Cars Where Are the Girls? Bring on the Confetti! Ow! Ow! Easy With the Confetti What's Goin' on?
Chick "Thunder" Hicks is a recurring antagonist in the Disney/Pixar Cars franchise. He serves as the main antagonist of Pixar's 7th full-length animated feature film, Cars, a minor character in its 2017 threequel Cars 3, and will appear in some capacity in the upcoming Disney+ series Cars on the Road.
He is a green race car who appears as the arch-nemesis of Lightning McQueen and Strip Weathers and one of the rivals of McQueen. He is also the main antagonist of some of the video games.
In Cars, he was voiced by Michael Keaton, who also played the title character in Beetlejuice, Carter Hayes in Pacific Heights, Peter McCabe in Desperate Measures, Trip Larsen in King of the Hill, Ken in Toy Story 3, Raymond Sellars in the 2014 RoboCop remake, the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Morbius, and V.A. Vandevere in the live-action Dumbo remake. In Cars 3, he was voiced by the Pixar employee Bob Peterson, who also played Geri in Geri's Game, Roz in the Monsters Inc. films, Mr. Ray in the Finding Nemo films, and Dug and Alpha in Up. In Cars 2: The Video Game, he was voiced by Eric Smitt. In Cars 3: Driven To Win, he was voiced by Jude Hilary.
Personality
Although highly talented and gifted at racing (he would not have maintained #2 spot as long as he had if he was not, which may have resulted from cheating), Chick Hicks is extremely rude, arrogant, conniving, self-centered, manipulative and focused on himself and winning, like McQueen himself, but has grown impatient with losing. He often harasses others with his catchphrase "Ka-chigga.". This along with his ruthless cold hearted methods eventually cost him his fans.
During his brief cameo during Cars 3, despite now being a news reporter and hosting his own show, Chick still remains an unpleasant and selfish bully. He derides McQueen on TV several times throughout the film for not being as good of a racer as Jackson Storm, and once again shows that he let his arrogance and anger control his actions.
He also gloats on his Piston Cup victory and presents his trophy next to him, even breaking the fourth wall to viewers about how he won it. Because of this, his selfishness once again becomes his downfall when McQueen finally beats him in a virtual race at the canonical Disney World attraction, Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy.
Biography
Cars
Chick was seen taking a pit stop in the Dinoco 400. Later, he bumps the Transberry Juice racer, showing that he is the main villain. However, he was unexpectedly overtaken by The King, Strip Weathers. Darrell Cartrip and Bob Cutlass showed that Chick was behind his arch-enemy in his entire career, and became more impatient when McQueen came in. Chick was trying to overtake The King but failed, and later had to stop McQueen. He won Round 1, but lost Round 2. Because of this, Chick slams McQueen off the track to get back to The King. To make sure he gets more distance between him and McQueen, he slammed the RPM racer, who hits the Sputter Stop Racer, who hits the Faux Wheel Drive racer, and so on, and causes a massive crash. Unexpectedly, McQueen went through after jumping on two racers.
When Chick was in the pits, he was in pride till his crew chief told him McQueen went through and told his pit crew to go faster, ending up with him being in the back. He rushed from the back to front to win, and he used his time wisely to win when McQueen lost his tires, but he failed. Chick later comes in after McQueen's pit crew leave. He taunts him, saying that the Piston Cup was his, but McQueen attracted more paparazzi. Later, when the three-way tie scene happens, Chick hosts his plan by telling McQueen whoever gets to California first gets Dinoco all for themselves. Knowing that McQueen wanted to be with Dinoco, he presumably had the Delinquent Road Hazards to keep his driver staying up all night so McQueen may get lost. When McQueen was lost by Chick's plan, the latter steals his fans by stealing how McQueen attracts people and sh-ooze with Dinoco. Later, when McQueen watches Mack's TV, he sees that Chick stole most of his fans, and stole his catchphrase as "Ka-chigga" as well.
After attracting more fans, he was in the track "Kachigga"-ing McQueen. When the race happens, he slams his door and laughs when McQueen goes out of the track. When McQueen was coming, Chick slams McQueen, but his backward trick made Chick's plan fail. In anger, he burst McQueen's tire, but Guido's record made Chick enraged. Because of this, Chick tries to hit McQueen but misses him, so he slams McQueen and The King off the track, and the latter was about to lose. As McQueen nears the finish line, Chick, refusing to finish the race behind The King again, PITs his rival (sideswipes in the bumper), sending The King into a violent crash. McQueen sees The King's condition on a TV monitor, and (recalling Doc Hudson's famous crash) stops just before the line, allowing Chick to win the race. However, as Chick gloatfully celebrates his victory, he realizes that the fans (including McQueen's friends) aren't cheering him on because of his notorious act, and instead giving praise to McQueen for his respectful act on helping The King.
After McQueen pushes The King to the finish line, Chick comes into the podium and asks for his Piston Cup, in which the trophy is given to him as he says "now that's what I'm talkin about!". Later, asks the angered crowd on why they aren't celebrating his victory with him and asks for girls and confetti, but to his shock, they slammed him with the confetti instead of using it as a celebration for him as he tells them to take it easy with it. Later, he "Kachigga"s and brags about wanting to sign his deal with Dinoco, but the media and his fans booed showing they are unhappy with him because they all finally clearly saw his heartless actions and found out he won by cheating, finally knowing Chick Hicks was the one who crashed all the racers, popped McQueen's tire, and later they all saw him take out Strip Weathers, they all threw discarded tires, debris, and other stuff on him as revenge for his actions, not caring about his victory. Chick gets away with the Piston Cup as he realized that the Chick-era ended as it began, but left defeated and possibly chose to retire or got banned from racing for bad sportsmanship after McQueen wins his 4th Piston Cup. But Chick has tainted his image because of his self caring heartless actions and will never have any fans ever again now they all know who he truly is. Nevertheless, McQueen is still given applause by his friends and the rest of the crowd for his good sportsmanship, along with the King, and the former is given the opportunity by Tex Dinoco to become their new racer. However, McQueen declines, choosing to stay with Rust-Eze instead, but tells Tex to have Mater ride on a Dinoco helicopter.
Cars 3
Chick retired from racing at some point before the events of the film (never revealed why he did) and is now an announcer for RSN and hosts his own talk show, Chick's Picks with Chick Hicks, where he introduces Jackson Storm along with a special guest Natalie Certain. During his show, Chick gives racing commentary and gloats about his victory, even bullying McQueen on television. When Storm wins the Gears and Glory 450 at the Heartland Motor Speedway, Chick accompanies him on the winner's podium. Later, McQueen watches on Mack's television where Chick and Natalie give a report on Storm beating the record for fastest lap in Piston Cup history at the Florida International Speedway and the possibility of McQueen's retirement, which resulted McQueen turning off the TV in disappointment as he contacted Mater for assistance. He is not seen again afterward. Despite this, he shows some delight that Lightning lost showing that he might not have gotten over what happened. That said since he hosts his own show he might have gained some of his former fans back though its implied that most fans don't watch his show because of his dirty actions, as one of the forklift TV crew looks unimpressed. It is also unknown why he was allowed to become an announcer despite injuring the King.
Relationships
Allies
- His pit crew
- Chief Chick
- Bruiser Bukowski ("number two fan")
- Wide Chick Pitty
- Natalie Certain
- Jackson Storm
- Delinquent Road Hazards (in some media)
- Chick Hicks Racing Academy
- El Machismo (formerly)
- Stinger (formely)
- Candice (formerly)
- VINs
Enemies
- Lightning McQueen - Archenemy
- Strip "The King" Weathers - Other Archenemy
- Doc Hudson
- Frank (nightmare only) - "Killer"
- Miss Fritter
In other media
Cars: The Video Game
In Cars: The Video Game, Chick hired the Delinquent Road Hazards 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 defeated 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 Sherriff must catch in the "Speed Trap" minigame. After you win the event, you unlock the Legends Race secret for Chick and can challenge him to a race.
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 and shut down the Doc Hudson Racing Academy which he calls "pathetic". If he does so, everyone would want to come to his racing academy, the Chick Hicks Racing Academy where they will probably learn to cheat. However, McQueen, having installed some modifications, won the Race-O-Rama series, and Chick leaves in shame after swearing 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 Café. 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, implied to have been caused by him consuming Fillmore's fuel.
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 the thought of 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: Driven to Win
In the video game, Chick Hicks serves as the central antagonist and is voiced by Jude Hillary, remaining derisive and insulting to Lightning McQueen and arrogant as usual. He can be unlocked if beaten in the Chick Hicks Takedown event.
Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy
Chick returns as the main antagonist for the canonical attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios called Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy. Although Chick has retired and turned into a reporter in the third film, he went back to being McQueen's rival and hacked into his racing simulator presentation to challenge him to a virtual race to settle their unfinished business and humiliate him.
When Miss Fritter appeared on screen and told Chick that she's friends with Lightning as well and told him that no one messes with Lighting, Chick was defeated by Miss Fritter pushing him away. After Chick disappeared, Lightning apologized to the audience and the lesson went in a different way, but tells them that Chick reminded him that in the end, racing isn't all about speed, flash, and crossing alongside you.
In this attraction, he was once again voiced by Bob Peterson.
Quotes
Trivia
- Chick was the inspiration of Jackson Storm, the main antagonist of the third film. The problem is, despite Chick, a heartless cheater being Storm's inspiration, Storm was an antagonist, but he was not considered truly evil, except for when he slammed Cruz against the wall (which was basically his first and only crime he's ever committed).
- Chick largely serves as a dark parallel to McQueen. They are both racers who dream of getting at Dinoco, which represents the peak of success. However, with the influence he got from Doc, Sally, and Mater, McQueen learned humility, compassion, and that there was more to life than fame and fortune after he chose to give up the Piston Cup so he can help The King finish his race even if it means allowing a cheating racer to win and claim victory. On the other hand, Chick, having won the Piston Cup, failed to learn the error of his ways and let his anger be his downfall after getting booed off the stage following his unfair Piston Cup victory at LA Speedway. Thus, Chick serves as an example of what McQueen would have become if he had allowed his arrogance to consume him and had not realized the importance of humility. And if McQueen did win rather than help The King, he could've still been in his old self, even if he learned from Doc Hudson on why there are important things in life than winning when he learned that Doc was replaced following his crash.
- However, these traits are more exaggerated in Chick Hicks, and often make him more argumentative, ridiculous and obnoxious than his red counterpart is. Chick always brags about winning, and he is also shown to be a very sarcastic, unpleasant, treacherous, intimidating and formidable enemy. Having lived all of his career in the shadow of The King has made him bitter and devoid of any sense of fair play. One of his actions involved knocking the King (who was about to retire anyway) into the off-road.
- Chick is the most recurring villain in the Cars franchise as he appears in Cars, Cars 3, and almost every video game (excluding Cars: Mater-National Championship).
- Chick makes his team wear "mustache" grilles to represent him.
- According to the 2009 Die-cast Collectors Guide, Chick Hicks has 334 decals on him.
- Chick is a 1979 Shyster Gremlin, a car that does not exist. It is designed after a 1987 Buick Grand National.
- Chick's number "86" could come from 1986, the year that Pixar was established and when Luxo, Jr. was released. "86" is also slang for "destroying" or "to get rid of".
- Even though Chick did not appear in Cars 2, he can be obtained via downloadable content in Cars 2: The Video Game.
- On his right door, there is a picture of the Marshy-Marshmallows logo. This is mostly the same company which 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 speeds of the film".
- Chick's primary sponsor is the Hostile Takeover Bank (htB), which is fitting considering his bad nature and that "hostile takeover" is basically to describe when one company directly approaches the owner of another companies and buys it, even if the previous owner didn't want it to be bought, and that "hostile takeover" can also mean ramming other cars.
- Chick should have been disqualified even before the events of the movie because of PIT'ing and aggressive driving but for the convenience of the plot, he was kept as a racer. Because of this, it is implied that the race officials allow him to play dirty just because he's in contention of winning the Piston Cup, and also because he wanted to beat The King and McQueen.
- It is unknown what Chick looked like when the production of Cars originally started, maybe his sponsor was Nitroade as the Nitroade racer in the teaser trailer hits the red racer who was the old McQueen.
- Due to being voiced by Bob Peterson in the third movie, Chick's voice sounds different than he was in the first movie, making him sound like a character Bob Peterson voiced such as Mr. Ray from Finding Nemo. However, in Cars 3: Driven to Win, his voice becomes similar to Michael Keaton's voice when voiced by Jude Hilary.
- Though he is the main villain, Chick has little screen time as the movie focused on McQueen's life in Radiator Springs along with his attitude from Doc Hudson to learn that there are more important things in life than winning. Because of this, Doc Hudson was close to being the main antagonist due to his gruff attitude on meeting McQueen and lecturing him to become a better person (though this was due to McQueen's arrogance in wanting to be the best and wanting to escape from Radiator Springs), while Chick was close to being the secondary antagonist.
- In the normal version of the first film, Chick was voiced by Michael Keaton and in the Danish version, he was voiced by Mads Mikkelsen. Both Keaton and Mikkelson portrayed villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Keaton portrayed Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Mikkelsen portrayed by Kaecilius in Doctor Strange.
- His Danish voice actor, Mads Mikkelsen also did the voice of Randall Boggs (who is another Pixar villain) in the Danish version of Monsters Inc.
- Michael Keaton also portrayed Ray Peyton Sr, the father of Maggie Peyton, in the 2005 film Herbie Fully Loaded, which was also a family racing film by Disney. The only difference is that Ray Peyton Sr was a crew chief, while Chick Hicks was a dirty racer and that Ray Peyton wasn't a antagonist, but wanted to protect his daughter Maggie from racing. Also in the film, there is a similar character named Trip Murphy, who was obsessed with defeating Herbie by cheating.
- Chick Hicks is one of the four main Pixar villains to actually succeed in his plans, with the other three being Chef Skinner from Ratatouille, Ernesto de la Cruz from Coco (despite his plan being foiled), and Gabby Gabby from Toy Story 4 (despite turning good at the end). Although despite succeeding, his win is more of a hollow victory as McQueen learned that helping others is important than winning, while Chick himself didn't learn the lesson on what McQueen did.
- Whether Chick is truly evil or simply has a horrific attitude to the point of hitting other cars regardless of how much he damages them is debatable. Regardless, he moved on from his actions in the first movie to be just a snarky news reporter in the third. That said, he still hasn't shown redemption as shown still bullying McQueen on TV over the possibility of retiring.
- However, it should be noted that Chicks Hicks' actions are less-than heinous than the likes of Sir Miles Axlerod and Professor Zündapp, who damaged several racers during the races and were more than willing to kill other cars if it meant getting their way, while Chicks Hicks, though he was indeed a cheater who wanted to do whatever it takes to win, never went as far as attempting to kill his opponents (despite ramming the King which causes him harm).
- In the Rioplatenese version of Cars, he is voiced by Marcos di Palma, an Argentinian race car driver known for his brash attitude.
- Chick Hicks bullying McQueen on television can be compared to J. Jonah Jameson trying to incriminate Spiderman as a bad guy in newspapers due to considering him a threat to society. It can also be similar to fake news media outlets like CNN or The View, who try to criticize conservatives for their values, as well as their losses and refusal to concede due to the alleged mail in ballots, especially former President Donald Trump.
- In the Cars 3: Driven to Win video game, Chick mostly appears in the background on his TV show set during menu navigation. However, he has a tendency to leave the set in anger if the player waits longer, with forklift TV crew putting a cardboard cutout of him.
- According to the Car Finder trivia, Chick went to drama school with one of his crew mechanics, Bruiser Buckowski, as well as the same high school. Chick's time in drama school could've contributed to his work as a talk show host, as seen in Cars 3.
- According to the Boom!Studios comics, Chick Hicks had an abusive father who belittled him for "coddl[ing] losers" and told him that victory must be had at all cost, which is likely the reason he grew up to be a cheater.
External Links
- Chick Hicks on the Disney Wiki
- Chick Hicks on the Pixar Wiki
- Chick Hicks on the World of Cars Wiki
 Villains | ||
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Source: https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Chick_Hicks