Michael Myers is a character from the Halloween series of slasher films. He first appears in John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) as a young boy who murders his older sister, then fifteen years later returns home to murder more teenagers. In the original Halloween, the adult Michael Myers, referred to as The Shape in the closing credits, was portrayed by Nick Castle for most of the film, with Tony Moran and Tommy Lee Wallace substituting in during the final scenes. The character was created by Debra Hilland John Carpenter and has appeared in nine films, as well as novels, multiple video games, and several comic books.
The character is the primary antagonist in the Halloween film series, except Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which is not connected in continuity to the rest of the films. Since Castle, Moran, and Wallace put on the mask in the original film, six people have stepped into the role. Tyler Mane is the only actor to have portrayed Michael Myers in consecutive films, and one of only two actors to portray the character more than once. Michael Myers is characterized as pure evil, both directly in the films, by the filmmakers who created and developed the character over nine films, as well as by random participants in a survey.
Michael Myers is the primary antagonist in all of the Halloween films except Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which does not feature any of the characters from the preceding two films and had nothing to do with Michael Myers. Michael returned following Halloween III, in the aptly titled Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. The silver screen is not the only place Michael Myers has appeared: there have been literary sources that have created an expanded universe for Michael Myers.
"I met him... 15 years ago, I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding, and even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil... right or wrong. I met this... six year old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and... the blackest eyes... the devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil."
―Sam Loomis
