Steele
Steele is the main villain of Winnie the Pooh Meets Balto. In the film, he becomes jealous about Balto joining the sled team. After fighting Balto, he comes back and tells a lie that Balto died. Soon everyone found out the truth and all the dogs left him in the shed.
Personality[]
The most famous dog in Nome, Steele takes pride in his popularity amongst both the village humans and the dogs, often showing off in front of his admirers. He is incredibly arrogant, selfish and egocentric, often swaggering up to females in the hopes of impressing them with nothing but his looks and reputation.
His occupation is highly motivated by fame among both human and animals around Nome.
He also likes Jenna, but she sees through his lies and loves Balto the pure-hearted instead, which further strengthens Steele's hatred and jealousy of Balto. He is also dishonest, claiming that Balto and the rest of the team had died, but at the end of the film, when everyone finds out, all of his lies cause him to be shunned and disliked by those who used to respect him. He is mean and sarcastic when he gets on Balto's nerves. He is sneaky, treacherous, envious, extroverted, loathsome, eccentric, temperamental, empathetic, egotistical, very talkative and energetic as well. He is also heartless, as he prevents Balto and the sled team from returning with the medicine, not caring that the children will die if the medicine isn't delivered.
History[]
Balto[]
Steele was the lead dog on the best dog racing team in Nome; he first encountered Balto (in the movie, Steele's behavior towards Balto is an obvious indication that they have met on prior occasions) after being defeated by the latter in a race while rescuing Rosy's hat.
Steele's behavior became much worse when Jenna starts to fall in love with Balto - as well as the fact Balto is faster, smarter and stronger than Steele.
Out of jealousy, Steele felt Balto was a threat so he bullied Balto. When the town became sick, there was a relay race to choose who would be on the sled dog team that would relay the medicine.
After successfully sabotaging Balto's attempts to enter the team of huskies that would deliver medicine to the village following a blizzard and an outbreak of illness, Steele became lost but refused to admit it, ultimately knocking out his master when he caused the sleigh to swerve uncontrollably in the snow, leaving him and his pack alone in the blizzard with no hope of returning home.
However, when Balto sought the team out and offered his aid, the arrogant Steele had gone insane due to the ferocity of the blizzard; instead of being grateful, he became enraged and had a brief confrontation with Balto who refused to fight him.
During this fight, Steele viciously grabbed Balto by the bandanna Jenna lent him earlier. When the bandanna came loose, Steele lost his balance and fell off a steep cliff, but he managed to survive. As he climbed back up to see Balto leading the sled team away, Steele vowed to stop them from getting home. Then, in an act of villainy, Steele deliberately tampered with the markings Balto had left on the trees so that they would not find their way back, proving he didn't care that the children would die without the medicine.
Steele returned to the village claiming innocence, saying that Balto was to blame for the "accident". Jenna saw straight through his lies, but the other dogs saw him as a hero.
That was, until Balto embraced his wolf heritage and was able to smell the trees that he marked and he and his team eventually arrived back in the village with the medicine, much to Steele's surprise and horror.
Therefore, Steele is left as a hated outcast when the other dogs realized the truth, knowing they'd been double-crossed and turned against him. Dixie, Steele's biggest fan dog, calls him "positively...disposable!" and slaps him in the face. He nervously tries to explain, but the other dogs won't have any of it and angrily leave, slamming the boiler room door in the contemptible Malamute's face and telling him to "get lost". He finally loses the respect he never deserved while Balto was hailed as a hero.
It is unknown what became of Steele after the events of the film, for he was never seen or mentioned in the sequels, Wolf Quest or Wings of Change. It can be assumed that he either froze or starved to death from being stranded.
Trivia[]
- Steele will become Tino Tonitini's enemy in Tino Tonitini Meets Balto.
- Steele will become Ash Ketchum's enemy in Ash Ketchum Meets Balto.
- Steele will become Simba's enemy in Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa's Adventures of Balto.
- Steele will become Bloom's enemy in Bloom Meets Balto.
- Steele will make his first guest appearance in a Winnie the Pooh crossover film to get his revenge on Winnie the Pooh, Ash Ketchum, and their friends in Winnie the Pooh Returns to Alaska.
- Steele will get his revenge on Pooh and his friends again in Pooh's Adventures of Avatar and Pooh's Adventures of Free Willy 3: The Rescue.
- Steel will become Ryan Freestar's and the Technorganic Elite's enemy in Ryan Freestar Meets Balto. And after he met his defeat, instead of being arrested, he is left behind.
- In Ash Ketchum Meets Balto, Steele will get arrested by Bowser and his army and sent to the dungeon of his castle as punishment for committing treachery to his followers.
- Steele was originally going to be voiced by Brendan Fraser, but a last minute change meant that Jim Cummings would voice him instead.
- Although he does not appear in any of the sequels, the character Niju is based on him.
- Steele is mistakenly thought to be a mix between a malamute and a husky (due to his blue eyes and malamutes have brown). This is not true; According to the filmmakers, Steele is a purebred malamute who has pale blue eyes to reflect his evil and deceptive nature.
- Steele is widely considered to be one of most hateable and ruthless villains alongside Sharptooth from The Land Before Time and Botticelli Remorso from The Tale of Despereaux in the Universal animated franchise.
- In the Japanese dub, Steele is voiced Isao Sasaki, who is known for singing many retro anime and tokusatsu openings such as Daiku Maryu Gaiking, UFO Grendizer and Kamen Rider.
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