Shere Khan (Disney)

"Ah, you have spirit for one so small! And such spirit deserves a sporting chance. Now, I'm going to close my eyes and count to ten; it makes the chase more interesting for me. One, two, three, four... you're trying my patience. Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!"

- Shere Khan gives his nemesis Mowgli a chance to run. "Oh please. Don't insult my intelligence. It makes me...irritable."

- Shere Khan interrogating Kaa on Mowgli's whereabouts, despite the snake truthfully telling him that he has no idea where the Man-Cub is.

Shere Khan (sometimes spelled as Shere-Khan) is the main antagonist of Disney's 19th full-length animated feature film The Jungle Book, and its 2003 sequel The Jungle Book 2. He also appears as a protagonist in Jungle Cubs. He is a ferocious Bengal Tiger with an undying hatred of mankind, as well as Mowgli's arch-nemesis.

In the first film, he was voiced by the late, who also played Mr. Freeze in the Batman series; his singing voice was provided by the late Bill Lee; and his roars were provided by the late Jimmy MacDonald. In TaleSpin and the second film, he was voiced by the late, who also played Galactus in the 1994 Fantastic Four TV series, Baron Mordo in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Khartoum in Disney's Aladdin series, Megabyte in the ReBoot TV series, Monsieur D'Arque in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the Transcendent One in Planescape: Torment, Lickboot in Tom and Jerry: The Movie, and Judge Claude Frollo in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He was voiced by as a cub in Jungle Cubs.

Personality
Shere Khan is a large and powerful Bengal tiger. He is known for his sadistic, greedy, intimidating, ruthless and vicious attitude. Everyone including Bagheera knows that he is powerful, especially he himself is, resulting in a very arrogant, proud, boastful and supercilious personality. He is very sophisticated and suave, and shown to be incredibly gentlemanly and polite when he wants to, but gets mean and cantankerous when angered. Animals everywhere in the jungle fear Shere Khan and he is often known as the "Lord of the Jungle". The vultures addressed him as "Your Highness". He puts on a snooty, yet sociable face, even when about to kill his opponent.

His only known fears are man's guns and man's fire which he overcame in the sequel as the climax took place in a temple surrounded in lava, though he didn't seem to care. This fear led to Shere Khan's vow to murder any human that entered his jungle which he has been known to do successfully with the exception of Mowgli. Shere Khan speaks with an American accent as a cub and an English accent as an adult and openly thinks highly about himself seeing various other animals namely Colonel Hathi as "ridiculous".

Jungle Cubs
Shere Khan appears as a cub in the animated series Jungle Cubs. In this series, it shows that Shere Khan was originally friends with Baloo, Bagheera, Louie, Hathi and Kaa. He was also more of a cocky bully in the series rather than a dangerous predator, as he usually tags along with Baloo and their friends on many adventures.

The Jungle Book
Despite having been referred to and spoken of several times, Shere Khan did not make a live appearance in the original film until about two-thirds into it. He is first seen stalking a deer, but his hunt was ruined when Colonel Hathi came marching by with his heard and scared it away, much to Khan's chagrin. After Bagheera stopped them, Shere Khan eavesdropped on their conversation and was delighted when he heard about Mowgli. After they had left, he began his hunt for Mowgli.

After searching some, he heard Kaa singing and became suspicious. He grabbed his tail and got him to come down. He politely questioned Kaa about Mowgli and Kaa acted strangely while answering his questions. Kaa's suspicious behavior prompted Shere Khan to search his coils for Mowgli, but still was not totally fooled when he didn't find him. He told Kaa if he saw him, he was to inform him first before continuing his search.

Later, he heard several vultures singing and investigated the occasion. He then found Mowgli and easily scared off the vultures with the word "Boo". He intimidates Mowgli and after being impressed by his courage, gave him ten seconds to run away (mainly for his own enjoyment). Refusing to run, Mowgli instead fetches a stick to fight off Khan, causing Khan to become annoyed. However, Baloo, arriving just in time, grabbed Shere Khan's tail before he could get to the boy. After a chase, the vultures help Mowgli get to safety.

Shere Khan furiously attacks Baloo, almost killing him. However, the vultures distract him long enough for an angry Mowgli to tie a burning stick on Shere Khan's tail, much to his shock. As a result, Shere Khan roars in fear and pain as he runs off in defeat as the burning stick hurts his rear.

The Jungle Book 2
Shere Khan returns in the 2003 sequel, where he is determined to kill Mowgli in revenge for humiliating him, he is also far more sinister in this movie than in the original. He made his way to the Man-Village where Mowgli currently lives, sneaking quietly past the sleeping villagers. He heard one of Mowgli's friends, a girl named Shanti, call out his name and found Mowgli's house. He then waited impatiently for the Man-Cub to show himself. However, he was chased off by the villagers just as he saw Baloo and Mowgli heading into the jungle. He interrogated Kaa on Mowgli's whereabouts; Shere Khan believes Kaa knows where Mowgli is (after hearing him say "Man-Cub"). Though Kaa truthfully has no idea where Mowgli is, Shere Khan doesn't believe him, and continues to threaten the python, which finally forced Kaa to fearfully lie that Mowgli's at the swamp, allowing him to flee.

When Shere Khan arrives at the swamp with Mowgli nowhere to be found, he splashes the water in fury after realizing that Kaa lied to him. Shere Khan then gets annoyed by Lucky, the newest part of the vulture gang. However, he gets alerted of Mowgli's actual location from the unwilling Lucky, whom he seemingly killed as revenge for his utter annoyance. With that in mind, Khan encounters Mowgli, Shanti, and Ranjan. He chases down Mowgli to a place of ruins with a moat of lava. After confusing Khan, one of the gongs fell off, revealing Shanti. Mowgli revealed himself and Shere Khan chased them both. In the end, he gets trapped in the lava gorge with a large head on top. Lucky (who somehow survived Khan's attack, but was left bruised) came back and annoyed him even more as retaliation for attacking him, much to Khan's chagrin. It is unknown if Shere Khan ever figured out a way to escape the lava gorge, or probably stayed there till starved to death.

TaleSpin
Shere Khan appeared, in a more anthropomorphic form, in the television series TaleSpin as a recurring antagonist (and sometimes an anti-hero). His character, while still villainous, had taken on a more corporate identity, as he serves as the CEO of his very own corporation Khan Industries (founded by his ancestors). He wears a white shirt, a red tie, and a blue suit, but he still goes barefoot.

Cameo Appearances

 * The version of Shere Khan from TaleSpin makes a cameos on a mugshot in Darkwing Duck and Bonkers.
 * Shere Khan appears as a regular guest and antagonist in House of Mouse.

Videogames

 * Shere Khan appears as a boss in the Donald Duck game QuackShot.
 * Shere Khan appears as the main antagonist of the Virgin Studios video game adaptations of The Jungle Book and The Jungle Book 2.
 * He appears as the main antagonist of The Jungle Book Groove Party, singing the original song "Run".
 * He appears as a costume in Disney Universe.

Disney Parks

 * Shere Khan is the main antagonist of Journey into the Jungle Book at Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
 * He appears in the Once Upon a Dream parade at Disneyland Paris.
 * At Hong Kong Disneyland, he appears in Flights of Fantasy, Villains Night Out!, and The Nightmare Experiment.

Trivia

 * Richard Waugh claimed that he got the inspiration for his voice for Albert Wesker on Shere Khan (specifically, the 1967 original classic).
 * The late Don Adams, the late Neville Brand, the late John Carradine, the late William Conrad, the late Hans Conried, the late Richard Devon, the late John Dehner, Clu Gulager, the late Gale Gordon, the late Victor Jory, the late Boris Karloff, the late Sheldon Leonard, the late George Macready, the late Vincent Price, the late John McGiver, the late Claude Rains, the late Basil Rathbone, the late Don Rickles, the late Edward G. Robinson, the late Paul Stewart, Larry Storch, the late Herschel Bernardi, the late Ted Cassidy, the late Robert Middleton, and the late Carleton Young were all considered for the role of Shere Khan.
 * However, Claude Rains died in May 30, 1967 at the age of 77 (approximately 5 months before the film's release), and Basil Rathbone died in July 21, 1967 at the age of 75 (approximately 3 months before the film's release).
 * Shere Khan is a member of Disney's Sinister Cats, a sub-franchise of the mainline Disney Villains franchise.