It may be Lighter and Softer than the film it's based on, but there are still things in this show that are dark. And Season 2 is confirmed to delve into even ''darker'' territory.
By the way, this show is actually rated Y.
- Janja's song, Tonight We Strike, is rather unnerving in the fact that it shows Janja's personality in full force; he has no qualms about disrupting the natural order of things, he is perfectly okay with going for OUTRIGHT GENOCIDE to satiate his pack's hunger.
- To make things scarier, the song has a completely demented Creepy Circus Music motif, with a bouncy melody, loud, blaring brass, unnaturally colored lighting, and constant laughter.
- Janja gets to show off his Evil Laugh a few times, but the biggest and most notable one comes in the middle of the song. His powerful, psychotic laughter is accompanied by an image of several hyenas circling around an innocent gazelle, leaving it trapped.
- The laugh in the middle of the song is scary enough in the English version, but in some of the dub versions, especially European Spanish
and Polish, he sounds just like a Monster Clown you'd see in your nightmares. - The German laugh sounds disturbingly inhuman, almost like a real hyena.
- The sequence ends with a Mythology Gag to "Be Prepared" and "My Lullaby" with Janja sitting on top of a mountain, with his minions below. This image sets Janja up as the newest evil leader, but he has something that sets him apart from Scar and Zira. While Scar and Zira wanted to gain political power for themselves or someone close to them, Janja just wants to spread chaos and murder because he hates being told what to do.
- The crocodile mashindano, which is a brutal sport used to determine who becomes the new leader of the crocodile float. Even for a kid's show, it's an intense scene.
- In "I Just Can't Wait to be Queen", Kiara goes to the Outlands alone to meet with Janja...who has his pack there...ready to eat her. YEAH...
- In one episode, when Bunga thinks he's invincible, he thinks it's perfectly okay to go for a swim in LAVA. Think about it like this; a CHILD thinks it's a good idea to swim in a VOLCANO!
- A downplayed example, but there's something very creepy about the fact that Makuu nurses a grudge against Kion for his humiliation in "The Rise Of Makuu", but he waits either twelve episodes or twenty episodes to act upon it in "Never Roar Again" note , when the incident has long since started to slip Kion's mind, the cub has let his guard down, and he's at his most vulnerable. "The Savannah Summit" makes it clear that Makuu is one of the only antagonists in this show that Kion bears personal resentment towards (besides maybe Janja), and there's a reason for that.
- There's also the fact that in "Beshte and the Hippo Lanes" Makuu suddenly makes an attempt to bring down Basi at his weakest, after being humiliated by him and Beshte at the beginning of the episode. It makes you wonder if Beshte told Kion about this incident which fueled the cub's resentment for Makuu.
- The whole episode of "Beware The Zimwi" gives off rather ominous and unnerving vibes.
- Zira's song, Lions over All basically talks about how she thinks that lions should be ruling through fear and intimdation. Here's some lyrics: "We Crush any Resistance/So enemies keep their distance" and "Lions must rule forever."
- Zira in general. While she was always an Ax-Crazy Blood Knight obsessed with avenging Scar, here she's actually shown to be quite composed, making her Manipulative Bastard tendencies all the more prominent. Not to mention that the events of Simba's Pride aren't the first time she's tried to kill Simba: she plotted to do him in as soon as he became King.
- When Kion refuses to join Zira's pride, Zira surrounds him with her Outsiders and, if it weren't for the show's lighter tone, likely would've killed him right then and there.
- Zira's "lions are the Master Race" viewpoint takes several levels of creepy when you remember the Nazi-inspired imagery in Scar's villain song...
- The scene where Kovu enthusiastically invites Kion and Jasiri to meet Zira, all with the sound of genuine happiness. This implies that aside from the one brief moment following him meeting Kiara in Film Two, Zira has managed to maintain a friendly civil façade to the young cub. It is a very disturbing sight to see Kovu act as though he thinks his adopted mother is a sweet person, not understanding that she is a deranged killer, since anyone who has seen Film Two will know how fast Zira can turn from friendly to violent.
- Scar killing his Guard with the Roar of the Elders. Scar was always a dangerous villain: he had an amazing intellect, commanded legions of hyenas, and was pretty strong despite his scrawny build. Add in the fact that he now had a magically-enhanced roar at some point in his life (which is what incidentally helped lead him to become the villain he is now), and the fact that he had a body count long before killing and usurping Mufasa, and it's no wonder why he was the Fiercest of his Lion Guard.
- With the backstory we see in the show, Scar's initially assumed Freudian Excuse has pretty much been rendered moot—Scar wasn't The Unfavorite at all. He had a powerful and important position in the pride, by birth right, already. The reason he tried to overthrow his brother was because he wasn't satisfied with just that and felt like he was entitled to the throne as well. The Lion Guard successfully shows that Scar truly was an evil, selfish monster from day one.
- Scar's appearance in the series proper: while Mufasa appears as a benevolent spirit in the clouds, Scar's likeness is portrayed with fire. And just as Mufasa appears whenever Kion asks for his guidance, Scar appears after Kion accidentally uses the Roar of the Elders in a fit of rage.
- Him coming back as a fiery head is even creepier when you remember that in the original film he was basically both eaten alive by hyenas AND burnt to death.
- Just his first words in the series "I am. . . Scar." The smirk he gives right afterward too.
- Know that as a spirit, his voice echoes when he speaks, which adds to his evil presences.
- His truly magnificent Evil Laugh as he explodes out of the volcano.
- And now we have his new villain song "I Have A Plan", in which the visuals for said plan are Scar's army invading the Pride Lands and making it burn in a fiery apocalypse.
- Just what said plan entails: uniting all the Outlanders under his command. Despite countless encounters with the Guard that result in their defeat, one can only imagine what they could accomplish if they allied.
- In "Swept Away", Scar roars out of the volcano in frightening fashion, and forces Janja to pathetically grovel when he learns that Beshte is alone in the Outlands. Even as a spirit, Scar is able to terrify Janja into submission.
- Janja steps up his attempts to kill the Guard and their friends in Season 2. In "Swept Away", he traps Beshte in a canyon and rains giant boulders down on him, one by one, until he runs out of places to run, only stopped at the last minute from finishing the job by Beshte's friends. In "Rescue in the Outlands", Janja manages to trap Jasiri, along with her young relatives, Tunu and Wema, in a steam vent which is filling with lava. If the Lion Guard had shown up a few seconds later than they did, Jasiri and the cubs would have suffered a very painful death!
- It gets worse when you think about this. Even with the Lion Guard's timely arrival in the episode, the only hope of saving Jasiri and the cubs is for Beshte to save them alone by shifting a solid boulder into the vent while the other members of the guard are forced to fight Janja's entire clan. Now, imagine for a moment that the plan to kill Beshte in Swept Away had been successful. Without Beshte, there would be no way of rescue, not with Janja and the hyenas standing in the others' way. And because they were there, Kion and the Guard would be forced to listen or watch as their friends perished inside the vent.
- The crocodile battle from "The Little Guy", which is probably the most brutal so far. Especially when Kiburi came close to defeating Makuu due to the latter being injured, and the Guard is too busy handling the evil crocs to stop him (Kion tries to, but Tamka pushes him away at the last second). If it hadn't been for Hodari, the leader of the Pridelander crocs would have been Killed Off for Real.
- "The Scorpion's Sting". Simba is poisoned by a scorpion sent by Scar and will die by sunset unless the Lion Guard retrieve volcanic ash from the Outlands. But once they do, Scar finally reveals himself to them and calls all of his forces (lizards, crocodiles, jackals, hyenas, vultures, etc.) to attack them. The whole climax is an intense race against time where it keeps looking like either the Lion Guard could potentially die due to how trapped they are being between Scar's army and the lava, or that they'll lose the volcanic ash or not make it back by sundown, it which case Simba will die. Of course, neither of those happen, but it ends up as a very last-minute thing, and even at the end the Lion Guard is solemn since they now know of Scar's existence and that the war has only just begun.
- Sumu the Scorpion is also scary he's a black scorpion with four red eyes, a large stinger, and a deep roaring voice it almost sounds and looks like he came right out from Hell! He maybe small but his sting is very dangerous and fatal even Janja is afraid of him and for good reason scorpions like him are dangerous in real life. The scariest thing about him is his voice but the most chilling is this line he says after Scar orders Sumu to sting Simba."And do it I shall!" sounding almost demonic! His voice is enough to make the young viewer cover his or her ears in fear. Even worse, in the end of this episode he's never seen again which means he's still out there at large still waiting to kill more animals!
- In "Undercover Kinyonga", when Shupavu alerts to Scar about Kinyonga's presence, Scar responds with a furious "Who dares to spy on me?!".
- Scar having a near Villainous Breakdown in "The Hyena Resistance" over the failures of his army, to the point he roars at Janja blowing him back.
- In the same episode, the Cliffhanger with the skinks planning to report on Janja's momentary hesitation to retreat when Jasiri offers him an opportunity to make a Heel–Face Turn and join the Hyena Resistance, which makes one wonder what Scar might do to Janja once he finds out.
- Season 3 is by all indications, the darkest out of all of the seasons. Kion gets an identical scar to Scar, which Scar deliberately did in order to turn him into a villain like himself. The rest of the teaser insinuates that Kion will be struggling with whether or not he is good or evil, and will be struggling with this throughout the entire season.
- Ushari burns to death in a Disney Junior show. Sure he deserved it, but the fact that someone died in an incredibly agonizing matter on a preschool show indicates that this show is done with playing soft.
- Similarly when Kion gets his scar, he is briefly shown bleeding, rather seriously, on a Disney Junior show, which indicates that Season 3 is likely going to be joining the films in how serious it gets.
- When Scar narrates his backstory, after he tells Mufasa about his run in with the strange lion, Mufasa simply laughed at him and called him Scar. Given that Scar is a known liar, it is heavily implied his desire to become king is kicked off over a harmless joke, something that Mufasa got over very quickly. Furthermore, while the cobra venom is shown to have played a role, the not so subtle message is that Scar's darker schemes were always there, and all it took was Scar's own ego for him to begin scheming for Mufasa's overthrow. Oh, and through all of this, Scar clearly has intelligence enough to tell right and wrong, so any attempt at a Freudian Excuse based on Sanity Slippage goes out the window, it just made him more willing to do it than he otherwise might have been.
- His reaction to Mufasa's response; at first he looks surprised and hurt, then he...smiles. We also get to see a flashback to him right after Mufasa fell to his death in the first film, and his smirk as he looks down to the stampede where he just threw his own brother to his death is appropriately haunting.
- Kion's state as he gets closer to the Tree of Life becomes nightmare inducing. Kion knows he is struggling with a poison that is sending him insane, and several times, he comes incredibly close to losing it, with only the Guard able to calm him. Several times, the episode's plot is simply getting Kion enough medicine to be able for him to get him through the day. To see the leader of the Lion Guard wrestling with his inner demons so viciously, and knowing he could turn on you at any time is terrifying.
- In The Harmattan, Kion threatens Makini and growls at her when she attempts to give him medicine.
- In The Accidental Avalanche, Kion, upon not receiving his daily Tuliza dose, decides to simply blast a hole in the mountain with the Roar, is completely dismissive of Fuli's very valid point that the Roar may not be controllable, and just beforehand, angrily calls on Bunga to stop joking, and openly asks if Anga even attempted to talk to the snow monkeys. In the prior seasons, Kion would take Bunga's jokes in stride, and only called him out if the jokes went into Kick the Dog territory, and he would be mostly understanding of the Guard's failures. Here, during a fit of Ushari's venom, Kion shows that he can easily turn into a very cynical and not really rational leader.
- In The Lion Guard S 3 E 16 The Lake Of Reflection Ora flat out bleeds from his mouth◊ (possibly Beshte's blood, since he bit him) when hit by Bunga's fart.
- In Little Old Ginterbong, Mama Binturong's plan to kill Janna, the ailing Queen of the Tree of Life, to send the inhabitants into a panic, allowing Makucha, Chuluun, and Ora to wreck havoc and pick them off. Mama Binturong distracts the Night Pride by leading them away from the Tree of Life, while her three cohorts sneak their way towards the Tree of Life to kill Janna. Fortunately they were thwarted by the Lion Guard. If it wasn't for Ono's insight on Binturong working with the villains, Janna would've been murdered.
- Long Live the Queen introduces Varya and her triplet tiger cubs, Feliks, Pasha and Polina. All three of them are in huge trouble as Makucha, Chulunn, Ora and Mama Binturong have them trapped right were they want them. Being the fierce mother she is, Varya bravely takes on the three villains and tells her cubs to run to the Tree of Life, saying she'll be "right behind" them... but these are four dangerous villains, one being shown to easily incapacitate his victims, and she's going at it all alone. Worse, Chulunn manages to bypass her and chase her cubs! Varya is most likely aware that there's not gauruntee she'll make it out of the fight alive. Even if she does, whose to say she has enough time on her hands to stop her kids getting killed by Chulunn?
