Mike Newton

"Oh, Mike! How will I go on?"

- Bella Swan joking about Mike.

Michael "Mike" Newton is one of the students who attends Forks High School with Bella Swan, and one of the most popular boys in school. By mid-Eclipse, he has graduated from Forks High and started working full time at the Newton's Olympic Outfitters owned by his parents. His Life and Death counterpart is McKayla Newton.

He is portrayed by Michael Welch in the movie adaptations.

Early life
Mike was born in Sacramento, California. He is the only child in his family.

His family moved to Forks when he was 10 years old and opened Newton's Olympic Outfitters. During high school, Mike started working part-time for his parents, selling camping and hiking gear. He became a popular kid in school and dated some of the most popular girls, including Lauren Mallory, and later Jessica Stanley, who already had a crush on him. He and Jessica dated on-and-off during sophomore year.

Twilight
"He looks at you like you're something to eat."

- Mike Newton on Edward Cullen to Bella Swan.

Mike first meets Bella Swan on her first day of school in Twilight, and takes an immediate romantic liking on her. He continues to compete for her affections with Edward Cullen and some other boys at school, even after Bella and Edward started dating. Bella once tries to imagine him with a wagging tail, since he followed her around so much. After an unsuccessful attempt to take Bella to prom, Bella suggests to Mike that he should ask fellow student Jessica Stanley instead. He does so and they re-establish their relationship, but it ends sometime during the summer. Edward and Mike are always at odds for Bella's attention.

New Moon
"What a marshmallow. You should hold out for someone with a stronger stomach. Someone who laughs at the gore that makes weaker men vomit."

- Jacob, to Bella.

At the beginning of New Moon, Bella states that Mike seemed to have gotten over sulking and has finally accepted that they can only ever be friends. When Bella goes into her 'zombie period' after the Cullens left Forks, Mike asks her every Friday if she will go to work the next day, and stops walking her to classes. Bella tries to rekindle their friendship after four months of 'being a zombie'. Mike is the first to become her friend again, although not with the same enthusiasm, and never forgets his fondness of her. After an action movie outing (Crosshairs) with Bella and Jacob, which ended up with Mike vomiting from the bloody scenes, he seems to have given up on her, and tells her that "girls are cruel". However, Mike is one of those who willingly accept her back after her depression.

In the movie adaptation of New Moon, Mike is the one who asks Bella out to watch a movie, and the action movie they watch is called Face Punch. Jacob threatens to put him in a hospital after he interrupted his conversation with Bella.

Eclipse
"My fellow students. Right? Right? We are the future. Anything is possible if you just believe. Blah, blah, blah. You now just got a speech." "No, this'll be my speech when I want everyone to throw diplomas at me, so thank you."

- Mike and Jessica

Mike becomes somewhat of a minor character in Eclipse, being only someone Bella sees at school and work, and as a guest at the Cullens' graduation party. During Calculus class, he gossips with Tyler, Ben, and Austin about the possibilities of Jacob and Edward fighting, and Mike is determined that Jacob has the best chance of winning.

After graduation, he starts working full-time at his parents' shop.

In the Eclipse film, Mike offers Jessica an old-fashioned speech for graduation, but she rejects his offer and throws the speech right into his head. He is last seen sitting behind Bella at the graduation ceremony, listening to Jessica's own speech and cheering on her behalf.

Breaking Dawn
"What a gene pool."

- Mike

Mike makes his final appearance in the Twilight series at the beginning of Breaking Dawn, where he attends Bella and Edward's wedding with Jessica as his date. Edward says that Mike has inappropriate thoughts about Bella at the wedding, despite them swearing their vows, but is too happy and infatuated with Bella's dress to give in to anger.

In Breaking Dawn - Part 1, he attends Bella and Edward's wedding. While there, he notices the Denali family and suspects that they are related to the Cullens. He is last seen waving goodbye to the newly wedded couple. This marks the last of his appearances in the Twilight Saga.

Physical appearance
Mike is described as having pale blue eyes, blond hair, a baby face, being 5'11" tall and being altogether good-looking. Mike is very popular in Forks High School.

He had a baby face in Twilight, but it matures slightly later on. Initially, he wore his hair in spikes, but then decided to grow it out and also starts using hair gel in attempt to mimic Edward's look.

Personality and traits
Bella describes Mike as a golden retriever: loyal, and obsessively following random people. Edward hates Mike because he is attracted to Bella, with inappropriate thoughts about her. Mike is athletic and very friendly to those he likes, but also obnoxious, persistent and competitive, and is dense on sensing other people's signals while he is infatuated with Bella.

He also has a weak stomach, the sight of blood and action movies make him feel uneasy to the point that he vomits. For this reason, he has a dislike action movies. Jacob Black referred to him as a "marshmallow" after he vomited from watching Crosshairs (Face Punch in the movie adaptation) with Bella and Jacob.

In Midnight Sun, he has hateful, jealous thoughts regarding Edward's relationship to Bella, which Edward finds very disturbing and comments he could kill him just to shut him up. He also tends to think badly of the Cullens because of their perfection, such as beauty and wealth. He goes so far to even think "I wish Cullen would drive his nice, shiny car off a cliff." Other than the Cullens, he also dislikes Jacob Black and any other guy who speaks to Bella, though not as intense.

Relationships
Mike is the only child in his family.

Bella Swan
Bella Swan is Mike's classmate. Mike is infatuated with Bella as soon as she starts going to Forks High School. He seems to only like Bella because of her popularity and good looks, and she does not reciprocate his feelings. He asks her to the spring dance, but she turns him down just like she does with every other person who asks her. Edward shows a dislike for Mike over his possessive and lecherous thoughts about her. Mike later becomes very jealous when he realizes that Bella is in love with Edward, whom he considers a freak. In Midnight Sun Edward does mention that he got jealous of Mike when he asked Bella to the dance.

It would seem that Mike never completely got over his feelings for Bella. Edward commented that Mike was having improper thoughts about Bella while attending their wedding in Breaking Dawn.

Jessica Stanley
"Seriously, Mike, are you that blind?"

- Bella

Jessica Stanley is Mike's on-and-off girlfriend. They went out briefly in their sophomore year. In their junior year, Mike only goes out with Jessica at Bella's urging, because she knows that Jessica has a crush on him. They start dating again afterwards and go to junior prom together.

Their relationship does not last very long and they break up that same summer. After graduation, however, Bella notes that at her wedding, Mike and Jessica are holding hands. She is surprised and pleased to discover they are back together.

Film portrayal
Mike Newton was portrayed by actor Michael Welch in all the movies except Breaking Dawn - Part 2, though his name did appear at the ending credits where all previous characters and actors were introduced.

Appearances

 * Twilight
 * Twilight (film)
 * Midnight Sun
 * New Moon
 * New Moon (film)
 * Eclipse
 * Eclipse (film)
 * Breaking Dawn
 * Breaking Dawn - Part 1