Bagheera even though Baloo defends Mowgli while the protective black panther shelters the boy. No scars are visible on the cartoon Disney drawings of Bagheera to hint at his captive past either. Bagheera is also one of the major characters left out of the "TaleSpin" series which used several "Jungle Book" characters. However, many of Shere Khan's employees and military personnel are black panthers very similar in appearance to Bagheera. In the prequel cartoon series "Jungle Cubs", Bagheera was voiced by Elizabeth Daily and Dee Bradley Baker, and was often made fun of by his friends, especially the bully Shere Khan.
Bagheera Kingsley brings the appropriate level of gravitas to the strait-laced Bagheera". Todd VanDerWerff from Vox gave Bagheera the top spot on a ranking of all the talking animals from the film from best to worst stating: "By the very nature of the story, Bagheera has to be sidelined for a time — so that Mowgli is forced to confront the dangers of the jungle alone — but this version of the tale really made me feel the cat's absence. That's a good sign" "-any iteration of The Jungle Book is only as good as its Bagheera. He's the concerned parent,