Peg Leg Pete

"I finally found the pip-squeak who stole my steamboat!"

- Peg Leg Pete "You just wait! Nobody, and I do mean nobody, messes with the mighty Pete!"

- Peg Leg Pete

Peg Leg Pete (commonly known as Pete) is a villainous anthropomorphic cat created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. He is mostly known as the arch-nemesis of Mickey Mouse, though he is also commonly featured as a rival for Donald Duck and Goofy as well. Though usually associated with the Mickey Mouse universe, Pete appeared in Disney's cartoon series Alice Comedies and the Oswald cartoons before the first appearance of Mickey Mouse, which makes the oldest Disney recurring character and the main antagonist of the Mickey Mouse franchise.

Personality
Walt Disney is well-known for his dislike of cats, so it only makes sense that the most recurring feline character he created, Pete, would have a personality that (while variable given the appearance) has one trait that never changes: he is always up to no good. He 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 bumbling and incompetent, though he has sometimes been shown to be rather cunning, deceitful, manipulative, and intelligent in most incarnations. However, this has never prevented him from cheating people, though 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). He also has many of the more negative traits accosiated with cats, such as self-importance, acting dumb to fool enemies into underestimating him, manipulating others to meet his ends, greed, and a habit of bullying those smaller and weaker than himself, but running like a coward when the tables are turned. 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. However, in Goof Troop, Pete was viewed as argumentative by his son P.J. who would 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. In officer duck, he showed a maternal side to his nature, and when he thought Donald was a baby, he cared for and enjoyed playing with him tremendously. Other admirable traits are his amazing tolerance of physical pain. Pete will also work himself half to death to accomplish his aspirations.

Like most Disney villains, Pete is fully aware of the fact that he is a cruel and objectionable 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. According to his villain musical number in the film Mickey, Donald and Goofy: The Three Musketeers, Pete believes if one can't be loved, they should be feared, explaining his nature. In that film, he also stated his mother disliked him. This aspect of his character has been featured several times in some of his recent appearances, specifically House of Mouse, Clubhouse, and the Kingdom Hearts series, where Pete's ambitions have been revealed to be driven by loneliness and a lust for admiration, driving him to madness and villainy, as well as making him a rather tragic villain. This could also explain why he strongly detests Mickey Mouse and constantly goes out of his way to torment him, the mouse being all-around beloved by most who know him and more often than not coming out victorious through all endeavors, having everything Pete desires, but can never gain.

The popular Kingdom Hearts video game series portrays Pete as the bumbling sidekick-type that comically fails his evil missions, a classic example of a dumb muscle. 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. Because of his varying role as a villain, Pete can be one of three Disney villains (the others being Maleficent and Chernabog) who simply do what they do for just deliberate evil. However, on the timeless river, 1920s Pete seemed perfectly reasonable, and even modern Pete missed his days as a steamboat captain.

Through all of 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.

Powers and Abilities
Herculean strength: Pete is never depicted as a weakling, and his greatest strength is that of the physical sort, and pretty much any of his appearances in media will display his daunting capabilities. His strength ranges from bending iron, spitting nails so hard that they stab walls, to punching Mickey Mouse hard enough to send him flying a good 20 feet.

Tolerance for pain: Pete is almost invincible. Crowbars beaten on his head amuse him, fire cannot break his skin, and falling several thousands of feet into wet concrete cannot even maim him.

Speed: From time to time, Pete can run like a train, even during the years he smoked compulsively.

Intelligence: While he is occasionally portrayed as a simpleton, more often than not, Pete is incredibly diabolical. He is often very genre-savvy, such as in Mickey Mouse Takes a Trip, where he meowed to fool Pluto, used magic in World of Illusion and in A Goofy Movie, he almost ruined Goofy's holiday with Max.

Steamboat Willie
In the first cartoon with sound Steamboat Willie, Pete and Mickey made their first and third appearance. Pete was captain of the steamboat and would never give Mickey a break. From beating Mickey on the head to bashing him into the ground Pete has done anything that he could do to hurt him taking enjoyment with every swing. Back then, Pete was considered more of a jerk and a bully than the villain he is known as today. He was also gross, and a simpleton, laughing at the tabacco he spat out when it hit a bell.

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.

DuckTales
Pete appeared in the show as Captain Pietro, right hand of evil twin of Count Roy of Monte Dumas. He was a corrupt official enjoying exploiting people by often collecting taxes.

Pete also appeared as a pirate captain during a time travel. The pirate had a birthday and forced Scrooge, his nephews and Beegle Boys to sing for him on a scene. This time, his catlike appearance was more heavely emphasized.

The Prince and the Pauper
Pete's appearance here is considered his darkest role, as there is very little to no humor to his character here, terrorizing the people in the (dying) king's name. In the Disney version of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, Pete once again played 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 swashbuckling 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 and died.

Goof Troop
Pete appeared as Goofy's neighbor and the main antagonist in the TV show Goof Troop. He works as a used-car salesman and lives with his family which consists of his wife, Peg, son P.J., daughter Pistol and their dog, Chainsaw. He plays as a mean and very demanding figure who thinks that what he does is better than whatever anyone else does. He also shows a soft side to his neighbors but never has them speak of it. He is also shown to be quite strict and harsh towards P.J. (who fears Pete's wrath and addresses him as sir.), but is kinder to Pistol.

A Goofy Movie
In A Goofy Movie, Pete serves as a supporting character, as he is more friendly with Goofy and often gives him 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, being a children's photographer. 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 does not 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 and P.J. drive away.

Pete reappears in a motel where Max and Goofy are staying and is surprised to see Max and Goofy enjoying their time. When Pete overhears a conversation between Max and P.J. about Max changing Goofy's map route to get to Los Angeles, he informs Goofy about it. Although Goofy didn't believe Pete, he looks at the map and sees the change, realizing that Pete was right. However, after a lengthy argument with Max, Goofy decides to take him to Los Angeles. Pete is shown for the last time when Max and Goofy are with Powerline. Pete was drinking a beer, but is shocked to see the Goofs on TV, that he accidentally spits the drink on the TV screen, much to his embarrassment.

An Extremely Goofy Movie
Pete was given a smaller role as a supporting character in the 2000 sequel. Taking place a few years later, P.J., Bobby, and Max are heading for college, and just like Goofy, Pete is very proud of this moment as he openly plans to turn P.J.'s 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 life increasingly complicated for him. 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 but satisfied.

House of Mouse
Pete appears in other different episodes of House of Mouse such as Mickey to the Rescue. In House of Mouse, Pete plays a major role as a greedy Landlord who is plotting to take over the cartoon club.

In the first episode, Pete storms into the club and demands that Mickey and his friends leave the building as he has acquired its contract. Mickey and his friends are saddened by this revelation until Goofy reads the fine print and learns that, as long as they perform a show, Pete can't force them to leave. Angered, Pete storms out and tells them that they can't perform forever. Later, Pete brakes into the projection room, ties up Horace Horsecollar and steals all of the House's cartoons. Pete later reenters the projection room after Mickey and Minnie realize what was going on and (despite the fact that he obviously committed the crime) he blows off all allegations pointed towards him and prepares to shut down the club. After Donald fails to run the club while Mickey, Minnie and Goofy film a new cartoon, Pete arrives to taunt him and, even after the three return with a new cartoon, Pete claims that they still won't be able to run the club without an audience, only for the audience to return and trample him when they see that Mickey has returned. After the cartoon is shown, Pete tells Mickey that they won't be able to run a show by just playing the one cartoon they have over and over, however, the cartoons hidden inside his coat then begin to fall out and his theft is exposed to the entire club. Pete tries to hide from Mickey and his friends, but he is eventually caught and is then thrown out of the club by Tantor.

Runaway Brain
Julius is a giant hulking Frankenstein-like version of Pete that was created by Doctor Frankenollie. A monster (of fairly low intelligence) who hosts Mickey's brain for a short time. He has been identified by some as Peg Leg Pete because of the physical similarities and the missing leg.

The Three Musketeers
In the 2004 made-for-video animated film The Three Musketeers (with Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy playing the title roles), Pete again appeared under the name Peg-Leg Pete. He served as the main antagonist of the film. 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.

Kingdom Hearts
Pete is a recurring antagonist in the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Pete concocts a scheme to obtain the Million Dreams Award during the Million Dreams Festival. He poses as a superhero named Captain Justice, as well as a shadowy racer named Captain Dark. Under these disguises, Pete attempts to obtain votes in order to win the Million Dreams Award, crossing paths with Terra, Ventus, and Aqua multiple times. However, the three Keyblade wielders win the award, causing Pete to threaten Queen Minnie to obtain the award by force. Minnie banishes Pete to the Lanes Between, but he is soon freed by Maleficent, who offers to free Pete from his prison in exchange for service.

In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Pete ventures to assemble an army of Heartless for Maleficent, crossing paths with (and battling) Organization XIII members Roxas and Xion. By the time of Kingdom Hearts II, Pete is still assembling Heartless, but when he visits the Mysterious Tower to convert Yen Sid into one, he makes his first encounter with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. The trio cross paths with Pete multiple times throughout their journey, battling him at Olympus Coliseum and Timeless River (and encountering a younger version of Pete in the latter). They also encounter him at Port Royal and the Pride Lands, where he recruits Captain Barbossa and Scar into the Council of Disney Villains and grants them control over Heartless. Pete and Maleficent abandon their lair in Villains' Vale during an attack by Organization XIII and are not seen until the end of the game where they try to seize control of the Castle That Never Was from Xemnas and hold off a swarm of Heartless from the heroes.

In Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, Pete appears alongside Maleficent, plotting to capture the Datascape in order to take over the worlds. He encounters Data-Sora at Olympus Coliseum, helps Jafar in his own scheme in Agrabah, and later reveals just how he and Maleficent got into the Datascape. At Hollow Bastion, Pete fights Data-Sora before corrupting Data-Riku and siccing him on Data-Sora. Pete later encounters Data-Sora's Heartless, but is rescued by Data-Sora and Data-Riku. An additional scene added to the cutscenes of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, Pete learn of the Book of Prophecies from Maleficent, who intends on taking the Datascape to find a connection with the two.

In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Pete and Maleficent break into Disney Castle and hold Minnie hostage for the Datascape. When Mickey, Donald, and Goofy arrive, Maleficent and Pete explain their goals with the Datascape, but Lea arrives and distracts Pete long enough to save Minnie. Meanwhile, Sora and Riku also encounter a past version of Pete in the Country of the Musketeers, where he schemes to kidnap Princess Minnie and become the king of France.

Pete is slated to return as an antagonist alongside Maleficent in Kingdom Hearts III. The duo are seemingly searching for a black box, recruiting Hades to help them in their search.

Epic Mickey
True to form as Mickey Mouse's archenemy Pete is back and ready for action in the video-game Epic Mickey - where he is already back to his evil ways and causing trouble for Mickey.


 * Small Pete - the first version of Pete Mickey meets. One night, Small Pete crashed his boat in the World of Gremlins and all the Gremlins kicked out Small Pete and he proved it's an accident and his log is in the ship. He started to stay in the Asia Boat Ride forever. Mickey first meets him that he should help him find his log. In the village, he should get the log and show it to Bennet to prove his innocence. If he doesn't or trade it to Shaky, he'll battle a Blotling Horde with Seers, Spatters and Sweepers. In the good ending, Small Pete starts to rebuild World of Gremlins, and you'll get this if you got the log. In the bad ending, Small Pete begins to sulk in the Colosseu, and you'll get this if you trade his log or never get it at all.

Note: Both endings mean that these are the struggles you have faced or you have avoided.


 * Big Bad Pete - 250px-Em-render-pete.jpg first appeared when Mickey enters Mean Street. If Mickey helped Small Pete, he gets some E-Tickets and the Small Pete pin. If he doesn't, he gets nothing. If Mickey redeemed Petetronic, he gets a Power Spark and Redeemed Petetronic pin. If he destroyed him, he gets some E-Tickets and the Defeated Petetronic pin, but he's not happy about it. If Mickey defeated Hook and freed the Sprite, he'll get both, the Captain Hook and Hook vs. Pete Pan pin from him. He gets a Spark after Mickey rounds up the Bunny Kids. In the good ending,Big Bad Pete gives the citizens of Mean Street fireworks, but in the bad ending, he starts to be angry and scare the citizens.

Note: Both endings mean the way you treat others.

In the good ending, Petetronnic, Nova, Sparks and the other three Gremlins ride on the Rocket Ride. In the bad ending, the digital image of Petetronic appears and scares the gremlins away and he should have survived.
 * Petetronic - Good_Petetronic.jpg the robotic version of Pete in Tomorrow City. Petetronic causes a ruckus and he needs to stop damaging Tomorrow City. If Mickey wants to increase the Thinner capacity, he should deflect his discs and throw Thinner at him and when he's jammed and gets hit, he'll disappear and gets the Defeated Petetronic pin and E-Tickets, but Big Bad Pete is not happy about it.If Mickey wants to increase the paint capacity, he should deflect his discs and throw Paint at him and when he's jammed, he tells Mickey to go to Big Bad Pete and gets a Power Spark and the Redeemed Petetronic pin from him.


 * Pete Pan - the Wasteland's version of Peter Pan. Captain Hook caged his Sprite and Pete Pan was left in Skull Island, he couldn't fly, Pete Pan will fight Hook if his sprite is saved. He'll warn Mickey and fight Hook. Defeating Hook and saving his Sprite makes Mickey get both pins. Pete Pan won't fight him as he's defeated. In the good ending, he fights Captain Hook and Hook slashes and he laughs at him. If Mickey saved his Sprite and returns to Pete, he'll give him the Hook vs. Pete Pan pin. If he doesn't, he gets nothing.


 * Colonel Pete - Pete's ancestor from Bog Easy. He tells him "not to toss the reel into the thinner". Mickey must thin out the wall by the Beetleworx Generators and complete it. He'll be happy when he helped Colonel Pete. When you enter the Blot, you have to battle Colonel Pete as he was forgotten.

Trivia

 * Pete is similar to the non-Disney villain Bowser, the main antagonist of Nintendo's Mario franchise:
 * Both are usually the largest of a cast.
 * Both are the main antagonists of some of the world's most famous franchises.
 * Both have superhuman strength that surpasses the cast.
 * Both have been known to team up with their enemies when the time calls for it.
 * Their respective archenemies are small and mainly associated with the color red.
 * Their appearance suggest that they are brutish but are actually highly intelligent to the point of being able to design and create amazing technology by themselves.
 * Both have led armies (Pete has the Disney Villains and Bowser has the Koopa Troop).
 * Both have enemies who are three heroes (Pete has the Disney trio (Mickey, Donald & Goofy), while Bowser has Team Mario (Mario, Luigi & Yoshi.)
 * Both have loyal minions (The Beagle Boys for Pete, and The Koopalings for Bowser.)
 * Both kidnap the protagonist's love interests (Pete kidnaps Minnie, and Bowser kidnaps Peach.)
 * Both have been known to use or work with characters of all sides and betray them once they served their purposes.
 * Both usually learn a new ability in their next appearance
 * Both have grown to giant sizes.
 * Both have sons who are named after them and have the "Jr." suffix (PJ for Pete, and Bowser Jr. for Bowser). Unlike Bowser Jr., PJ isn't a villain (except in Bellboy Donald).
 * Both have a giant monster ego (Pete with Julius from "Runaway Brain", and Bowser with Giga Bowser from "Super Smash Bros. Melee").
 * Both have some moments of being a hero, though they are rare.
 * Pete is one of the oldest Disney characters ever, predating Mickey Mouse, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
 * Pete is a relatively unpolular Disney character despite his history. Many people don't even know his name. He is even considered forgotten by Disney as he actually lives in The Land of the Forgotten in Epic Mickey, he doesn't even appear in Disneyland or Disneyworld with other Disney Villains or Mickey Mouse and friends, however there is a "Pete's Silly Sideshow".
 * Pete made an appearance in a Mickey Mouse comic where he is reveiled to be a Nazi agent. This has since then been retconned due to the team hating the idea of Pete being associated with such an evil group.