Michael Darling is George and Mary's youngest child and Wendy and John's brother in Disney's 1953 animated feature film Peter Pan.
Background[]
Personality[]
Michael is clumsy, innocent, observant, and playful. He looks up to his older siblings, John and Wendy. He is also very sensitive as seen at the beginning of the film, he cries when their father, George, declares that night is Wendy's last night in the nursery and kicks Nana out of the house and in the climax when he, John, Peter Pan, and the Lost Boys returned to their hideout, he starts to feel homesick after Wendy sings "Your Mother and Mine" and he cries in her arms.
Physical appearance[]
Michael has strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. He wears pink footie pajamas and carries a brown teddy bear.
Appearances[]
Peter Pan[]
Michael in the original film
Michael is a supporting character in the film. It is explained that he and his older brother, John, believe that Peter Pan, whom they have learned about from Wendy's stories, is a real person. Thus, they often make-believe that they are Captain Hook and Peter Pan in their nursery games.
At the beginning of the film, Michael and John are playing one of these games, with Michael as Peter Pan. They are having a fake sword fight, as George comes in looking for his cufflinks, as he is getting ready for a party. John realizes that the cufflinks were used as a buried treasure in their game, but they can't remember where they are and they have lost the treasure map they made. George finds the map, which turns out to have been made out of his shirt front, much to his horror. This upsets George, and he begins scolding all the children for having their heads filled with silly stories. Michael's older sister, Wendy, protests, and as a result she is told that she will no longer be allowed to stay in the nursery, which upsets him. As George goes to leave, he trips over Nana, and thus ties her up outside, which greatly upsets Michael. His mother, Mary, comforts him as she tucks him in bed. As she goes to leave, he hands over the cufflinks and two rings belonging to her.
When Peter Pan appears later, Michael is asleep but awakens as Peter Pan chases after Tinker Bell. He is allowed to accompany Peter Pan, Wendy, and John to Neverland and chooses to bring his teddy bear. Nana sees this, terrified, and tries to stop them. Michael sees this and spreads some of Tinker Bell's pixie dust at Nana, causing her to fly, and he calls her to follow, but not realizing that she's being held back by the leash still attached to her collar and is left behind waving at him. In Neverland, he goes off to hunt Indians with John and the Lost Boys. After finding a feather and tomahawk, he plays with them for a bit but realizes they are about to be ambushed by the Indians. He tries to warn the others, but they don't listen and the entire group is captured by the Indians. They are taken to the Indian Camp, where the Chief reveals that they are being held responsible for the capture of his daughter, Tiger Lily. Though he threatens to burn them at the stake if she is not returned, this punishment is avoided thanks to Peter Pan rescuing her from Captain Hook, the real kidnapper.
Michael parties with the Lost Boys, while Wendy is forced to do chores, and he returns late at night. Wendy, annoyed with Peter Pan, proclaims they will go home the next day, and that they need to sleep. After talking with Michael, it becomes apparent that Michael is starting to forget what home was like, as he at first thinks that Wendy, then Nana, was his mother. Wendy is able to remind him who she was, and he agrees to go home, accompanied by the Lost Boys, who wanted to go after hearing about Mary. However, as they go to leave, the entire group is captured by Captain Hook. He offers to allow them to either join his crew or walk the plank. The boys almost take his offer but are stopped by Wendy. They're then forced to watch as she walks the plank. However, she is saved and they're freed thanks to the timely arrival of Peter Pan. A large fight breaks out, and Michael participates by banging a pirate on the head with his teddy bear, which is revealed to have been stuffed with a cannonball. Afterward, he returns home on the Jolly Roger and is asleep by the time George and Mary return home.
Return to Never Land[]
Michael's Silhouette in Return to Never Land
Michael didn't appear in the sequel and wasn't mentioned by any of the characters, including Wendy. However, he made a couple of shadowy cameos on some starry night clouds that light up by Tinker Bell, to begin with (flying with Wendy and John and tagging along with John and the Lost Boys to the Indian Camp). His nephew, Danny, seems to strongly resemble him in appearance and personality.
Jake and the Never Land Pirates[]
Michael as he appears in Jake and the Never Land Pirates
Michael appears in the Jake and the Neverland Pirates special, Battle for the Book. In it, Captain Hook has stolen the book containing Peter Pan's adventures with the intent of destroying it as well as the stories of Never Land forever. To save it, Wendy John, and Michael team up with Jake and his crew to race through London, and eventually, Neverland itself, to stop Captain Hook.
Michael appears once again in the series finale "Captain Hook's Last Stand!", where he, Wendy, and John visit Never Land to take part in Peter Pan's homecoming celebration. When he is finally defeated by a magically-equipped Captain Hook, Michael and the other young heroes work together to save him. He later appeared in the group photo along with the rest of the Disney characters.
Other appearances[]
Michael made frequent cameos on House of Mouse, usually alongside his siblings and Peter.
Michael appears in Once Upon a Studio, flying with Peter, Wendy, and John out of their portrait to recruit other characters to take a group photo to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Disney. He later appeared in the group photo along with the rest of the Disney characters.
Live-action appearances[]
Once Upon a Time[]
Older Michael Darling in Once Upon a Time
Michael and the rest of the Darling family appear in the Season 2 episode "Second Star to the Right". He is portrayed by child actor Benjamin Cook. After a boy named Baelfire was welcomed into their family, he and John overhear him one night warning Wendy to stay away from a shadow that looms outside the window. Wendy ignores his advice and travels to Neverland with it. She brings bad news on her arrival back; the Shadow wants to take one of her brothers away to Neverland forever. During the next night, Baelfire helps to hide everyone when the Shadow comes. However, Michael doesn't follow the plan and risks of being kidnapped by it. To avoid the splitting up of a family, Baelfire asks to be taken to Neverland instead.
In "Dark Hollow", John and Michael became employed by Pan after he kidnapped Wendy sometime after the events of "Second Star to the Right". Now adults, they arrive in Storybrooke to destroy Pandora's Box, the only thing capable of defeating him. While they succeed in capturing it, they are thwarted by Belle and Ariel in the mines. They reveal Pan is holding Wendy captive in Neverland, so Belle promises she will do what is necessary to save Wendy if they do not destroy the box.
Peter Pan & Wendy[]
Michael in the live-action remake.
Michael appears in the 2023 reimagining of the classic film, portrayed by Jacobi Jupe.
Michael is first seen playing at the Darling family's house playing with John pretending to be Peter Pan and Captain Hook to which as Wendy passes by, she exchanges Michael to make Wendy play with John. As John's sword suddenly breaks his father George's mirror, George feels upset for causing too much noise in the nursery, just as the children of the Darling family give the wooden swords to their father. After George leaves, Michael and John get ready for bed while their mother Mary is discussing with her daughter Wendy about the importance of being a good leader. Suddenly, when Peter Pan arrives at the Darling family's house with Tinker Bell, the latter sprinkles Pixie Dust on Michael (who takes his teddy bear with him), alongside John and Wendy who fly out of the Darling family's house and into Neverland, the place where children never grow up.
As Michael, John, and Wendy arrive at Neverland, they are suddenly attacked by Captain Hook and his pirate crew firing cannonballs at them, while Peter attempts to lead them to a safe spot to avoid getting hit by cannonballs. Just as they land at the edge of Neverland, Peter sees the Jolly Roger from a distance, telling Wendy, John, and Michael that Captain Hook is the one leading the attack against them. As Peter is devising a plan to the Darlings to distract Hook, Michael and the rest of the Darlings are suddenly knocked off the ledge as part of Hook's plans to capture Peter.
With Michael and John captured by the pirates, Mr. Smee takes them to Hook's cabin where Hook asks Michael and John about how they arrived at Neverland, telling them how they got here without mentioning Peter Pan's name. John tells Smee that he and Michael came with Peter Pan, causing the pirate crew to react in shock, making Hook furious about this and planning to make Michael and John walk the plank as the crew sets sail for Skull Rock.
With Michael and John held captive at Skull Rock, Tinker Bell frees the two of them in time thanks to her Pixie Dust just as she escorts Peter, Wendy, Michael, John, and Tiger Lily out of Skull Rock. Having escaped Skull Rock, Michael follows alongside John, Wendy, and the Lost Children into their hideout. Arriving at the hideout, Wendy attempts to tell a bedtime story to the her siblings and the Lost Children to which while discussing with them, she instead sings a lullaby her mother sang to her when she was at home. All of a sudden, Michael and the rest of the children are captured by Hook and his pirate crew, followed by Wendy who was also captured after the crew arrives at the Lost Children's Hideout as Michael, John, Wendy, and the Lost Children are imprisoned in their cells.
The next day, Hook orders his crew to send Wendy to walk the plank, followed by Michael, John, and the Lost Children being next; however, Tinker Bell escapes from Smee who trapped her in a lantern and then saves Wendy from falling into the ocean, much to Hook and the other pirates hearing no splash from the ocean as it is shown that Tink saved Wendy from falling into the ocean. Peter then returns to the ship where he gives Michael his teddy bear back thanks to Tiger Lily who revived him. Furthermore, Michael takes part during the battle against Hook's pirates while Peter takes on Hook, alongside Wendy, John, the Lost Children, Tinker Bell, and Tiger Lily. Seeing the Jolly Roger about to hit a cliff, Michael and John steer the ship to avoid it. Soon as another pirate fights over the wheel John is controlling, Michael tells Wendy to help him and John get the pirates off their ship, which Wendy tilts the ship to cause the pirates to fall into the ocean while Michael and John hold on tight to avoid falling into the ocean.
With Captain Hook and his crew defeated, Michael returns to the Darling family's house where he reunites with his parents, followed by Wendy introducing the Lost Children to her parents. The Darlings later see the Jolly Roger floating to return to Neverland as Peter leaves with Tinker Bell.
Disney Parks[]
Michael at Disneyland parade.
Michael used to be a meetable character at the Disney theme parks in the 1980s, usually played by a 6 to an 8-year-old boy, but child labor laws of the 1990s forced him to be dropped from the face character roster.
Disneyland Resort[]
Michael has an audio-animatronic featured in the popular attraction Peter Pan's Flight. Another animatronic version of him can be seen in Peter Pan's Enchanted Window display along Main Street, U.S.A..
At Disney California Adventure, Michael made a cameo appearance in the 2015 rendition of World of Color, during the segment celebrating animated films.
Tokyo Disney Resort[]
In Japan, Michael appears during the "You Can Fly" segment of Once Upon a Time at Tokyo Disneyland.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the original book by J.M. Barrie, Michael's full name is Michael Nicholas Darling.
- In some Disney storybooks, Michael's footie pajamas are yellow or green instead of pink.
- The Blu-ray cover for the film incorrectly colored Michael's pajamas blue.
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