Other film appearances

In the sequel Return to Never Land (2002), Hook mistakes Wendy's daughter Jane for Wendy and uses her as bait to lure Peter Pan to his death. After this fails, he promises to take Jane home if she will help him find the island's treasure, and "not to harm a single hair on Peter Pan's head". This last promise is kept when he pulls a single hair from Peter's head, declaring "the rest of him is mine". At the end of the film, he and the crew are pursued into the distance by a giant octopus.

Captain Hook is one of the Disney Villains who have a main focus in the direct-to-video anthology film Once Upon a Halloween.

Captain Hook's origins are explored in the Disney Fairies film The Pirate Fairy, in which he is voiced by Tom Hiddleston.^[14] In the story, a young James years before he lost his hand, pretended to be a pirate ship's cabin boy and befriended a rebellious fairy Zarina who had left Pixie Hollow after being dismissed as a dust-keeper when her unauthorised experiments with pixie dust led to a disaster. James foresaw the great potential of the pixie dust and let Zarina think she had the authority over pirates.

In The Simpsons short film Welcome to the Club, Captain Hook (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) appears along with other Disney Villains trying to convince Lisa Simpson how fun it is to be a villain.^[15]

Jude Law portrays Captain Hook in Disney's live-action film Peter Pan & Wendy, which loosely adapts material from the 1953 animated film.^[16][17] Unlike the animated version, his hook is his right arm. Unlike Barrie's original play and later Peter Pan adaptations, in which the same actor play Hook and Mr. Darling, the latter's role is performed by a different actor, Alan Tudyk.^[18] In this version, Hook is revealed to be an old friend of Peter's and the first Lost Boy, but he left Neverland because he missed his mother. Years later, he returned to Neverland as a pirate, being rejected by Peter because he had grown up.^[19]

Joshua Colley will play a young Hook in the upcoming live-action film Descendants: The Rise of Red, from the Descendants franchise.^[20] His teenage son Harry (portrayed by Thomas Doherty) appears in the previous films of the franchise Descendants 2 and Descendants 3, Captain Hook being only mentioned.

Television series

Captain Hook made a special guest cameo on Raw Toonage in the episode hosted by Don Karnage (air pirate of TaleSpin), wherein he challenged Karnage to a sword fight for a treasure chest and won.^[21]

Hook also appeared frequently on House of Mouse, and its two direct-to-video films Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse and Mickey's House of Villains, being one of the main villains in the last one.

In the Disney Junior series Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Hook serves as the main antagonist, with his mother, Mama Hook, herself exclusive to the Disney Junior series, keeping him "honest" if he gets tempted.

Video games

Attractions and live events

Disney's version of Captain Hook as a meetable character in the Disney Parks.

Captain Hook appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character along with Mr. Smee in Adventureland. He also appears as a figure during the dark ride Peter Pan's Flight.

In Fantasmic! at Disneyland, there is a scene in which we see Captain Hook and Peter Pan duelling aboard the Jolly Roger (portrayed by the Sailing Ship Columbia). This is replaced by a short re-enactment of Disney's Pocahontas at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

At Disney World's Dream-Along with Mickey show, Hook, along with Smee, is one of the villains that crashes Mickey's party. This happens when Peter and Wendy appear to make Goofy's dream for some adventure come true and play a game of "Pretend to Be Pirates" with Donald Duck, who pretends to be the captain until the real Hook appears and challenges Peter to a duel. At first, Hook's appearance seems to take place for no reason other than to add some action to the show but is revealed to actually be working for Maleficent, who is insulted after not being invited to the party. He is defeated by Mickey Mouse, who leads the audience in a chant of "Dreams come true!", and scares off the villains.

At the Disney Villains Mix and Mingle Halloween Dance Party at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, Hook is summoned up by Maleficent along with the other villains, and co-hosts along with her, revealed by him being the only one of the villains besides her to sing and also being the villain that dances with her.

Captain Hook was also featured in the Disney on Ice 2013 show 'Let's Party' as part of the Halloween celebration section, which takes the format of a party hosted by Jack Skellington where all the 'main' Disney villains attend (Evil Queen and Jafar being two other notable villains in the scene) and they plan to capture Mickey Mouse to plunge everyone into unhappiness.

Printed media

Occasionally, Hook appears in the Scrooge McDuck universe of comic books as the nemesis of Moby Duck, a whaler cousin of Donald Duck.^[26]

In the Kingdom Keepers series book Disney at Dawn (2008), Captain Hook was snooping around Ariel's Grotto, having been sent by the Overtakers in investigate the meaning in Jess playing songs over the park speakers.

In the Descendants franchise novels Isle of the Lost (2015) and its sequel Rise of the Isle of the Lost (2017), Captain Hook appears as one of the villains who live imprisoned on the titular island. He is also the father of Harriet (eldest daughter), Harry (middle son), and CJ (youngest daughter).

In the Pirates of the Caribbean novel Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom by A. C. Crispin, Captain Hook is mentioned as "James" in conversation, confirmed by Crispin to be a Disney "in" joke.^{[27][28][29][30]}

Peter Pan (1924 film)

In the 1924 silent film Peter Pan, Captain Hook is portrayed by Ernest Torrence.

Hook (1991 film)

Captain James Hook is played by Dustin Hoffman in Hook.^[31] Looking for purpose in his own life Hook kidnaps the children of the adult Peter to lure his arch-enemy back to Neverland and gives the middle-aged man three days to rekindle his spirit. Hook has been left feeling depressed and suicidal since Peter Pan forfeited his eternal youth and left Neverland to start a family with Wendy's granddaughter Moira and took on the new identity of Peter Banning (Robin Williams). After his initial arrival in Neverland, Banning make an unsuccessful first attempt to get Hook to release his children by offering money but Hook refuses, shooting Peter's chequebook. Hook worries he has nothing left to accomplish; he has long since killed the crocodile and made a quiet clock tower out of its corpse. Despite killing the crocodile, he remains terrified of the sound of ticking clocks and has become increasingly paranoid of the crocodile coming back, often destroying clocks to cope. At Smee's suggestion, Hook attempts to persuade Peter's children that their father never loved them, in order to coerce them to stay in Neverland. He is successful with Jack, Peter's son, who soon sees Hook as the attentive father figure that Peter has never been, and Hook eventually sees Jack as a potential heir. Peter's daughter, Maggie, mistrusts Hook immediately and refuses to be swayed. Hook decides to hold Maggie hostage until Peter's failure to rescue her ruins her faith in him. This backfires when Peter and the Lost Boys rescue her immediately. Jack sees Hook stab Rufio to death in a duel and realises how much his father cares for the Lost Boys, rejecting the murderous Hook and embracing Peter once again. As Peter leaves the ship with his children and the Lost Boys, Hook orders him to come back. Maggie tells him off, stating Hook needs a mother to straighten his bad attitude. After Hook vows to kidnap future generations of children in Peter's family, Peter and Hook engage in a final duel amidst a circle of Lost Boys, Peter taunting Hook about the idea that the ticking clocks he fears are not reminders of the crocodile, but a reminder of time ticking away. After a close call where Tinker Bell deflects an attack with the hook, the crocodile clock tower seemingly comes to "life" and eats Hook when it falls on top of him.

Hook's missing hand is his left and his stump takes other attachments, including a baseball mitt and a pointer. He dresses very elegantly in a gold-trimmed red coat, matching hat, and a wig that hides his balding head. He wears a ceremonial captain's sword at his side, but uses a proper duelling sword when fighting Rufio and Peter. Hook's physical appearance in the film is heavily influenced by Disney's portrayal, though with more elaborate clothing trim and his moustache is curled, shaped like a hook. He is closer to Barrie's characterisation as a gentleman pirate than in Disney's version; for instance, he frequently describes certain behaviours as "good form" or "bad form" (although he is willing to violate these rules when it suits him, such as trying to stab Peter in the back during their climatic duel). Hoffman claimed to have based the character's voice and mannerisms on conservative columnist William F. Buckley Jr.

Peter Pan (2003 film)

In the 2003 film adaptation of Peter Pan, Captain Hook is portrayed by English actor Jason Isaacs, who also plays the role of George Darling, Wendy's father, following the tradition of the original play. Isaacs correctly wears the hook on his right hand, supported by a shoulder harness. The character also features a tattoo of Eton's coat of arms on his left shoulder. Hook is feared and ruthless, but also gentlemanly. In the climactic duel, he learns to fly, almost defeating Peter Pan, but the Lost Boys' taunts weaken the enthusiasm needed to fly, and he falls into the crocodile's mouth, accepting his fate.

Shrek film series

Captain Hook is a minor character in the film Shrek 2, playing "Little Drop of Poison" by Tom Waits and "People Just Ain't No Good" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on the piano in the "Poisoned Apple" tavern. In Shrek the Third, he has a greater role as a secondary villain and is voiced by Ian McShane.

Finding Neverland

During the film Finding Neverland, a biopic about Peter Pan's creator James Matthew Barrie, James finds inspiration for the character of Captain Hook from Sylvia's strict mother as she is holding a coat hanger to one of Sylvia's boys. James envisions the hook in place of the left hand.

Pan (2015 film)

In this prequel to Peter Pan stories, Garrett Hedlund portrays a younger James Hook, one of the main protagonists, who teams up with Peter Pan to escape Blackbeard's mines in Neverland and joins forces with the native tribe. Although initially only interested in leaving Neverland, Hook is attracted to Tiger Lily (Rooney Mara) and assists her and Peter in the final confrontation in the fairy kingdom. At the film's conclusion, he joins Peter and Tiger Lily in rescuing other children from Peter's old orphanage back in London. Hook in this film is different from the original character, and is portrayed as a pioneer-era American without any connection with Eton, Blackbeard, or piracy in general.

Come Away

The character is played by David Gyasi in the 2020 film Come Away as CJ (a reference to "Captain James"), a ruthless pawnbroker and crime lord who is also the son of the Mad Hatter, the paternal uncle of Alice and Peter Pan, and the paternal great-uncle of the Darling children, Wendy, Michael and John.

Lost Girls

Iain Glen plays Hook in the 2022 film The Lost Girls.^[32]

Peter Pan – The Animated Series (no boken)

In 1989, the Japanese Nippon Animation produced 41 episodes of Peter Pan – the Animated Series, aired on World Masterpiece Theater and in several other countries. Hook's personality was far closer to the original character from Barrie's novel. Apart from wanting to destroy Pan, he is also eager to become Neverland's first king. Hook has a second hook-hand that both looked and functioned like a crab claw.

He is voiced by Chikao Ōhtsuka, who also portrayed the Disney incarnation of the character in Japanese media, particularly in Kingdom Hearts games.

Peter Pan and the Pirates

In 1990, Fox produced the television series Peter Pan and the Pirates, wherein Hook's costume was more early 18th century rather than the classic Charles II-Restoration period. He had white hair and wore black clothes. He was also clean-shaven, without a moustache. Hook's personality is closer to Barrie's original character: he terrifies his crew, brutalises his enemies, has no fear (except the crocodile), shows great intelligence, and is passionate about William Shakespeare's plays. He was voiced by Tim Curry, who won an Emmy for this part.

Once Upon a Time

Captain Hook appears as a regular character in the TV series Once Upon a Time. He made his first appearance in the second-season episode "The Crocodile". The character is played by Colin O'Donoghue.^[33]

Hook is born Killian Jones, who becomes captain of the Jolly Roger after his brother's death. His hand is cut off by the dark trickster Rumpelstiltskin as revenge for Hook running away with his wife. In order to find a way to kill Rumplestiltskin, Hook travels to Neverland, where he spends over 100 years before escaping back to the Enchanted Forest. Hook teams up with Cora, the Queen of Hearts, and they travel to the Land Without Magic after the curse is broken.

Neverland (TV miniseries)

In the TV miniseries Neverland, James Hook is played by Rhys Ifans. He is introduced as "Jimmy", a fencing teacher and leader of a small group of juvenile pickpockets including Peter Pan with whom he has developed a father-son relationship. Jimmy is seeking a mysterious orb, which Peter and his gang have discovered unbeknownst to him. In the course of the miniseries, it is revealed that he actually killed Peter's father because he was in love with Peter's mother, with the watch that Hook owns having once belonged to Peter's father; the watch is lost with Hook's hand in their final confrontation when the crocodile swallows both.

Peter Pan Live! (2014 TV special)

Christopher Walken plays Captain Hook in the musical production Peter Pan Live! which was broadcast live by NBC in December 2014. Compared to the 1954 musical on which it was based, this show sought to "strengthen and deepen" the portrayal of Captain Hook.^[34] Hook and his pirate crew perform songs from the original musical, such as "Hook's Tango", in addition to new songs such as "Vengeance" and "Only Pretend".^[35]

Peter and Wendy (2015 TV film)

In the ITV film Peter and Wendy, he is played by Stanley Tucci.^[36]

Peter Pan in Scarlet

Geraldine McCaughrean's authorized sequel to Peter Pan gives Peter a new nemesis, while bringing back the old favourite.

Ravello, a circus man in a constantly ragged woollen coat, volunteers to become Peter's valet in the search for the treasure. Ravello provides a red coat (that formerly belonged to Hook) and a bad influence, influencing Peter increasingly to become more and more like Captain Hook. He sees himself not as a living person; he never sleeps and eats only eggs. He is revealed in the middle of the book to be the old James Hook, who escaped the crocodile when the animal's stomach contractions broke the vial of poison Hook kept with him at all times. The poison killed the crocodile, and Hook used his hook to claw his way out, but he was mutated by the stomach acid into an uglier man with a scarred visage—vastly different in appearance from the noble pirate. He then assumed a new identity of Ravello, owner of a travelling circus, complete with lions, tigers, and bears.

A clue to Ravello's true identity is given when one of the Lost Boys asks Ravello his name: he thinks for a while as if trying to remember, and finally says the name his mother gave him was Crichton, but that names given by mothers don't mean anything.

One of Ravello's trophies is an Eton trophy dated 1894. If Hook was 18—the last year of an Etonian—in that year, then he was born in 1876, a full one hundred and one years after his appearance at The Pirates' Conference, and even further after the times of Blackbeard and Long John Silver. It must also be said that Hook in this book denies that he was ever with Blackbeard, claiming that he would never have served such an uneducated man and that all such suggestions are merely rumours started by his enemies. Only upon receiving Wendy's kiss, and five weeks' worth of sleep, does the real James Hook again reveal himself.

Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth

According to the (2007 non-canon) novel Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth, Captain Hook was the illegitimate son of a nobleman, "Lord B", and an unnamed woman Hook has never met (implied to be the Queen). Disowned by Lord B., James Matthew is reared by a Shakespearean actress he calls Aunt Emily, and unwillingly attends Eton College as an Oppidan scholar, where he is an avid reader of Shakespeare and Shelley, and his motto is "Knowledge is Power". He describes many things as first-rate – "Topping Swank", and punctuates his sentences with "The End". He is very interested in the French Revolution.

In the novel, James has only a few friends including Roger Peter Davies, whom he nicknames "Jolly Roger" (the name of his ship in later life), and the spider "Electra". A seventeen-year-old Colleger, Arthur Darling (named after Arthur Llewelyn Davies) is his rival in studies, fencing, sports, and the attentions of the visiting Ottoman Sultana Ananova Ariadne. When James successfully woos Ananova, their affection sets off political outrage that affects the noble position of Lord B., who arranges for James to leave Eton on his trading ship, the Sea Witch. Upon leaving, James defeats Arthur in a final duel and burns his own school records to leave no traces of his behaviour. On the Sea Witch, he befriends boatswain Bartholomew Quigley Smeethington, generally called Smee, frees the slaves aboard ship, overthrows the ship's captain (killed by Electra), and murders the quartermaster with a metal hook.

Throughout Capt. Hook, author J.V. Hart relates events in James Matthew Barrie's life and the lives of the Llewellyn Davies children. The narrative expands upon details of Barrie's original play and novel but ascribes James's unusual colouring and yellow blood to a blood disorder, makes James's long dark hair natural, rather than the usual wig, and has James titled "Hook" after murdering the quartermaster of the Sea Witch, rather than in reference to his prosthetic hand.

Peter and the Starcatchers

In the novel Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Captain Hook is distinguished by halitosis, beady black eyes, a pock-marked face, and perpetual filth of his person and surroundings contrasting strongly with J. M. Barrie's Etonian gentleman. The novel, which takes place before the Captain meets Peter Pan, calls Hook "Black Stache" for his prominent moustache, and his ship is called the Sea Devil; he captures the Jolly Roger, originally a British ship called the Wasp, later. Black Stache is renamed "Captain Hook" in the second instalment, Peter and the Shadow Thieves. In Barry and Pearson's book, his left hand is accidentally cut off by Peter.

In Rick Ellis' theatrical adaptation of the Barry-Pearson novel, Black Stache (portrayed in the original production by Christian Borle, who won a Tony Award for the role) is a witty, poetical, but psychotic pirate prone to malapropisms and the occasional pratfall. Similar to the Disney film character, Black Stache resembles both a dangerous villain and a comic buffoon. The last of a line of villains, he seeks to become a great villain by fighting a great hero, and finds one in Peter. His hand is cut off not by Peter, but accidentally severed when he slams the lid of a trunk in a fit of rage.

Pirates of the Caribbean

One of conceptual consultant James Ward Byrkit's concept art for the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End showed a pirate similar to Captain Hook as one of the Pirate Lords of the Brethren Court.

In A. C. Crispin's 2011 novel Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom, during a conversation between Captain Teague and Pirate Lord Don Rafael: "You'll never guess who I encountered at Oporto a few months ago. [...] James. [...] He's lost a hand. [...] he said it wasn't so bad, the hook was as good as a dagger in a fight. [...] He didn't look a day older, not a day. [...] James was a lot more...subdued. [...] The taberna keeper's little lad came round to collect our plates, and when he turned and saw he, for just a second he looked—scared. No, worse than that. Terrified. [...] Can you imagine that? Afraid! Of a young boy!"^[29][30] It was confirmed by the author Crispin that "James" is indeed Captain Hook from J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Crispin figured that since the Pirates franchise had a couple Disney "in" jokes (such as Gillette's comment about "a little mermaid" in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl), that she'd include the mention of "James" as a joke.^[27][28]

Peter Pan (1950 musical)

In Leonard Bernstein's musical version, Boris Karloff starred as Mr. Darling/Captain Hook and Jean Arthur played Peter.

Peter Pan (1954 musical)

Most notably, Cyril Ritchard played Captain Hook in the 1954 musical adaptation which starred Mary Martin as Peter Pan. George Rose played the role in the 1977 revival which featured Sandy Duncan as Pan.

Finding Neverland (2012 musical)

The role of Captain Hook in the musical adaptation of Finding Neverland is played by the same actor playing Charles Frohman. The role was originted in Leicester by Oliver Boot. In the American Repertory Theater try out the role was played by Michael McGrath. Kelsey Grammer originated the role in the Broadway cast and replacements for the role in the production include Anthony Warlow, Terrence Mann, and Marc Kudisch. Tom Hewitt played the role in the first US national tour.

2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony

Alongside other inflatable villains such as Lord Voldemort, the Queen of Hearts, Cruella de Vil, and The Child Catcher, Captain Hook made an appearance during the opening ceremony of the XXX Olympiad in London, representing one of the villains of British children's literature.