Pete

Pete is a former steamboat captain, who became a follower of Maleficent and a commander of her Heartless army in Kingdom Hearts II. Pete used to live in Disney Town, but was cast into another dimension by Queen Minnie for causing mischief.

Although he plays an antagonistic role in Kingdom Hearts II, he is mostly just a comic-relief character and doesn't pose much of a threat, as Sora himself states. As Sora puts it, Pete's "not smart enough to tie his own shoes".

However, in his own way, Pete did serve a unique role. In the first game, Maleficent held meetings at Hollow Bastion with the other Disney Villains, in which they would receive orders from her directly. However, in the second game, Maleficent seems to have been a lot busier, looking after important matters that happened after her death. As such, she was never able to hold direct meetings, although she seems to have had connections with the other villains like Scar and Barbossa. Instead, Pete served as a sort of emissary, delivering orders or possibly recruiting allies in the field.

Pete also plays a minor role in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and makes an appearance as Captain Justice and Captain Dark in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.

Kingdom Hearts II
Steamboat Willie (1928)

''A tough and mean former steamboat captain. Donald and Goofy know Pete real well - he's so bad that King Mickey was forced to banish him to another dimension.''

''Maleficent found Pete there and helped him escape from exile. Since then, he's been traveling the worlds, assembling an army of Heartless for Maleficent. It's pretty certain that the two of them are planning to take over and rule all the worlds.''

Steamboat Willie (1928)
 * Olympus Coliseum

''King Mickey's nemesis. Pete is collecting an army of Heartless and helping Maleficent in her scheme to take over all the worlds. He's also lending Hades a hand with his collection of Heartless.''

Steamboat Willie (1928)
 * Pride Lands

Pete's using the Heartless to get control over all the worlds.

''He's helping Scar's phantom, too. Seems like Pete's trying to cover all his bases.''

Steamboat Willie (1928)
 * Timeless River

''King Mickey's old nemesis. He traveled back in time on Maleficent's orders.''

''As part of Maleficent's scheme to take over Disney Castle, Pete plans to destroy the Cornerstone of Light. Without the Cornerstone, Disney Castle will be defenseless.''

Steamboat Willie (1928)
 * Port Royal

Pete's been a thorn in King Mickey's side ever since the days the King served on Pete's steamboat.

''Now Pete's teamed up with Captain Barbossa and his men. He's planning something bad - that much is certain.''

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
This shady character has been sighted in multiple worlds trying to amass an army of Heartless. His bowling-ball attack causes negative status effects at random. Though aggressive in combat, he'll flee the moment his HP runs out.

History
Many, many years before Kingdom Hearts, Pete worked as the captain of a steamboat. His deck hand was none other than the future king of Disney Castle, Mickey Mouse. This past association causes Pete to refer to Mickey as "the Boat-Boy King."

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, but whenever someone needed help, he 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 Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 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.

By that point, Past-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 darken 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 the 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.

However, in Episode 8, he is seen alongside other characters, such as Aladdin and Naminé, implying that he (and Maleficent) survived. However, whether or not it was just a Data Pete remains unknown.

Personality
Pete is very mean, selfish and, shown at the Battle of 1000 Heartless, cowardly. He usually is scared of someone that is powerful (shown at Olympus Coliseum when he wanted to leave). He is willing to follow orders from villains (i.e. Maleficent) but not heroes (i.e. King Mickey). He sometimes tries to play tough and will never admit that he is weak. He has the tendency to insult others and runs from battles that he loses. Though Pete appears incompetent, his heart has strangely been strong enough to resist the darkness.

Appearance
Pete is a portly, black furred, anthropomorphized cat (often confused for a dog). Like Mickey, he wears a heavily modified version of his usual outfit in the modern cartoons; in Pete's case, suspenders and a shirt. He wears what seems to be armor colored in shades of blue and purple overtop a red, short-sleeved shirt with a vertical pink stripe descending from the neck. He wears navy blue and white sneakers with light blue fronts and two periwinkle straps keeping each one secure. His pants are also navy blue, with light blue lining, purple lower legs, and two enormous pouches on either front side. These pouches are attached to his pants by four pins, both sporting a silver, horizontal zipper. The most distinguishing feature of these pants is the comically large zipper going down the front and reaching around to the back side of the pants.

He wears two navy blue pauldrons, each sporting two cyan bumps and a periwinkle area near on the lower section on each shoulder. Two gold buttons at the top of Pete's pants connect to two blue suspenders that intersect over his chest before connecting to two similar, albeit smaller buttons on his shoulder pauldrons. Pete also wears a pair of fingerless gauntlets. The wrists of these gauntlets are light blue with a pale yellow semi-circle on top, while the gloves are periwinkle with a bump on each knuckle. There is a dark blue-green design on the back of each glove, descending from each knuckle to the end of the glove.

In Battle
Pete is capable of throwing explosive bowling balls at his opponents. He can also use fireworks to immobilize his opponents.

Another attack involves throwing a close-range "temper tantrum".

Lastly, he can generate a shield with regenerating and protective properties. And he has been shown to be able to conjure items and telekinectically throw them, as he did while trying to make off with the Cornerstone of Light.

Besides that, he does have some magical talent, as when he somehow conjured a portal to the Past while reminiscing, a surprising feat for Pete, and he evidently has a strong Heart as he is likely able to use the Corridors of Darkness to travel the Worlds to gather Heartless without being strained by the Darkness. He also seems to have some power of teleportation as when he appeared alongside Maleficent to stop the Heartless and allow Sora and his friends to continue on to battle Xemnas. And he obviously has above-average strength, and unlike Maleficent, was strong enough to resist the darkness.

Origin
His original name was Peg Leg Pete, and he holds the distinction of being the oldest continuous Disney character, appearing as early as Walt Disney's Alice Comedies. He is often times related to being the enemy of Mickey Mouse but in the modern days, he is an enemy to Goofy. While most portrayals of Pete give him an antagonistic role, in some cartoons, he was shown to have a somewhat caring side especially to his children in the show Goof Troop and to his son in the Goofy Movies and most recently in the children's show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Quotes

 * "You just wait. Nobody and I do mean nobody... messes with the Mighty Pete!"
 * "What's wrong, can't fight in the Underworld? Well, boo-hoo!"
 * "See, it don't matter how tough he is, once he's a Heartless he'll do as I say!"
 * "Oh, your kingdom is gonna rise again! But this time as the Pride Lands of Darkness!"
 * "What are you, nuts? We're never gonna win! I don't know about you, but I'm outta here sister!"

Forms

 * Past Pete
 * Lion Pete

Trivia

 * Pete is the first Disney villain to appear in the series that is directly related to Mickey Mouse's cartoons as opposed to other Disney films.


 * Pete is the only character in Kingdom Hearts II that went to Timeless River and did not change to an older form. This is never explained, though it could be for a number of reasons, such as the past version of Pete already being present, or Pete discovering Timeless River differently than Sora and his friends, giving him a mode of transport that doesn't trigger a transformation. It is more likely that this was done to help players identify the different versions of Pete, as he appears in both his Kingdom Hearts form and his classic Steamboat Willie form.


 * Pete changes his form to a lion in the Pride Lands. This may be a reference to the SNES game Mickey's Magical Quest, in which Pete appears in a variety of animal-influenced forms as bosses.


 * It is heavily suggested that Pete was in fact one of the members of Maleficent's group in the original Kingdom Hearts but was never seen on screen.


 * Pete is the only Disney villain in Kingdom Hearts II who is fought outside of his home world. Originally from the Disney Castle, Pete is fought in the Olympus Coliseum. In Kingdom Hearts, Maleficent, originally from the Enchanted Dominion, is fought in Hollow Bastion.


 * Pete (along with Hades and Captain Hook) is one of only three Disney villains to survive a final battle against Sora.


 * Although Goofy said that King Mickey banished Pete to the Realm of Darkness, Queen Minnie was shown to be the one who actually banished Pete.

Pat Pepito