How Disney’s oldest bad guy is now Toontown’s most popular character

"It's Pete!" kids and adults alike called out. "Hi, Pete!"

I love a good Disney villain, probably in part because I share a surname with Cinderella's evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine. But even with my predisposition to like a bad guy, I couldn't work out why Pete, the big mean cat always scheming and menacing Mickey and friends, had a place in the happiest land in the "happiest place on earth." He was the first villain Disney Animation ever portrayed. The last I saw him, a thuggish, leering Pete was smoking a cigar and trying to kidnap Minnie Mouse.

It turns out I haven't been watching enough "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse." Because while Pete has almost a century of villainous reputation behind him, the Disney+ cartoon has rehabbed his image. His son P.J. Pete and Goofy's son Max have been pals since the mid-1990s "Goof Troop" days, and these days, Pete and Goofy are much more like friends than enemies on "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse."

But still, I had to know: With all his dastardly history, why Pete?

"Why Pete?" Sirine Singsanong Bunkua, a Disneyland project manager who worked on Toontown's refurbishment, told SFGATE at the land's reopening March 18. "I think it’s bringing him back, right? Like, really bringing him back with the Fab Five. And by the way, he’s everybody’s favorite character now, walking in the land. He's the only character with a line."

This is Pete's first appearance in a Disney park as a character meet-and-greet, so as much as this is "bringing him back," as Singsanong Bunkua said, it's really pulling him into the future. Pete, who has been known as Peg Leg Pete, Black Pete and Bad Pete throughout the years, dates all the way back to 1925 in the Disney "Alice Comedies." He's older than Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who first appeared in Disney's 1927 "Trolley Troubles." And he's older than Mickey Mouse himself, who made his debut in 1928's "Steamboat Willie," along with none other than Pete. Back then, however, he was Captain Pete — and a decidedly bad boss to an admittedly shoddy employee more interested in whistling and lollygagging than swabbing the decks.

Toontown's Pete, though, is friendly and happy — and is clearly enjoying his turn in the spotlight.

Pete is available daily for meet-and-greets in Toontown. Check the Disneyland app for details.