Mickey Mouse is an animated anthropomorphic mouse created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in the year 1928. Arguably by far its most famous character, Mickey serves as the mascot for The Walt Disney Company and the leader of The Sensational Six.
Fancifully estimated as standing 2 ft. 3 in. (69 cm) and weighing 23 pounds (10 kg), Mickey rapidly rose to the pinnacle of American culture, being more widely recognized overseas than any other American icon but the U.S. flag.
For over 80 years, he has signified The Walt Disney Company, animation, goodwill, fun, laughter and most of all Walt Disney himself. It was said by Lillian Disney, his wife, that over the years, Mickey and Walt grew together and were mirrors of each other's personality. They both started off mischievous and cheeky, but as they grew older preferred to step out of the spotlight and observe others work their magic. President Jimmy Carter once said, "Mickey Mouse is the symbol of goodwill, surpassing all languages and cultures. When one sees Mickey Mouse, they see happiness." Mickey also shares the same birthday with Minnie Mouse, his girlfriend.
Mickey's 3-circle silhouette serves as the logo for most of Disney's subsidiaries, save for the ones that don't carry the 'Disney' or 'Walt Disney' label. Andy Warhol's portrait The Art of Mickey Mouse used Warhol's famous pop art techniques on the classic mouse. Mickey is often cited as the world's most famous cartoon character of all time.
Personality
Mickey is easily recognized by his red pants with white buttons on it, white gloves and yellow shoes as well as his round mouse ears. He often gets himself into trouble as a result of his mischief and the fact that he can be forgetful and extremely imaginative.
Mickey sometimes chooses fun and adventure over working, a trait disliked by Minnie Mouse. While usually always having the better amount of luck, when teamed with his pals Donald and Goofy, he and his friends often end their day in failure and all three are the faults. Even so, Mickey has, on many occasions, proven to be the most reliable of the three being that, he has far better control over his temper than Donald, and more common sense than Goofy.
Mickey stands as a father figure for Pluto and has grounded him on many occasions as if he is a young boy. He also counts Pluto as his best pal and usually puts him before nearly everything else. Mickey describes himself as a good sport but on occasion has lost his temper on both enemies and friends. He is usually dumbstruck by the mere sight of Minnie Mouse giving her many titles such as his best girl and constantly goes out of his way to impress her. Mickey loves her with all his heart and Minnie loves him in return. From experience, Mickey believes there is at least a small dose of kindness in everyone's heart, resulting in him being quite forgiving. He is also understanding and sympathetic.
Mickey is very brave. Many cartoons begin with Mickey and Minnie enjoying each other's company until a villain usually his nemesis Pete kidnaps her and the takes her away, resulting to Mickey battling the villain and proclaiming his love. Mickey can be competitive and never backs down even when his opponent is twice his size. In many situations, Mickey has shown to be a trickster and enjoys pranking his enemies to get the better of them. Despite being very heroic, Mickey prefers to lay back and relax. He is optimistic and hardworking during harsh times and often encourages his friends to keep going, but on rare events has given up hope and even doubted himself. Its times like these when Mickey's friends, such as Donald and Goofy are optimistic and encourage him in return. Mickey is incredibly noble and generally puts the people he loves in front of his own well being. He has even been able to set aside differences with his foes when necessary.
In spite of being an anthropomorphic mouse, Mickey has the tendencies to act with his animal nature including the fact that, being a mouse, he loves cheese. In the television series House of Mouse, Mickey being a mouse is made fun of when he is shown to exercise on a hamster wheel and drink from a rodent drinking bottle like the ones found in a hamster cage. These particular facts seem to only exist in the House of Mouse.
Creation and Debut
Mickey was originally created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier star created by the Disney studio. Oswald had been created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Charles Mintz of Universal Studios. In fact, Mickey closely resembled Oswald in his early appearances. However, Disney received an unpleasant lesson when he asked Mintz for a larger budget for his popular Oswald series: in reply, Mintz fired Disney and Iwerks and taken all of Disney's artists to draw Oswald, to which Mintz and Universal owned the rights. From that point on, Disney made sure that he owned all rights to the characters produced by his company. Oswald would eventually return to the Disney fold in 2006 as part of a trade between NBC Universal and Disney, with NBC getting the contract of sports announcer Al Michaels as compensation.
In order for Walt and his older brother and business partner Roy to keep their company active, new characters had to be created to star in their subsequent animated shorts. One day, during a train ride, Walt desperately wanted to come up with a money-making character to replace the one he lost, Oswald, whom he loved dearly. He had visions of a mouse in the back of his head (he had previously made silent cartoon shorts with animated mice). He wanted to name his new creation Mortimer Mouse, but his wife Lillian Marie Bounds thought the name was too pretentious, so she suggested he change it to Mickey Mouse, which he did. (The name Mortimer would later be used for a character who became a new rival for Mickey in one cartoon.) It has been suggested that Walt Disney was influenced by an actual mouse that he almost tamed by feeding it crumbs on his desk at the Laugh-O-Gram Studio.
Mickey and Minnie Mouse (Mickey's flapper girlfriend) debuted in the cartoon short Plane Crazy, first released on May 15, 1928. The short was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks was also the main animator for this short, and reportedly spent six weeks working on it. Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were credited for assisting him; these two had already signed their contracts with Charles Mintz, but he was still in the process of forming his new studio and so for the time being they were still employed by Disney. This short would be the last they animated under this somewhat awkward situation.
The plot of Plane Crazy was fairly simple. Mickey is apparently trying to become an aviator in emulation of Charles Lindbergh. After building his own aircraft, he proceeds to ask Minnie to join him for its first flight, during which he repeatedly and unsuccessfully attempts to kiss her, eventually resorting to force. Minnie then parachutes out of the plane. While distracted by her, Mickey loses control of the plane. This becomes the beginning of an out-of-control flight that results in a series of humorous situations and eventually in the crash-landing of the aircraft. A non-anthropomorphic cow that briefly becomes a passenger in the aircraft is believed to be Caroline Cow making her debut.
Plane Crazy apparently failed to impress audiences, and to add insult to injury, Walt could not find a distributor. Though understandably disappointed, Walt went on to produce a second Mickey short: The Gallopin' Gaucho. It would not be until Mickey's third, probably most famous, and first sound cartoon Steamboat Willie, that Mickey began to gain the popularity that he has today. The short's original release date - November 18, 1928 - was later declared to be Mickey's official birthday in the early 1970s.
History
During this time period, Mickey and the gang were introduced to Technicolor, something that Walt had taken a gamble on for the Silly Symphonies in 1932. Walt didn't want to take a gamble on his most famous creation, the Mickey Mouse series. In 1935, however, Walt felt that Mickey was ready for color. The feedback and profits rocketed so Walt never used Black and White again, not even for his television series (which were filmed in color).
During this time, Mickey's body structure was changed and was given a new look. His round body was replaced by a pear-shaped looking one and his head was changed so his nose was closer to his body. His ears were turned from round to oval and his eyes became more detailed (the pupils smaller, the eye itself outlined instead of partially open). There were 56 more color cartoons in the original Mickey Mouse Theatrical Series.
During this time period, World War II was taking place and the Disney characters went off to fight in that war. All of the main characters were given their own war-related cartoons at least once, with the strange exception of Mickey. While all of the other characters went off to war, Walt refused to draft Mickey.
Mickey's Postwar Years
After the war was over, Mickey made a comeback. He began to star in his own cartoons again and paired up with Donald and Goofy for the first time in years. (This era also shows a great advancement in the animation style. This is probably due to the fact that many of the old animators had died overseas and Disney had to find new ones. These cartoons led the way to the "modernized" style of animation that Disney used from the mid-1950s to the later 1960s.)
In his earliest cartoons, Mickey was often mischievous and the cartoons sometimes used outhouse humor. As the series became more popular, Disney decided to change his best-known character into a well meaning everyman, and creating mischief was thereafter left to other characters.
As Mickey and Minnie's popularity rose, new characters were created as a supporting cast. These new characters would later go on to become icons alongside Mickey and Minnie, including Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and Daisy Duck. Around this time, Mickey began to star in a series of short cartoons alongside Donald Duck and Goofy. Some of their most well known shorts together include Lonesome Ghosts, Clock Cleaners, and Mickey's Trailer.
During these years, Mickey becomes a character that you could sympathize for. He had to be. During the time, many mothers were upset at how Mickey's constant rudeness and bullying was starting to rub off on their own children. Walt then regretfully turned Mickey into a kinder, hero-type character as opposed to the more anti-hero character he was in the early years. He became an everyman who could do anything (and usually did). He was turned into a character that people could laugh with, and not at.
From 1930 until 1950, though the numbers of the comic creators that worked on Mickey increased, the most popular version (considered the "classic" version today) was that of Floyd Gottfredson, who developed Mickey's character, adopted characters from the cartoons, and created many others. Since 1950 the most popular version of Mickey has been that of Italian creator Romano Scarpa, who has further developed Gottfredson's characters and has added many of his own. With the inclusion of comic stories added to Mickey's career, a cast of new characters were created including: The Phantom Blot, Chief O'Hara, Eega Beeva, and Mickey's nephews, Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse.
In 1929, Disney created the original Mickey Mouse Club for fans of his character and cartoons, which later formed the basis for a popular 1950's television show (with follow-ups of the same name in the 1977 and 1989).
Mickey has starred in the theatrical feature film: the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of Fun and Fancy Free (1947). He has also starred in two half-hour theatrical featurettes, Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983, screened in front of the re-issue of The Rescuers) and The Prince and the Pauper (1990, screened in front of The Rescuers Down Under).
Many television programs have centered around Mickey, such as the recent shows Mickey Mouse Works and House of Mouse. For many years, Mickey Mouse has served as the mascot for The Walt Disney Company, alongside Jiminy Cricket and Tinker Bell.
Kingdom Hearts
King Mickey, simply referred to as The King, His Highness or Your Highness or more commonly as "Your Majesty" is the king of Disney Castle, a recurring character, and, along with Donald and Goofy, the main Disney protagonist in the Kingdom Hearts series. He travels the worlds battling the forces of darkness and is the chosen Keyblade wielder for the Realm of Darkness, though he follows the path of light. Originally believing that the darkness had to be eliminated, he eventually realized that light and darkness are interdependent and cannot exist without the other due to his encounters with Riku.
While only being 2 '3" (69 cm) tall, King Mickey is an incredibly powerful character in the Kingdom Hearts universe, as shown when he defeated three Darkside Heartless in a single blow whilst inside Kingdom Hearts. First studying under Yen Sid, Mickey is possibly the inventor of Gummi Ships, the first to realize the threat of darkness spreading between worlds, and one of the characters most strongly affiliated with light, including Sora. His strength is not always readily apparent, as his character remains very simple spoken, colloquial, and lighthearted, but contrary to this appearance, King Mickey has played a major role in all Kingdom Hearts games.
Before Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
When he was young, Mickey worked as a deck hand with his captain, Pete. He and Pete sailed the steamboat Willie throughout Timeless River. This past association causes Pete to refer to Mickey as "the Boat-Boy King."
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
While Terra, Ventus, and Aqua search for Master Xehanort and Vanitas, King Mickey trains under Yen Sid at the Mysterious Tower to be a Keyblade master accompanied by Donald and Goofy, by which he uses the Star Seeker Keyblade. Later on, Mickey runs away without Yen Sid's permission, using a Star Shard that allows him to travel throughout other worlds, however, it works rather randomly, as he has not learned how to control it. Terra witnesses the King's leave when he first visits the tower.
Mickey teams up with Ventus at one point in the Keyblade Graveyard when Ventus loses a fight with Vanitas and he steps in to help. They successfully drive him off before Mickey's Star Shard separates them. He later teams up with Aqua at one point in the story at Radiant Garden, rescuing a young Kairi from the enemy's attempt to capture her.
While exploring Neverland he was ambushed by Vanitas and knocked unconscious, who then proceeded to kidnap Mickey and take him to the Keyblade Graveyard. Ven goes to try and help Mickey when he finds out about it, only to both get sucked into a vortex. Mickey is left stranded in space before Aqua finds him and takes him back to the Mysterious Tower.
At the end of the game, he helps Aqua battle Ventus, who is possessed by Vanitas, and eventually guides them to the Mysterious Tower, where they discover that Ventus's heart has left his body. At the end of the game, Mickey sorrowfully hands in the Star Shard and his Star Seeker Keyblade, thinking he has failed to reach his goal and disappointed his master, and begins to leave. Before he departs, however, Master Yen Sid hands him back the Keyblade with a smile, showing him that he is indeed worthy of it. Mickey happily accepts.
Between Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts
Upon realizing the threat the darkness presented, Mickey sought out help for his concerns, and the danger he seemed to expect. By using the barrier's material itself to make a Gummi Ship, Mickey traveled to Radiant Garden and met Ansem the Wise. Mickey befriended Ansem, and told Ansem of his concern of the growing darkness between the worlds. It was also here that Mickey met Xehanort. Meeting him seemed to disturb the King.
Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts marks the first appearance of Mickey in the series. Before actually appearing onscreen, Mickey gives instructions to his subjects through a message from Pluto. Not seen until the end of the game, in Kingdom Hearts, King Mickey left his home, Disney Castle, leaving a note instructing Donald and Goofy to "find the Key". In his journeys, King Mickey had passed the Corridor of Darkness at Traverse Town and found the Keyblade of the Realm of Darkness. Within the realm of darkness, he meets Riku, asking him about his heart. At the end of Kingdom Hearts, he helps Sora to seal Kingdom Hearts to prevent the Heartless from escaping it. It was the choice of Mickey and Riku to stay behind in the Realm of Darkness that started Sora, Donald and Goofy on their quests in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Sora, Donald and Goofy initially enter Castle Oblivion believing the King to be there, but that is not the case until Riku appears in the basement of the castle. He appears many times to Riku while he battles his inner darkness as his light, until they finally come face to face. Meeting DiZ, Mickey begins to suspect his true identity.
Right before Riku goes on to face Ansem, he tries to make Mickey promise to destroy him if Ansem conquers him, but Mickey dismisses it and promises to break through to his power and save Riku. Riku wins the battle, but Ansem tries to trap him into darkness and Mickey takes him back to the light. Through this experience, Mickey forms a similar friendship with Riku as Donald and Goofy with Sora. Riku even calls him by his name "Mickey" from this point forward.
After leaving the Castle, the King and Riku eventually part ways.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
King Mickey appears in the Twilight Town woods facing Riku, who has taken on the form of Xehanort's Heartless. Mickey readies to attack as Riku calmly ties his blindfold into place, and looks shocked at Riku changing appearance. Then they make a promise not to tell Sora what happened to him when he wakes up.
King Mickey is playable in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days's Mission Mode, wearing his Organization XIII cloak. To unlock him, complete every mission, which will make the item "Return of the King" available from the Moogle shop.
Kingdom Hearts II
In Kingdom Hearts II, Mickey appears far more often then he had in the previous Kingdom Hearts games. He is a playable character under certain circumstances.
Sometime after Riku left DiZ's employ, he encounters Mickey and gives him the munny pouch that he had stolen from Roxas in the Simulated Twilight Town. Not wanting Sora and Kairi to know about his condition, Riku pleads with Mickey not to reveal his whereabouts or his condition to Sora, and Mickey reluctantly agrees.
Mickey later arrives to help Sora fend off the Nobodies that attacked them in Twilight Town posing as somewhat of a fake Organization XIII member. After the battle, he hands Sora the pouch of munny Riku gave him and instructs him to visit his mentor, Yen Sid, running off afterward. Yen Sid reveals that Mickey's reasons for leaving Disney Castle in the first game was to investigate the mysterious outbreak of Heartless and the more mysterious Organization. Mickey makes several appearances throughout the game, and is even playable when Sora is defeated in certain boss battles; if Sora is defeated in these boss battles, Mickey appears and fights the boss until he himself is defeated or Sora is revived; in either event, he leaves the battlefield as quickly as he arrived.
If someone examines the books on one of Yen Sid's shelves, it will say: All the mischief the King did years ago is recorded here.
At Hollow Bastion, Mickey reveals the truth about Ansem, but is reluctant to reveal any information on Riku. He then aides the group in fending off the Heartless that Maleficent has summoned to destroy Radiant Garden. Initially, he orders Sora, Donald, and Goofy to leave Hollow Bastion and leave the Heartless to them, but Donald and Goofy go against his orders when they realize how desperate Sora is to help Leon. He later confronts them after they defeat Demyx, at first appearing angry, but soon simply decides to allow them to help.
When Goofy apparently dies after taking a nasty blow to the head while saving Mickey from the same fate, Mickey swears that the Heartless would pay and permanently discards his Organization XIII disguise, and they are all relieved to discover that Goofy was only unconscious. When he and Sora confront Xemnas, he jumps after Xemnas into a corridor of darkness before it closed, thus preventing Sora, Donald and Goofy from going after him, but since he appears later in Twilight Town, it is apparent that he could not follow Xemnas all the way.
Sora and the others meet him in Twilight Town, where they find a way into The World That Never Was through the Simulated Twilight Town DiZ had created. When they enter the world, Mickey goes ahead of Sora to look for Ansem the Wise. He eventually finds him, and rescues him from death. Ansem then attempts to use his machine to convert Kingdom Hearts into data, but was unsuccessful and vanishes when the machine explodes.
Mickey then confronts Xemnas with Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy, and watches as Xemnas opens Kingdom Hearts. Xemnas then blocks out King Mickey and Kairi from participating in the final fight, first by launching a building at him and Kairi, closing Kingdom Hearts, and then closing the dark portal to the Destiny Islands, preventing Mickey, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy from returning to aid Sora and Riku.
After Sora and Riku end the Organization's plot, Mickey waits with Donald, Goofy, and Kairi on Destiny Islands for their return. Once they do, he runs to Riku and congratulates them both for defeating Organization XIII. During the end credits, King Mickey is seen returning with Donald, Goofy, Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey and Louie, Pluto, and Jiminy to Disney Castle, where he reunites with his wife Queen Minnie. They then share a cartoonish kiss, ending the sequence for Disney Castle. After the credits, it is revealed that he has sent Sora, Riku and Kairi a bottled letter.
Kingdom Hearts coded
In Kingdom Hearts coded, Mickey digitizes Jiminy's Journal to unfold a mysterious message saying: "We must return to free them from their torment". When the digital system gets blocked, he decides to create a data version of Sora to solve the problem.
Following the digital Sora's time in Traverse Town, he is attacked by Heartless. After disposing of them with the Star Seeker Keyblade, he tries to leave the library to check the castle, but finds himself locked in, along with Jiminy, Donald, and Goofy. It is later revealed that, in fact, the quartet have somehow been transported into the digital journal itself. While in the journal, he joins forces with data Sora and the journal itself (in the form of Riku) to dispatch the Heartless and debug the digital world. At the game's climax, Mickey and his friends are returned to the real world when the debugging is completed, but a message claiming that a door to a new world has opened appears on the screen. Preparing for another adventure, Mickey requests to be taken into the digital world again to solve this new mystery.
Inside, he escorts Data Sora throughout Castle Oblivion until they encounter the data version of Naminé who tells them about Terra, Ventus and Aqua and the reason behind the Bug Block Corruption, which was caused by the real Naminé when she removed Sora's memories and later restored them. After everything in the journal was restored, Mickey returns to the real world to write the letter to Sora to tell him about Terra, Ventus and Aqua; and a new journey begins.
Later, Mickey reports to Yen Sid that he has finally found where Ventus's missing heart went, leaving only Terra's heart to be found. Their discussion quickly shifts towards the topic of Xehanort, who Mickey is stunned to learn will probably return following the defeat of his Heartless, Ansem, and his Nobody, Xemnas. Fearing that Xehanort will not be alone, Yen Sid orders Mickey to bring Sora and Riku before him so that they may take the Mark of Mastery exam.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Mickey has been seen present at the Mysterious Tower, where Yen Sid prepares Sora and Riku for their Mark of Mastery exam to restore the worlds lost in the realm of sleep. Mickey receives a note from Maleficent and Pete along with Minnie's crown, ordering him to return to Disney Castle, where he finds them holding Minnie hostage. Maleficent demands that Mickey hand the Datascapeover to her, but Mickey refuses. Lea arrives and helps free Minnie. Mickey orders Maleficent to leave, and he and his friends return to the Mysterious Tower.
In the Realm of Sleep, Sora and Riku discover fragments of Mickey's past. In Symphony of Sorcery, Mickey was still training under Yen Sid as his apprentice, and had accidentally put a spell that made a horrific dream come true, which fortunately was solved with Sora and Riku's help.
He was in the Country of the Musketeers, as part of Princess Minnie's royal guard. He, as saw when Sora met him, had already some knowledge of the Keyblade and other worlds, and went undercover in this world for his own motives. He prevented his old captain Pete, now the captain of the royal musketeers, from overthrowing the Princess, with the aid of the Keyblade Wielders. Later on, when Sora and Riku do not return from the Sleeping Worlds at the expected time, Mickey enters and finds Riku in Where Nothing Gathers, using a Stopza spell to freeze Young Xehanort and help him save the comatose Sora, but Xehanort remains unaffected by the spell and knocks Mickey aside in order to battle Riku. Following the fight, Mickey and Riku meet the revived Master Xehanort, who explains to them the details of his past endeavors and his continuing plans to recreate the χ-blade and restart the Keyblade War. Mickey openly accuses Master Xehanort of ruining the lives of Terra, Aqua, and Ven, but Xehanort merely quips that it was their destiny. As Master Xehanort prepares to turn Sora into a vessel for a piece of his heart, Xemnas physically restrains Mickey from rescuing him. Lea arrives in time to protect Sora, and Ansem responds by releasing his Guardian, who grabs Mickey and Riku but is knocked out by Donald and Goofy. Master Xehanort and his lackeys retreat, but swear revenge.
Mickey helps bring Sora's body back to the tower, where Riku manages to mend his broken heart and awaken him. Riku is named a Keyblade Master for this and Mickey congratulates his friend, but is shocked when Lea summons his own Keyblade. Later on, Yen Sid tells Mickey of their plans to form a group of seven Keyblade warriors of Light to counter Master Xehanort, and Mickey is visibly stunned when Yen Sid's newest student turns out to be Kairi.
Story of Joining Sora's Team
After Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey fought Master Xehanort, with the help of Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Roxas, Lea, and Xion, they all fought well. But after their battle, NEW worlds were created and new friends appeared also, but also new and dangerous VILLAIN's created also. Sora was told by Master Yen Sid to form the Ultimate and Gigantic team to face of the biggest and new threats to their worlds. Sora began his new journey with his friends, and unexpectedly Lock, Shock, and Barrel joined also. Soon after they all started, they made new friends and they joined Sora with the new but gigantic Gummi Ship. And it kept growing as new members keep coming and coming. Sora still struggles as being the supreme leader of the team, but he always makes the wise desisions. Even in differnet NEW worlds, he still changes forms, and touches many hearts of new friends, from the Land of Ooo, Monster High, Halloween Town, Dream Land, and many others.