Captain James Hook, better known as Captain Hook, is the antagonist of J.M. Barie’s play Peter Pan and the 1953 Disney film adaptation. He appeared in Haunted Mansion scripts but ultimately went unused.
Due to his position as a classic Disney Villain, he has been featured among Haunted Mansion characters and locations since then.
Origins[]
Peter Pan (stage-play & novel)[]
Captain James "Jas." Hook is portrayed as a pirate captain who inhabits Neverland, a personified dream-world. Hook (himself likely being dreamed up within the story) was apparently the boatswain to Blackbeard and the only man who Long John Silver ever feared.
He had his right hand chopped off by Peter Pan and thrown to a hungry crocodile which had also swallowed a clock. Since then, the crocodile liked the taste of Hook so much it followed him ever since. Since then, Hook became captain of the ship the Jolly Roger which was haunted by the ghosts of those who died onboard.
In the story, Hook tries to hunt down Peter to get revenge. By the end of the story, Peter kicks him into the mouth of the crocodile and kills him.
Peter Pan (Disney film)[]
In the 1953 film adaptation, Hook does not explicitly die in the end but is rather chased into the horizon by the crocodile. The Jolly Roger's ghosts make no appearance and Hook's hook is switched to being on his left hand. It is also unclear if Hook is a fabrication of Neverland or a real person as he and his henchmen mention coming to the island and resenting being stuck their with intentions to leave.
[]
Deleted Scripts[]
One of Ken Anderson’s proposed scripts for the Haunted Mansion involved cameo appearances from famous literary villains and ghosts. Captain Hook was one of these villains, alongside Count Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Quasimodo, the Phantom of the Opera, Anne Boleyn, Lucrezia Borgia, Anne Bonny, Jack the Ripper, King Tut, Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge, the Canterville Ghost, Simon Legree, Little Eva, the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, Great Ceasar's Ghost and the Lonesome Ghosts.[1]
It should be noted that the Captain could very likely have been based on the character from Barie's play, as opposed to the Disney film. However, considering that the Headless Horseman was planned to appear in his Disney variant and that this list included the Disney created characters of the Lonesome Ghosts, it is possible that it might have been the Disney incarnation of Hook as well.
A piece of concept art by Marc Davis resembles the character from the Disney film[2]. It is however unknown if this was intended to be the same character as the pirate captain.
A performed Captain Hook on the steps of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion in Disneyland Fun.
Disneyland Fun[]
Hook appeared in the “Grim Grinning Ghosts” segment of the Disney Sing Along tape Disneyland Fun. He danced in front of the Disneyland mansion with the Evil Queen, the Big Bad Wolf, Maleficent, the Scary Trees and Donald Duck dressed as a ghost.
Mickey's House of Villains[]
Hook is a major character in the direct-to-DVD film Mickey's House of Villains. On Halloween Night, he and the rest of the Disney Villains take over the House of Mouse. He is one of the primary villains in the plot, alongside Jafar and Cruella De Vil.
Once Upon a Time[]
In the TV show Once Upon a Time, several fairy-tale, literary and folklore characters are reimagined with Captain Hook AKA Killian Jones being a regular member of the supporting-cast. In one episode he hunts down the show's version of the shop Memento Mori where he finds Madame Leota, here a member of a coven of witches.
Unleash the Villains Promotional art with Hook in a Stretching Room portrait
Merchandise[]
Merchandise of the Stretching Room portraits are often sold with the Disney Villains replacing the Haunted Mansion characters. In this reimagining, Captain Hook replaces the Tightrope Walker with the crocodile waiting underneath him in-place of the alligator.
Disney Parks Attractions[]
- Peter Pan's Flight: Hook appears in animatronic form in this classic Fantasyland ride, reprising his role from the film.
- Fantasmic!: Captain Hook appeared in the Disneyland variant of the Fantasmic! show where the Sailing Ship Columbia on the Rivers of America was re-themed as the Jolly Roger with Hook as captain. Eventually, the pirates of Neverland would be replaced by those of the Caribbean.
- Captain Hook's Galley: Disneyland Paris featured a restaurant themed after Hook's ship the Jolly Roger nearby a rock-formation made to resemble Skull Rock from the Disney film. The attraction was located in-between Adventureland and the Peter Pan area of Fantasyland. The ship would later be turned into a walk-through attraction but Tokyo would keep the restaurant, albeit without the pirate ship exterior.
Trivia[]
- Captain Hook is alluded to in the novel tie-ins to the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Here he was known as James the Mysterious and was notorious for his temper and violence before disappearing off the face of the Earth. While presumed dead or imprisoned, James appeared years later having not aged a day and with an iron-hook in-place of his hand.
- Concept art for the film's third instalment shows pirate-lords of the Brethren Court resembling Captain Hook.
- Captain Hook and the Headless Horseman are the only known Disney movie Villains to have been considered for appearances in the mansion only to both be scrapped.
- Oogie Boogie is the only one to have been truly integrated into the attraction via Haunted Mansion Holiday and Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare.