Peter Pan/WMG

Rufio was destined to be Peter's true successor as leader of the Lost Boys.
Nether Rufio or any of the other boys in the movie Hook are so much as mentioned, suggesting that they simply weren’t there at the time. Also, Rufio seemed to be the oldest of the boys from Hook, as Peter seemed the oldest before.

All of the other Lost Boys accompanied Wendy and her brothers back to London. Peter ventured to London out of lonesomeness and chose to stay as the story goes.

The next boy to enter Neverland was Rufio. He may have entered only days after or several years since Peter's departure. He became the leader of the next bunch of lost boys, explaining his words that “I've got Pan's Sword, I'm the Pan now!” Rufio seemed to have little or no regard for Tinker Bell, suggesting that he'd never been under Peter's influence and never respected her. It also gives more ground to Rufio's hostility towards Peter, seeing him as a challenge to the position that is rightfully his.

Everyone in Neverland was shanghaied Changeling Fair Folk style by Peter Pan to entertain him.
The Jolly Roger and the Native Americans clearly don't originate from the island, and how each got there is never elaborated on. The obvious explanation is that Pan himself brought them there to entertain him. The pirates can't age and can't leave, they're just there so Peter can have somebody to fight with. Killing Peter is the only way to allow themselves to return to Earth.
 * Alternately, Peter Pan is another incarnation of Haruhi.
 * Jossed-but-it's-in-the-original-work by a scene where Smee begs Captain Hook to leave the island and return to their old life of piracy on the high seas. Hook replies that he can't until he settles his score with Peter Pan.
 * Smee also manages to escape Neverland after the Lost Boys spare his life, apparently even doing so without his ship.

Elaborating on the previous post: Pan and Hook are two True Fae, battling within the shared Realm of Never Never Land
The same proof applies to this theory as to the previous one.

Neverland is Limbo and its inhabitants are somehow Flying Dutchman-style lost souls.
They're all stuck in a Stable Time Loop, which would work nicely except that time has no meaning on the island--which makes it more of a Groundhog Day Loop thing. Everyone who comes in does so at a certain age and is stuck there. Hence Hook is an adult, Tiger Lilly's a child as are the Lost Boys and Pan himself.
 * Flying Dutchman corollary (and slight refutation): everyone has the ability to escape, what with Free Will and all, but chooses not to. The "game" is more interesting that way.
 * The lost soul thing is sorta true in the case of the Lost Boys. They get to Neverland when they fall out of their bassinets as babies and nobody notices or claims them. But everyone in Neverland actually ages except for Peter, including them. Where the pirates and Indians come from is beyond me, though. Maybe the Indians went there to escape the white man's greed.

Captain Hook is Peter Pan's "adult" form, and that's why they hate each other so. It also explains why they have so much difficulty ridding themselves of each other.
Peter's leaving as a child was influenced not only by the window being closed, but also by catching a glimpse of the future, where he'd actually become none other than his hated enemy, Captain Hook. Peter hated his older self out of fear (that's he'll become strict and boring), and Hook hated Peter because he saw his younger self as flighty and deficient. Unlike Peter, Hook (naturally) knew who he was all along.
 * But Peter's adult form is Robin Williams, and Captain Hook is Dustin Hoffman, NOT Williams!
 * This troper thinks that WMG is brilliant. Especially when you consider that in the Mary Martin version of the musical, Peter knows just how to catch Hook's eye in "Oh, My Mysterious Lady."

Neverland is actually part of The Neverending Story
Peter is the latest savior and emperor of Fantasia and currently possesses AURYN. His whims and wishes are granted constantly, hence his poor memory. However, he found a loophole that would keep him Emperor forever -- he travels to the real world from time to time, stealing children from their bedrooms, and trades his wishes for their memories instead of his own. As long as he keeps stealing children, Peter can remain all-powerful indefinitely.

Captain Hook was responsible for the death of Queen Athena, Ariel's mom.
In the prequel to The Little Mermaid, the cove where Ariel's mother is kidnapped looks a lot like the mermaid cove in Neverland. And the ship responsible flies a pirate flag. Who's the local pirate of Neverland? Captain Hook. Ergo, Captain Hook indirectly caused the events of The Little Mermaid.
 * So Neverland is Elba?

Neverland is sort of an afterlife for children.
Peter Pan is sort of a kid-friendly Grim Reaper who guides children to their ideal afterlife (it says so in the original book). The Lost Boys were all dead and in their version of heaven, perhaps the pirates were all dead as well and in their version of hell. Wendy, John and Michael were all having a near-death experience.


 * Wouldn't that make Peter's comment about "girls are too clever to fall out of their prams" a reference to the fact that boys are more vulnerable to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, among other things?


 * This actually works for the Disney movie, but for the book and other adaptations, it leaves a pretty big plot hole in the case of the Lost Boys, who all at the end leave Neverland, are adopted by the Darlings and go on to grow up and lead normal lives as adults. Are we talking some sort of miraculous resurrection, or are they ghosts or zombies or what?

Peter Pan is secretly a ninja.
That'd explain why he seems to dislike pirates so much.

Peter Pan had, has and will have adventures with other children, not just the Darling children.
The Disney adaptation begins with the following narration: "All of this happened once. And it will all happen again. But this time it happened in London..." Emphasis on the "this time".
 * Confirmed in most, if not all adaptations, including the original book itself.

Neverland changes as kids' imaginations do
The Pirates and Indians thing was just around because that's what kids played at. By now it's probably full of superheroes and giant robots.
 * Nowadays, the Pirates probably occupy themselves with fighting cliche Naruto-style ninjas when Peter Pan is having another adventure.
 * Confirmed by the original book. Neverland is different for each individual child. It's not even always an island, although in most cases it is.

Hook is Peter's younger brother
Peter mentioned seeing a younger brother in his old room and that's what made him believe his parents didn't want or remember him anymore. So, thinking he could take care of his brother better than his parents, Peter stole little James away and raised him as a lost boy. As the years went by the brothers began to drift further and further apart, eventually having an argument/disagreement so bad they permanently went separate ways. Due to being in Neverland, they forgot their relationship entirely.
 * Or, alternatively, James grew up into a successful adult that Peter's parents were proud of, and when Peter found out, he tricked James into coming to Neverland, destroyed his life and refashioned him as the realm's villain out of jealousy.
 * Jossed by Word of God. Peter's younger brother is actually named Michael (no relation to Michael Darling), and J. M. Barrie actually started to write a sequel to the book featuring this character. The sequel was eventually scrapped, though some of its ideas were included in later revisions of the stage play.

Peter Pan and Wendy are both pre-teens.
Although most/all productions make them be about 8-11, but judging by the fact that Wendy/Tinker Bell/Tiger Lily have crushes on him, its more likely their all 13-15. Peter has all his milk teeth because he is still a child mentally.
 * 8-11 is pre-teen. 13-15 is early teens.
 * latter-day adaptations pretty consistantly push Peter and Wendy's ages to about 12-13. In the book, Peter is described as being smaller than any of the other Lost Boys, so one does indeed get the impression that they're supposed to be something like 8 or so.
 * In the Disney version, Peter looks about 14-15, with Wendy at 13-14.

Peter Pan is a Kokiri.
Or a relative. I mean, come on. Green clothes? Sidekick fairy? Never grows up?

Peter Pan grows up to become the Doctor.
Great adventures? Favorite city is London? Taking on companions from time to time? Peter just learned a new way to fly.
 * It's scary how awesome that would be.
 * And he wants to be ginger! Only it will be the first time since his first reincarnation.

The "Injuns" are not stereotypes of Native Americans.
They are the native Neverlandic people, who have a rich and colorful heritage spanning hundreds of generations. This film captured the beauty of the Neverlandic culture in a way that no other film has without reducing them to some cookie-cutter racist stereotype, and it saddens me to see other people misunderstanding the true meaning behind these characters.

Aunt Millicent (in the 2003 film) really *is* Slightly's mother.
Think about it: they look and act so much alike, always think they have a handle on things even when they don't, are a little pompous but well-meaning and affectionate deep down. Aunt Millicent's not a maiden aunt; she wears those black matronly dresses and hangs out with the Darlings because she was widowed long ago. She also sadly misplaced her infant son, who found himself in Neverland (since they're both so flighty and incompetent). Tinker Bell just reunited them at the end.

Children in Neverland do grow up, just at a much slower pace.
In Neverland, time moves more slowly, but is perceived at the same pace as it is on Earth. For example, the Darling children are in Neverland for three or four days, but only a few hours have passed in London.
 * Jossed in the official sequel (ie approved by GOSCH) when, the reason children grow up is because they look ahead.
 * Actually, jossed in the original novel, where children do grow up at the very least at a pace where Peter can notice and abandon them to the pirates.
 * The novel is a little vague on whether all the Lost Boys grow up while in Neverland, or if this is just some individual cases, but it's at least mentioned that it does occasionally happen, upon which Peter either kicks them out or outright kills them (it's never completely made clear which it is).
 * Peter Pan in Scarlet expands on this idea and introduces the concept that the Lost Boys can avoid growing up, but only by utterly refusing to even entertain the idea. If a Lost Boy ever seriously speculates about what he'd like to be when growing up, he will start growing up, upon which he is banished by Peter. The same book also introduces the Roarers, a band of former Lost Boys who grew up and were banished by Peter, but since grown-ups can't fly they're stuck in Neverland, and basically lead a miserable life, hating everyone and everything.

There is a portal to Neverland somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean in the early 1700s.
That's how period pirates keep winding up there, even when kids from The Eighties start joining the Lost Boys.
 * The Bermuda Triangle, perhaps?
 * Or something similar to it.

Never Never Land was an early 1900s Kids Next Door experiment into halting the aging process.
It was created to test a cure for adulthood; the result being that the children were too busy playing with each other to actually send in their experimental data to Moon Base. Thus, KND considers Never Never Land a failed experiment, having received no contact from the operatives there.
 * This would've made for an insanely awesome episode.

Someday Neverland will collapse
2012 will be brought on by the Four Horsemen of the Acoaplasye while Peter Pan and Captain Hook can only look on, horrified with what is happening. They will team up against the Four Horsemen but be repelled by the Angel of Death.

The true nature of Neverland is...
A Dying Dream of young Wendy Darling, leukimia patient. She longs to meet her new baby brother and so imagines an adventure in the future for them to go on with their then-puppy dog and an imagined extra brother. She also makes a boy she has half-heard of from her mother and father's whisperings, Peter-a boy who caught leukimia before her. As she dies, her mother tells her Peter will guide her into the afterlife. Her unpleasant uncle is Flanderised as the villain in her dream. Mr Smee is a well-known beggar of the streets of London. Tiger Lily is the child of the widower boss of Mr Darling, whom sometimes comes round for dinner parties, and Wendy's best friend. She made the Neverbird up from depictions of tropical birds. What? You knew it was going to happen-just be glad I didn't make Wendy the victim of a serial killer.

Peter Pan is not native to Never Land
He somehow discovered Never Land after running away from home under similar circumstances to Wendy being forced to leave the nursery.
 * The book does support half of this - Peter tells Wendy that he left home and stayed away "for moons and moons and moons" until he came back to find the window barred and his mother with another little boy. Whether or not this actually happened is questionable, but Peter believes it did.
 * If J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens is any indication, it did.

Captain Hook is a vampire.
There are clues that point to Captain Hook being close to two hundred years old. (Contrary to popular belief, Neverland doesn't magically stop everyone from aging - fairies live out full lifespans and die of old age in approximately or even under a year, and it's made clear that the Lost Boys do grow and age - Peter "thins them out" if they start looking like they're growing up.) That said, Hook has some other... peculiarities about him. He is described as looking "cadaverous" (ie, corpselike), his eyes glow red when he's angry, and his blood is unusually dark in color. All of these would make sense if he were an undead vampire.

Mamie Mannering from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens grew up to be Wendy's mother...
...or at least one of her female ancestors. Consider:
 * "Mamie" can be a nickname for either "Mary" (Wendy's mother's name) or "Margaret" (Wendy's granddaughter's name, and so quite possibly a family name).
 * There's some serious Generation Xerox going on in the Wendy line, and Mamie has nearly the same dialogue with Peter as Wendy does...the fairies in Kensington Gardens even built a house around her!
 * Mamie has a "fairy wedding" with Peter without being aware of it. This created a mysterious bond which tied Peter to Mamie and her descendants--that's why he came to Wendy's house in the first place, though he'd nearly forgotten Mamie.

Neverland is the physical embodiment of Peter's escapist fantasy
(Mostly this applies to the 2003 live action movie.) Peter Pan is a boy who wishes to never grow up. More than that, he completely rejects even the very idea of adult hood and having to one day leave his boyhood behind. Somehow, Peter's incrediblely strong desire to remain a boy forever, and his total denial of all reality, creates a fantastical Lotus Eater style alternate dimension, a world reflecting all the escapist fantasies that a typical english boy of that time might have. A world he subconsiously created for himself in order to run away from reality. This is why, in the film, Neverland's flow of time and weather react to Peter's presence and his emotional state, because the world *literally* is the embodiment of his subconcious mind, and changes to reflect it. The pirates are either A) personifications of Peter's own subconcious ideas of what adults are like or B) regular humans imprisoned in Neverland by Peter's desires. Either way, they have no choice but to play the role of antagonists to Peter's fantastical adventures, never able to escape or do anything else as long as he and his world exist. This is why Captain Hook is so obsessed with killing Peter and why he states that killing Peter will "Set him free". Only by killing Peter pan can Hook and the Pirates be free of the prison that is Neverland and the roles they are forced to play.