Pete

Pete is a character from the Walt Disney Company studios. He is a cat, and is sometimes depicted with a peg leg. He is mostly known as the arch-nemesis of Mickey Mouse. Though usually associated with the Mickey Mouse universe, Pete appeared in Disney's animated cartoon series Alice Comedies before the first appearance of Mickey Mouse, and is Disney's oldest continuing character.

Personality
Pete's personality has changed over the years, but one factor has always remained the same: Pete is always up to no good. Whether he is up against Mickey (using brute, physical force to try and win against his small hero counterpart) or scheming against others (which, as shown in Goof Troop, display him using a sense of intellect to his plans), he always comes out on bottom and goes back to the drawing board. He was known for chewing tobacco in his steamboat captain days, but he has apparently kicked the habit. Pete explained in Mickey, Donald and Goofy: The Three Musketeers that he became evil as a result of being hated and mistreated by his cruel mother.

Alice Comedies
Pete first appeared in the Walt Disney-produced 1920's short subject series, "Alice Comedies". He appeared in Alice Solves the Puzzle (February 15, 1925) as Bootleg Pete, the name referencing to his career of bootlegging alcoholic beverages during the United States Prohibition (January 16, 1920 - December 5, 1933). His activities brought him to a beach, where he sees Alice playing with a crossword puzzle. Pete happened to be a collector of crossword puzzles, and identified Alice's puzzle as a rare one missing from his collection. The rest of the short focused on him antagonizing Alice and her drunk-on-moonshine cat, Julius, in an attempt steal the puzzle. The menacing, bear-like villain commanded quite a presence on the screen, and was destined to soon return.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
When Walt Disney needed a villain to stack up against his new star, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Pete was again put to a good use. The introduction to his new adversary came with the sixth Oswald short, The Ocean Hop (September 8, 1927). Inspired by Charles Lindbergh, the two enter an aeroplane race across the Atlantic Ocean. Hugh Harman and Rollin Hamilton were responsible for animating several inventive gags during the film, one becoming a classic. At one point, Oswald runs off a cliff and continues to walk on air without the effect of gravity until realizing there was no ground to stand on. The gag would be reused in many cartoon shorts to come. It is noted that Charles Lindbergh also served as the inspiration for Plane Crazy (May 15, 1928), the first cartoon to feature Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.

Mickey Mouse
Pete soon appeared as Mickey Mouse's arch-enemy, beginning with the cartoons The Gallopin' Gaucho and Steamboat Willie, (both 1928). He has, by this time, shed his bear-like appearance, and had become more defined as a cat. In some instances, Pete had shown romantic feelings towards Minnie, which would lead to him kidnapping her and Mickey having to rescue her. This formula would become famous both inside and outside the Disney universe.

In the Disney cartoons of the 1930s, Pete would be Mickey Mouse's nemesis, but would vary in professions, from an all-out outlaw (Gallopin' Gaucho) to a brutal law-enforcer (such as Moving Day, in which he is a sheriff who serves Mickey and Donald Duck with an eviction notice). Pete has since been the nemesis in most Mickey and Friends productions.

Comics
In the comics, Pete often teams up with Mickey Mouse enemies Sylvester Shyster, Eli Squinch, and The Phantom Blot, or Weasel. In earlier comic strips, Pete was portrayed as Sylvester Shyster's henchman, but gradually started to work up on his own. Sometimes, Pete also teams up with other bad guys in the Disney universe, such as Scrooge McDuck's enemies (the Beagle Boys and Magica De Spell), Mad Madam Mim, Captain Hook, and the witch from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Mickey Mouse Club
Pete made a few appearances in the animated opening of the show, usually seen singing as well as holding a trampoline that is bouncing Mickey upward.

DuckTales
In the first season of the 1987 TV series DuckTales, Pete appeared in a few episodes. However, he was portrayed as a different character in each of his appearances. Because of this, he wasn't always a true villain, but sometimes just a selfish individual with no evil agenda. In a few episodes, he even makes peace with Scrooge's group in the end. The various Petes appear to be their own characters, as two of them lived in different time periods and because Scrooge never "recognizes" him, despite any previous encounters he may have had with any of the other Petes.

Goof Troop
In the 1992 TV series, Goof Troop, Pete has a family who includes his wife, Peg, their two children, Peter Junior Pete (or PJ for short) and Pistol and their dog, Chainsaw. They live next door to Goofy and his son Max. Pete owns a used-car dealership and, though no longer openly villainous, is still conniving (as well as abrasive, obnoxious and truculent) and often exploits his good-hearted and somewhat addled friend Goofy and manipulates, insults and threatens his son P.J. Often, his schemes backfire, or he feels guilty about his oafish behavior and works to set things right. His wife, Peg, often attempts to rid Pete of his uncouth attitude and his son, PJ, is almost the complete opposite of his father in his behavior, as he is good friends with Goofy's son, Max, in the series and its spin-off movies A Goofy Movie and An Extremely Goofy Movie. Jim Cummings provided Pete's booming bass voice starting from that series and, to date, is still the character's voice in all media. It is eventually revealed in the series that one of the reasons why Pete dislikes Goofy so much is that when Pete was a High School quarterback in a big football game, it was Goofy who accidentally caused Pete to fumble the ball and lose the game by hitting him in the face with a pom pom (Goofy was on the cheerleading squad at the time). However, he seemed to put off the grudge in A Goofy Movie when he seemed more friendly with the Goofs. He also ended up explaining to Goofy that he overheard PJ and Max talk about how Max changed the map route to go to a concert.

Mickey Mouse Works
After Goof Troop, Pete reverted back to his evil ways on Mickey Mouse Works, where he frequently bullied the other characters and occasionally kidnapped Minnie Mouse. Pete appears as the primary villain in the short cartoon Mickey to the Rescue where he frequently kidnaps Minnie Mouse and battles Mickey using various booby traps.

House of Mouse
In House of Mouse, Pete plays the role of the titular club's evil landlord. Several episodes involved his attempts to close the club by sabotaging the show. These schemes ranged from stealing the cartoons shown at the club to trying to drive the guests away by messing with the air conditioning. He is always seen in a business suit in House of Mouse and in a thug outfit in Mickey Mouse Works. Pete can be seen taking part in the Disney Villains' takeover of the House of Mouse in Mickey's House of Villains, but in spite of being the show's main villain, he does not contribute to the movie's plot, and he later flees with the rest of the villains when Mickey seals Jafar in Genie's lamp.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Pete appears in numerous episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Disney's 3D-animated children's series. He maintains his antagonist role, but is significantly toned down for its preschool audience- he is less malicious and more mischievous. Viewers will find that Mickey and gang are very forgiving of Pete and his escapades. He often appears as a seller of objects the gang needs and will give them an item in exchange for beans. He is much nicer than his previous incarnations- in one episode, he invites the group to a Halloween party.

Mickey's Christmas Carol
In the 1983 short film Mickey's Christmas Carol, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol featuring Disney characters, Pete was cast as the Ghost of Christmas Future, who reveals himself by removing his hood and lighting a cigar, which also lights up the engraving on Scrooge's grave and having only one line ("Why yours, Ebenezer. The richest man in the cemetery!") and laughing cruelly while Scrooge struggles to escape from his open grave as the gates of Hell are opening. This is arguably Pete's darkest role to date.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Pete also made a cameo appearance as a Toon Town police officer in the very final scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit- he is viewed from the back, alongside Goofy and Horace Horsecollar in security uniforms; this can be seen just before Porky Pig and Tinkerbell close the movie. This was a non-speaking role.

The Prince and the Pauper
Pete is the main antagonist of this film. Pete is the ruthless and greedy captain of the guards who secretly desires control of the kingdom. The kingdom, once a peaceful place, has fell into despair as their beloved king become gravely ill. Pete took the opportunity to rob the folk and take all he wants and in the king's name. Unknown to Pete, the prince and a commoner, Mickey Mouse, has switched places and as one of Pete's guards collect from the town, the heroic prince defeats the guard and gives food to the folk. While enjoying his treasure and riches, one of Pete's weasels alert him about the prince and Pete immediately gets an idea. He kidnaps Mickey's dog Pluto and uses him as a hostage. Mickey must obey Pete's every command or he'll kill Pluto. That same night, the king passed away and Mickey shall be crowned at once. At the ceremony, Pete lies in the shadows witnessing his plan in action nearly complete. The true prince storms in with the help of Mickey's friend Goofy and the royal valet Donald Duck. They battle Pete's weasels and tie them up into a rolling chandelier. As they roll towards the window, they tangle up Pete. The villains crash out the window, possibly to their deaths.

A Goofy Movie
Like in the television series, Goof Troop, Pete is Goofy's neighbor, only this time he's more friendly towards Goofy. Pete often gives Goofy advice on how to raise his son with discipline, telling him that he should keep Max under his thumb. In the film, it is shown that Pete works with Goofy, taking photos to children. Pete tells Goofy that P.J. asked him to take him camping and comments that camping is the perfect way to make a good father/son relationship and that if a son doesn't want to be with his parents, the boy could be stealing or with a gang. This makes Goofy believe the aggravate comments of Principal Mazur about Max and he tells Pete that he is going to fish with his son.

Pete is then shown arriving in a RV with P.J. to forest where Max and Goofy are camping. There, Pete tells Goofy that he must control his son. Pete invites the Goofs to dinner but Goofy goes with Max to practice fishing. This makes emerge the legendary Bigfoot who terrifies Max and Goofy and makes Pete drive away.

Pete reappears in a motel where Max and Goofy are staying and is surprised to see Max and Goofy take along. When Pete overhears a conversation between Max and P.J. about Max changing Goofy's map route to get to Los Angeles, he tells Goofy about it. Although Goofy didn't believe Pete, he looks at the map and sees the change. Pete is shown for the last time when Max and Goofy are with Powerline. Pete was drinking a beer but, when he sees the Goofs on TV, he spits the drink on the TV screen, shocked.

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
Following the events of Goof Troop, Pete is Goofy's neighbor except here Pete has no family. Pete tells Max there is no Santa Claus, crushing Max's spirit and having him questioning his existence due to lack of evidence. During Max's overnight research, Max mistaken a Beagle Boy for Santa who instead is robbing Pete's house only to be caught by the police. Pete is present when the real Santa arrives but doesn't get anything but a property full of snow. Later, Pete is Mickey's uptight and cruel boss. Pete tries to sell oversized trees for thrice the amount of an ordinary tree. Thanks to Mickey, a lacking family finds the perfect tree, leaving Mickey to be robbed of his tip money and fired. Peter mistakingly place his cigarette in his pocket causing a fire leaving Pete's overpriced trees to burn.

Mickey, Donald and Goofy: The Three Musketeers
In the 2004 made-for-video animated remake of The Three Musketeers (with Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy playing the title roles), Pete again appeared under the name Peg-Leg Pete as the villain. Here, he was the Captain of the Musketeers, aiming to take over France, with the help of his lieutenant, Clarabelle Cow, and the Beagle Boys. To do so, he must get Princess Minnie out of the way, but it proves to be difficult for him, even when he hires the film's titular trio to be her bodyguards, believing they won't do a good job protecting her. He received his own "bad guy song", using the classic music piece In the Hall of the Mountain King.

Mickey Mousecapade
Pete appears as the captain of a pirate ship in the American version of the NES game Mickey Mousecapade (or simply Mickey Mouse in Japan). The player fights him at the end of the level and, later, has a rematch with him in Maleficent's castle. (In the original Japanese version, Captain Hook was the boss.)

Quackshot
Quackshot follows the adventures of Donald Duck as he, with the aid of his three nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, sets out to obtain some treasure from a map he found. Pete appears as an antagonist near the end of the game, kidnapping Donald's nephews and demanding to be given the map and must be fought immediately prior to the final stage and boss of the game.

Disney's Magical Quest series
In Disney's Magical Quest, a trilogy by Capcom, Pete is the final boss of each game, impersonating a distinct ruler (Emperor, Baron and King). He serves as an evil ruler who terrorizes the land he reigns and often kidnaps another character. In Disney's Magical Quest 1, he kidnaps Pluto; in Magical Quest 3, he kidnaps Donald's nephews. Mickey and, depending on the game, Minnie or Donald, are always set to defeat him. In the end of the first two games, when he is defeated, he simply disappears, but in Magical Quest 3, however, after being defeated by Mickey and Donald, he eventually surrenders and promises to become a good person.

Mickey Mania
Mickey Mania follows Mickey Mouse, who has been catapulted back in time to his earliest appearance in Steamboat Willie. Black Pete is Mickey's archvillain throughout the entire game, all the way from his very first confrontation against Mickey in Steamboat Willie all the way to his role in then-recent 1990's The Prince and the Pauper.

Disney TH!NK Fast
In Disney TH!NK Fast, Pete appears as the final secret playable character after you've collected 30,000 points in a simple game.

Epic Mickey
Pete is featured in Epic Mickey as a recurring character in many forms, led by a regular Big Bad Pete in Mean Street. As Small Pete in Gremlin Village, he dresses as a Dutch girl doll from It's a Small World and has gotten into a conflict with the Gremlins after crashing his boat in their village. You can clear his name if you find his ship's log for him or ignore his request for help and be attacked by his Blotlings in the ride's Colosseum.

In Tomorrow City, Petetronic serves as one of the boss fights, taking on the guise of Sark.

In Ventureland, he's taken on the identity of "Pete Pan" and can be called on for help in dealing with the robotic version of Captain Hook.

Before visiting Lonesome Manor, Big Bad Pete asks Mickey to find the lost cartoons of a Colonel Pete, though the Digicomics mention a Ghost Pete who made a bet with the Lonesome Ghosts to try and spend a night in a living house.

Kingdom Hearts series
Majority of information taken from Kingdom Hearts Wiki-Pete.



Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Pete appears in Disney Town as a resident and plays under disguise as Captain Justice and Captain Dark. Captain Dark and Captain Justice are supposed to be two different people played as Pete who are entering into the Million Dreams Celebration in Disney Town. The goal is to get as many popularity votes as possible to win the Million Dreams Award.

He became Captain Justice to help people in order to gain popularity votes so that he could win the Million Dream Award though whenever someone needed help he only used an excuse and ran away.

After Queen Minnie announces that Terra, Aqua, and Ven win the award, Pete jumps on stage and creates an uproar and he is hauled away by the Brooms, who are also guards. He is sent into the dark realm, where he hears Maleficent's voice telling him that she can free him if he helps her conquer the worlds. She then opens the dark corridor and Pete then walks in it and vanishes from his prison.

Between Birth by Sleep and 358/2 Days
In return for his freedom, Pete became a commander in Maleficent's Heartless army, and traveled around many worlds building up more and more legions of Heartless to help her plot of universal domination (considering there is more than one world).

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Pete appears once again in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, hunting for the Lamp in Agrabah as he did in Kingdom Hearts II. When Axel and Roxas appear in the world on a mission, they come across the villain in the Marketplace. He is looking for a secret entrance out of town to the Cave of Wonders in order to find Genie's lamp, which he doesn't know has been found. A mini-game then begins, Roxas having to stay out of Pete's sight. Pete eventually escapes Organization XIII's sights, not appearing until one of Roxas's future visits to the world.

Once again, some time in the future, Roxas found himself in Agrabah, this time with Xion. While investigating the Cave of Wonders, they then run into Pete, still on his hunt for Genie's lamp, battling him.

Later, Pete appears in Neverland, and is revealed to have been the one that made all the fake treasure maps for Captain Hook to follow, relying on the pirate's greed to conjure up tons of Heartless in his mad quest for riches. Roxas winds up destroying these Heartless anyway, and Pete's manipulation of Hook eventually leads to the creation of the Ruler of the Sky, Pete's "Prize Heartless", yet that too is defeated by Roxas.

Kingdom Hearts II
Pete is first encountered outside Yen Sid's Tower, having sent in a squad of Heartless to turn the powerful sorcerer Yen Sid into a Heartless to act as Pete's bodyguard. But Sora, Donald, and Goofy showed up, informing him of Maleficent's demise, and in anger Pete called an army of Heartless to attack. Afterward Pete decided to tell them who lived in the tower and Sora, Donald and Goofy ran inside in excitement, leaving Pete to lose his temper.

He returned to Hollow Bastion to see if what he'd heard was true and found the fortress devoid of activity, until Maleficent's pet raven, Diablo appeared, a precursor to her own return. When she finally made her way back, he informed her of the breakdown of her villain's alliance, and the pair set their sights on raising more Heartless and finding a new castle.

Pete was present to help Hades by kidnapping Megara and distracting Hercules and Sora long enough for Hades to send the Hydra to the Coliseum, and Barbossa by calling on the Illuminator to help Barbossa fight Sora and Jack Sparrow - but he doesn't fight in this world - with their respective attempts to snuff out their enemies, but all of their plots ended in failure. After being admonished by Maleficent, he began pining for the old days, causing a portal to Timeless River to open up. Going back into the past to steal Disney Castle's treasured Cornerstone of Light, which would enable Maleficent to take it over, Pete found unexpected resistance in the form of the Keyblade Master, and himself from the past of 1928.

By that point, 1928-Pete had not yet turned evil, and the heroes thwarted the scheme, though Sora never considered Pete much of a threat due to Pete's incompetence (Sora once described him as "Not smart enough to tie his own shoes"). He later appears aiding Scar in the plan to take over the Pride Lands, and at that particular part of the game's climax, he successfully turns Scar into a Heartless and by the looks of it has already begun to submerge Heartless into the Keyhole. This isn't stated but is implied as the skies turn an ugly grey-green color and he says to Simba, "Oh you'll rule all right, in the Pride Lands of darkness!". In order to accomplish this, he transformed into a lion, although he doesn't have very good balance. He also tried to retrieve Jafar's lamp in Agrabah which ended in predictable results.

During the invasion of Hollow Bastion, Pete fled when he saw the Nobodies.

He and Maleficent turned up one last time in The Castle That Never Was, seeking to take it for their own. When Ansem the Wise's machine to encode Kingdom Hearts exploded, it caused the creation of thousands of Heartless. Knowing that the Keyblade Master and his friends were the only ones who could stop Xemnas, Maleficent volunteered to hold off the Heartless, on the condition that when they'd destroyed them all the Castle would be hers. Pete suggested fleeing, causing Maleficent to dismiss him, but a conversation with Mickey convinced him to stand and fight. It is unknown of what has happened to Maleficent and Pete after the castle was destroyed. Pete appears as an opponent in the Hades Paradox Cup. However, it is unclear if this happens before or after his and Maleficent's plan to take over the Castle That Never Was.

Kingdom Hearts coded
Having apparently survived the destruction of The Castle that Never Was, Pete later ended up in Disney Castle while King Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy were trying to uncover the secrets of the Journal. The moment they were taken to the data world, Pete was taken with them, but in a different location. He called Maleficent to him, and the two decided that the data world could be used for their plans to plunge the world in darkness.

Pete makes his first reappearance in the data versions of the Olympus Coliseum and Agrabah, and then the virtual Hollow Bastion. He takes the incarnation of Jiminy's Journal with him and makes the Data Sora fight him. In Episode 7, when the Journal is completely debugged and restored, Pete and Maleficent are apparently erased from existence. Luckily, Data Riku was able to rescue the two and he is last shown being escorted back to the real world with Maleficent.

Trivia

 * Despite officially being a cat, Pete is sometimes mistaken for a dog.
 * Pete is one of the only two villains to be an official member of the Disney Villains from the classic cartoons rather than a film (the other being the Big Bad Wolf).
 * Pete's body seems to change size between appearances.