Resistance (V) - Michael Donovan

Michael Donovan

Michael "Mike" Donovan was a news cameraman who was partnered with Tony Wah Chong Leonetti and went around the globe documenting stories for airing on the news, he is also son of Eleanor Dupres, ex-husband of Marjorie Donovan and father of Sean. Mike first witnessed a Visitor Mothership arriving while in El Salvador (where he learns the basic rules of being a freedom fighter from local rebels), and he and Tony were representatives of the news group for the first tour aboard the Los Angeles Mothership. Mike initially thought the Visitors were friendly, but when Tony pointed out suspicious activity among high-ranking scientists (at a time scientists were becoming increasingly ostracized), Mike and Tony attempted to sneak aboard the LA Mothership to discover the truth, but Mike and Tony were ambushed on the landing platform and Tony and he were separated.

Lieutenant Martin, a Visitor Mike had befriended and was really leader of the Fifth Column; a Visitor movement dedicated to bring peace to their people, freed Mike and revealed Tony had been experimented to death by Diana. Martin then helped Mike, Robin Maxwell and Sancho Gomez escape in a shuttle back to Earth, and also revealed why the Visitors had come to their world; the Visitors plan to steal the population of Earth for food and the entire worlds water supply as their own world was dying.

Upon arrival, Mike joined the Resistance; led by Julie Parrish, to stop the Visitors plans. Mike led the Resistance (using methods he learned in El Salvador) to victory time and again, and struck up a romantic relationship with Julie and crude friendship with a gruff and experienced Resistance member named Ham Tyler (who gave him the nickname "Gooder", which was short for "Do-gooder" as he constantly did things to help others despite risks to his life). When the time came to decide whether or not to use the newly created Red Dust on the Visitors, Mike vouched for it and was supported by Elias Taylor and several other key members of the Resistance leadership.

He and Martin, who had now mobilized his movement to openly help the Resistance, led the attack on the LA Mothership and stopped the self-destruct intended to destroy the Earth. He then took the ship, now under Resistance control, back to Earth victorious.

One year after Liberation Day, Mike has returned to his job as a cameraman, this time with Martin as his sound operator and is poised to become a full-time anchorman, but his relationship with Julie has ended. However, he now has a world-wide reputation of a freedom fighter and "Hero of the Resistance", and has even gained the grudging respect of the Visitors themselves. When Diana is supposedly "assassinated" by an agent of Ham Tyler. Mike and Martin pursue her and corner her at Tyler's hideout. Martin then knocks Mike out and attempts to kill Diana himself. Martin fails and warns Mike (now conscious) of Diana's plan to re-invade the Earth before dying in his arms. Mike joins up with Tyler to hunt down and kill Diana, but fail to stop her from escaping the planet and returning to the Visitor fleet. Donovan catches up with Diana at the southwest tracking station, noticing that Diana is already calling the second orbital fleet he plans to keep Diana Earth-bound long enough for the Red Dust to take effect. Mike yells and says that she doesn't have much time, Diana notices her timer is nearly ran out bailing out of a short gunfight, Diana heads for the rooftop, however Donovan beats her there and she fires a shot planning to kill him. seeing the Visitor shuttle arriving Mike realizes he doesn't have much time. seeing Diana making a run for it he yells then Diana turns around Mike fires several shots hitting Diana in the chest and twice in the back before she leaves. once inside Diana pulls a bullet shell fragment from her uniform saying "What a primitive planet.

During the Second Invasion, Mike and Tyler join up with Resistance; now reunited by Julie Parrish and resumed to wage war against the Visitors across the United States, Mike also becomes more independent when Tyler leaves for Chicago and forms the "bond of friendship" with Philip, Martin's twin brother and new leader of the Fifth Column. Mike became the primary leader of many Resistance cells, going across the world to fight the Visitor armies, becoming a symbol of hope to the human race and even gaining the grudging respect of the Visitors themselves, who made him into the Most Wanted Man on Earth.

In the (unaired) series finale, Mike and the rest of his Resistance group narrowly escape the Los Angeles Mothership, although Julie is vaporized, and narrowly escape back to Earth, where they are reunited with Ham Tyler. Mike and the rest of the group are now hunting for an artifact called the "Anyx" to use against the Visitors amidst the devastation wrought by the Visitors during the temporary Armistice, which the Visitors took advantage of to crush the majority of the Resistance.