Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong also known as DK or D. Kong is a major character of the Mario series and the titular main protagonist of the Donkey Kong franchise. He's a gorilla who spends his days collecting bananas and spending time with friends. By the way, the original Donkey Kong that appeared in the arcade games is actually Cranky Kong, and this one is his grandson.

Why He's the Leader of the Bunch

 * 1) Despite being carefree, Donkey Kong is a brave, helpful, trustworthy, and friendly primate who cares for his friends and the island he lives on.
 * 2) His reasons to getting mad are rather comprehensible, whether the cause are those who pressurize on him, the island or his family showing how protective he is.
 * 3) Sometimes he's also portrayed as an antagonist (like in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series), but he jumps headfirst into action as he protects the DK Island when trouble comes to play.
 * 4) His role in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series gives DK an antagonist role who acts immaturely all because he doesn't get what he wants. However, he shows some remorse in the end and relents when he is forgiven. In some games, he does it as a prank to distract Mario from his surprise, like his birthday.
 * 5) Not unlike his mustachioed frenemy, DK is great at just about anything he does. Fighting bad guys, using weapons (notably the Coconut Gun), and playing instruments (the bongos). But he isn't a gary-stu which is a good thing. One thing for sure is that he's a gorilla and they are highly intelligent animals and DK does that in the games.
 * 6) He's one of the few characters in the Donkey Kong Country TV series to be tolerable compared to most characters in the show. His personality is largely the same albeit the dialouge he spouts out. The show even gives Donkey Kong a moral backbone that is strong as he used his reluctance to use the Crystal Coconut to wish for more bananas until Diddy manipulated him.
 * 7) *Let's not forget to mention that his singing voice is really awesome to listen to, despite the songs being shoehorned for some reason.
 * 8) His friendship with Diddy Kong is such a classic example of a good duo character, as they have been on many adventures and look out for each other.
 * 9) *Same can be said about Dixie Kong, tho who who acts like a big brother much like with Diddy. Mario Super Sluggers is a good example of this as he was quite defensive when Dry Bones antagonized her.
 * 10) *Mario's relationship with Donkey Kong is more in lies of a rivalry towards each other. Ironically enough, both of them are not the typical rivals you think of as they have a friendly rivalry. Even both are on good terms with each other like in the Mario Party games or at the endings of the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games.
 * 11) *While DK had kidnapped Pauline before, both still remain on friendly status. He often believes that she is the key to soothing his anger issues and even worked together in Tipping Stars as a message to Mario about how DK has good faith in Pauline.
 * 12) *Overall, he has shown to save his friends before like in Donkey Kong 64.
 * 13) He can break the fourth wall like in the SNES trilogy of the Donkey Kong games. If you win a bonus room puzzle or even a boss, he'll turn to applaud you and give you a thumbs-up for succeeding. His wall breaks are nothing annoying to be exact.
 * 14) He could be considered a breakout character. Donkey Kong is portrayed as an antagonist in the arcades (though the DK in the arcades is actually Cranky Kong, still) but was changed to a more likable character in later games, even if this Donkey Kong the newer generations know and love is the grandson of the original Donkey Kong..
 * 15) He got a redesign by the British company Rareware. It's one of those redesigns that are so good that became the mainstream design for DK himself..
 * 16) He's really good at his strength:
 * 17) *In Donkey Kong Country Returns, he punches the Moon (yes, the actual Moon itself) right into Earth.
 * 18) *In Tropical Freeze, he used Lord Fredrik's horn to melt the ice away.
 * 19) * He also uses his strength to be more aggressive in Jungle Beat.
 * 20) More often than not, he's extremely well animated and is very goofily expressive.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) He is prone to temper tantrums.
 * 2) He's somewhat dimwitted, which doesn't make much sense since real-life gorillas are pretty intelligent.
 * 3) Even if his personality remains the same most of the time in the '90s show, DK is pretty lazy and more sensitive than before.

Trivia

 * 1) Donkey Kong was supposed to be inspired by Bluto from Popeye mainly because the original Donkey Kong arcade game was going to be a Popeye game.
 * 2) He is directly inspired by King Kong.
 * 3) Shigeru Miyamoto used "donkey" to convey "stubborn" in English; the name Donkey Kong was intended to convey "stubborn ape" to the American audience. When he suggested this name to Nintendo of America, people laughed, but the name stuck.
 * 4) Gave us a bunch of funny memes including Coconut Gun, "I Shower You with Coconut Cream Pie", and most especially "Banana Slamma".