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This Article Contains Spoilers -
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| “ | Rats! | „ |
| ~ Petey’s catchphrase every time he gets arrested. |
| “ | If you only knew the horrible things I’ve done…the awful, unforgivable things!!! I’m just EVIL through and through. That’s all everybody expects from me. | „ |
| ~ Petey to Li’l Petey. |
| “ | This world has a lot of problems… but it could never be a horrible place… because you’re in it. | „ |
| ~ Petey learning his lesson, thanks to Li’l Petey - his most famous quote. |
Petey TheCat, better known as Petey the Cat, is one of the two deuteragonists (alongside his younger clone and son Li'l Petey) of the Dog Man franchise.
He is an evil anthropomorphic cat with a tragic past in which his abusive father betrayed him and his dying mother Grace when he was just a kitten. Since then, he becomes an incredibly intelligent inventor, who creates all sorts of technology to commit crimes. However, thanks to his son Li'l Petey, he had a change of heart and became a helpful ally to the heroes. He is the former arch-nemesis of Dog Man before turning good and the current arch-nemesis of both his childhood friend, Piggy, and his father.
He was played by Jamie LaVerdiere in Dog Man: The Musical. In the 2025 film adaptation, he was voiced by Pete Davidson, who also played Blackguard in The Suicide Squad.
Personality[]
When Petey was first introduced, he comes off as a one-dimensional villain who loves causing trouble just for his own amusement. He shows no care for others and only treats his clone/son Lil' Petey as disposable and tried to turn him into the same evil cat as himself. He is extremely intelligent and cunning, being able to build many large and complicated robots such as 80-HD. Petey also gets very easily annoyed when others such as his inmate Big Jim and his clone try to get into a friendly conversation with him.
He is also shown to be nasty and teasing. Often in his debut, Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers, he teased Dr. Dilbert and made fun of his plans (and breath). He then betrayed him because of how badly Dilbert treated him and tried to destroy the world using Dilbert's robot Mecha-Kitty. He also disliked Dog Man, a reference to the cat-dog rivalry. When Super Diaper Baby and Diaper Dog take him to jail, he's excited at first (due to the cat litter craze), but whenever he's arrested thanks to Dog Man, he almost always ends up saying “Rats!"
However, as Book 5 would reveal, a part of Petey's turn to evil stemmed from the fact that he was betrayed by his friends and fellow Critter Scouts when they were little. After Petey accidentally broke Piggy's glasses and started a fire, the scouts blamed him when the scout teacher caught them. After this, Petey's scout badges and goods deeds were removed and he was kicked out of the scout group. This made Petey believe that doing good was for nothing and nobody would care if he did good.
In the same book, Lil' Petey would reach out to his father and encourage him to do good by helping Dog Man defeat the FLEAS (Petey's former childhood scout friends). From that book and moving forward, Petey would become a better cat due the living representation of his mother's love (his son) believing in him and never giving up on him despite all his past misdeeds. Despite his redemption, he still gets easily annoyed when his son and Molly the Tadpole disturb him, and is still somewhat nihilistic about the world. But he still believes in good virtues such as love and forgiveness, such as when he forgives his abusive father.
As the series progresses, more of Petey's past life is shown, revealing that he is a traumatic cat, with his friends betraying him in the Critter Scouts as said above, as well as his mother dying of an illness not much longer after his abusive father betrayed the both of them. This shows why we went into the path of villainy: to release his anger of his own past onto the world.
In the movie, Petey retained most of his personality in the books, as DogMan’s old foe. He is a villain who only cares about defeating DogMan and trying to take over the world. Although mostly a villain, he deeply cared for his son, Lil’ Petey, as shown when Lil Petey would draw his father and him. He is also shown to be protective since when Flippy tried to hypnotize Lil’ Petey, Petey yelled at Flippy to leave his son alone. Petey is also shown to be remorseful and honest, as seen when he tells Lil’ Petey his villainy is a result of the abuse he endured from his father as a kitten.
Appearance[]
Petey's general appearance before the events of A Tale of Two Kitties, where he plucks out one of his right whiskers.
Petey resembles an orange tabby cat with horizontal black stripes across his body. For an unknown reason in his first appearance, he was shown significantly shorter than what he is in the Dog Man series. He has a flat tail for an unknown reason, though it is very likely the faulting of his father. Unlike other cats in the series, he has five whiskers after plucking one of his right whiskers off to create Li'l Petey.
(from left to right) P.T. Duckhat, Miss Suspiscionflame, and Dr. Katz.
Excluding his main design, Petey has had some other appearances, exclusively in the disguises he makes. His first ever disguise, under the alias of "P.T. Duckhat", showed him as a clown with white makeup and red cheeks. As the name suggests, he wears a hat resembling a duck. His second disguise in the series, titled Miss Suspiscionflame, disguises Petey as an old lady with white makeup and a grey hairdo. "She" is also seen with a purple umbrella usually and wears green attire and high heels. "She" can also be seen with clear glasses on. His final disguise, titled Dr. Katz, disguises Petey to not be a tabby cat but rather a dark grey cat with a light grey mustache and glasses. The outfit also makes him portray as slightly overweight, wearing a white labcoat.
Despite appearing as an adult throughout the series, as his flashbacks would reveal, his younger self would appear exactly like that of Li'l Petey, with a round head with a slightly curved chin. In his times as a Critter Scout, he is shown wearing a blue and yellow hat with the Critter Scouts logo printed on it, as well as a yellow sash with countless of badges going through his blue collar. Later in his life, Petey would continue to look like Li'l Petey, however he would appear with a white badnage on the tip of his tail, and eventually, have his iconic flat-tip tail.
During his teenage years, Petey is shown to have grown the height he did in his first appearance. However, he still has the curved chin, though the chin is shown to be smaller than when he was a young child, showing the process cats have in the universe to have a completely round head.
In the film's adaption, he looks the exact the same in the comic books, though his fur has more details and has green color under his eyes.
Official Descriptions[]
| “ | Once known as the World's Most Evilest Cat, Petey is now working on becoming a better version of himself. | „ |
| ~ Mothering Heights |
| “ | He used to be an irritable, inpatient bad guy. But when his son arrived, Petey became determined to change his ways. Now, he's an irritable, inpatient good guy. | „ |
| ~ Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea |
| “ | A former villain whose evil heart became pure. If only his brain was, too. Who knew he had so much in common with Dog Man? | „ |
| ~ The Scarlet Shedder |
Concept[]
Petey's original concept.
As seen here, Petey was originally going to be a scientist named Ralph, and was going to wear glasses. The picture shown is one of the earliest drawings of him, derived from an online version of Petey's debut, Super Diaper Baby 2: Revenge on the Potty Snatchers.
In other media[]
Dog Man: Mission Impawsible[]
Petey serves as a supporting NPC in the video game adaptation of the Dog Man book series. Here, if the player comes across him, he will bring the player to full health.
Quotes[]
| “ | You have bad breath. | „ |
| ~ Petey's first ever words in the franchise. |
| “ | Dr. Dinkle: Hey Petey! Grab a bag and start loading up this money, ya dumb head! Petey: Ewww! It's all wet! Dr. Dinkle: That's a Y.P., not a M.P. |
„ |
| ~ Petey and Dr. Dinkle robbing a bank. |
| “ | Petey: Hey, what about me? I still need water! Dr. Dinkle: I don't see you payin' no bills! |
„ |
| ~ Petey and Dr. Dinkle having an argument. |
| “ | Dr. Dinkle: Hey! What the---??? I've been turned into pee!!! [looks at Petey with an angry glare] Petey: That's a YP, not an MP! |
„ |
| ~ Petey to liquefied Dr. Dinkle after drinking and peeing him out, as well as his most famous quote in Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers. |
| “ | Dr. Dinkle: You're in big TROUBLE!!! Petey: Doncha mean "urine" big trouble? |
„ |
| “ | Yo, Rip Van Tinkle! What up, dog? | „ |
| ~ Petey greeting Dr. Dinkle. |
| “ | Rip Van Tinkle: Would you cut that out?!!? It's not very nice to call people names, you know!!! Petey: But I'm one of the bad guys! I'm not supposed to be nice!!! Rip Van Tinkle: Oh yeah. I forgot! Petey: Tee-hee! Being evil rules!!! |
„ |
| ~ Petey and Dr. Dinkle on the latter's nickname. |
| “ | Welcome to the grand opening of "Crazy" Petey's Lair of Diapers! | „ |
| ~ Petey selling diapers now that all the toilets in the city are destroyed. |
| “ | Smell ya later! | „ |
| ~ Petey tossing away the giant toilet paper that absorbed Dr. Dinkle. |
| “ | Oh boy! Jail!! | „ |
| ~ Petey's last line in Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers as Billy Hoskins and Diaper Dog send him to jail. [Note: Petey is excited due to being fed with cat nip.] |
| “ | Officer Knight is a tough cop, but he ain't got brains! And Greg the Dog is smart, but his body is his weakness! | „ |
| ~ Petey revealing the Knight family's strengths and weaknesses. |
| “ | Tee-hee! | „ |
| “ | Rats!!! I unwittingly created the greatest cop of ever!!!!! Fortunately, I know JUST how to stop him!! | „ |
| “ | Petey: See? Officer Knight is a tough cop with "kung-fu" skills, but he's got no brains. And Greg the Dog is "smart" but his body is his weakness. These guys are NOTHING! Butler: Yeah, but what if they combine their skills? Petey: W-what?! Well, I'll just make sure that never happens. These two are NOT gonna ruin my evil plans to take over the WORLD! Butler: Umm- Petey: What?! Butler: Can I have tommorrow off? It's my mother's birth- Petey: YOU'RE FIRED! |
„ |
| ~ Petey to his butler. |
| “ | I got to do something about that Dog Man... YOU'RE GOING DOWN, DOG MAN! SO DOWN! Dog Man, Dog Man, Dog Man... HA! I GOT IT! | „ |
| ~ Petey trying to figure out a way to destroy Dog Man. |
| “ | Enough about this Dog Man! It's time to stop this supa cop! | „ |
| ~ Petey in the Movie’s trailer |
| “ | I need another ME! | „ |
| ~ Petey realizing he needs to create a clone in the Movie. |
| “ | Help has arrived! (looks at the piece of paper with the instructions on how to use the cloning device) Step one: Insert DNA into DNA chute. (plucks out whisker) Step two: Press start button. (presses start button) Step three: open door to retrieve your clone!!!! Ha ha ha, YEAH! Eh... (looks down to see Li’l Petey) Wha, huh? (checks the instructions again) Step four: wait eighteen years for your clone to reach adulthood?!?! WHAT? EIGHTEEN YEARS? NO! (checks the small print at the back of the instructions) If you make a mistake, press the "undo" button. Sold separately... SOLD SEPERATELY?!?! NO! | „ |
| ~ Petey creating Li’l Petey in the movie. |
| “ | I want my whisker back! I want my money back! I WANT MY LIFE BACK!! | „ |
| ~ Petey screaming out his woes while Li’l Petey is crying. |
| “ | Look, I know you think everybody is a good guy deep down inside, but that's just not reality. The world's a horrible place. It's mostly misery and selfishness out there. That's reality. | „ |
| ~ Petey. |
| “ | All right, stop, stop calling me a do-gooder! I'm not, see? I'm mean, I'm selfish, and I just want everything for myself... which includes Li'l Petey. Come on, Li’l Petey... | „ |
| ~ Petey expressing remorse for his actions. |
| “ | Undo? (Looks at Li’l Petey and then at the undo button and scowls at it) Never. | „ |
| ~ Petey deciding to keep Li’l Petey and throws away the undo button. |
Relationships[]
Allies[]
- Dog Man
- Li'l Petey (son)
- Grace † (mother)
- 80-HD
- Chief
- Sarah Hatoff
- Zuzu
- Yolay Caprese
- Flippy
- Molly
- The Baby Frogs
- Big Jim
- Crunky
- Bub
- Genie S. Lady
- Mike the Fly
- Ducky the Beetle
- Daryl the Moth
- Uncle Larry
- Dr. Dilbert Dinkle (formerly)
- His Butler (formerly)
Enemies[]
- Dog Man (former arch-enemy)
- Li'l Petey
- 80-HD
- Chief
- Sarah Hatoff
- Zuzu
- Big Jim
- Flippy
- Yolay Caprese (all formerly)
- Rip Vin Tinkle
- Super Diaper Baby
- Diaper Dog
- Piggy (arch-nemesis)
- Dr. Scum
- Grampa (second arch-nemesis)
- Crunky (formerly)
- Bub (formerly)
- Fair Fairy
- Sippy Cups
- Maude
- Judge
- His Butler
- Dippy
Neutral[]
Trivia[]
- Despite only appearing in the Dog Man comics, Petey is considered one of the most popular and recurring antagonists in the Captain Underpants universe.
- Despite being generally considered as the deuteragonist of the Dog Man books, in recent ones he is shown to have more page time and character development than Dog Man.
- He was briefly forced to return to being evil in the twelfth book of Dog Man, The Scarlet Shedder by Dr. Scum.
- While it is not confirmed and Petey may still be alive, it is implied that he created a robot doppelgänger of him that murdered him sometime before the events of Dog Man: The Bark Knight Cometh, as when Chief sees the doppelgänger, believing it to be Petey, he exclaims that he thought he was dead.
- Out of every book (excluding the Cat Kid Comic Club series), Big Jim Begins is the only one since his debut that he does not appear in.
- Pete Davidson's casting as the voice of Petey in the 2025 film adaptation of Dog Man is interesting, given the fact that he and Petey have similar given names.
External Links[]
- Petey on the Heroes Wiki
- Petey on the Antagonists Wiki
- Petey on the Dog Man Wiki
- Petey on the DreamWorks Wiki
- Petey on the Captain Underpants Villains Wiki
[]
 Villains
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The FLEAS Robo-Time Industries Weenies The 22 Psychokinetic Tadpoles Space Cuties Others See Also | ||
References[]
- ↑ Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea: Page 80; Panel 2