Makunga

"(Zuba: Why do you even wanna become the alpha lion?) I'm better looking, I have better hair, I'm deceivingly smart. And I want everyone to do what I say."

- Makunga explaining why he wants to be Alpha Lion.

Makunga is the main antagonist of DreamWorks's 17th full-length animated feature film, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. He is Zuba's arch-nemesis.

He was voiced by Alec Baldwin who also played Nicholas Kudrow, Dennis, and Larry Quinn.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
He is seen at the beginning of the film, where Alex is a young cub. Zuba asks Makunga why he wants to become Alpha Lion to which he responds, "I'm better looking, I have better hair. I'm deceivingly smart. And I want everyone else to do what I say." When Zuba fights him, Alex wanders off, getting captured by poachers and eventually ending up in New York.

Years later, Alex and his friends wind up in Africa, and Alex reunites with his parents. Makunga thinks of using him as an advantage to finally become the Alpha lion. At Alex's welcoming ceremony, Makunga suddenly stops the celebration and reminds Zuba that Alex must perform the Rite of Passage in order to be officially accepted into the pride. Alex, believing it to be a breeze, accepts the opportunity.

As Alex prepares for the Rite of Passage, Makunga comes along and tells him to choose Teetsi (a large, slender, muscular lion who is also Makunga's henchman) as his opponent. When Alex loses the fight (he lost because he thought that it was a dance contest), Makunga dethroned Zuba as Alpha lion and banished him, Alex and Florrie and makes Alex wear the Hat of Shame (which is a ridiculous-looking coconut shell decorated with a whole bunch of fruit at the top).

When the water hole is dried, Makunga suggests that the animals would have to fight for the water. When the animals object to this insane proposal, Makunga then suggests to leave the reserve to find more water. The animals object to this notion as well, knowing it is too dangerous beyond the reserve. However, Alex steps in and states that he will leave the reserve to destroy the dam and bring the water back. While the other animals are amazed at Alex's bravery, Makunga laughs derisively at him and sarcastically suggests to the young lion that he do a rain dance. Determined to prove the pompous Makunga wrong, Alex sets off on his quest and Makunga continues to insult and mock him as he leaves. Realizing Makunga has no regard for anybody but himself, the animals criticize his leadership and demand Zuba back, making Makunga seethe with fury.

After the dam was destroyed and the water was returned, Alex and Zuba trick Makunga by giving Nana's handbag to him as a "token of appreciation", then releasing the old lady. When Nana sees Makunga holding her purse, she proceeds to attack him by kicking him in the crotch, stomping on his foot, whacking his paw with a ruler, wet-willying him, arm-burning, and spanking him before dragging him away by the ear, as the other animals cheer on.

The DVD commentary confirms that "Nana brought Makunga back to New York in a kitty cage".

Personality
Makunga is very greedy, pompous, cocky, mean, sneaky, tricky, cunning, impatient, scandalous, egotistical, manipulative, power-hungry, arrogant, and conceited overall in nature.

Makunga is also especially sly as he tricked Alex into challenging huge bulky lion Teetsi, knowing full well Alex would easily lose and Zuba wouldn't have it in him to banish his son for his failure, thus Zuba resigns the alfa lion position and Makunga takes it.

When Makunga takes the role of the alpha lion, he is not very good at it, due to his incompetence he tries to hide and he comes up with insane solutions to the water drought (like having to fight for the water or leaving the reserve to find it).

All in all, Makunga's supreme ego leads to his downfall when Alex tricks him by giving him Nana's purse as a gift, then releases the old lady, who proceeds to give the pompous jerk the beating he deserves.

Appearance
Makunga is a fat dark tan lion with green eyes and a black mane with a gray streak in it (when he is older).

Trivia

 * Makunga is the only main Madagascar film antagonist who does not meet or interact with any of the movie trilogy's other main characters. The only one he meets and interacts with is Alex.
 * Makunga wants to be the Alpha lion, because he is better-looking, has a better mane, is deceivingly smart, and wants everyone to do what he says.
 * Makunga bears a similar appearance to Scar from the animated Disney film, The Lion King.
 * They are lions and have black manes.
 * They also appear as the main antagonists in the film.
 * They aspire to inherit the throne of the protagonist's father although they are not the true heirs (however, Makunga is a rogue lion not related to Zuba's family, while Scar is the brother of Mufasa (curiously, in the original script of The Lion King, Scar was set to be a rogue lion not related to Mufasa's family).
 * They have their personal henchmen (Makunga has Teetsi (however, Teetsi only appears in a few scenes) and Scar has the Hyena Clan along Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed).
 * They were finally defeated by the film's protagonist (however, Scar was eaten by his minions at the end of the film, but Makunga didn't die, although he was defeated and dragged to New York by Nana).
 * However, the two of them are completely different by morals. Makunga was just a pompous jerk instead while Scar was Pure Evil. So compared to Scar, Makunga was a saint.