Michael Darling

Michael Darling is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the twenty-first episode of the second season and is portrayed by Benjamin Cook.

Michael Darling is based on the character with the same name from the play, Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up.

Before the Curse
Michael lives in London, England with his parents and siblings. He is the youngest child of the family. His sister, Wendy, takes pity on a homeless orphan named Baelfire and hides him in their nursery's cubby-hole. For weeks, she sneaks food upstairs for him and is eventually caught red-handed by their parents. Their mother accepts Baelfire as a guest in their house, much to her husband's chagrin.

During another night in the nursery, Baelfire awakens and notices Wendy out of bed and staring at something outside the window. Wendy excitedly tells him about "the Shadow " she sees outside sometimes, and how much it is like a puppet that moves; like magic. Baelfire is wary of this talk about magic and speaks of how magic ruined his whole life, and he won't have it ruining her family, too. He makes her promise if she ever sees the Shadow again that she won't open the window for it.

Despite Wendy's promise to Baelfire, she can't help but be curious and on the next night the Shadow appears within her sight again, she opens the window. Again, Baelfire tries to deter her. Unafraid, she takes the Shadow's hand and it lifts her away into the air while Baelfire can only watch from the open window in horror.

Wendy is taken by the Shadow to another world called Neverland and experiences the joys of seeing magical creatures such as fairies and mermaids and having refreshing freedom with no parents or adults to tell her or any of the children what to do. Though it is great fun, she is disturbed that by nightfall in Neverland, all the children begin to miss their parents and want to go home, but the Shadow won't allow them to ever leave. Because the Shadow wants another boy to bring to Neverland, he brings Wendy home with the intention of coming back the following night to take one of her brothers with him.

In the morning, Wendy returns home with the Shadow's help and reveals to Baelfire what the Shadow plans to do. Baelfire vows to not let her family be torn apart, and they form a plan to prevent the Shadow from succeeding. Wendy, Baelfire, John and Michael arm themselves with kitchen utensils as makeshift weapons in the nursery, and when the Shadow breaks open the window, they all run to hide in the cubby-hole. However, Michael gets distracted by staring curiously at the Shadow, and is unaware he is in danger of being snatched away. Baelfire dashes out from the cubby-hole and protects Michael by asking the Shadow to take him instead. Despite Wendy's pleas, Baelfire knows this is the only way to keep the Shadow from making off with one of her brothers. She, John and Michael watch from the window as Baelfire is pulled up and disappears out of sight into the sky with the Shadow.