Captain James Hook

Captain Hook is the main antagonist of Disney's 1953 animated feature film, Peter Pan. He is an elegant, yet bloodthirsty pirate that commands The Jolly Roger, a brig docked on the shores of Neverland. Hook has long since abandoned sailing the high seas in favor of having revenge on Peter Pan for cutting off his left hand and feeding it to a crocodile, who has since been in constant pursuit of the captain. While a worthy opponent for Peter, Hook is destined to fail—sometimes because of Peter Pan's ability to fly, but more often through the bumbling incompetence of his first mate, Mr. Smee.
==Background==
Following his meeting with Smee, James came into the possession of Jolly Roger, of which he would command as captain with Mr. Smee as his first mate. With a new crew at his disposal, James would plunder and pillage the seas with pride. He would eventually cross paths with Peter Pan, a young boy from Neverland with the ability to fly. As a "childish prank", Peter cut off James's left hand and fed it to an enormous crocodile. James would replace his lost hand with an iron hook, but the crocodile enjoyed the taste of the captain so well that it followed the Jolly Roger ever since, hoping to devour the rest of James. Infuriated by the loss of his hand and the ongoing threat of the crocodile, a vengeful James—now known as “Captain Hook”—vowed to never leave Neverland's shores until he has killed Peter Pan.
===Development===
At the beginning of the story development stage for Peter Pan, the story department wrote an analysis of Captain Hook for the film, suggesting that he be a fop, but mean to the point of being murderous; one of the directors, however, imagined him as a complete heavy, considering any foppish traits to distract the audience from his villainy. The character was only completely pinpointed long into the animation stage, as it proved difficult to create a menacing villain whose character would not be diminished by the scenes with the Crocodile. Eventually, the character settled on was a black-hearted man who tried to put on airs and pretended to be a gentleman of good taste and style. It was realized that Hook would become likable to the audience, and as a consequence, it was decided that the character should not be killed in the film.
===Personality===
Captain Hook is emotionally vulnerable. Due to this, he has made a fool of himself quite often. On the contrary, he typically acts as a menacing and cunning villain who never gives up on his pursuits particularly his desire to get revenge on Peter Pan. He is also a murderous character, almost to an extreme extent, as at one point in the film, he callously shot and killed one of his crew members because of his annoying singing. Later in the film, he viciously threw one of his pirates overboard using only his hook. While comically and occasionally bumbling, Hook is a force to be reckoned with, both physically and mentally. With his temper extremely fragile, those around him are often at risk, with Peter Pan being the only individual truly skilled enough to take on the villainous captain.Hook is extremely intelligent and manipulative and aided by his charming and suave personality. He is able to trick anyone even those who are more than aware that he is not to be trusted. Captain Hook also seems to have a tendency to find loopholes in agreements or contracts, or show obedience to the letter of the law, rather than the spirit of the law. For instance, when Hook was made to promise that he would not lay a finger or a hook on Peter Pan, he agreed, but instead he planted a bomb disguised as a present in Peter's hideout. In the sequel, after personally writing and signing a contract vowing he would not harm a hair on Peter's head, he yanked said piece of hair off of the captured Peter and gave it to Jane, telling her to keep it; the rest of Peter would be his to destroy.Captain Hook is one of the few villains that view their sidekick as not only a minion but as a friend. While Hook is incredibly cruel, deadly, short-tempered, and shows no care for his crew, he seems to only tolerate the bumbling actions of Mr. Smee. It has been shown that Hook murders his crew members out of irritation and aggravation, but despite the constant annoyance from Smee, Hook has never shown any desire to kill him (though he has attempted to pummel Smee for his stupidity, but he is always interrupted). Aside from this, Captain Hook also views Smee as his confidant, sharing personal thoughts with Smee as well being the first person he turns to when scared which is not common for a villain of Hook's acclaim.
===Physical appearance===
Captain Hook is a thin man with long black hair, a large hooked nose, a thin black handlebar mustache that angles upward sharply, and a large chin. He is usually clean-shaven, but sometimes (even in the same movie) he sports a stubble beard which makes his chin look gray. He wears a frilly white cravat underneath a red coat with gold lining and red cuffs. Each of these cuffs sports two gold cufflinks. Beneath his coat, it was a pink turtleneck with white frills in each sleeves. He also wears an orange sash over his right shoulder that holds his sword scabbard at his left hip. He wears rose pants and white knee-high socks, as well as black boots with a pink circle decorating each one. The tongues of his boots are enormous, reaching halfway up his shins. He wears a large crimson hat with a huge lavender feather stuck in it. He carries a rapier with a gold hilt and guard as a weapon. He has a hook on his left-hand, made of silver or gold depending on the occasion.It is rumored that Captain Hook's appearance is based on that of his animator, Frank Thomas. The actor Hans Conried not only provided Hook's gravelly voice but also performed extensive live-action reference for the character. Kathryn Beaumont, who voiced and performed live-action reference for Wendy Darling, enjoyed working with him, admiring his ability to be both comical and marvelously evil at the same time. Also, Hook's climatic scenes with the Crocodile were animated by Wolfgang Reitherman in Peter Pan. Conried was later asked to do the same kind of work as King Stefan in Sleeping Beauty, but he did not get the choice in voicing Stefan because the late Taylor Holmes was given the choice for the voice role instead, possibly resulting in the voice mystery of the herald.When he was nearly eaten by either a crocodile or an octopus in both movies, Hook's outfit is always in shreds and sometimes losing one of his boots and his pants or being barefoot.In Return to Neverland, Hook's appearance remains largely the same, but only his pink turtleneck underneath became brighter in coloration. When he was given a foot massage by Smee, he was seen wearing a classic sleeping attire which is a light green jumpsuit.
===Abilities===
*Swordsmanship: Captain Hook is a skilled swordsman, rivaled only by Peter Pan. He is light on his feet and stealthy, making him a dangerous adversary. The use of his hook during duels tends to give him an occasional upper hand, as well.
*Fluency in Fairy Language: Hook is one of the few characters to exhibit the ability to understand and speak to fairies. In Peter Pan, he was able to communicate directly with Tinker Bell, while in The Pirate Fairy, he is seen conversing with Zarina as though she were speaking English, and translating for the rest of his crew.
*Flight: James briefly harnessed the power of pixie dust in The Pirate Fairy, allowing him to soar through the air. Though rocky at first, he got the hang of it fairly quickly, even being able to sword fight while in midair.
*Strength: Despite his thin build, James appears to possess incredible physical strength, demonstrated when he lifts Smee and holds him upside down solely with his hook, and when he uses one arm to throw Mr. Starkey overboard.
*Swimming: Even with the handicap of his hook, Captain Hook appears to be a reasonably competent swimmer, especially while constantly staying ahead of the crocodile in the water.
==Appearances==
===Peter Pan===
In the original film, Hook plays the main antagonist and is first seen on his ship, The Jolly Roger, trying to find the hiding spot of Peter Pan using a map. Hook suddenly gets the idea to kidnap the Indian Princess Tiger Lily and tells the idea to his faithful first mate, Mr. Smee. He plans to force her into revealing the location of Peter's hideout or be killed. While Hook is trying to concentrate on his scheme, he becomes annoyed when one of his crew members starts singing. Mr. Smee points out that what he did was not good form, Hook lashes out at him, reminding him of how Peter Pan cutting off his hand and throwing it to the crocodile wasn't "good form". Just then, Hook hears the sound of a ticking clock, causing his eyes and mustache to twitch in rhythm (with the music of "Never Smile at a Crocodile"). When he turns to see that the crocodile, who had eaten his hand, has come to taste more of him, he begs Smee to get rid of the creature, which Smee does. A little moment later, Hook receives a word from a pirate on a lookout that Peter is on approach. He orders Smee to rally up the pirates, then looks through the telescope to see Peter and three others, the Darling children, in company of him standing on the clouds. He and the pirates then set up the cannon and fire cannonballs up at Peter Pan.Later, Captain Hook and Smee are seen rowing past the Mermaid Lagoon in a rowboat with a captive Tiger Lily, whom they take to Skull Rock. Unbeknownst to Hook, Peter Pan spots them and follows them to the cave, plotting to rescue Tiger Lily. Hook also doesn't notice that the crocodile who had stalked him earlier is following him. As Captain Hook forced Tiger Lily to reveal Peter's secret hideout to the point of shouting directly to her face, Peter spooks Hook by imitating a spirit. Captain Hook goes on an investigation to find out where the strange voice (Peter's imitation of Hook) is coming from.He finds Peter on the rocks and is about to lay his hook on him, but thanks to Wendy's warning, the captain's hook only catches Peter's hat as Peter slips away. Captain Hook engages Peter in a duel, eventually pushing him off the cliff's ledge. Upon realizing that he is standing on thin air, he struggles to keep himself from falling and manages to hang onto the ledge with his hook. Just then, Captain Hook hears the sound of a ticking clock, causing his eyes and mustache to twitch in rhythm (with the music of "Never Smile at a Crocodile") again; the crocodile arrives and attempts to eat Hook as it pulls him into the water. Captain Hook escapes from the crocodile's jaws and frantically swims back to his ship with the crocodile in hot pursuit.Back at the Jolly Roger, Hook sits in his room, sick and injured from the previous battle with Peter. He is bothered by Smee hammering up a sign asking to not disturb the captain. But when Hook tries to attack Smee, he is accidentally smacked on the head with the hammer, causing him to briefly lose consciousness. When Hook gets a visit from Smee, Smee tells Hook that Pan has banished Tinker Bell. This shocking news gives Hook an idea, so he orders Smee to capture her. He does so and Hook uses her jealousy of Wendy to his advantage (whom she thinks Peter is in love with) to get to Peter's hideout. As Captain Hook thanks Tinker Bell for her help, he locks her in a lantern, then he, along with Smee and the pirates, goes to Hangman's Tree to capture Wendy, Michael, John and The Lost Boys. As the pirates take them to the ship, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee set a time bomb (disguised as a gift of love from Wendy) in the hideout, since Peter is still there.Captain Hook tries to convince the captured children to join his crew, but they all refuse. Wendy believes Peter will save them but Hook reveals his plan to blast Peter away from Neverland forever, prompting Tinker Bell to struggle to break free from the lantern, which she manages to do so, and flies off to warn Peter. Peter and Tinker Bell are caught in the explosion anyway, but they both quickly recover and leave the destroyed hideout to rescue Wendy and the boys. Just as Hook, who has had sent Wendy off the plank (but she is rescued by Peter), is about to select the next person to follow her, Peter reveals himself and engages Hook in another duel. While dueling on the ship's deck, Peter launches himself from the ship's rope ladder like a slingshot and kicks Hook backwards, sending Hook flying to one of the ship's cannons, which (in a similar fashion to Smee's hammer from earlier) hits him hard on the head, knocking him unconscious.After Hook recovers, he climbs up the rope ladder to confront Peter on the mast, calling him a coward for his tendency to fly away from the duel. Hook makes Peter promise not to fly and gains the upper hand by disarming Peter. Hook corners Peter at the edge of the mast and is about to stab him, but Peter, having noticed a Jolly Roger flag right above Hook, uses it to blind the captain and disarm him. Hook pleads for his life, declaring that he will leave forever and do anything Peter says. Peter orders him to shout that he's a codfish; Hook does so, making Wendy, John, Michael, and the Lost Boys cheer and sing "Hook is a codfish", to which the crocodile dances in the sea. Peter then allows Hook to leave and never return, but when his back is turned, crowing in triumph, Hook sees his chance and is about to lay his hook on Peter in revenge for cutting off his left hand as well as humiliating him. Thanks to Wendy's warning, Peter jumps out of the way, and Captain Hook loses his footing as he falls to the sea, where the crocodile is waiting to catch him. Captain Hook ends up being chased away from Neverland by the crocodile.
===Return to Never Land===
Captain Hook plots to murder Peter Pan once again and gain his treasure all at the same time. His first part of the plan is to kidnap Wendy to lure Peter to his doom and thus he travels via his ship (which still had some of Tink's pixie dust) to London during the Second World War. Likely having lost the concept of the passage of time/aging due to his time in Neverland, he mistakenly takes Wendy's daughter, Jane.Fortunately for Hook, Pan arrives and Hook summons an undersea giant octopus to kill both Peter and "Wendy". Peter dives down to battle and is seemingly killed. Just as Hook begins to celebrate, Peter reveals to be alive and by using pixie dust, Tinker Bell boards the octopus onto Hook's ship. After accidentally swallowing Hook, the Octopus develops a taste and becomes another "crocodile" problem for the Captain. The Octopus pulls him out of the ship, into the water, and then accidentally throws him back onto the ship, after which Hook gently asks Smee to fix the broken plank so he can "make him walk it!".Later on during a massage, the Captain is again attacked by the octopus, who is shooed away by Smee. This encounter angers Hook (who laments how he must now deal with the octopus after somehow getting rid of the crocodile) even more to the point where he gathers the pirates to sail to the island to find and kill Peter. While searching, they witness the girl they kidnapped is not Wendy but her daughter Jane and that she is desperate to return home, giving Hook yet another plan. That night, he tricks Jane into working for him; if she can find his treasure, he'll give her a ride home on his ship. He also gives Jane a brass whistle to alert him once the treasure is found. Jane then finds and manipulates Peter and the Lost Boys into assisting her via a game of "treasure hunt". Eventually, the treasure is found but she changes her mind, having gradually warmed up to the boys throughout the course of the game, and throws the whistle to summon Hook into the waters. It is, however, found by Lost Boy Tootles who curiously blows it, accidentally calling the pirates. An ambush follows resulting in Peter and the boys being captured and taken to The Jolly Roger, but not before Hook sadistically reveals to Peter about Jane's involvement in the boy's capture, despite Jane saying that she never agreed to it.Back in the ship, Captain Hook prepares to watch Pan's death, but he and the pirates are interrupted by Jane and Tinker Bell. A battle follows and in during which Pan is set free. Hook's anger and frustration are targeted for Jane who is the cause of his failure. Just before he is given the chance to murder her, Peter saves the day by cutting the rope in which Hook is holding on to, sending him falling through the ship with his anchor and into the ocean. The anchor hits the octopus on the head, attracting him. The octopus than chases Hook up and through the ship, which is now sinking. In the end, Hook and the pirates are all chased away in their remaining small boat by the octopus.
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*Hans Conried also provided voice and live-action-reference for George Darling, remaining faithful to the theatrical tradition that Captain Hook and George Darling are portrayed by the same actor.
**Chikao Ōtsuka, Hook's Japanese voice actor, also voiced the character in various adaptations of Peter Pan outside of Disney. The only exception was in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, and Kingdom Hearts III, due to Otsuka voicing another character in those games.
*Woolie Reitherman animated the encounter between Captain Hook and the Crocodile, applying broad action combined with comedy. The Crocodile swallows the Captain whole, before he re-emerges intact. During a tense moment, Hook tries to prevent being eaten by standing at the edge of the creature's mouth, holding it open with all his might. This broad sequence added to the range of Hook's personality. He is definitely a menace to Peter Pan, but in this instance he almost gets consumed by an oversized crocodile. Even villains live in fear. Reitherman said: "Nobody is going to worry about a gag's logic, if it's funny."
*Captain Hook is briefly mentioned in the DuckTales episode "All Ducks on Deck", when the Phantom Blot is comparing himself to other villains: "Compared to me, Doctor Doom is a wimp, and Captain Hook is about as dangerous as a plastic coat hanger!"
*Captain Hook is briefly mentioned in the Marsupilami episode "Thorn O Plenty", when Eduardo the jaguar is being attacked by a crocodile.
*Outside of being a character in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom, Captain Hook holds several other looser connections to the Pirates of The Caribbean franchise.
**A member of the crew of the Wicked Wench who is seen dunking the magistrate Carlos in the original ride bears a strong resemblance to Hook including having a hook replacing his left-hand. He is seen nearby a short and plump pirate wearing a blue/white striped shirt with a red cap, likely as an allusion to Hook and Smee.
**Hook and Smee were involved in the opening ceremony of Pirates of The Caribbean at Disneyland in 1967. In the promotional film which went over the ride's opening, Hook and Smee could be seen engaging with guests in New Orleans Square as the video's host cited them as examples of Disney's fascination with piracy.
**Hook and Smee rode the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction together in the souvenir video A Day at Disneyland.
**In the opening scene to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, governor Weatherby Swann is dressed like Captain Hook while on the crossing from England to Port Royal.
**One of the early concept arts of Pirate Lords for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End showed a pirate with a hook in place of his left hand, long black hair, and similar wardrobe to Hook. During this point of development, several famous pirates were being considered for the Brethren Court.
*Hook has been used as inspiration for different Disney Villains.
**Bruce W. Smith, an animator at the Walt Disney Animation Studios, used Captain Hook as a reference when creating Doctor Facilier.
**While making Treasure Planet, Glen Keane used Captain Hook to study the movement of the mechanical arm for John Silver.
*Hook is briefly mentioned by Timon in the Timon & Pumbaa episode "Ocean Commotion".
*Cary Grant and Robert Newton were both considered to voice Captain Hook.
*According to an interview for Epic Mickey, early concepts had Captain Hook wearing blue.
*Interestingly, in the French translation of Disney's Peter Pan, Hook takes the name of "James Bartholoméo Crochet" (literally James Bartholomew Hook), while in some translations of the original J. M. Barrie's book Peter Pan, his name is translated as "Jack Crochet" (literally Jack Hook).
*In Jake and the Never Land Pirates, it is revealed that Hook occasionally gets seasick (on sea as well as while crawling backwards) despite being a pirate captain.
*In the queue for Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, located at both Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, there are several license plates hanging on the wall, all with various Disney references on them. One of the license plates is labeled "CAP 10 HK".
*Captain Hook was listed #24 in Empire Magazine's The 50 Best Animated Movie Characters, stating as his stroke of genius the gibbering panic that overtakes the otherwise snarling bad guy whenever the sound of ticking comes near.
*Sasha Waybright can be seen dressed as Hook during a Peter Pan play in the Amphibia episode "The First Temple".
==External links==
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*James on Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki