Professor Ratigan

Professor Padraic Ratigan is a fictional character created by Eve Titus. Ratigan was originally a mouse, although the character has since become a rat following his portrayal in the Walt Disney Pictures film The Great Mouse Detective.

Overview
Ratigan is the primary antagonist of Basil of Baker Street, filling the role taken by Professor Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes stories. In fact, Ratigan is described in both the original books and the film adaptation as "The Napoleon of Crime", the exact same phrase Holmes had used to describe Moriarty.

Like Moriarty, Ratigan is scheming and ruthless, as well as the only other person to equal Basil's intelligence, which often makes Ratigan difficult to bring to justice.

The Great Mouse Detective
Ratigan was the main antagonist of the Walt Disney Pictures film The Great Mouse Detective, which was based loosely on the books. Ratigan was voiced by American film icon Vincent Price in one of his last major film roles.

In the film, Ratigan runs a criminal organisation within the sewers of London, which has been responsible for several unsolved murders and major robberies that have all been masterminded by Ratigan (and are mentioned in the song The World's Greatest Criminal Mind). Ratigan also takes offence at anyone calling him a rat - even though he is a rat - and sentences them to death by his pet cat, Felicia, by ringing a bell kept permanently on his person.

Other appearances
Ratigan has only had one other appearance in the Disney canon outside of The Great Mouse Detective, in one episode of Disney's House of Mouse, in which he appears in a cameo with only one line, spoken by voice actor Maurice LaMarche.

Ratigan also appears, albeit incredibly briefly and with no speaking part, in the spin-off film Mickey's House of Villains.