Pete


 * "Thug" works for me. We all got a role to play, right?"
 * ―Pete

Peter "Peg Leg" Pete is a character from the Walt Disney Company studios. He is a cat who 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, which makes him Disney's oldest continuing character. Pete is one of the only two official Disney Villains members from classic cartoons instead of movies, the other being The Big Bad Wolf.

Personality
Pete's personality has changed over the years, but one factor has always remained the same: Pete is always up to no good. Pete can be called many things: a schemer, thief, monster, con artist, or even a heartless villain. Often relying on brute strength, Pete can sometimes be a bumbler. However, this has never prevented him from cheating people, only to be foiled by a heroic character. In most roles, Pete is conceived as monstrous, being feared by most and challenged by few. His plans would range from kidnapping to taking over a country. He was seen to smoke in earlier cartoons but has managed to kick the habit (though his smoking is still featured in a majority of his merchandise and promotional material).

Aside from his truly villainous nature, Pete was shown to have a softer side, notably in Goof Troop and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Both depicted Pete as a mischievous schemer rather than a villain. In Goof Troop however, Pete was viewed as cruel by his son P.J. who'd rather eat glass than go fishing with his father. In Clubhouse, Pete's nature was toned down incredibly for the target audience and became more of a friend than foe to Mickey and friends as the series progressed while maintaining the antagonistic role for specials.

Like most Disney Villains, Pete is fully aware of the fact that he is a cruel villain and that people strongly dislike him, however, he takes pride in his evil deeds feeling no remorse for his victims for the most part. The popular Kingdom Hearts series portrays Pete as the bumbling sidekick-type that comically fails his evil missions. While not always conceived as a major threat to the game's protagonist Sora, Pete manages to be a key part in the plots of his partner Maleficent.

Through all the years the world has known the notorious Pete, whether he has been simply an antagonist or a full-blown villain, he still manages to play the part of the character he was created to be; the fellow everyone loves to hate.

Mickey's Christmas Carol
In the 1983 short film Mickey's Christmas Carol, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol and the 1974 record album Disney's A Christmas Carol, 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. Pete only had one line throughout the whole film, which was answering Ebenezer's question: "Who's lonely grave is this?" ("Why yours, Ebenezer. The richest man in the cemetery!") and laughing cruelly while he pushes Scrooge into his grave as he struggles to escape as the gates of the underworld are opening. This is arguably Pete's darkest role to date.

It should be noted that Pete did not portray the ghost in the original Disney's A Christmas Carol album. The Ghost was instead portrayed by the Witch.

Who Frame Roger Rabbit
Pete 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. Pete had no lines in the movie.

The Prince and The Pauper
In Disney's The Prince and the Pauper, Pete once again played as the primary villain, this time as the English king's captain of the guard. When he saw that his ruler's life was slowly diminishing, he and his henchmen, a band of weasels, who now act as the king's guards, seized the opportunity to terrorize England's citizens and rob them of their goods in "favor" of the king. After kicking out a disguised Prince, whom he mistook for the peasant boy Mickey Mouse, out of his kingdom, he later receives word from one of his guards that the Prince was seen a causing a commotion in the village, as the guard claimed that he "acted like a nobleman and he had the royal ring!" Pete suddenly realizes that it was indeed the Prince he "booted out" and seizes another opportunity out this.

That night, after the king passes away, Pete finds the "phony prince" (Mickey), threatening the life of his dog, Pluto, unless Mickey follows his commands. In the village, he soon finds and captures the real Prince and takes him to the castle's dungeon to lock him up. On the day of the Prince's coronation, Pete plots to get Mickey crowned as king, though Mickey is still subservient to Pete's orders. His plan, however, is thwarted when the Prince suddenly appears in the throne room, having busted out of the dungeon and evading the guards with the help of Goofy (Mickey's peasant friend) and Donald Duck (the Prince's valet).

A sudden battle in the throne room (Mickey and the Prince vs Pete; Goofy and Donald vs the Weasel Guards) results in Pete's defeat, as Goofy's bumbling antics cause a chandelier to fall on the weasels, bundle them together, and send them rolling towards Pete. Pete, seeing this, tries to flee but is slowed down by his ripped-down pants (courtesy of the Prince's swashbucking skills) and tripped by both the Prince and Mickey, causing him to get rolled over and caught on the chandelier, which sends him and his men rolling through a stain-glass window and falling out of the castle.

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 attempts to finish the photography session with the current child (a little girl) after Goofy excitedly declared that he's taking Max on a fishing trip. However, the child managed to unseat her diaper and run off while Pete was distracted.

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 a Upon a Christmas
Taking place before 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 appears as Mickey's cruel and uptight boss. Pete tries to sell over sized 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 cigar in his pocket, causing a fire and leaving his overpriced trees to burn.

An Extremely Goofy Movie
Pete was given an even smaller role in the Goofy Movie sequel. Taking place a few years later, P.J. and Max are heading for college, and Pete is hardly showing disappointment - indeed, he openly plans to turn P.J. room into a bowling alley. Later on, after losing his job, Goofy is forced to finish college in order to get employed once more. He attends the same college as Max, making like increasingly complicated. Goofy visits Pete for advice on how to make things work, but Goofy gets a brainstorm himself and heads back to college, leaving Pete confused.

Mickey,Donald and Goofy in the three Muskerteers
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 Captain Pete as the villain. This also marks the first time Pete was depicting with his infamous peg-leg since the 1930s.

In this film, Pete is the captain of the musketeers who secretly plots to kidnap Princess Minnie and take control over France as king. To do so he hires the bumbling Beagle Boys whose foolish attempts to murder Minnie, drives her to demand musketeer bodyguards out of fear. Pete assigns three janitors, Mickey, Donald and Goofy thinking they'll do a terrible job. However, the trio prove to be qualified forcing Pete to move on to Plan B. Pete orders the Beagle Boys to kidnap Donald and his lieutenant Clarabelle Cow to kidnap Goofy while he goes after Mickey. Donald escapes his capture while Goofy convinces Clarabelle to reform. Together, Donald and Goofy set off to rescue Mickey. They succeed and head for the Opera where Pete has managed to take control and lock Minnie away in a chest. The trio arrives and a battle follows. Pete defeats Donald and Goofy and holds a single battle with Mickey. Pete nearly murders him but before he can attempt to do so, Donald and Goofy return. The trio defeats Pete leaving him to collapse with "I hates happy endings!".

In a cast commentary on the DVD version of the movie, Pete is heard talking with Mickey, Donald and Goofy in their debut scene in the movie. During the commentary, Pete talks with Mickey and friends in a more friendly manner, showing off his softer side. The way they act with each other, Mickey and Pete seem to be friends off set.

Goof Troop
In the 1992 TV series Goof Troop, Pete has a family. It consists of 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 although no longer openly villainous, he is still conniving, as well as abrasive, obnoxious, and truculent. His wife Peg generally attempts to rid Pete of his uncouth attitude in the show.

Pete often exploits his good-hearted and somewhat addled friend, Goofy. He frequently manipulates, insults, and threatens his son PJ, as well. Usually, his schemes will backfire, although very rarely he will just feel guilty about his oafish behavior and work to set things right.

PJ is almost the complete opposite of his father behavior-wise. He often displays fear of his father, of spending time with him, and of disobeying or failing him. Pete seems to interpret this fear as respect. PJ is eager to leave, and their father-son relationship clearly revolves around fear and control. With this thrown into even starker relief when compared to the much more healthy relationship between Max and Goofy, it is speculated (though never confirmed) that Pete may be physcially as well as emotionally abusive towards PJ. However, despite this, Pete stiil shows love, care and devotion to his son, though this is displayed on very rare occasions in the series.

It is eventually revealed in the show's first two produced episodes "Everything's Coming Up Goofy" and "Good Neighbor Goof" that one of the main 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 get hit in the face by a pom pom (Goofy was on the cheerleading squad at the time), causing the team to lose the game. However, he might have put off the grudge in A Goofy Movie, since he seems to be more friendly with the Goofs.

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 just a selfish individual with no evil agenda. It even shows in some episodes that he makes peace with Scrooge's group. The various "Petes" appear to be their own characters, as two of them lived in different time periods, as well as the fact that Scrooge never "recognizes" him, despite any previous encounters he may have had with any of the other Petes.

Mickey Mouse Works
After Goof Troop, Pete reverted to his notoriously villainous ways in Mickey Mouse Works. 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 continuously kidnaps Minnie while battling Mickey with various booby traps. In most shorts, Pete portrays a thug but in some cartoons Pete portrays a business man, a professional NASCAR race and even the coworker of Donald Duck.

House of Mouse
In House of Mouse, Pete plays a role as the titular club's evil landlord. Several episodes involved his attempts to close the club down, via sabotaging the show. The 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.

Pete can be seen taking part in the Disney Villains' takeover of the House of Mouse in Mickey's House of Villains. In spite of being the show's primary villain, though, 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.

However, prior to the film, Pete did take over the club for a majority of the night and renamed it "House of Villains". He gathered his closest villain friends to replace Mickey and the gang. Unfortunately for Pete, his bad entertainment skills, the discharge of the villain employees, and the fact that he was panned by the Disney character guests, forced him to return the club to Mickey's possessions.

Trivia

 * Despite officially being a cat, Pete is sometimes mistaken for a dog (specifically a bulldog) due to his size and obesity.
 * 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 - usually he grows larger.
 * Although Pete is considered an overall antagonist by most, he does not always play an antagonistic role. In Goof Troop he has a good/neutral role. In some appearances, his role is quite miniscule, such as in An Extremely Goofy Movie. In Disney Junior's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, his role is occasionally antagonist, but he also plays protagonist on some instances