Captain Hook

Captain Hook is a fictional character created by the author JM Barrie. The character appeared in several of Barrie’s Peter Pan novels and has perhaps become most famous as the comical and cowardly arch villain in the Disney film version of Peter Pan.

In the Barrie version Captain Hook is the arch enemy of Peter Pan - the boy who will never grow up. Here he is a more fearsome villain, reputed to have been the Bosun of the infamous pirate Blackbeard and the only man that Long John Silver was scared of.

Captain Hook hates Peter Pan so much because he was the reason behind him losing his hand (which he had replaced with a hook as was common at the time). Hook’s hand was eaten by a crocodile which now follows him around obsessively as it wants to eat more of him! He uses his hook to good effect however as (according to the author) he likes nothing better than plunging it into his enemies.

Although Barrie had Peter Pan defeat Captain Hook once and for all (by throwing him overboard to the crocodile) in the story Peter and Wendy after Hook had kidnapped Wendy and they had a duel, he does appear again in a later version of a Peter Pan story - Peter Pan in Scarlet. This book was written as a JM Barrie estate authorised sequel in 1996 by Geraldine McCaughrean.