Makucha

"So leopards say hello with their teeth. So what?"

- Makucha to Kion and Fuli.

Makucha is a recurring antagonist in The Lion Guard. He acts as a recurring antagonist in Season 1 and 2 and serves as the main antagonist of Season 3. He is a surreptitious leopard who is Fuli's archenemy.

He is voiced by Steven Blum, who also playd Jindiao in Kung Fu Panda: Paws of Destiny, Vilgax in Ben 10 and Starscream in Transformers Prime.

"The Imaginary Okapi"
Makucha has chased Ajabu all the way into the Pride Lands, trying to catch him. He is first shown stalking gazelles, and The Lion Guard confronts him. They demand that he leaves, to which he responds that they will have to make him. He flees, an and the Lion Guard pursue him, but he is able to escape.

He tracks down Ajabu and refuses to leave him be as okapis are rare. Ajabu tries to escape Makucha through a herd of zebras, but fails.

The Lion Guard later seen Makucha chase Ajabu and come to the okapi's aid. Makucha faces against Kion, Fuli and Bunga (who has grabbed onto Makucha's tail). Beshte watches the face-off from afar with Ajabu, before deciding to help his friends by charging at Makucha. Upon noticing Beshte approaching, Makucha (perhaps knowing he would be beaten by the large hippopotamus), flees with Bunga still clinging to his tail, before Kion tells him to let go.

"The Golden Zebra"
Makucha attempts to stop the Lion Guard from entering his territory in the Back Lands, but reluctantly let's them past after losing to them in a fight.

Makucha later appears with three other leopards and battles the Lion Guard when they enter his territory to get rid of a dam that is blocking the water hole for a herd of zebras. The Lion Guard manage to fend off three of the leopards, but stop when Makucha threatens to harm the herd's leader Dhahabu.

However with encouragement from the Lion Guard, Dhahabu kicks Makucha into the dam, making it break and forces Makucha to leave.

“Harmattan”
When the Lion Guard leave the pridelands and head for the backlands. They are attacked by Makucha and two other leopards for entering their territory. The fight stops when a harmattan occurs and both the Lion Guard and Makucha’s leap run in search of shelter. Makucha’s leap and the Lion Guard conveniently find shelter in the same cave and Makucha offers to help get them out of the backlands [for the sole reason that he wants them out of his territory]. When another storm hits, Makucha’s leap and the Lion Guard take shelter in a cavern only for Makucha to unintentionally save Kion from a falling rock. The Lion Guard are shocked and begin to suspect that Makucha might not be as bad as previously expected however Makucha revealed to the other two leopards that he only intended to save himself and Kion got in the way. As they continue their journey; Makucha overhears Makini talking about the Tree of Life and all it’s rare animals, giving Makucha the idea to kill the Lion Guard members and take Makini as a hostage to lead him to the Tree of Life. They lead the Lion Guard to a cliff only for Ono to realize that Makucha was tricking them the whole time. Makucha kidnaps Makini and his leap attack’s the Lion Guard. Kion engages Makucha, saving Makini and defeating him while the rest of the Lion Guard take down his leap. A stronger Harmattan kicks in sending Makucha and his leap flying into the trees. After recovering, an enraged Makucha plans to follow the Lion Guard to the Tree of Life, the other two leopards decide not to tag along leaving Makucha to follow the Lion Guard alone.

“Ghost Of The Mountain”
Makucha follows the Lion Guard all the way to the Himalayas where he meets a snow leopard ‘Chuluun’ who had just been defeated by the Lion Guard prior. Makucha explains to Chuluun his plan of heading to the Tree of Life and getting revenge on the Lion Guard, offering Chuluun to go along with him. She happily accepts.

“Dragon Island”
Makucha and Chuluun follow the Lion Guard to Indonesia where they come across a Komodo Dragon ‘Ora’ who also has been defeated by the Lion Guard. Makucha and Chuluun welcome him to their group, Ora happily accepts as an opportunity to take revenge on the Lion Guard.

Personality
Very confident, manipulative, intelligent, dexterous, and cunning, Makucha is a determined predator. Once he locks on a target, he is hard to shake off and will take days to bring down his prey. Even in the face of fierce opposition, he is assertive, forthright, respectable, praiseworthy, straightforward, and self-assured, willing to fight for what he believes is his.

Appearance
Makucha is a slender, muscular leopard. He has pale yellow fur with brown spots lined with black, green eyes, unsheathed claws and a long, stripy tail with a tuft on the end.

Trivia

 * The name "Makucha" means "claws" in Swahili.
 * Makucha bears a resemblance to Sabor from Disney's 1999 film adaptation of Tarzan, though is male and has paler fur.
 * Makucha is one of two leopard antagonists to appear in The Lion Guard. The other being Mapigano.
 * Makucha's defeat is very similiar to Shere Khan's defeat from the 1967 Disney film The Jungle Book.
 * Makucha's name sounds like Makunga from Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa if you replace the "ch" with "ng".
 * He returned for Season 3 to take the mantle of Main Antagonist. Alongside him are Chuluun the Snow Leopard and Ora the Komodo Dragon.