Why Captain Hook Deserves More Credit

Okay hear me out. I know majority of the Disney villains have a sob story background and are jealous or need something from the protagonist (i.e Ursula wanting Ariel’s voice, Jafar needing the lamp from Aladdin, Scar wanting to be king), but Captain Hook is a special circumstance for me. Here’s why:

Captain Hook’s Backstory

There isn’t much of a backstory for Hook unless you read the novels, but the general story provided by Disney is that Peter Pan pulled a “harmless” prank on Hook, by cutting off his hand with a sword and feeding it to a crocodile. Captain Hook had to replace his left hand with a steel hook. Ever since the incident, Hook made it his life’s duty to capture Peter Pan and make him pay, but he also had a roadblock because the crocodile still followed him around looking to eat the rest of him. Based on this story alone, we can see that Peter started the whole quarrel and has only tormented him constantly.

Hook’s Disadvantages

As we all know, Neverland is a magical place where you never grow up and you play with fairies and hangout with mermaids. However, for Hook it’s not so magical, since he and his pirates are some of the only people there that don’t have the ability to fly. Obviously since Peter can fly, he has an advantage over him.

Hook also doesn’t have the smartest crew along with him, as Mr.Smee is his right hand man, but a gullible and idiotic right hand man at that. But, I do admit, Smee is very loyal.

And of course the obvious disadvantage is that a crocodile follows him and tries to eat him, which is not ideal. But hey, at least he has the ticking clock that the crocodile once swallowed too as a warning sign!

He’s Not Like the Others

Although the other Disney villains also sometimes feature a sad backstory, this revenge is pretty justified in the story. Peter is the heroin of the movie, the one everyone looks up to and wants to be with, but sometimes we forget that he is a boy who doesn’t want to grow up, so he makes bad decisions. I would be frustrated and vengeful too if my hand got eaten.

If we compare Captain Hook to a villain like Jafar, Jafar was never lined up to be the Sultan, he never had anything taken away from him, but he still manipulated the Sultan and tried to kill Aladdin for selfish reasons. There is no motive other than for him to prosper off of other people’s discontent. Jafar gets very close to winning near the end, as he is the most powerful Sultan in the world, but his downfall is when he asks for too much. Hook on the other hand, doesn’t really get close to winning at all, and death by crocodile ensues just as foreshadowed. Captain Hook has clear motive, is very unlucky, ends up losing anyway with no great progression and he is misunderstood. For those reasons, I think Hook deserves more credit as a villain.