Pre-release WMGs
Kaa is a good guy this time around
Her menacing appearance in the trailer is a bait-and-switch. She'll either be a Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold or have a Heel–Face Turn for Mowgli after initially trying to eat him. If the latter, it's possible that Mowgli will save her life and she'll become his new mentor out of gratitude.- Thus, she'll take on her original role from the book through Character Rerailment, subsequently making the film a Recursive Adaptation.
- Jossed. She's just as mean (although scarier and less comical) as her animated counterpart.
Alternatively, Kaa's hypothetical redemption will be a deconstruction of the Predators Are Mean trope
Think about the three villains' motivations: Shere Khan hates humans and thus wants to kill Mowgli for pretty much just existing. King Louie clearly has an ulterior motive of his own, we just don't know what it is yet. If this version of Kaa is anything like her 1967 counterpart, then her only motivation is that she wants to eat Mowgli, which almost certainly gives her the only remotely justifiable reason for going after him. Mowgli, having been raised by carnivores, may manage to free himself from Kaa's coils by offering to hunt an alternative food source for her. A grateful Kaa will reward him, possibly by giving him some vital information.- Jossed.
The movie takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Unlikely, as it is neither based on a Marvel Comics property, nor has any reference to superheroes. King Louie, being a Gigantopithecus in this movie, is the Last of His Kind
It's possible, but never addressed in the movie. Christopher Walken will be totally ridiculous
And at some point, he will say to Baloo, "This is not over, bear!"- Sadly jossed.
The full version of "Bare Necessities" (sung by Bill Murray) will play in the film, but only during the credits
As Maleficent did with "Once Upon a Dream", and Cinderella with "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" and "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo."- Adding to this: "Trust in Me" will get this too, because who doesn't want to hear Scarlett's take on that song?
- Confirmed for both. With Christopher Walken singing "I Wanna Be Like You" too
Bruce Reitherman will make some sort of cameo
Jossed. King Louie will say to Mowgli, "I wanna be like you!"
As a Mythology Gag, just like how Kaa references "Trust in Me".- Confirmed. But unlike Kaa, who just speaks the line, he actually sings a new version of the original song.
The movie will make subtle references to other stories from The Jungle Book
Possibly by inserting brief shots and cameos of animals that appeared in said stories, such as a mongoose (Rikki-Tikki-Tavi) or a crocodile (The Undertakers).- Semi-confirmed. Both these species appear as brief cameos, but this is likely unintentional.
Shere Khan's backstory
Either it will be just like it was in the original story (Shere Khan was born lame, and is forced to hunt humans), or it will be as it was in the original film (Bagheera says that Shere Khan won't let Mowgli grow up to be "another hunter with a gun", implying that he's been attacked by and hates humans).- The latter might be more likely. A villain that was born with a handicap doesn't fare that well with modern audiences, and makes the character much less threatening.
- So far, he doesn't appear to be lame, but , apparently , he DOES have an injured, blind eye. Thus, he is still portrayed as a Handicapped Badass villain. It's also possible that said blind eye is going to be his reason for hating humans.
- This line pretty much confirms this:
Does my face not remind you of what a grown man can do?
"The Mighty Hunters", a Cut Song from Disney's first Jungle Book movie, will appear in this movie, most likely as a Leitmotif for Shere Khan.
The song was originally written as a duet between Khan and a deleted villain named Buldeo. As the song's low-key, menacing tone was a little jarring compared to the rest of the movie, it was deleted from the film. Because this movie is meant to be Darker and Edgier, it would be perfect! Just imagine Shere Khan prowling through the dark forest as the ominous tune highlights his presence!- There were several songs cut from the original film. I could see many of them added to this movie as Leitmotifs of sorts.
King Louie will get a Death by Adaptation.
In this version, instead of a comedic, goofy anti-villain, he is portrayed as monstrous and menacing. And since the movie is Darker and Edgier in general, some character deaths are likely, and Louie's death would be a good resolution to the threat the monkeys mean. Perhaps as he chases Mowgli through the temple ruins, the ceiling collapses and falls on him. If he is indeed the Last of His Kind, as speculated above, we will witness Gigantopithecus going extinct.- Confirmed. Louie does not live to see the end of the film. Unless the credits sequence has anything to say about it, but its canonical status is debatable.
The four vultures will be in this film
However, unlike in the animated version, they won't talk, they won't in any way resemble The Beatles, and they'll abide to the vulture stereotype of being creepy, scary, and possibly villainous. They'll often be seen following Mowgli everywhere he goes (often in a circular formation) because they know he's a Doom Magnet: either he's going to die very soon, or things around him are going to die. Either way, they're eating.- Or following the trend of the original vultures, their voices could be inspired by another music band.
- A non-troper I know brought up this exact topic and is taking her chances the vultures will resemble One Direction
- Or following the trend of the original vultures, their voices could be inspired by another music band.
- Confirmed. They follow Shere Khan, but sadly do not speak.
King Louie will learn how to harness the power of fire this time
And in keeping with the film's Darker and Edgier tone, he will wield it to terrifying effect.- In conjunction with the Death by Adaptation example above, this may end up leading to his demise.
- Jossed.
Linking to the above theory, King Louie is the main reason Mowgli needs to leave, not Shere Khan.
Louie has his monkeys kidnap Mowgli because he wants the secret to making "man's red flower(fire)" in order to "be like us(humans)". However, fire is feared by all animals of the jungle, including Shere Khan. What if one day Louie decided he didn't want to be just the "king of the swingers" anymore and wanted to be king of the whole jungle. He could use fire as a weapon to terrorise the animals into following his orders. Shere Khan is aware of this, and decides the most reliable method to prevent this is killing Mowgli. However, Bagheera suggests they return Mowgli to the man village, but Shere Khan insists on his idea because he doesn't want Mowgli to become a hunter himself. This could mean that the fire in the background of Shere Khan and Baloo's fight may not be Mowgli's doing.- Support: Notice how most of the action in the trailers is against King Louie and his minions and that Bagheera only ever says "HE" wants to get Mowgli. He never says "his" name...
- This B-roll footage
confirms that King Louie does indeed want to use man's red flower to rule the jungle.- Jossed. Shere Khan remains the primary antagonist of the film, and the reason Mowgli needs to leave.
Shanti will appear in the film as a spoiler
It's all kept hidden so it seems like she won't appear but we'll finally see her at the last ten minutes as a surprise. Or rather, she'll appear throughout the movie at random scenes but only at the end we'll understand who she is.- Jossed.
The final battle will have other contestants
We see Baloo battling Shere Khan in what is surely the climax of the film, and we know Mowgli will lend a hand. But Baloo will receive much needed back-up from Bagheera, the wolf pack, and maybe Louie in an Enemy Mine. Alternatively, Louie and Shere Khan will team up to kill Mowgli (the former for destroying his temple), and the final fight will be Baloo, Mowgli, Bagheera, and the wolves vs. Louie and Shere Khan. While the rest of the watching animals battle Louie's monkey clan.- Bonus points: One of the villains will slink away injured, only to find himself in Kaa's lair...
- Semi-confirmed. But instead of the main heroes vs. Louie and Shere Khan, it's Baloo, Bagheera, and the entire wolf pack against Shere Khan. To say Shere Kahn is a one-tiger army would be an understatement.
Shere Khan will have followers and/or minions
Notice how, in one of the trailers, he asks a group of animals if he has their attention. While we don't exactly see what species they are, Shere Khan is apparently trying to convince them that Mowgli is a threat (he asks "How many lives is a man-cub worth?"). It's possible that he will manipulate some of the jungle animals into helping him hunting down Mowgli, with the claims that he is a danger to the jungle, just like every other human.- If it happens, and if his helpers are wolves, it could count as a Mythology Gag to the book, where Shere Khan manipulated some of the younger members of the wolf pack into turning against Mowgli.
- In the original book he also had a jackal yes-man called Tabaqui (who was the only animal who respected him). Maybe he'll show up on this film?
- Jossed. a Jackal appears by his side in one scene as a reference to Tabaqui, but nobody helps Shere Khan in the film. His "have I got your attention now?" quote is spoken when he addresses the wolf pack immediately after murdering Akela.
Post-release WMGs
The temple King Louie lived in was a temple of Hanuman.
Because it's India and Hanuman was the Monkey King.Because, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is doing well enough, why wouldn't Disney do this to make even more money?- Bit of a difference here. The MCU is all set in the same relative time period, and the source materials all share a universe. They also intend to do crossovers, which at their heart are what The Avengers films are. The Disney animated canon, and by extension the live action films that are either re-makes or otherwise inspired by the Disney films and/or their source material, are set in a very wide range of times and places, leaving little room for realistic crossovers, thus eliminating any need for a shared universe.
Shere Khan is Blofeld.
That's why he told the cuckoo story. All of the remaining cast members will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe one day.
Neel Sethi said he wanted to play a superhero, and it'd be great to see Bill Murray in there too. Shere Khan is a Siberian Tiger.
He's mentioned as being particularly massive and dangerous, even for a tiger, and Siberians are known as the largest tigers. He ignores the Law of the Jungle with impunity, which makes more sense if he's not originally from the jungle. Finally, while Bengal Tigers will occasionally kill Sloth Bears, Siberian Tigers will go after the larger and more dangerous Brown Bears - like Baloo. This lines up with how Baloo brushes off the threat of a tiger until he discovers that it's Shere Khan. It might also explain his particular loathing of Man, if they're responsible for shlepping him over the Himalayas until he was so far from home he'd never be able to return. Kaa is Kaiju-sized, literally kilometers in length
Her full size is not revealed, and given that she seemingly hunts alone with no allies, one way to explain why she seems to know so many things she shouldn't is if her coils, well-hidden amidst the foliage, span a massive area, sensing everything that happens through vibrations even when the head is nowhere in the vicinity. Sequel predictions
The sequel will have the red dogs as main antagonists, and Mowgli will need to get Kaa's help to fight them
Kaa won't quite have a Heel–Face Turn to reverse her/his Adaptational Villainy, but will be in an Enemy Mine situation with Mowgli and co.- Possibly, Kaa will [[It's Personal have it personal] with the red dogs' alpha and help Mowgli and co. out on the condition she gets to eat the alpha.
Linking to the above theory, Raksha will take Akela's place in that story
Alternatively, the sequel's antagonist will be...
... King Louie, if he really did survive as the end credits implied. He's bound to have heard about what Mowgli did, and would still want the power of the red flower... The sequel will be called The Second Jungle Book
The sequel's main antagonist will be Buldeo
The character was originally planned to appear in the 1967 Disney movie, but was cut to simplify the story. Since Shere Khan is no longer alive, his motivation cannot be the same as in the book; but maybe, instead, he will lead an expedition to find the treasure of the monkey city. In the sequel, Mowgli will meet a friendly tiger
In order to defeat Buldeo (the hunter from the original book) Mowgli teams up with a tiger who actually follows the law of the jungle.- Alternately, the tiger will be an expy of the more Anti-Villain Shere Khan from the 1994 movie.
The sequel will introduce Messua as Mowgli's long-lost mother.
She will remember that her husband and her son (whose name was probably Nathoo) were lost in the jungle a decade ago. Mowgli will be torn whether she or Raksha is his "real" mother. Songs from Disney's The Jungle Book 2 will be referenced in the sequel.
Most likely "Jungle Rhythm" or "Right Where I belong" to show Mowgli's conflict of choosing between the jungle and man-village. Shanti will appear in the sequel.
She is well-known for her One-Scene Wonder appearance at the end of the original Jungle Book animated film, and was the ultimate reason why Mowgli decided to go to the man-village at the end. For the live-action sequel, she will be the first human that Mowgli interacts face-to-face and essentially puts Mowgli into a genuine conflict of whether he should stay in the jungle or return in the man-village to be with her.- The plot might be about Shanti getting lost in the jungle, and she's been afraid of the jungle her whole life. But Mowgli will help her learn that the jungle isn't all that bad.
Riki-Tiki-Tavi will appear in the sequel.
And he will be voiced by either Robert Downey Jr. or Sam Rockwell. The Vultures will appear in the Sequel.
Jon Favreau wanted Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to do the voices for the Vultures and to make a cameo in the film, but an agreement could not be reached but Jon Favreau has said that he has not lost hope and they could appear in a sequel.And finally the two surviving Beatles of the band seem in the sequel, it would not be the 67 vulture quarters and rather it would be a duo of two vultures with the voices of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and playing the famous song of: That's What Friends are For.
The White Cobra from "The King's Ankus" will appear in the sequel.
The sequel will have a Good Counterpart of Kaa.
The snake will be male, with the name of "Narsarp" (Male Snake in Indian language) and will be more like the Kaa from the original book and its counterpart from '67, making him an Expy/Decomposite Character.- And it'll be revealed that they were married until Kaa gotten too cocky by devouring humans any chance she gets, disregarding that doing so would provoke human violence against the jungle and the animals and Narsarp will teach to Mowgli that not all snakes are bad.
King Louie will be an Ascended Extra in the sequel.
And he will be either the Big Bad, or make a Heel–Face Turn.