Kevin McCallister

"I made my family disappear."

- Kevin's famous quote Kevin McCallister is the main protagonist of the first two Home Alone movies and the made-for-television fourth film.

Portrayals
In the first two films, he is played by Macaulay Culkin, while Mike Weinberg played him in the fourth film instead of Macaulay Culkin reprising his role, due to Culkin not being a child actor anymore since his last film as said actor was Richie Rich in the 1994 live-action film of the same name. He doesn't, however, appear in the third film, as that one centers around a different family, where he and his family are replaced by Alex Pruitt played by Alex D. Linz, and his family.

Home Alone 1 & 2
At age eight, he is the youngest of five children (his brothers and sisters are Buzz, Megan, Linnie and Jeff) born to Peter and Kate McCallister and he has six cousins (counting one who is a daughter not of Frank McCallister, but of Rob). He is subject to ridicule by his older siblings, mostly Buzz. One Christmas, his family leaves for Paris and accidentally leaves him behind. Kevin has fun without the ever present nuisance of his family but he slowly grows lonely, until he discovers that Old Man Marley is actually a very nice man and the rumors about him are never true. Things get worse when two dim-witted yet violent criminals, Harry and Marv a.k.a. "The Wet Bandits", target his lavish house to be robbed. Kevin, without any protection, decides to booby trap the entire house and the two, despite being horribly disfigured by Kevin's torment, the two capture Kevin but before they can kill him, one of Kevin's neighbors who he befriended while home alone, beats the two into unconsciousness with a snow shovel. The two are then arrested as Kevin's family comes home for Christmas morning, where he acts like nothing happened during the week as Kevin sees Old Man Marley reuniting with his son at the window and Buzz becomes shocked about his room wrecked by Kevin.

In the sequel, the family decides to head to warm Florida for Christmas instead, but Kevin mistakenly follows a man who looks like his father onto a plane bound for New York City. Kevin is alone but has his father's money in his bag. He decides to enjoy his time in the biggest city in the country, so he lives it up and gets a suite at the Plaza Hotel. However, Marv and Harry now renamed "The Sticky Bandits" have escaped during a prison riot and discover that Kevin is alone and lost in New York City. Out for revenge, the two attempt to kill Kevin but he defeats them by using his surroundings to his advantage. Kevin then goes to the home of his uncle, which is under renovation while they are away. After Kevin discovers that the Pigeon Lady is actually a very nice person and is not scary, Kevin booby traps the entire place and foils the robbers but they get to Kevin before he can escape. Chasing him into Central Park, the two attempt to shoot Kevin, but the revolver is covered in lacquer wood stain which the two got covered in earlier, and won't fire. A friend Kevin made earlier in the film throws pigeon food onto the two burgulars and they get attacked by swarms of pigeons. The cops then arrest the two after Kevin sets off fireworks. Kevin's family arrives for Christmas at the Plaza Hotel after Kevin reunites with his mom and his family, but his dad gets enraged that he spent lots of money on room service.

Home Alone 4
At the McCallisters' house in Illinois, Peter is divorced from Kate and announces that he's living with his new and rich girlfriend Natalie at her mansion. He tells his three children Buzz, Megan, and Kevin (Mike Weinberg) that they are hosting the visit of a royal family and invites everyone to spend Christmas with him and Natalie. After initially refusing, Kevin takes his father up on his offer after being tormented by Buzz. Kate is disappointed that Kevin is with his father.

Kevin enjoys his time at Natalie's mansion with his new bedroom, latest gadgets and his life. In the next morning, Natalie and Peter go out for a bit while Kevin stays at the mansion with Natalie's butler Mr. Prescott and maid Molly. While Prescott makes Kevin a milkshake, he goes into the security room and gets caught by Prescott who gives Kevin another chance. With Natalie and Peter still away, Kevin notices his old nemesis Marv, a remaining member of the Wet/Sticky Bandits and new sidekick and wife Vera outside the house. Kevin tries to get Mr. Prescott to answer the intercom, but for some reason Prescott does not answer. He then spies on them and drive them away by destroying the shower's water systems and flooding the house's lobby, but Peter and Natalie arrive while Kevin is cleaning up and don't believe Kevin's explanation especially since Prescott claims to have been watching the monitors and seen nothing. While driving, Marv tells Vera about his encounters with Kevin and states that they have someone on the inside to help them in their plot. Kevin then attempts to use the security camera footage to prove himself, but discovers that the camera had been turned off by the burglars and is caught by Prescott (who Kevin now believes to be Marv and Vera's accomplice). Molly then appears and gets Kevin out of trouble. Peter and Natalie then realize they gave Kevin a hard time and decide to make him feel better, so the three of them decide to decorate the tree together.

The next morning, Peter and Kevin wake up and realize their tree was redecorated by Natalie, who in the midst of all the festivity forgot to cancel her tree-decorating team. Kate, Buzz and Megan then decided to visit Kevin. Kate meets Natalie in person and Kevin shows the entire house to Buzz and Megan. At a party for the royal family while Peter and Natalie have gone to pick them up, Kevin notices Marv and Vera dressed up as caterers. Mr. Prescott warns Kevin about the night so he traps Mr. Prescott in the freezer. Kevin then spies on Marv and Vera in his bedroom and hears them planning about kidnapping the royals. The royal family are unable to attend the party because their flight was cancelled due to snow, so Peter and Natalie instead announce their engagement to their party guests. Marv and Vera run back into the house and Kevin hits Marv with a frying pan, flips the table and get soup spilled on Marv and Vera. They then chase Kevin, causing him to accidentally ruin the party. Peter is angered at this, still refusing to believe Kevin about the break-in as he believes that Kevin is trying to end his relationship with Natalie.

Since no one believes him about the problem, Kevin decides to take matters into his own hands and sets booby traps for Marv and Vera. The next morning, Peter and Natalie go get the royals and Kevin is left back at the house. Marv and Vera wake up and head to the house. Kevin tricks and locks Mr. Prescott in the wine cellar, but then he discovers Marv and Vera's real accomplice is actually Molly who also turns out to be Marv's mother as well. Molly then restrains Kevin and locks him up in the wine cellar with Mr. Prescott, where he reveals to Kevin that the reason he didn't see Marv and Vera the first time they broke in was because he was napping. He lied to Natalie about watching the monitors to cover up his secret well-deserved breaks. After apologizing to Mr. Prescott for misjudging him, Kevin tries to call Buzz using Prescott's phone, but he just hangs up on him. He then tries to call his mom, but the phone's battery dies, cutting off their call and when Kate calls the house she is told by a lying Molly that Kevin is with Peter. When Kate calls Peter about Kevin, he denies this causing both Kate and Peter to become suspicious.

With help from Prescott, Kevin manages to escape through the dumbwaiter. He then unleashes his traps on Marv and Vera. Molly hears the commotion and tries to stop Kevin, resulting in Kevin trapping her in the elevator. At the airport, Peter's suspicions gets him worried about Kevin as he goes back to Natalie's mansion to check on him while Natalie gets the royals. Back in the cellar, Mr. Prescott then manages to escape through the dumbwaiter as well, wanting to see if Kevin is all right. Kate, Buzz, and Megan are on their way to save Kevin as well. Marv heads to the bedroom and ends up getting caught and stuck under the bookshelf. Kevin then plays a recording of Marv, making it sound like he's insulting Vera, which causes them to argue. Marv and Vera are then tricked by Kevin with a secret wall switch, end up swinging from a chandelier, and then fall and are knocked unconscious. Molly escapes from the elevator and is about to knock Kevin out with a frying pan, but Mr. Prescott knocks her out with a serving tray. Then, he and Kevin call the police just as Peter, Kate, Buzz and Megan arrive.

Peter apologizes to Kevin for not believing him. The royal family and Natalie arrive at the house and Natalie is confused when she sees Molly getting arrested alongside Marv and Vera. Peter breaks up with Natalie, Mr. Prescott resigns, and the royal family decides to spend Christmas with the McCallisters.

Personality
Many people in the McCallister family think that Kevin is nothing more than a helpless child. As he is the youngest he is the one constantly being picked on by older siblings such as his sister and especially his brother Buzz becuase of this abuse Kevin was actually overjoyed when he thought he had made his family disappear. Kevin was normally argumentative, stubborn and even aggressive which are traits one would find in an eight-year old boy. He was capable of fighting back, and on some level was even cruel such as attacking Buzz twice, once when he maliciously ate his pizza and when he humiliated him during a choir. This also goes from throwing a brick at Marv from a tall building and making the pizza man he ordered thinking he was being shot at. He also laid well-planned traps that put the robbers, Harry and Marv in massive physical pain and could have even killed them.

He can be naive at times such as when he thought that Old Man Marley was a serial killer who murdered his family when he was actually a very kind man. This happened again when he was lost in New York and ran away screaming from the Pidgeon Lady simply because of her appearance however she is actually a lonely yet kind-hearted woman. Depsite originally fearing these people, they end up saving Kevin from The Wet Bandits. It is possible he had learnt to stop judging people by their appearances however in the fourth film he became unsure of his father's girlfriend, Natalie's butler Prescott becuase of his hostile attitude however this grumpiness was brought on because of frustration on how tiring his job and eventually saved him. There are times when Kevin can be wise beyond his years such as giving advice to Old Man Marley to rebuild his relationship with his estranged son which he did. And once again in New York when she told the Pigeon Lady to start loving again.

Despite peoples outward opinion of him Kevin is not nearly as immature as they make him out to be (although granted when he was left home alone he took the opportunity to scream like a madman, jump up and down on his parents bed and an excuse to eat more junk food than he could manage) however once Harry and Marv attempted to break into his house he became more responsible, doing laundry (despite him being afraid of the furnace) and even going shopping. He was also able to defend his home from the Wet Bandits, using very intricate traps to injure and incapacitate them. All in all Kevin was extremely loyal to his family (especially to his mother) even if they may drive each other crazy.

Trivia

 * Kevin and his family are absent from Home Alone 3, which was originally to feature a teenage Kevin. However Macaulay Culkin had quit acting 3 years prior, and had grown tired of the role and had no interest in returning.
 * In some sort of error of continuity, Kevin is aged 9 in Home Alone 4, even though he was aged 10 in his last appearance, meaning he should at least of been 11 or 12 by the fourth film.
 * Another error of continuity is that Kevin is confirmed to be eight in the first film and ten in the second one, when it was specifically mentioned several times in Home Alone 2 that it takes place only one year after the first film.
 * Macaulay Culkin returned as an older Kevin in the first episode of the online series DRYVRS.

Similar Heroes

 * Alex Pruitt (Home Alone 3)
 * Bart Simpson (The Simpsons)
 * Finn Baxter (Home Alone: The Holiday Heist)
 * George Jetson (The Jetsons)
 * Gohan (Dragon Ball)
 * John Bender (The Breakfast Club)
 * Jimmy Neutron (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius)
 * Kyle Broflovski and Stan Marsh (South Park)
 * Max (Pokemon)
 * Stewie Griffin (Family Guy)
 * Tom Paris (Star Trek Voyager)
 * Tommy Pickles (Rugrats)