Chick Hicks (also known as Thunder) is the main antagonist of the Cars franchise. He is the main antagonist of Cars, and a minor antagonist of Cars 3. He was a racer who likes cheating and is not above it either. After winning the Piston Cup, Chick presumably lost his racing career, when his fans turned on him for causing The King to crash.
Personality[]
Chick is extremely rude, callous, arrogant and centered on himself on winning the Piston Cup, just like McQueen was at first. However, theses traits are more exaggerate in Chick, and often make him more ridiculous or obnoxious. Chick always brags about winning, and he's also sarcastic and intimidating. Having lived all his career in the shadow of The King has made him bitter and devoid of any sense of fair-play, choosing to play dirty in order to win. Despite his downfall after the final race, Chick is an example of what Lightning would have become as a racer if he never changed his ways and let his arrogance get the better of him.
Appearances[]
Cars[]
Hicks is in a three-way tie with main rivals The King and Lightning McQueen, and is attempting to win the Piston Cup. His nickname is "The Runner-Up", as he seems to always lose to The King. He also has the reputation of not racing fairly:
"Chick Hicks is a racing veteran with a chip on his shoulder, a ruthless competitor who has cheated his way into more second-place finishes than any other car. He's been counting down the seasons to The King's retirement so that he can take over the coveted Dinoco sponsorship, but he never expected such fierce competition from hot shot rookie Lightning McQueen."[1]
"In Lightning McQueen's worst nightmares not only does Chick Hicks win the Piston Cup, but he wins over Dinoco as well."[1]
In another nightmare, he is shredded by Frank.
Chick's primary sponsor is the Hostile Takeover Bank (htB). His car number is 86, which refers to the year Luxo, Jr. was released.
Chick ties with The King and Lightning in the Piston Cup championship, forcing the three racers to compete in a tiebreaker race. Chick later mocks McQueen on winning the Piston Cup and sponsorship of Dinoco. Lightning retaliates by nicknaming Chick "Thunder" due to that thunder always comes after lightning, much to Chick's intense annoyance. He, however, later shows off with this new nickname after Lightning disappears in Radiator Springs, wooing his fans and stealing Lightning's. He makes numerous attempts to force Lightning out of the final race, such as mocking him, only to be outrun by him in spite of it. He intentionally sideswipes The King during the final lap, making him spin out of control and crash. When Lightning sees what has happened to The King, he stops before crossing the finish line, choosing to accept loss, and goes back to help The King across the line. Although this allows Chick to gleefully cross the finish line first place and win his first Piston Cup, nobody cheers him on once he does, instead cheering on Lightning for his good sportsmanship helping The King. As Chick gloatfully celebrates his victory on the stage and collects his trophy, the fans and media reporters then turn on Chick, fire confetti at him, boo him off the stage, and throw things at him, causing him to make a quick getaway with his trophy and making him realize the "Chick era" just ended as soon as it started.
It is unknown what happens to Chick afterwards, but it appears that he has been denied the sponsorship by Dinoco as Tex instead tries to offers it to Lightning McQueen for his good sportsmanship.
Cars: The Video Game[]
In Cars: The Video Game, which is written by Pixar and considered to take place after the first film, Chick hired a gang of punk cars to steal Lightning's racing gear out of Mack's trailer during the 2006 season. Lightning confronted Chick at the fourth race, but Chick claimed to know nothing about it. He was later beaten out by McQueen, and lost the season. Chick returned to Radiator Springs to train for the next season, and once again made some new friends who he used to taunt McQueen. Lightning beat Chick at the final race, and he fled back to his hometown.
Cars: Radiator Springs Adventures[]
In Cars: Radiator Springs Adventures, Chick is one of the speeders in Speed Trap. After you win the event, you unlock the Legends Race secret for Chick.
Cars Race-O-Rama[]
In Cars Race-O-Rama, he returns as the main antagonist. He tells McQueen that he and some of his friends are here to win the Race-O-Rama series to shut down the Doc Hudson Racing Academy which he calls pathetic. If he does, everyone would want to come to his racing academy where they will probably learn to cheat. And Mater will have to tow Lightning out of Radiator Springs in shame, and Radiator Springs will belong to him! However, McQueen, having some modifications, won the Race-O-Rama series. Chick then angrily says that he will be back and have revenge.
Disney INFINITY[]
In Disney INFINITY, he is the main antagonist of the Cars Play Set. After the "Calibrate GPS" mission is completed, Chick comes into Radiator Springs and stops at Flo's V8 Cafe. He then asks if this is Radiator Springs, before Flo asks if she can get anything for him. Chick asks to start with some jumper cables, and that the town is putting him to sleep. He later leaves after Flo suggests to keep rolling if he won't order anything. He then challenges the player to race against him. After you win, he says that he wants a rematch.
He later competes as a random opponent in the races. Before the start of the Radiator Springs International Race Invitation held by Luigi, Chick says to the other racers that he is plotting to win the race and that it will be the "last time you'll be seeing my grill." Francesco Bernoulli, however, states to The King that he almost likes Chick and that he would have said it better. Finn McMissile then states that something suspicious has happened since Chick arrived, saying that Fillmore's fuel has gone missing right before the big race. Chick then replies saying, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. We gonna get this race started or what?" After the player wins the race, Chick appears with smoke coming out of him. When he asks if he had won, Finn says to him that he's through and will be sent to the impound lot. Ramone, however, explains that he has been looking for a perfect wreck to fix up for "Detail My Dents", and that Chick is "the worst looking car I've ever seen." Flo then agrees with Ramone to paint Chick red with lightning bolts, before they both drag him away. Shocked at being painted like McQueen, Chick asks them to take him to the impound instead.
When the Cars vault is opened by having all four characters interact with it, a toy of Chick can be unlocked for use in your toy box worlds.
Cars 3[]
Chick Hicks returns in the third film with a minor role, being voiced by Bob Peterson since Keaton was unable to reprise the role (due to him being busy with Spider-Man: Homecoming). In the film, Chick has retired from racing (never revealed why he did but it’s possibly either due to his ruined reputation or just being outclassed like McQueen) and is the host for the show Chick's Picks with Chick Hicks. He gives boisterous commentary for recent Piston Cup results and often shares the stage with statistical analyst Natalie Certain. He also brings up his one Piston Cup win when he gets the chance and proudly features his trophy next to him. He also cracks jokes at McQueen's losses when next-gen racers including Jackson Storm take over the racing sport. When Storm wins the Gears and Glory 450 at the Heartland Motor Speedway, Chick accompanies him on the winners' podium so he can interview him, with Storm boasting about McQueen's retirement. Additionally, McQueen (after having an argument with Cruz Ramirez) is watching Chick on Mack's television, where Chick is giving a report on McQueen's experience at the Thunder Hollow Speedway and the possibility of McQueen's retirement, resulting the former to turn off the TV out of shame before contacting Mater for help. Unlike the first film, he isn't seen again throughout the rest of the movie. It is also noted that his TV crew look unimpressed when he brings up his first win, making it imply that no one or less people watch his show due to his actions and bullying.
Trivia[]
- Chick makes his team wear "moustache" grilles to represent him.
- Chick has proven to be friends with DJ, Snot Rod, Boost and Wingo, who have helped him on various occasions.
- According to the 2009 Die-cast Collectors Guide, Chick Hicks has 334 decals on him.
- Chick Hicks wants to end up in first place and hates ending up in second place, which is similar to Randall Boggs from Monsters, Inc..
- Chick is a 1979 Shyster Cremlin, a car that does not exist. It is designed after a 1987 Buick Grand National.
- 86, Chick's number, could come from 1986, the year that Pixar was established.
- Even though he didn't appear in Cars 2, you can download him for Cars 2: The Video Game.
- On his right door, there is a picture of the Marshy-Marshmellows logo. This is mostly the same company which was seen in A Bug's Life under the name of "Joel's Marshy Marshmellows."
- In the Polish version, his name is Marek Marucha. Ma rucha means "He has speed."
- Chick should've been disqualified before the events of the first movie but for the convenience of the plot, he is kept a racer despite violating race rules. Because of this, it could be implied that race officials allow Chick to play dirty just because he's in contention of winning the Piston Cup, and also because he wants to beat The King and Lightning McQueen at his own game. It is also possible that the race officials were bribed. Or a combination of both.
- In real life, Chick would've also been charged for multiple accounts of assault and battery against several other racers while in the track, including both The King and even Lightning.
- Chick Hicks is one of the first few Pixar villains to actually win, though his win is regarded and considered as a pyrrhic victory since the fans and media jeered and angrily turned on him because of his reckless driving actions on the track.
- Despite Chick winning his first Piston Cup title, it is unknown if it really was his first official win, as it was mentioned that he has always been in second-place to The King. In fact, despite being called "The Runner Up", it is also never revealed if Chick Hicks won races by cheating prior to the events of Cars.
- Though he is the main antagonist, Chick only has little screen time as the film focuses on McQueen getting lost at Radiator Springs along with his character development, learning that there are more things in life than winning. As a result. Chick only appears in the beginning, in two bad dreams Lightning has, on television in Mack's trailer wooing fans, and at the end of the film. His voice is still heard on a radio broadcast when McQueen fixes the road.
- During McQueen's daydream sequence, when the tripod Sparkplug robots attack, if one looks closely, they can see Chick in the corner amongst the many cars driving away in panic.
- When McQueen thinks about Chick Hicks after he finds out that Chick got to California first, the nightmare sequence is basically the same as McQueen's daydream, with Chick hanging with Tex and Team DINOCO, winning the tiebreaker race after overtaking Strip, taking photos for a photoshoot, being on the media magazines, and going to the Hollywood Chinese Theater with Mia and Tia as the new celebrity, even having his own superhero movie called "Chick Magnet" though the fictionalized car-ified plot wasn't shown. The only exception is that when he is in his penthouse, he doesn't get bling bling wheels and attracts Mia and Tia with his magnetic paint job before taunting McQueen in his own thoughts to "eat his heart out".
- Chick Hicks hosting his show in the third movie makes it feel like he's breaking the fourth wall to viewers when he brings up his Piston Cup win.
- It is unknown what happened with Chick Hicks' pit crew following his botched pyrrhic victory at LA Speedway, though it can be implied they continued to serve him or they may have turned against him because of mistreatment and his actions on the track.
- Even though Chick didn't appear in Cars 2, players can download him for Cars 2: The Video Game. It was also unknown why he didn't appear in the second film, as it never revealed what really happened with him following his pyrrhic victory in the first film.
- On his right door, there is a picture of the Marshy-Marshmallows logo. This is mostly the same company that was seen in A Bug's Life under the name of "Joel's Marshy Marshmallows."
- In the Polish version, his name is Marek Marucha. Ma rucha means "He has speed."
- A 1:55 scale die-cast of Chick Hicks, along with Lightning McQueen and Brush Curber, appears in one of the exhibit elements at The Science Behind Pixar.
- Michael Keaton voiced Chick in Cars and later returned to Pixar to voice Ken in Toy Story 3. However, he was replaced by Pixar animator Bob Peterson in Cars 3. The exact reason is that Keaton was not available to record any lines for Chick due to the filming of Spider-Man: Homecoming.
- Due to the voice change, this makes Chick's voice sound different from his original self in the first film, making him sound like characters Bob Peterson voiced from other movies such as Mr. Ray from Finding Nemo and its sequel Finding Dory.
- It is unknown if Chick Hicks is actually his real name. His name could somewhat represent that he is a cheater.
- If Chick Hicks did win the Dinoco 400 alongside winning the Piston Cup, it is highly likely that Tex would still refuse to sponsor him due to having played dirty in the race and would still be booed for it. It is also likely that if The King did win, he would’ve passed on the Dinoco sponsorship to McQueen or someone else, who was Cal Weathers but not Chick Hicks due to having hated him ever since.
- Before voicing Chick Hicks, Michael Keaton previously portrayed Ray Peyton, Sr., owner of Team Peyton and the father of the protagonist Maggie Peyton in Herbie: Fully Loaded, another racing movie which was released in 2005 while Cars was still in production. The difference is that Ray Peyton Sr. isn't a racer or an antagonist, but a crew chief who wants to forbid Maggie from racing, while Chick Hicks is a dirty racer who will do anything to win by cheating.
- In the Latin Spanish version of Cars 3, Chick jokes after supposing that McQueen will retire that instead of "Ku-chau!" (the Latin Spanish translation to "Ka-chow!"), this time will be "Chau-Chau!" (as Chau is a Latin Spanish term to say goodbye to people), making the joke most funny to Latin Spanish spectators. The English version has Chick say "Caboose" when making a joke about McQueen losing to the next-gen racers.
- His Crew Chief's name is Ian Roadhazard.
- According to the Car Finder trivia on the Blu-Ray release of Cars, Chick went to drama school with one of his mechanic pitties, Bruiser Bukowski, as well as the same high school. This may have contributed to his work as an announcer and talk show host for Chick's Picks with Chick Hicks, as seen in Cars 3.
- In the Rioplatenese version of Cars 3, he is voiced by Marcos Di Palma, an Argentinian race car driver known for his brash attitude.
- Chick is currently the only main antagonist from an original Pixar film to be based off an inanimate object; Terry from Soul doesn't count as she's a metaphysical being.
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