Puss in Boots Shrek: Who He Is, Who Voices Him and Where He Appears

Puss in Boots is a swordsman cat voiced by Antonio Banderas, who appears in five films: Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, Shrek Forever After, Puss in Boots and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. He is credited in the films as "Puss in Boots (voice)". The character arrives in Shrek 2 (2004), directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon, where he is billed fifth in the cast.

He is billed fourth in both Shrek the Third (2007) and Shrek Forever After (2010), so his name sits further down the cast list in all three main-saga films than it does in his own.

Puss in Boots does not appear in Shrek (2001); he first appears in Shrek 2 (2004). If you go looking for a boot wearing cat in the original swamp story you will not find one, so you can start with the first Shrek and meet Puss a movie later.

Puss has also grown beyond a supporting role. Puss in Boots (2011), directed by Chris Miller, gave him a lead part, with Banderas billed first, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), directed by Joel Crawford, followed it as a second film built around him.

Puss in Boots moves from a hired swordsman in Shrek 2 to a cat who learns to value his friends over his own legend in The Last Wish. Each film adds a layer, and the shape is easiest to follow in release order.

In Shrek 2, Puss is hired to get rid of Shrek. He fails, and he ends up working with Shrek and Donkey instead. The three break into Fairy Godmother's factory and steal the Happily Ever After potion, and later Puss is arrested alongside them before their fairy tale friends break them out and they crash the ball.

In Shrek the Third (2007), directed by Chris Miller and Raman Hui, Puss travels with Shrek and Donkey to find Fiona's cousin Artie at Worcestershire Academy. A spell on Merlin's island swaps the bodies of Puss and Donkey, and the two, still in each other's bodies, free the captive fairy tale characters. When Merlin reverses the swap, their tails stay switched.

In Shrek Forever After (2010), directed by Mike Mitchell, Shrek signs a contract with Rumpelstiltskin and wakes in a timeline where he never existed. There Puss is a cat who has grown fat and lazy, and Shrek has to win him over alongside a Donkey who does not know him and a Fiona who leads a band of ogre rebels. It is the low point of the character on screen, and it is played for comedy.

In Puss in Boots (2011), he is a wanted outlaw who has been on the run since leaving his hometown of San Ricardo. He teams up with Kitty Softpaws and his childhood friend Humpty Dumpty to climb a beanstalk to a giant's castle. Humpty turns out to have planned the whole scheme as revenge for being left behind years earlier. Puss escapes prison, confronts him, and the two lure the Great Terror away from the town. Humpty sacrifices himself to save the gosling, which wins back the trust of Puss, and San Ricardo accepts him again.

In The Last Wish, a doctor tells Puss he has only one of his nine lives left. He retires to a cat lady's home, then sets out for a Wishing Star to win his lives back. He learns that the hooded wolf stalking him is Death, and he runs in terror before Perrito's kindness and Kitty's honesty change his mind. He stops running and tells the Wolf he values the one life he has.

Puss in Boots' closest allies are Shrek, Donkey, Kitty Softpaws, Humpty Dumpty and Perrito, and his deadliest rival is Death, the Wolf. They fall into three groups: the traveling companions of the main saga, the old partners of the spin-offs, and the enemies who force him to grow. Seeing them side by side explains why the character works in both an ensemble film and a film of his own.

Shrek and Donkey. The pair begin as targets and become friends. Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) and Donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy) are credited in Shrek 2 alongside Puss, and they travel with him again in Shrek the Third. The body swap with Donkey is the closest the series gets to a buddy comedy for the two of them.

Fairy Godmother. Fairy Godmother (voiced by Jennifer Saunders in Shrek 2) is the villain of the film in which Puss first appears. She wants her son Prince Charming to marry Fiona, and Puss ends up on the side of the people working against her.

Kitty Softpaws. Kitty Softpaws (voiced by Salma Hayek Pinault in Puss in Boots) is a skilled cat burglar who has the same target as Puss in the 2011 film. In The Last Wish she is his old love, and she reconciles with him at the end.

Humpty Dumpty. Voiced by Zach Galifianakis in the 2011 film, Humpty was the closest friend of Puss when they were orphans, and Puss let him down years ago. That history drives the film.

Perrito. Voiced by Harvey Guillén in The Last Wish, Perrito is a cheerful, optimistic little dog who joins Puss and helps him see what matters.

The Wolf. The Wolf, voiced by Wagner Moura in The Last Wish, is Death itself, and he is the deadliest enemy Puss has met. The character page for Death (the Wolf) covers him in detail.

Puss in Boots survives every film, and in his latest appearance he is alive with one of his nine lives left. The Last Wish (2022) is the most recent film in which he appears.

In the ending, Puss decides not to use the wish and instead accepts that he has only one life. He faces the Wolf, and Death spares him while hinting that they will meet again someday. Jack Horner is consumed by the power of the wishing star, and Goldilocks gives up the map to stay with the bears as her family. Puss, Kitty and Perrito become a family and head off on new adventures together, and the film leaves the door open to more stories for him.

The earlier endings are lighter. In the 2011 film Puss is welcomed back by San Ricardo and grows closer to Kitty, and Humpty is seen alive again, riding on the Great Terror's back.

Shrek 5 is set for June 30, 2027 in the US, according to Variety, and no cast, including Puss in Boots, has been confirmed.

Puss in Boots' best moments are his stand against the Wolf in The Last Wish, the body swap in Shrek the Third, and the factory break-in in Shrek 2. The strongest scenes are the ones where his confidence meets something it cannot beat, and these picks are opinion, one reader's view.

In my opinion, the finest comic use of him in the main saga is the body swap in Shrek the Third. Puss and Donkey spend the rescue of the fairy tale characters in each other's bodies, and the joke that their tails stay switched at the end gives the scene a small, lasting punchline.

The factory break-in in Shrek 2 is the better introduction for newcomers. He starts the film as the threat, ends it as the third member of the group, and the theft of the Happily Ever After potion shows how quickly he changes sides when Shrek and Donkey treat him as an equal.

In the 2011 film, the beanstalk climb and the lure of the Great Terror away from San Ricardo are the big set pieces. The emotional high point is smaller: Humpty sacrifices himself to protect the gosling, and Puss, who once let him down, finally earns his trust back.

For families, The Last Wish has the most meaningful scene. Puss has spent the film running from Death, and the moment he stops, faces the Wolf and says he values his single life is the clearest statement of what the character is about. If you are choosing tonight's film, the Wolf is a genuinely frightening presence even in a PG film, so younger children may prefer the Shrek 2 side of the series first.