Milo James Thatch

"Now, some of you may ask, "Why Atlantis? It's just a myth. Pure fantasy!" Well, that's where you'd be wrong!"

- Milo Thatch

Milo James Thatch is the main protagonist of Disney's 2001 film Atlantis: The Lost Empire and its sequel. He is voiced by actor Michael J. Fox in the original film and later voiced by James Arnold Taylor. Milo is set apart from most other Disney heroes that have dashing good looks and are oozing with charm, but still remains endearing and likeable. He was ordered by Lyle Tiberius Rourke while discovering Atlantis. At the end of the film, he marries Kida.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Milo used to live with his grandfather about great adventures 10,000 years ago. Milo's grandfather died and started becoming a museum teacher in 1914. He started teaching about folklore and legends to the visitors about Atlantis. Harcourt explains to him that the museum is funding for facts instead of folklore.

Later on, Milo meets a nearby woman named Helga Sinclair at home and later Whitmore who knows his father. Whitmore gives Milo the book to translate about Atlantis and Milo tells him that the ancient world does exist.

The next day, Milo goes on a submarine adventure to reach Atlantis. He is accompanied by Vinny, Mole, Sweet, Audrey, Packard, and Cookie. The Ulysses submarine goes underwater to reach Atlantis. However, he and the crew are attacked by a mechanical leviathan on the journey.

Later on, Milo goes on a stop in the caverns of Atlantis after meeting a big insect creature when three natives look at his crew. During bedtime, many fireflies started burning down the tents. Milo and the gang escaped from the angry fireflies to avoid getting burnt down into the world of Atlantis.

There, he and the gang use Atlantis language to let the natives understand. Princess Kida walks to him and understands his words while on a trip to the King of Atlantis and later on using hieroglyphic language for translation in Atlantis. Kida tells Milo how to swim and find the Heart of Atlantis, which is a true power of source. Milo looks at Kida become ethereal and trapped in the crystal container.

The power of Atlantis is later lost and the King of Atlantis dies. Milo goes after Rourke to save Kida in danger. Rourke grabs an axe to attack Milo and Helga fell off the balloon, leaving her dead. Milo and the gang saved Kida from the erupting volcano before the whole city is destroyed. Later on, Atlantis is restored in peace. Queen Kida accepts her to stay as one of the husband of Queen Kida.

Atlantis: Milo's Return
Milo returns in the sequel. The film consists of three shorts that had been meant for a failed television series called Team Atlantis. James Arnold Taylor replaces Michael J. Fox as Milo's voice. The film's opening reveals that Milo has married Kida, who is ruling Atlantis as its Queen, with him as its King. The two are said to be working together to restore Atlantis to its former glory. When Milo's comrades make an unexpected arrival in Atlantis, Milo learns that a creature called the Kraken, an Atlantean defense mechanism, is reigning havoc in Newfoundland. Together with his comrades and Kida, Milo travels to Newfoundland to stop the creature. They learn that the Kraken has been attacking ships and taking the cargo to a village said to be devoid of spirits, but are able to defeat the Kraken by blowing it up. Later, Milo and the group travel to the southwest to investigate a group of coyote spirits. They find hidden city which has Atlantean style statues. Milo and the group are forced to combat a businessman named Ashton Carnaby, who intends to steal the statues. Coyote spirits interfere and turn Carnaby into one of them. Finally, Milo and the group are asked by Whitmore to find the Gungnir (Odin's spear, aka Spear of Destiny), a spear of Atlantean origin. It had been stolen by Whitmore's competitor Erik Hellstrom, who now believes himself to be Odin. Milo and the group track him to the Nordic mountains, but are forced to rescue Kida, who is kidnapped by Hellstrom. Hellstrom reveals that he believes Kida to be his daughter, as well as his plan to end the world in Ragnarok. Milo and the others manage to rescue Kida and retrieve the spear after a difficult fight. At the end of the film, Milo is seen looking on as Kida chooses to combine the spear's power with the power of the crystal to raise Atlantis above the sea, as she had come to believe her father was wrong for hiding it. According to the ending narration, the world was made a better place as a result.

Trivia

 * Milo is the first and so far only Disney Hero to be a "nerdy" guy.
 * Milo is the first Disney hero to wear spectacles, followed by Cornelius "Lewis" Robinson from Meet the Robinsons.
 * Milo is the second adult type Disney male to be rather naturally skinny in physique, with Emperor Kuzco being the first. Arthur and Mowgli are also naturally skinny in physique, but are however only kids.
 * According to the 2-disc DVD, before falling in love and marrying Kida, Milo's first love interest was named Lisa McGrath.
 * Milo's complaint about how much he does not like carrots after puking over the ship used to launch the Ulysses could be a reference to how his voice actor Michael J. Fox is actually allergic to carrots, the line was ad-libbed by Fox, it wasn't supposed to be in the original script.
 * Milo's decision to remain in Atlantis at the end of the film was actually better for him since due to the fact that the film was set in 1914, when World War I was already taking place, it would be inevitable for every single man in the United States to be drafted into the war, something Milo was apparently against. Also, it's implied that Milo never liked living on the surface until the Atlantis expedition.
 * Milo may have actually been based on various anime male leads whose who appeared in works which are similar to that of Atlantis, like Pazu from Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Jean from Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (whom Milo physically resembles). Milo also unintentionally resembles Daniel Jackson from the 1994 film Stargate and it's TV series Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis, which Disney's  Atlantis'  logo even resembles (particularly the second "A" missing the middle bar).
 * Milo removed his glasses at least seven times in the film: the first time when he hears from Fenton Harcourt that he is a janitor and not a professor, the second time when he threw himself onto Mr. Harcourt's car windshield, the second when he unwraps the Shepherd's Journal after Whitmore gives it to him, the third time when he pukes over the side of the  Ulysses'  launch ship, the fourth when Kida removes it from his face and plays with it causing her pupils and eyelids to appear on the lenses a la Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory, the fifth when he "has sand in his eyes" when Kida brings him to a high area for a wide view of the kingdom, and finally when Rourke punches his glasses off of his face before he and Helga escape with Kida (turned to crystal) and leaving him, Mole, Vinny, Audrey, Cookie, Mrs. Packard, (now revolting against Rourke, Dr. Sweet is left at King Nedakh's palace where he is unable to save the King from dying) and the Atlanteans for dead.
 * Milo's fighting during his final confrontation with Rourke was based on Jackie Chan's.
 * Milo's fate appears to be the complete opposite of Ariel's: while Ariel was born underwater but ended up staying on land with Eric, Milo was born on land but ended up staying underwater with Kida.
 * Although he is not really a prince, Milo is the only Disney Prince to become a king, since he married Queen Kida.
 * Milo is the eleventh King of Atlantis.