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 giving Mowgli a chance to run.

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 sequel The Jungle Book 2, an anti-hero in TaleSpin, Jungle Cubs, and the 1994 live action film Rudyard Kiping's The Jungle Book. 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 George Sanders, who also played Mr. Freeze. In the second film, he was voiced by the late Tony Jay, who also played Galactus, Baron Mordo, Khartoum, Megabyte, Monsieur D'Arque, the Transcendent One, and Judge Claude Frollo.

Personality
Shere Khan is a large and powerful tiger who is known for his sadistic, greedy, intimidating, ruthless, and vicious attitude. Everyone including Bagheera knows that he is powerful, especially he himself, 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. All animals of 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 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 a British accent and openly thinks highly about himself seeing various other animals namely Colonel Hathi as "ridiculous". Although fellow villain Scar speaks with a British accent Shere Khan has a more gentlemanly, upper class accent saying phrases such as "Good Show". In his youth he spoke with an American accent and was friends with Bagheera, Baloo, Hathi and Prince Louie but at some undetermined time he developed a strong British accent, lost his friends and became an aggressive and fierce predator.

Jungle Cubs
Shere Khan appears as a cub in the (non-canon) animated series Jungle Cubs. In this series it shows that Shere Khan was originally friends with Baloo, Bagheera, and others. 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 (1967)
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 wasn't 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.

Furious, Shere Khan attacks Baloo, almost killing him, but 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 runs off in defeat as the burning stick hurts his rear.

The Jungle Book 2 (2003)
"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. "Isn't it ironic that your name.. is.. Lucky?"

- Shere Khan about to attack Lucky.

Shere Khan returns in the 2003 sequel, where he is determined to kill Mowgli in revenge for humiliating him. 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.

House of Mouse
Shere Khan appeared in the TV series House of Mouse as a recurring guest, usually seen sitting either alone or with Kaa. In most of his pairings with Kaa, he is often seen holding Kaa by the neck, like in the movie.

In his most notable appearance in "The Mouse Who Came to Dinner", Mortimer Mouse was pretending to be the club's critic (which was really Lumiere) to have Mickey and friends obey him and when he became annoying, Shere Khan became annoyed as well and quoted "Do you mind?" to which Mortimer replied, "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do mind, Stripey! Somebody get Tigger's's evil twin here a ball of yarn!"

A dish called Shere Khan's Flan, named after the villainous tiger, is mentioned by Goofy in "Rent Day".

In "Dining Goofy", Shere Khan and Kaa was accidentally given broccoli by Goofy. He used one of his claws on Goofy to make it clear that he (and Kaa) was not a vegetarian. Soon after Goofy was replaced by advanced technology, Shere Khan and Kaa's meal order was corrected and they both got a giant steak to eat.

In "Goofy's Menu Magic", when a food shortage occurred, Goofy attempted to serve Shere Khan his shoe for dinner (an apparent reference to the Goofy short " Tiger Trouble"). Shere Khan, however, was unamused.

In "Ask Von Drake", Shere Khan appears with Kaa during "The Ludwig Von Drake Song".

Despite appearing in the series itself, Shere Khan never appeared in its movie Mickey's House of Villains, as Kaa is the only villain from The Jungle Book to join the Disney Villains, led by Jafar to take over the House of Mouse. However, in the opening sequence, a tiger's paw is seen on-screen as the characters are walking towards the club. So it could be possible that only Shere Khan's paw was seen once in the movie.

TaleSpin
"Like a jungle, a corporation is only as healthy as the green it produces. Last quarter, our green dropped a leaf...... I trust that won't happen again. Wilberly, give us an update on the top-secret project that will put us back in full bloom."

- Shere Khan supervising a meeting his with fellow employees.

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.

Depicted as a stereotypical businessman that owns his business and a fleet of planes and navy to protect his shipping and business interests worldwide, Shere Khan is extremely ruthless and willing to do anything to make money to expand his business by running smaller companies out of business; at one time in the episode "On a Wing and a Bear", he barged a deal with Don Karnage and his band of Air Pirates to create an artificial oil shortage so he could extort higher prices from the public.

However, despite his threatening and villainous presence, Khan holds a sense of morals and honor, as he would be more than willing to aid those who have helped him, proving himself more of an ally than a villain. For one example, in the story arc "Plunder and Lightning", Shere Khan learns of a horrifying event that Karnage and his Air Pirates have created a large gun that can utilize electricity to destroy Cape Suzette, and without hesitation, Khan calls in his navy to protect the city from the Air Pirates at all costs. In another episode "From Here to Machinery", his plane is being attacked by the Air Pirates, and the robot pilot (created by the sleazy Professor Torque) is unable to deviate from its flight programming, causing an arriving Baloo to take action by destroying the robot and taking control of the plane to evade the pirates, an act that has impressed Khan and causing him to develop a certain respect for Baloo's piloting skills.

Cameo Appearances

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

Video game appearances

 * 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.

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book
Shere Khan also appears in the 1994 live-action film, being portrayed by a real-life tiger. However, Shere Khan is presented as a more sympathetic character in this film. Khan appears rarely and instead serves as a major antagonist (later anti-hero) in the film while a greedy British captain named William Boone (portrayed by Cary Elwes) serves as the main antagonist of the film. Unlike his animated counterpart, Khan refuses to kill for sport, and his sole goal is to protect the jungle from those who break its "laws," namely humans who kill animals for fun instead of food. He is described by Colonel Geoffrey Brydon (the film's narrator) as "the jungle's royal keeper," and by the infamous hunter Buldeo as the "king of tigers."

In the beginning of the film, Khan spots Buldeo and two soldiers hunting down several animals for fun, and becomes enraged at this. He proceeds to attack the camp, killing the two soldiers and the local guide Nathoo, who was trying to defend Buldeo, who ungratefully left Nathoo to be mauled to death by the tiger. This event led Nathoo's son Mowgli to be separated from civilization and to be raised by the wolf pack until he became a young adult.

Khan appears again when he spotted Boone, Buldeo and their men trying to seek Monkey City (the home of King Louie and the Bandar Log, as well as Louie's treasure guardian Kaa) to find its hidden treasure. Khan then chases down Lieutenant John Wilkins (one of Boone's men) and proceeds to maul him to death in revenge for shooting down Baloo. After Buldeo is buried alive inside Monkey City while Boone gets killed by Kaa, Khan confronts Mowgli as he distrusts all humans in general. He tries to roar at Mowgli to make him run for his life, but Mowgli roars back to stand his ground. At that point, Khan sees Mowgli as a 'fellow creature of the jungle', deciding to spare him and allowing him and the Colonel's daughter Katherine 'Kitty' Brydon to leave the jungle in peace.

The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story
Shere Khan is first seen attending the jungle meeting called by Hathi. He then contemplates on who he is going to eat, with his sidekick Tabaqui telling jokes about it, much to the tiger's annoyance. He then decides to hunt man, claiming to have a craving for "Indian food". He and Tabaqui then ambush some humans visiting the river, but when he is shot at by hunters, he flees and is assumed dead. Years later, he reveals himself alive to the wolf pack and demands that Mowgli be given to him, but Akela refuses, and Shere Khan swears revenge. He is later seen conspiring with the wolf pack bullies about separating Mowgli from the pack, which succeeds. He and Tabaqui then conspire with the chimps about separating Mowgli from Bagheera and Baloo.

The Jungle Book (2016)
In the 2016 live action remake of the 1967 film, Shere Khan, voiced by Idris Elba, appears once again as the main antagonist. In this incarnation, Shere Khan has a burn scar on the left side of his face sustained in a fight with Mowgli's father; plus, he is far more malevolent and dangerous than his original cartoon counterpart.
 * See: Shere Khan (2016)

Isle of the Lost Descendants Novel
Shere Khan is among the villains imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost. Apparently, he had a soft spot for Evie when she was younger, since every time she giggles he smiles.

The Jungle Book (1967)
"What beastly luck. Confound that ridiculous Colonel Hathi."

- Shere Khan annoyed that Colonel Hathi and his herd scared a deer away that he intended to devour "How interesting."

- Shere Khan after hearing Bagheera say Man-Cub "How delightful."

- Shere Khan delighted to hear that Mowgli ran away "Element of surprise? Oh, I say. And now for my rendezvous with the little lost Man-Cub."

- Shere Khan about to begin his own hunt for Mowgli "It's me, Shere Khan. I'd like a word with you if you don't mind. (Kaa: Shere Khan, what a surprise.) Yes, isn't it? I just dropped by. Forgive me if I've interrupted anything. (Kaa: Oh, no, no, nothing at all.) I thought perhaps you were entertaining someone up there in your coils. (Kaa: Coils? Someone? Oh, no. I was just curling up for my siesta.) But you were singing to someone. Who is it, Kaa? (Kaa: Uh, who? Oh, no. Well, I was just singing, uh, to myself.) Indeed. (Kaa: Yes. Yes, you see I have trouble with my sinuses.) What a pity. (Kaa: Oh, you have no idea. It's simply terrible. I can't eat. I can't sleep. So I sing to myself to sleep. You know, self-hypnosis. Let me show you how it works. Ah, trust in me...) No, I can't be bothered with that. I have no time for that sort of nonsense. (Kaa: Some other time perhaps?) Perhaps. But at the moment I am searching for a Man Cub. (Kaa: Man Cub? What Man Cub?) The one who's lost. Now where do you suppose he could be? (Kaa: Search me.) That's an excellent idea. I'm sure you wouldn't mind showing me your coils, would you, Kaa? (Kaa: Uh, certainly not. Nothing here. And nothing in here. My sinuses.) Hmm. Indeed. And now, how about the middle? (Kaa: The middle? Oh, the middle. Absolutely nothing in the middle.) Really? Well, if you do just happen to see the man cub you will inform me first, understand? (Kaa: I get the point. Cross my heart, hope to die.) Good show. And now I must continue my search for the helpless little lad."

- Shere Khan questioning Kaa about Mowgli "That's what friends are for. Bravo, bravo. An extraordinary performance. And thank you for detaining my victim."

- Shere Khan having finally managed to find Mowgli "Why should you run? Could it be possible that you don't know who I am? (Mowgli: I know you, all right. You're Shere Khan.) Precisely. Then you should also know that everyone runs from Shere Khan. (Mowgli: You don't scare me. I won't run from anyone.) Ah. You have spirit for one so small. And such spirit is deserving of 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 impressed by Mowgli's courage and giving him a chance to run away "Let go, you big oaf."

- Shere Khan to Baloo "I'll kill you for this."

- Shere Khan threatening and viciously attacking Baloo "Stay out of this, you mangy fools."

- Shere Khan's last words in the first film before he runs off in panic after Mowgli ties a burning branch to his tail

Disney Parks

 * 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

 * Voice actor Richard Waugh claimed that he got the inspiration for his voice for Albert Wesker on Shere Khan (specifically, the 1967 original classic).
 * Shere Khan is the Big Bad in the franchise, except for the 1994 film, where his role as the Big Bad is taken by William Boone, who has bigger plans than anyone else in the film; Boone even desired to kill both Shere Khan and Mowgli for his own pleasure.
 * In the planned third installment of the Jungle Book franchise, Shere Khan escaped from the statue at the beginning of the movie, and end up captured alongside Baloo and forced into a Russian circus environment. During this time, Shere Khan will also end up regretting his actions from the previous two films and intend to reform as Mowgli and the other animals attempt to rescue them. However, due to the Jungle Book 2's poor sales, it was scrapped. Since this idea was scrapped, it is unknown whether this is canon or not. Had that film came to fruition, he would also have been one of the few Disney Villains to be redeemed, although Khan was already a hero when he was young.
 * In the 2016 remake, Shere Khan and Bagheera fight together. In real life, tigers and leopards are competitors and enemies; tigers will drive leopards from their kills and will kill both adults and cubs to rid themselves of competition. Leopards will also kill tiger cubs if and when they can find them to rid themselves of competition for food and territory. However, tigers and leopards can be friends when they are raised together as cubs in an animal sanctuary.