Alex (also known as Alex the Lion, or Alakay from his parents) is the overall main protagonist of the Madagascar franchise. He is the king of New York, Marty's, Gloria's, and Melman's best friend, and Zuba's and Florrie's son (as revealed in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa). He, Marty, Melman, and Gloria are now part of a circus troupe since Madagascar 3. He also appears in the Madagascar video game. In all of the media, he is voiced by Ben Stiller (Ben's real-life then-toddler son).
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Early Life
Alex (formerly named Alakay) was born in Africa. His father is Zuba, the alpha lion of his pride, and tried to teach him how to be a hunter, although Alex showed more interest in dancing. When Makunga, the rival of Zuba, tried to take him out of his place as the alpha lion, Alex was kidnapped by a group of human hunters. Zuba tried to rescue Alex but couldn't. Alex's crate fell from the hunters' truck and floated to New York City, where he was taken in by the Central Park Zoo and became the best of friends with Marty, Melman, and Gloria, and the four grew up together in the zoo.
Madagascar 01
In Madagascar, after Marty, Alex's best friend, leaves in an effort to take a train to the wild, Alex, Gloria, and Melman pursue him and are shot with tranquilizer darts by humans. The animal-rights activists pressure the zoo into releasing them back into the wild, but on the ship to the preserve, Alex and his friends fall into the ocean. They wash ashore on Madagascar, and, while Marty is excited to be free, Alex wishes to go home. He grows very hungry after days of being unable to eat, not realizing that steak is animal flesh. Hunger drives Alex into a crazed state, and after almost killing Marty, by biting him on the buttocks when he thought it was a piece of steak, in a moment of lucidity, he goes into self-imposed exile, barricading himself in the 'predator side' of the island. Marty pursues him, unwilling to leave his friend, but is attacked by the fossa, who preys on the resident lemurs. Alex, who was able to overcome his hunting instincts, defends his friends and drives the fossa away. In the end, is later given sushi by the penguins to satisfy his hunger.
Madagascar 02
In Escape 2 Africa, Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman, along with the Penguins and Chimps, have managed to (somewhat) fix up the old plane from the previous film. The Lemurs give them a farewell celebration, but they are joined by King Julien and Maurice.
The plane takes off and during the flight, Alex fell asleep but wakes up due to turbulence. He looks out his window and sees a creature on the wing of the plane, making him think it was a gremlin.
But it turns out to be Mort, who had tried to board the plane, but Julien had locked him outside. He waves hello to Mort, who does the same, but this causes the mouse lemur to fall into the sea. He mentions to the others what he saw, but they shrug it off as some mild nostalgia to Madagascar.
Unfortunately, the plane has some difficulties, causing the plane to crash-land into an unknown savannah. Alex has a brief argument with Skipper, who reassures him they'll fix the plane in about 6 to 9 months. Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman then see a jeep of tourists, and they chase after them to get help. But it turns out among the tourists is Nana, the vicious old lady who beat Alex up in the previous film at Grand Central Station. The two engage in a fistfight, this time proving to be equals, but Nana uses underhanded tricks to beat Alex, and kicks him in the crotch just like before. Alex, however, managed to steal her cell phone, but it turns out to be out of service. However, they come across a ridge to see the savannah with many animals and Marty correctly guesses they've arrived in Africa while Alex feels some familiarity with the landscape. The four friends approach the animals whereupon Alex makes a fool of himself trying to "communicate" with them, but it turns out the animals can speak just as well as they can. Suddenly, an elderly lion named Zuba and his wife Florrie show up, and Zuba at first believes that Alex is a rival lion coming to challenge him for the title as Alpha Lion. But Florrie recognizes Alex as their son Alakay, and their suspicions are confirmed when they see the Africa-shaped birthmark on Alex's right paw which matches the one on Zuba's. They share a loving reunion, unaware that Zuba's rival Makunga is plotting to take over.
Alex tells his folks and the pride that he's the "King of New York," which they take seriously, and they celebrate Alex's return with open arms. Makunga, however, reminds them that Alex has yet to become a formal member of the pride because he never passed a certain coming-of-age ceremony where young lions prove their skills. Alex mistakenly believes that this ceremony is a talent show of sorts and eagerly accepts. That night, Zuba and Florrie show Alex a couple of his old things from when he was a cub, and explain how he was lost. Apparently when Alex was a young cub, Zuba was watching him and trying to teach him how to fight (though Alex was more interested in dancing). Makunga appeared and challenged Zuba, and while they tussled, Alex was captured by poachers. Zuba and Florrie explain that Zuba chased after them for weeks, far off the preserve, but finally they felt they had to accept that Alex was killed. They bid Alex good night and leave him to sleep.
In the morning, Alex prepares with a few cubs for the ceremony, when Makunga, with his wicked scheme in mind, pretends to give Alex some advice by recommending a certain lion for his opponent: Teetsi.
When Alex faces Teetsi (who turned out to be a humungously brawny lion), Alex starts dancing, not knowing the ceremony is meant to be a fight, and is defeated. To avoid having to banish his own son, Zuba abdicates his role as the Alpha Lion (much to Alex's shock), which Makunga takes. His first act is banishing Alex and his parents from the pride, and to humiliate Alex by making him wear a ridiculous hat of fruit.
In a dry location, Zuba gets angry with Alex for not telling him that he wasn't the fierce warrior he thought his son was. Alex blames Zuba for not warning him the ceremony was a fight, and Zuba hurts Alex by saying he isn't a real lion. His feelings hurt and feeling bad for ruining his parents' lives, Alex goes back to his friends where the plane is being reconstructed by the Penguins and Chimps, but they become split apart by their own respective problems, and the zebra Alex mistook for Marty is not Marty, who is hurt that Alex couldn't tell him from the other zebra, and mistakenly thinks Alex only cares about his own problems.
Problems arise, however, when the water hole and river dry up, and no one knows what to do. Alex volunteers to go find the source of the problem, hoping to repent for his parents, but Makunga laughs it off, but is angered when the animals make it clear they want Zuba back in power.
Before Alex leaves, he goes to the zebra herd where he tries to find Marty, who refuses to speak to him. Deciding to go, he turns to the herd and apologizes to Marty, and reveals he can see him. Marty goes along with Alex to fix the problem, off the reserve. As they make their way through the jungle, Alex explains the problems he's facing to Marty. They find the river is being dammed up by the tourists (whose jeeps were stolen by the Penguins to repair the plane) and they are being led by Nana. The tourists capture Alex but Marty escapes to warn the others.
Meanwhile, Florrie lectures Zuba and asks him why isn't it enough that their son has returned to them when Makunga shows up, pretending to be frantic about the dried-up river and tells them Alex went off to discover the problem, but he's really tricking Zuba to go after Alex, and hopefully be rid of both of them. Zuba does indeed go off to find Alex, who is about to be cooked alive by the Tourists when Zuba shows up and saves him, but one of the tourists (Nana) has a gun. Luckily, Alex saves himself and Zuba by dancing to the tourists who are from New York and recognize Alex. Nana still tries to shoot them, but they are saved by the arrival of the Penguins, Chimps, Marty, Melman, and Gloria, the plane reconstructed into a helicopter powered by the Chimps. The plane destroys the dam while Alex and Zuba are in a large barrel, releasing the river, which the father and son float down back to the water hole. Makunga appears and still refuses to let them back, even after they give him a handbag. So, in retaliation, they sic Nana on Makunga, who attacks him for having her handbag, and drags him off the reserve.
Afterward, Zuba and Alex return, and Florrie hugs them both. Zuba and Alex decide to share the title as Alpha-Lion, and later Zuba marries Skipper to a bobble-head hula girl, and as they bid the Penguins and Chimps farewell, Zuba tricks Alex with one of Alex's own stunts, and they share a brief laugh as they all head back to the herd, and Alex reveals to the audience he was able to recognize Marty from all the other zebras by the bite marks which scarred Marty's butt (from when Alex bit Marty in the butt in the previous film), setting the stage for the third film.
Madagascar 03
The film begins on Alex's birthday in Africa. He suggests to his friends, King Julien, Maurice and Mort that they decide it's time to go home, as they are tired of waiting for the penguins to return from Monte Carlo.
The group ends up going to Monte Carlo on their own in hopes of finding the penguins and convincing them to take them home. Unfortunately, they are spotted by the humans in the casino where the penguins are hiding and end up becoming a target for animal control. Luckily, they end up finding Circus Zaragoza and decide to purchase the circus so that they could use it to get a contract for an American tour so that they could return to New York City. In the process, Alex meets Gia the jaguar, and develops an interesting partnership with her when it becomes apparent, the circus is not a very good one and he and his friends have to revamp it in order to win the contract. Alex and his friends each come up with new acts.
Alex ends up doing trapeze tricks with Gia for his act, and finds himself falling in love with the beautiful exotic jaguar. When they do get the contract, the group returns to New York, upsetting their new friends in the process, Alex ends up deeply hurting Gia when she finds out that he is a zoo animal. When they actually get back to the zoo, The gang finds that it is not as great as they remembered and that, quite frankly, they miss their new friends and decide that they would much rather join the circus and live with their new friends.
The Zoosters, however, are ambushed and knocked out by Captain Chantel DuBois and the animal control and put back in the zoo. The circus animals, the penguins, the lemurs and the chimpanzees come and break them out however, and then Alex grabs Gia during her trapeze and releases the balloons to the children the two of them sharing a loving look. Alex and his friends end up joining Circus Zaragoza from now on.
Penguins of Madagascar
In the film, Alex along with Gloria, Marty and Melman made a cameo appearance in the shadow while dancing to the music in Circus Zaragoza.
