Scar (The Lion King)

Scar is the main antagonist of Disney's The Lion King franchise, serving as the main antagonist of Disney's 32nd full-length animated feature film The Lion King, the posthumous overarching antagonist of its 1998 sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, a minor antagonist in the 2004 prequel/parallel film The Lion King 1 1/2, the overarching antagonist of the animated television series The Lion Guard (serving as the posthumous overarching antagonist of the first season, the main antagonist of the second season and the third season premiere "Battle for the Pride Lands", and one of the two posthumous overarching antagonists (alongside Ushari) for the rest of the third season), and a cameo character in The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa. He is the younger brother and arch-rival of Mufasa and the uncle and arch-nemesis of Simba.

Why He Deserves to Be King

 * 1) Scar is one of the best and most popular Disney villains of all time. He is up there with Maleficent, Jafar and Hades.
 * 2) Scar is a cunning, sarcastic and narcissistic lion with a cultured and elegant demeanor.
 * 3) Scar is very sophisticated, charismatic, and persuasive, able to rally the hyenas to his cause.
 * 4) Scar's first scene in the movie has him capturing a mouse and planning to devour it. While this alone isn't evil, as lions have to eat meat to live, the way he toys with the mouse shows his sadistic nature.
 * 5) He has a playful relationship with Simba, while it is clear Simba genuinely looks up to his uncle and found him eccentric, Scar pretends to be a caring uncle, but in realty, Scar wants Simba dead and manipulates him in order to have him murdered.
 * 6) *It makes the betrayal more shocking and heartbreaking for Simba, as he realizes that the uncle he once looked up to murdered his own father. When he begs for mercy, Simba has nothing but distrust for him, stating everything he told him was a lie.
 * 7) His song "Be Prepared" is great and memorable for its pure expression of Scar's character.
 * 8) The way he plots his schemes was well done and successful, as he lures Simba in the gorge, then he sets off a wildebeest stampede with the help of his hyena minions, that threatened Simba's life and was able to lure Mufasa into danger.
 * 9) *When Simba asks Scar if he'll like the surprise, he tells him "It's to die for" which sets off a scary vibe that you know something bad is about to happen
 * 10) *He knocks Zazu out to prevent him from getting help from the Pride Lands.
 * 11) One of the most shocking moments in Disney history is him killing Mufasa, as once he has Mufusa at his mercy, he claws into his paws, looks at him with his devious face and delivers his famous line "Long live the king" and throws him into the stampede.
 * 12) *Scar manipulates Simba into thinking it's his fault Mufasa died and tells him to run away and never return.
 * 13) *Once he sends Simba into exile, he orders his hyena clan to kill him.
 * 14) He is one of few Disney villains to actually succeed with his plans, as he manages to kill Mufasa, drives Simba into exile and becomes king. The fact that he succeeded is a pretty awesome achievement on his part, and grants him the status of one of the most successful Disney villain.
 * 15) His voice performance by Jeremy Irons is awesome and near perfect, as it fits with his evil and sinister nature.
 * 16) *His voice by Jim Cummings in the last part of "Be Prepared" and in "Simba's Pride", was decent as well.
 * 17) *His voice by David Oyelowo in The Lion Guard, while not as good as his voice by Jeremy Irons, is still really good.
 * 18) His climactic fight with Simba was perfect, it was a slow-motion duel, complete with a majestic version of the music that plays when Mufasa showed Simba the kingdom, fully living up to the entire film building up to it.
 * 19) His death scene was so satisfying, as he gets eaten alive by his hyenas minions after they overheard his betrayal.
 * 20) He makes a posthumous appearance in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, where he appears in Simba's nightmares.
 * 21) He makes a return as a spirit in the Disney Junior series The Lion Guard in which he plots to take over the Pride Lands once more. He also becomes more chaotic in nature than he was in the original film, as he not only wants to take over the Pride Lands, but he also wants to get rid of Simba and the Lion Guard and even break the Circle of Life.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) He unfortunately becomes less enjoyable once he becomes king. Losing his charismatic manipulative schemer of the story's first half, replaced in the later half with a far less intelligent, spoiled brat of a tyrant instead. His laziness and self-indulgence alienated any potential followers, he slacks off and willingly lets the land go to waste, not caring if his subjects suffer.
 * 2) He threw a tantrum when Zazu and Banzai both say Mufasa's name due to him making the law not to do so and saying he's the king. It was an extremely childish things for someone his age to do and it makes most people realize how immature he really is underneath that charming facade.
 * 3) * When Sarabi tells him his selfishness will bring about the pride's extinction and that he's nothing like Mufusa, it sets him off and he hits her saying "I'm ten times the king Mufasa was".
 * 4) Idiot Move: After having coerced him into admitting responsibility for his father's death, Scar has Simba trapped at the edge of Pride Rock and precariously clinging to the side. Instead of simply throwing him off the edge, he gloats around with Simba, confess it was him who killed Mufasa all those years ago. This helps Simba shake off his guilt, and he gets his Heroic Second Wind against Scar, forcing him to confess his crimes in full view of everyone, causing his downfall. He would have gotten away with it if not for a moment of gloating self-indulgence.
 * 5) He was badly flanderized in the 2019 version of The Lion King, as he gets stripped of his sarcastic and sly attitude he had, thus he is now miserable and gloomy, as well as blatantly bitter and dismissive towards everyone around him, even losing his playful relationship with Simba.

Trivia

 * Throughout the movie, Scar rarely retracts his claws. His claws are even out when he is simply talking to young Simba or minding his own business. This is purposely done to differentiate him from the other lions as he is the antagonist.
 * Scar's death is considered by many people as one of Disney's most violent and gruesome deaths; He is mauled alive by the hyena clan, even though just their shadows were seen.
 * Scar makes a nod to an earlier film starring Jeremy Irons. When Simba remarks that Scar is weird, Scar replies "You have no idea." The character played by Irons makes exactly the same response to that statement in the film Reversal of Fortune.

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