. He is a minion of Makunga and has a pretty deep voice, courtesy of Fred Tatasciore. That said, he’s more of a Punch-Clock Villain.
• Fluffy the Terrible: "Teetsi" is not exactly the most threatening-sounding name.
• Growing Muscles Sequence: During the battle, Teetsi bulks up considerably, in contrast to his rather meek appearance.
• Hard Head: When another lion drops a stone on his head, the only thing it does is wake him up from his nap.
• Heavy Sleeper: So much so that he needs to be hit on the head with a stone to wake up.
• HULK MASH!-Up: He's essentially the Incredible Hulk's fursona. He's even voiced by Fred Tatasciore using his Hulk voice!
• Let's Dance: Says this to Alex at the start of their fight. Alex takes it a bit too literally...
• Muscles Are Meaningful: He is by far the most muscular of all the lions, as well as the strongest (except for maybe Zuba).
• Only Friend: He is the only lion who seems to be on decent terms with Makunga.
• Punch-Clock Villain: He is a pretty lazy lion who seems to spend most of his time sleeping. He is a confidante of Makunga but doesn’t really seem to care too much about his schemes to take over, and when Makunga does take over he’s not thrilled about it.
• Roar Before Beating: He makes a mighty roar before going to fight Alex.
• Super-Strength: He strikes Alex with such force that he causes a large fissure on the ground, which expands pretty far beyond the lions' arena.
• Tiny-Headed Behemoth: He has a really small head sitting on his tall muscular body.
• Top-Heavy Guy: His legs are comically tiny compared to his hulking body.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After defeating Alex and putting the Hat of Shame on his head, he pretty much disappears from the movie.

Moto Moto

Voiced by: will.i.am ^{Foreign VAs}Claudio Yarto (LA Spanish); Maciej Miecznikowski (movie), Jacek Mikołajczak (game) (Polish)

Moto Moto is a big-bellied, handsome, muscular hippopotamus with a deep voice, whose main hobby is flirting with anything of the female species.

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• Advertised Extra: He is heavily played up in trailers and advertising to appear like a major new character, but he is more of a supporting character who falls off the map about halfway through the film. Furthermore, he is only a critical character in Gloria and Melman's subplot.
• Amicable Exes: Though Gloria rejects him, they are still seen working together to dig for water.
• Animal Facial Hair: A hippo that sports a Big Ol' Unibrow as part of his macho appearance.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: Played With. Given that the script and the Character Signature Song "Big and Chunky" emphasize his physique in a thinly-veiled sexual context, every shot of Moto Moto featured in the (PG-rated) film uniquely and noticeably shoots his body from an angle (either from behind or above the waist) at which the area corresponding to his privates is not visible, barring the film from confirming that he lacks them and thus indicating that, despite its "invisibility" onscreen, he averts this trope in a highly conspicuous way in-universe.
• Big Beautiful Man: He is big and bulky, but also clearly a Mr. Fanservice.
• Casanova Wannabe: Implied when Julien is asking for someone to volunteer as the sacrifice, and suggesting someone who's never found love. Moto Moto begins hiding behind the much fatter Gloria to not be seen, perhaps implying that despite being regarded as the hunkiest hippo around, he has failed to find any genuine relationship likely because of how shallow he is.
• Chubby Chaser: This is the main reason why he is attracted to Gloria. His first scene has the song "Big and Chunky" playing in the background, which is about his attraction to large women. It’s deconstructed as Gloria’s fatness is the only thing he’s interested in her for, thus depriving Gloria of the genuine relationship she’s looking for.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: will.i.am also sings the film's theme song, "The Traveling Song", as well as "Big and Chunky", Moto Moto's personal theme.
• Dumb Muscle: He is very buff, but not particularly bright, as he cannot even hold up two fingers when he says "twice". He cannot think of any reason to be attracted to Gloria besides her fat body. He also falls hook, line, and sinker for Julien's sacrifice theory.
• Fat and Proud: He is a hippo and he is large. Though he's rather massive and muscular than fat.
• Hunk: He's an attractive and muscular male hippo.
• In Love with Looks: He's a shallow chubby chaser who is only interested in Gloria's looks. Unlike most unrepentant examples of this trope, he's actually an overall nice guy despite this rather than a Hate Sink.
• Meaningful Name: According to the November 2008 issue of National Geographic Kids, "Moto Moto" in an African language (in actuality Swahili, although the issue refrains from specifying this) means "hot hot".
• Mr. Fanservice: His sexiness is played up, both in his character design with huge pecs (that he often flexes), and the way the camera pans over him when he is introduced emerging from the water. Also see Meaningful Name above.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Moto Moto may seem like he's just a shallow guy only interested in Gloria for her looks. While shallowness is a serious flaw of his, Moto Moto turns out to be a pretty nice guy. He helps the animals look for water and remains friends with Gloria after she presumably rejected him.
• Nice Guy: Despite his shallowness, he's a genuinely friendly, kind and decent individual who is also helpful to the other animals.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: He sounds like Barry White and with his physical appearance being big and tall it's easy for some viewers to see he was the inspiration for the character.
• Pec Flex: Has a habit of doing this to impress Gloria.
• Put on a Bus: Not seen or mentioned in the third film.
• Romantic False Lead: He appears to be Gloria's potential boyfriend, but eventually gives way to Melman.
• Soul Brotha: His voice actor will.i.am wanted to make him sound like Barry White.
• Top-Heavy Guy: He has enormous pecs, a fairly large belly, and tiny legs.

Introduced in Europe's Most Wanted

Vitaly

Voiced by: Bryan Cranston ^{Foreign VAs}Alexei Myasnikov (LA Spanish); Miłogost Reczek (Polish)

Vitaly is a Russian-accented Siberian tiger that leads a traveling circus in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.

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• Beyond the Impossible: After being successful in jumping hoops; He wanted to jump through the next level; this time through rings. As in, too small for all of the daintiest of fingers rings. Everyone constantly comments on how what he does should be physically impossible. He did take it a bit too far by coating himself with olive oil and ordering Stefano to light the hoop on fire. Suffice to say, the result wasn't pretty. Alex helps him overcome this by convincing the tiger to instead use Non-flammable hair conditioner and the result is tremendous; Vitaly jumps through the flaming hoop unharmed this time. For the climax he breaks into Marty's cage by jumping through the keyhole, and breaks Marty out by jumping back out the keyhole while holding Marty. Oh, and somehow, his afro wig goes from his head to Marty's while they're passing through the keyhole. In fact, he specifically overcomes his Heroic BSoD as a Broken Ace by remembering that what he really enjoyed was doing the impossible.
• Blade Enthusiast: Keeps a big amount of throwing knifes, despite the fact that they have nothing to do with his act.
• Briefs Boasting: He wears blue briefs, and he used to be a showy, proud circus acrobat.
• Broken Ace: After being burned, he vowed to never do his signature trick again and eat borscht all day.
• Character Catch Phrase: "So be it!" — which with his accent sounds like "Soviet".
• Defrosting Ice King: After Alex helps him overcome his fears with his ring act to become a star again, you could not ask for a better male friend outside of the Zoosters for Alex.
• Green-Eyed Monster: A rare example where the eyes do match the trope, and only in retrospect, but after learning from his Backstory that screwing up the ring jump cost him his fur and had it grow back "bristly" instead of soft, it seems evident that his mockery of Alex's glossy fur is a form of Sour Grapes. He is certainly quite happy to get soft fur "like a kitten" again after using the hair conditioner.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He's very quick to anger, particularly early on while he's still stuck in his Heroic BSoD. He mellows out a bit after befriending Alex.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: He wears blue briefs and a golden belt. It is less than a half-dressed cartoon animal usually wears, but still beyond being an Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal.
• Heroic BSoD: Has gone into a perpetual one ever since screwing up the ring jump. Alex finally helps him snap out of it.
• Hot Guy, Ugly Wife: All we see of his ex-wife (who ran away with a musician) is a single photograph: she basically looks like him with lipstick.
• Ink-Suit Actor: He is basically Bryan Cranston if he were, well, a tiger.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Very jerkish at the outset, and in the end showing a soft heart as big as he is.
• Meaningful Name: Vitaly's name is one letter away from "vital" and he is The Heart of the circus. "As Vitaly goes, so does the circus."
• Mother Russia Makes You Strong: His act, his leitmotif, and his body emanate Mother Russia.
• My Greatest Failure: Screwing up the ring jump.
• National Animal Stereotypes: A Siberian Tiger portrayed as a Husky Russkie.
• Not So Above It All: Joins in on the Afro-Circus dance at the end, even donning a Funny Afro like the rest.
• Papa Wolf: Extremely protective of his circus and his fellow circus animals. If his "I missed" remarks are to be believed, he will kill anyone who threatens the circus.
• Pride: This is both his Fatal Flaw (as being too convinced of his infallibility is what pushed him to go too far with the ring jump) and how he restores his reputation (by believing in himself again).
• Russian Guy Suffers Most: His strive for perfection bit him in the end and he almost tries to kill himself in the end.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: He seems to have taken up knife and sword tricks in place of his ring jump.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He starts off as a vindictive, bitter jerk who has no qualms about threatening the zoosters, but after Alex helps him regain his confidence, he shows himself to be a friendly, loyal guy who will always stick his neck out for his friends.
• Top-Heavy Guy: Part of his muscular build. Justified, as he's both an athletic circus performer and a tiger.
• Underwear of Power: He wears blue briefs, and his Beyond the Impossible circus routine (jumping through rings much smaller than him) can be considered a superpower.
• Up, Up and Away!: He assumes this position when leaping through the ring.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Shown off in a very well-done scene in his boxcar. He gets better.

Gia

Voiced by: Jessica Chastain ^{Foreign VAs}Ilaria Latini (LA Spanish); Monika Pikuła (Polish)

Gia is an Italian-accented jaguar who is part of the traveling circus in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.

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• Badass Arm-Fold: Makes quite a few of these in the film. It is even shown on the picture on the right.
• Birds of a Feather: She and Alex bond over being passionate and natural-born performers who both strongly believe in following your dreams.
• Genki Girl: She is just as cheerful and energetic as Alex, to really say the least.
• Implied Love Interest: To Alex. The scene where Alex "teaches" her how to swing on the trapeze is framed by a love song, and the two have some moments of closeness. Yet nothing is ever openly confirmed between them.
• Informed Species: Her slender build, bright yellow fur, and small rosettes make her look more like a leopard than a jaguar (who are commonly mistaken with one another). Her avoiding National Animal Stereotypes also doesn't help.
• National Animal Stereotypes: Averted. Jaguars are strongly associated with Latin America, but Gia is depicted with an Italian accent.
• Nice Girl: She is a kindhearted feline who loves her fellow performers like family.
• Plucky Girl: As part of her kind and passionate personality.
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics: She has a softer, curvier body and a rounder face than the male big cats such as Alex and Vitaly.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Gia was quite affected by Alex's passionate speech and was heartbroken when she discovered that he and his friends lied to her and the others about being circus animals.
• Tsundere: Type B to Alex. Her tsun side only comes out when the circus (or specifically, Vitaly) is threatened, or seems to be.
• Women Are Wiser: The most level-headed and reasonable of the circus trio.
• Younger than She Looks: Justified since she is a jaguar, which ages quicker than a human.
  Gia: Show me!
  Alex: Pfft, 'show me'. What are we, five?
  Gia: I am five, yes!
  

Stefano

Voiced by: Martin Short ^{Foreign VAs}Diego Suárez (LA Spanish); Tomasz Borkowski (Polish)

Stefano is an Italian-accented New Zealand sea lion with curly whiskers. He is part of the traveling circus in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and is a happy, fun-loving Italian sea lion who always looks on the brighter side of things. A true entertainer at heart, he is up for any challenge to save the circus, even convincing Alex that the show must go on.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: He wears a colorful ruff around his neck and nothing else.
• Ball-Balancing Seal: His disastrous circus act in Rome is juggling various balls while balancing on a ball. It ends with him falling off the ball and choking on a few of the juggling balls.
• Break the Cutie: In the third act, he suffers a major breakdown after realizing Marty and the others aren't actually circus animals, and can barely stand to go on without his cannonball partner. He recovers when Vitaly and Gia decide to rescue the four from the zoo.
• Covert Pervert: When Marty discusses that Vegas had a show "completely in the nude", he is suspiciously interested and suggests the circus does the same.
  Alex: Yeah, that's right, and you know how they did it?
  Stefano: Take off-a their clothes?
  Alex: ...No!
• Distressed Dude: Twice! First, when he's practicing his "human cannonball" act for the first time, he slams into the side of a mountain and has to hold on for dear life until Marty can rescue him. Later, in the finale, he gets caught by Dubois (who's gone completely nuts by that point). Thankfully, Alex and Gia are able to rescue him.
• The Ditz: Only slightly below average intelligence (or so he claims).
• Dumb Is Good: He may be dumb, but he makes up for it with his skill.
• Funny Foreigner: Acts and sounds like a stereotypical Italian. According to Craig Kellman, one of the character designers of the film: "He talks with his hands, so his shoulders were important".
• Genius Ditz: He is the one who inspires Alex to reignite the circus animals' passion for performing. Alex even suggests to him that he is smarter than he seems, but he denies it.
• Goofy Buckteeth: He is an ecstatic and giddy sea lion with big buckteeth.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Inverted. Character designer Craig Kellman based Stefano's face on his own. On the other hand, Stefano sure does have Martin Short's big elastic smile.
• Insistent Terminology: Downplayed (since it only gets brought up once) and justified (since it's the truth), but he corrects Skipper when the latter refers to him as a seal instead of a sea lion.
• Keet: An extremely energetic and talkative sea lion.
• Large Ham: Think The Great Gonzo meets Roger Rabbit.
• Nice Guy: He forgives the foursome, Marty in particular, really fast after they betrayed him.
• Non-Ironic Clown: He works at a circus, wears a ruff and has a goofy appearance with a broad smile and a large nose. He is also the nicest, friendliest circus animal in the movie.
• Sweet Seal: This sea lion is a goofy, lovable Non-Ironic Clown.

Sonya

Voiced by: Frank Welker

Sonya is the traveling circus's most ferocious Eurasian brown bear who appears in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.

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• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Her emotions are hard to read due to her lack of anthropomorphism, but she seems genuinely upset after she and Julien have a fight and accepts him back happily.
• Badass Biker: She can give even DuBois a beating with nothing but her biking skills.
• Bears Are Bad News: Subverted. She appears to be scary before her falling in love sequence with Julien, at which point she is continually portrayed as non-anthropomorphic but harmless. Still, she can put up quite a fight with her bike.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: She only wears a bow, a pink tutu and nothing else.
• Hot Guy, Ugly Wife: With King Julien. He is a cute, anthropomorphic lemur, she is a realistic brown bear.
• Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: Her relationship with King Julien.
• Humanoid Female Animal: Inverted for humorous effect — she is the only non-anthropomorphic animal character, and her relationship with the anthropomorphized King Julien is Played for Laughs.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: Her entire dialogue consists of nothing but growls and roars, yet everybody else understands her somehow.
• Interspecies Romance: Sonya's a bear who's in love with the lemur King Julien.
• Morality Pet: Sonya is probably the sole being that Julien loves more than himself.
• Nearly Normal Animal: The only one in a cast of Civilized Animals.
• Nonstandard Character Design: She is more realistic than the other characters.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Her bow and tutu.
• The Unintelligible: The only animal who's unable to speak.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Do not endanger Julien.

Captain Chantel DuBois

Voiced by: Frances McDormand ^{Foreign VAs}Gisella Ramírez (LA Spanish); Agnieszka Matysiak (Polish)

Captain Chantel DuBois is a Monegasque animal control officer. She serves as the main antagonist of the third film.

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• The Ace: She is damn near invincible and unstoppable. She is also stated to have a perfect case record.
• All Animals Are Dogs: A rare human example: she sniffs like a dog when tracking down the animals.
• Authority Equals Ass Kicking: The leader of the animal control squad, and an Implacable Woman.
• Ax-Crazy: She even tries to kill the animals when they are back in Central Park Zoo.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: She starts off as a sane-seeming animal control officer, but as the movie goes on, and especially following her Villainous Breakdown, she becomes even more animalistic and feral than the animals she's trying to capture. It eventually culminates in Alex throwing her into his old exhibit, at which point she angrily roars like a lion and has to be tranquilized before eventually being put in a crate and banished to Madagascar.
• Benevolent Boss: She does care for her men to the point of healing the wounds on them via an actually impressive singing voice.
• Big Bad: The first true example in the franchise. Unlike the fossa who are just predators, or Makunga who's a pompous jerk, and Nana who is simply trying to survive, she is determined to kill Alex.
• Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Inverted. She is a French woman, and also a badass Determinator. If anything, most characters are afraid of her.
• Color Motif: She is often associated with the color orange. She is introduced driving through the fireball left behind by an explosion, then when she arrives in Italy, she's bathed in the yellowish orange of the sunset. And during the final battle, she's followed around by an orange spotlight.
• Dark Action Girl: She punched her first snake at the age of 7. Given everything else she has done during the course of the film alone, this is probably not an exaggeration.
• Determinator: She will stop at nothing until she catches the zoo gang (in particular that lion), even when they are far outside Monaco and thus out of her territory.
• Diabolical Dogcatcher: It is pretty much a given that she didn't get into animal control for the money.
• The Dreaded: When Kowalski finds that she is on the case, he refers to it as a "serious problem".
• Establishing Character Moment: When she first rides through the smoke, her shadow is that of the Devil.
• Evil Redhead: She has red curls and is cruel and vicious.
• Expy: Of Cruella De Vil, although she is arguably even more of a ruthless, animal-hating Determinator.
• French Jerk: French and goes way beyond simple jerkassery into psychotic violence.
• Humiliation Conga: During the final battle, she misses the only shot she had when Gia swoops in, has all of her henchmen taken out by circus animals. Then gets sandwiched between two elephants' rear ends before getting beat up by a bear on a motorcycle and thrown through a brick wall. Then she gets thrown into the lion enclosure, shot in the butt by a tranquilizer dart and made to act like a dog, before finally getting transported to Madagascar.
• Implacable Woman: She punches through solid brick walls in order to catch up with the aircraft the Zoosters are escaping in.
  Julien: Hey, this lady is really starting to freak me out.
• Just Desserts: The end of the third film indicates that she is headed for this fate.
• Knight of Cerebus: Even when her actions are Played for Laughs, it doesn't offset how dangerous she is to the animals. She even tries to saw Alex's head off during the climax.
• Knight Templar: Her task is to capture escaped animals to keep up safety and order in Monaco. She just takes it a bit too seriously.
• Lightning Bruiser: Appears to be the strongest, fastest, and most durable human in the setting; in her first encounter with the Zoosters, she gets blown off the car while it is traveling at ultra-fast speed, keeps up with the plane while smashing through several walls, and is finally dropped several stories. All of this is shrugged off.
• Made of Iron: She takes on more punishment than a normal human possibly could, such as getting thrown off a high-speed car, running through walls and surviving a multi-story drop. And that's just in one scene.
• Magic Music: Apparently DuBois' singing is so emotional and heartfelt, it heals her injured colleagues instantly, causing them to burst dramatically from their various body casts.
• Nerves of Steel: Nothing fazes her.
• The Nose Knows: She can track animals down using her sense of smell.
• Oh, Crap!: She is rightfully horrified when she discovers that she's been banished to Madagascar by the penguins as punishment for her unethical behavior on the job.
• Psycho for Hire: She works with the police, but is completely Ax-Crazy.
• Scarily Competent Tracker: To the point that just from smelling and tasting tracks left behind she can not only identify all sorts of impossible things about her quarry (height, weight, what they last ate), but she actually sees ghostly after-images of them showing their last actions.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Played much darker than the usual example — she rips up the Giant Novelty Check she was given for (accidentally) bringing Alex and co. back to the Zoo and says the quote below... all while preparing to shoot Alex with a poison dart in the next second.
  "It was never about the money. It was about... (Pulls out an "Alex" foam finger, under which she's hiding a poison dart gun) the lion."
• Speaks Fluent Animal: It's indicated that she can hear the animals speak English, as there is never a perspective switch to suggest that she can't.
• Super-Strength: Is far stronger than any normal human could hope to be — during her first chase, DuBois smashes through several concrete walls and stops the zoosters' plane from flying off before the ground breaks beneath her.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A foreign badass woman with a grudge against Alex? Sounds like a certain old lady.
• Underestimating Badassery: Averted in both directions. The penguins' file on her says she is the best — and Alex and company quickly agree — and DuBois doesn't take anyone lightly.
• Taking You with Me: When she and Alex are in free fall over a pool of cobras, she declares that Alex's head is coming with her.
• Villainous Breakdown: Occurs at the climax, and hoo boy, it's an outstanding one! It begins when Dubois discovers that the circus animals have arrived to rescue the Zoosters, where she lets out a Big "NO!" before she is knocked into a wall by Sonya and Julien on their motorcycle after they first take out her men. Eventually, Dubois rises up from the wall, her hair completely disheveled and now turned into a bloodthirsty rabid animal and starts chasing the circus animals and the Zoosters with a psychotically furious expression on her face, culminating with Alex throwing her into his rock pound as she crawls up, growling and eventually roaring angrily at the top of her lungs as Alex escapes. This practically marks the moment where Dubois changes from an utterly demented madwoman to an animalistic mess, and it is both terrifying and satisfying to behold.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Captain Dubois is out to murder Alex. As in literal, first-degree, premeditated murder. Even after Alex is re-contained in the zoo (at which point her warrant expires, and Alex becomes zoo property), she makes it very clear that she won't be satisfied while Alex still draws breath. Despite them leaving Monaco entirely, she and her cronies continue to pursue them far beyond the boundaries of where they would legally be allowed to pursue the Zoosters.
• Worthy Opponent: Sees Alex as this.
  DuBois: Well played, lion. Game on!

Introduced in Penguins of Madagascar

Classified

Voiced by: Benedict Cumberbatch ^{Foreign VAs} Waldemar Barwiński (Polish)

Classified is a courageous yet slightly arrogant British gray wolf and the team leader of North Wind. He is the North Wind's counterpart of Skipper.

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• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After the North Wind are captured by Dave's forces and about to be killed, he desperately tries to talk one of Dave's henchmen into letting them go in exchange for a fish.
• Changed My Mind, Kid: He has the North Wind retreat and leave Skipper, Rico and Kowalksi in Dave's clutches, to Privates chagrin. Later on, they arrive just in time to give the penguins a little help during the final battle.
• Foil: To Skipper. They are both leaders of secret animal organisations and tend to be jerks, but nonetheless do their best to do the right thing. However, while Skipper sees his teammates as family, Classified sees his teammates as friends at best. Also, Skipper loves to joke and doesn't take himself that seriously, while Classified is much more professional and serious.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Has his actor's famous slitted blue eyes and he also has a Speech Impediment where he never pronounces the word Penguin correctly.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He has a very low opinion of Skipper's team to begin with, dismissing them as "helpless", taking credit for their accomplishments, and he even has them drugged and carted off to a safehouse rather than let him interfere in the clash against Dave. He would later taunt Skipper over losing Private. Despite this, he truly believes in the North Wind's mission of protecting animals.
• The Leader: The head of the North Wind.
• Noble Wolf: A heroic wolf who leads a team that protects animals in danger.
• No Name Given: His name is classified, in that it is a secret. Skipper, however, assumes he means his name actually is Classified and refers to him as that throughout the film.
• Not So Stoic: He tries to maintain a veneer of control but can completely fall apart if it looks like there's no escape.
• Took a Level in Kindness: By the end of the film. He thanks the penguins by giving them jetpacks.
• Top-Heavy Guy: Not to the extent of Vitaly but his lower body is minuscule compared to the rest of his upper body.
• Withholding Their Name: He does not give his name, saying that it is classified. Skipper takes it to mean that his name really is "Classified".

Eva

Voiced by: Annet Mahendru ^{Foreign VAs} Izabella Bukowska-Chądzyńska (Polish)

Eva is a Russian snowy owl and North Wind's intelligence analyst. Kowalski has a crush on her.

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• Expy: Replaces Doris the Dolphin from The Penguins of Madagascar as Kowalski's Love Interest.
• Foil: To Kowalski. They are both the smart guys of their respective teams and appear to be little unemotional. That said, Kowalski seems to be slightly more open about his feelings and more prone to making mistakes.
• Interspecies Romance: She is shown to reciprocate Kowalski's feelings once Dave is defeated, kissing him passionately.
• Not So Stoic: Her composure does slip a few times, like when Classified is pelted with the contents of a chemical toilet, or when she kisses Kowalski.
• The Owl-Knowing One: She is a snowy owl, and she manages the intelligence of North Wind.
• Satellite Love Interest: She gets very little characterization besides being smart and straight-faced. Yet, Kowalski finds her incredibly attractive.
• The Smart Girl: She collects intelligence for the North Wind.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only female in the team.
• The Stoic: The most composed and straight-faced among the North Wind. She even retains the same serious facial expression for most of the film.

Short Fuse

Voiced by: Ken Jeong ^{Foreign VAs} Robert Rozmus (Polish)

Short Fuse is a Belgian harp seal. He is the North Wind's explosive and demolitions expert.

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• Child Prodigy: He is only a pup, as evidenced by his white fur. He is also North Wind's demolition expert.
• Demolitions Expert: For the North Wind.
• Foil: To Rico. They are both demolition experts of their teams, but Short Fuse is more collected and intelligent, as well as able to talk.
• Killer Rabbit: He is an adorable seal that carries massive guns.
• Meaningful Name: Doubly meaningful: he has zero patience for shenanigans, which made his reactions to the Penguins' antics all the more hilarious, and he is a demolitions expert who uses small bombs with short fuse.
• Motor Mouth: He goes into lengthy rants when he is frustrated.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: He is a cute seal pup.
• Sweet Seal: Subverted. He looks and sounds the part, but sure doesn't act like it.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: The explosives he uses are small enough to fit in his flippers.

Corporal

Voiced by: Peter Stormare ^{Foreign VAs} Michał Piela (Polish)

Corporal is a Norwegian polar bear and the muscle of the North Wind team. He seems to like penguins and he freaks out when other penguins are taken.

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• Beary Friendly: He is gentle with those not on his bad side and has a soft spot for penguins in particular.
• Beary Funny: His obsession with cute animals is Played for Laughs.
• The Big Guy: The largest member of the North Wind, an enormous polar bear.
• Cuteness Proximity: During the North Wind's first encounter with the penguins, he hugs and fawns over them.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Repeatedly smashes his team's tech and almost hugs the Penguins to death.
• Dumb Muscle: He is the strongest and least intelligent member of the North Wind, especially losing his mind when he sees cute animals.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite his love for penguins, even he is a little miffed that Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico destroyed the North Wind's airship.
• Extreme Omnivore: Experiences stress eating occasionally. However he tends to grab the nearest object rather than the nearest edible food, which includes flight control panels. This is apparently common enough that his team has a procedure to break the item out of his mouth.
• Foil: To Private. They are the most kindhearted members of their respective teams, but while Corporal is useful to the team as the physically strongest, Private lacks this strength and often feels completely useless to his team. Also they both have military ranks as their names.
• Gentle Giant: An enormous polar bear who is incredibly fond of small and cute animals.
• National Animal Stereotypes: A Norwegian polar bear.
• Token Good Teammate: While North Wind is far from evil, they do tend to be kind of jerks. However, Corporal is a Gentle Giant who rarely gets angry at the penguins.

Dave/Dr. Octavius Brine

Voiced by: John Malkovich ^{Foreign VAs} Krzysztof Dracz (Polish)

Dave is a villainous and disgruntled octopus who serves as the main antagonist of Penguins of Madagascar.

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• Accidental Misnaming: Skipper gets his name wrong most of the time, calling him "Debbie", "Dwight", etc. At one point he calls Dave "Ramirez."
• Artistic License – Marine Biology: He has a humanlike mouth on the front of his face instead of a beak in the middle of his underside like a real octopus. He also has a few hairs on his head, when only mammals have hair, and octopuses are certainly not mammals. (They are cephalopods.) Also, most of the time he is animated with six arms instead of eight.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: His comeuppance. As a result of his own ray being used on him, Dave finally out-cutes the penguins and gets the kids' attention... having been reduced to a tiny octopus trapped inside a snowglobe a girl has run off with (shaking it violently).
• Beware the Silly Ones: A silly, goofy-looking octopus who wants to commit genocide by making all the penguins ugly, in turn inciting the humans to have them all killed by exterminators.
• Big Bad: The main villain of the movie.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Subverted. He does specifically state he isn't trying to kill the penguins, but his scheme of turning them into psychotic mutants is basically a drawn-out and sadistic route to get them killed by exterminators after they get subjected to the dislike and rejection he had to endure. When Private supposedly gets obliterated by the Medusa Ray, he shows zero remorse. And he has no qualms attempting to straight-up murder the North Wind.
• Evil Is Petty: He acknowledges that turning every penguin on Earth into a monster won't make people like him, but it will make them hate penguins, and he will enjoy that.
• Evil Laugh: Does this during his video chat with the North Wind and the titular penguins, and in the climax when he tries to attack Private inside the Medusa Ray.
• Evil Redhead: He is the Big Bad and his disguise as Dr. Octavius Brine features red hair.
• Four-Legged Insect: Most of the time he (and his hench-octopuses) have only six arms instead of eight. Interestingly, in one brief gag where Classified counts Dave's arms, he is animated with eight of them.
• Funny Octopus: Of the Laughably Evil variety. He is a genuine threat to the penguins, but has ridiculously over-the-top mannerisms.
• Freudian Excuse: Every zoo he went to, his spotlight was stolen by penguins, causing him to hate them with a passion.
• Humanlike Animal Aging: Dave has humanlike longevity, being an adult when the penguins were still babies. In real life, octopuses do not live longer than a few years. It stands out in a series where animals' lifespans are portrayed accurately.
• Large and in Charge: He is much bigger than his octopus minions.
• Laughably Evil: He is vile and vengeful, but his sheer hamminess makes him hilarious to watch.
• Mad Scientist: Inventor of the Medusa Serum, a chemical that turns animals into monsters.
• Master of Disguise: He can take on the appearance of a human (whom he calls "Dr Octavius Brine"), by squishing and contorting his body, wearing a wig and glasses, and changing color.
• Narcissist: His motive is primarily envy, but it's also his selfish belief that zoo visitors should want to see an octopus more than a penguin, and himself thinking he's a better attraction than the penguins solely because he's an octopus, even though everyone likes penguins more.
• Nonstandard Character Design: He is the only octopus character to have near-human facial features as opposed to the more realistic ones his minions have, and no explanation is given as to why (especially considering it is shown he was like this even during his zoo days). He is also a lot more cartoonish when compared to the other cast, who rarely stretches and squashes as he does.
• Purple Is Powerful: He is a purple octopus, and a cunning villain with an army of smaller octopuses and a master plan to get revenge on the penguins.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: He is the Big Bad and has red eyes.
• Skin-Tone Disguise: Dave disguises himself as a human to blend in with society. Part of his disguise involves using his camouflage abilities, which come naturally to him as an octopus, to turn his purple skin to a Caucasian tone. Downplayed in that he has to do more than just that to disguise himself. He also has to stand up straight and wear a wig, clothes, and glasses with a fake nose
• Stealthy Cephalopod: Dave disguises himself as a human by changing his skin color to a Caucasian skin tone, putting on clothes, a wig, and glasses, and standing up straight. He still looks very different in a Gonky way, but none of the humans notice.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Dr. Blowhole from the television series: another aquatic animal supervillain with personal vendetta against the penguins.
• Talking Animal: Besides his Animal Talk, he is also able to speak human language when posing as Dr. Octavius Brine.
• Tentacled Terror: An octopus Mad Scientist with a personal vendetta against the penguins and the Big Bad of the movie.
• Thou Shall Not Kill: Subverted. See Even Evil Has Standards above.
• Tom the Dark Lord: A terrifying Mad Scientist octopus, simply called "Dave".
• Toothy Bird: He is the only octopus in the film with visible teeth (he even has a mouth that is placed in the position a human would have).
• Tragic Keepsake: His collection of snowglobes, each one from a zoo that rejected him.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: Feels this way at first... Then decides to fill the emptiness with more revenge!
• Villain Has a Point: Dave's whole plan was intentionally hinged on humankind's fickle treatment of non-cute animals, knowing they'd exterminate the penguins on the spot after he turned them into delirious ugly mutants.

Video Game Characters

King Fossa

Voiced By: Fred Tatasciore

A large, muscular fossa who seems to be their king. Alex encounters him during his self-imposed banishment in the game.

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• Big Bad: He's the one leading the fossa against the lemurs, and taking him down is the final challenge of the game.
• Breath Weapon: He can fire his stinky breath at Alex by eating durians.
• Canon Foreigner: The fossa had no leader in the original movie, so he was invented to act as a final challenge for the game.
• Evil Counterpart: To Alex, as they're both predatory feliforms. Alex has to defeat him to save the lemurs and Madagascar.
• Evil Laugh: He loves to laugh whenever he lands a hit against Alex.
• Final Boss: Of the first game.
• King Mook: He's a much larger, stronger version of the fossa enemies.
• Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Unlike the regular fossa enemies, he's immune to Alex's roar ability. Fortunately, he's not immune to Alex's newly-acquired claws.
• Only One Who Likes Spam: Unlike practically everyone else in Madagascar, he actually likes eating durians.
• Playing with Fire: During the third phase of the battle, King Fossa can set himself on fire, preventing Alex from hurting him. However, the fire goes out whenever he becomes exhausted, leaving him vulnerable to attack.
• Put on a Prison Bus: Implied. Alex and Marty hand him off to the penguins; it's never revealed what they did with him, but he's out of the lemurs' hair for good.
• The Speechless: He can laugh, but never speaks at any point.

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