Mayor Leo Lionheart

Mayor Lionheart is a character from the 2016 Disney animated feature film Zootopia. As his name suggests, he is the mayor of the eponymous city. Leodore Lionheart is the 52nd mayor of Zootopia, having served as a City Hall councillor prior to being elected. As the head of the city, Lionheart serves as a mighty ruler, with genuine pride in the unique community that is Zootopia, primarily in its diversity. As mayor, Lionheart has one particular goal in mind: to ensure all mammals are given a chance to live their dreams, coining the phrase in which Judy Hopps lives by, "In Zootopia, anyone can be anything". To do so, Lionheart enacted the Mammal Inclusion Initiative, an act which provides all animals with high-ranking opportunities to ensure equality among the predator and prey citizens. This was met with controversy, specifically with Chief Bogo, the head of Lionheart's police department, but even so, Lionheart was one of the few characters in the film to never show any sign of bigotry, instead judging mammals by their character, rather than their species, and was notably annoyed by those who did otherwise. He is often accompanied by his deputy mayor, Bellwether, whom he treats more along the lines of a stooge, despite the hefty amount of work she puts into running the city—efforts that are usually added to Lionheart's credits. Unbeknown to Lionheart, Bellwether holds a fierce grudge against him due to his treatment towards her, and she secretly plots to someday exact revenge by taking over his position as mayor.==In the film.== Lionheart is first introduced during the graduation ceremony of Judy Hopps, from the Zootopia Police Academy; a success that he credits to have been produced by his Mammal Inclusion Initiative. Judy's impressive record prompts Lionheart to assign her to the highest precinct in the department, located across from City Hall at the heart of Zootopia. Unbeknownst to Lionheart, his head officer, Bogo, disapproves of the mayor's decision to add Judy as a member of the force, but begrudgingly abides out of fear. Meanwhile, Zootopia faces a crises: mammals across the city have lost their sanity and gone savage. The cause of the outbreak has yet to be discovered, with Lionheart being one of the only citizens to have knowledge of this. He takes the issue of solving the problem into his own hands by assembling a team of elite wolf guards to patrol the city and capture the savage animals, incarcerating them at an abandoned asylum in the Rainforest District, where Dr. Madge Honey Badger is stationed to find a cure; the entire situation was purposely kept confidential as a means to avoid civil unrest, making it an illegal operation. Over the span of two weeks, a total of fourteen savaged mammals occupy the asylum, and uncovering the mystery behind their disappearances becomes the top priority at the ZPD. The situation also takes a toll on Lionheart's mental health, with his temper more unruly than usual, and unintentionally taken out on Bellwether. With his afternoon cleared curtesy of his assistant, Lionheart visits the asylum for updates, only to find that the cause of the outbreak is still unknown. Frustrated with the delays, Lionheart confronts Dr. Badger on her incompetence, to which the latter responds by hypothesizing the outbreak to be linked to "biology". She explains that the only animals going savage are predators, implying that they may be reverting back to their primitive instincts. Badger then advises Lionheart to inform the public of the dire situation, but the mayor refuses, knowing the balance between predator and prey would be broken out of fear should word get out, while also alluding to his own personal insecurities, as the rapid distrust towards predators, such as himself, could ruin his reputation. When asked about Chief Bogo's thoughts on the matter, Lionheart admits that Bogo is being kept in the dark. Just then, Lionheart hears the ringtone of a phone, and removes himself from the scene while Badger alerts the guards. The spies were Judy and her accomplice, Nick Wilde, who recorded Lionheart's admission and subsequently informed Bogo of the operation. The asylum is raided that night, and Lionheart is arrested. As Bogo and Judy escort him to a patrol car, Lionheart explains that he was trying to protect the city, though Judy accuses him of caring for his job and nothing more. Lionheart warns Judy of the danger that the savage outbreak holds, and if a cure can't be found, it could lead to the destruction of Zootopia; his words are nevertheless dismissed, and the former mayor is removed from office. Bellwether, meanwhile, rises to power in his place. Unfortunately, Lionheart's fears were correct. The news that predators are the only mammals going savage causes citywide panic, with prey mammals developing a heightened fear of predators, who in turn face direct discrimination and injustice. Over time, more predators mysteriously fall under the infection, leading to public attacks, though Lionheart was now powerless to suppress it. In the end, however, it is revealed that the predators were not turned by biology, but through a serum created by Bellwether's henchman from night howler flowers, in her scheme to get predatory species removed from the city and usurp Lionheart. Due to Judy's heroism, Bellwether is arrested and removed from office, while the inflicted predators are successfully cured of their ailment. When informed and interviewed on the matter, Lionheart (who appears to be rather unfazed by the fact that he is in prison) explains that he had no knowledge of Bellwether's plot, but fully confesses his crime of illegally imprisoning the savage predators during his confidential mission to protect the city, confidently declaring it to have been done for the "right reasons". During the end credits, a tranquil Lionheart is seen casually lounging in his prison cell while enjoying and sharing his thoughts on a magazine with his cellmate. ==Role in the Series.== Being released early on good behavior, Lionheart aims to redeem himself and regain his mayortorial position back so he can further make amends for "Doing the wrong things for the right reasons", as well as for also being tecnecally respondsable for causing Bellwether to commit her crimes. However, he also has to contend with someone who's respondsable fo getting him the position to begin with: Senator Whyte Ty Ger, who forces him into another difficult controversey and forced him into ordering Chief Bogo to have Judy Hopps arrest Gazelle for protesting against him. However, in thanks to Gazelle luckly getting herself out of the mess through saving Nick from some angered victims of his "Hussles", Gazelle was happly pardoned by Lionheart, to the angered dismay of White. But the Gazelle mess won't be the only thing that'll bring changes to his hopes of regaining his career.