It’s been a while since I’ve covered some Disney villains. Been getting that itch and I like to cover villains of franchises I’m a fan of around my birthday. Last year, we looked at two antagonists from the Inside Out franchise. Which to me is still the greatest thing Pixar has ever done. This year tho is kinda special as this year marks the twentieth anniversary of the first Cars movie. Oh sure back in the day, when those movies came out, they were considered the punching bag of Pixar. I’ve always enjoyed them (well 1 and 3 anyway). Now admittedly, the Cars villains aren’t as iconic as say a Sid or even a Hopper. Which is fine and tbh, the first Cars movie didn’t even really need a villain considering how little he was in the movie. I get the idea with Chick Hicks though as he is meant to serve as a contrast to Lighting McQueen and show this is how Lighting would’ve been if he hadn’t had his experience in Radiator Springs.
You know how this works by now as I mostly only ever cover villains nowadays. I’ll look at their first appearance, personality, grand desire, most evil deed and demise. All to answer the question of if he is a good villain.
First Appearance/Personality
Chick Hicks is first seen t the beginning of the movie during the big race that opens the movie. And even in how he races, it’s easy to get a sense of what type of character he has. His racing is very unsportsmanlike creating obstacles for McQueen just so he can get the coveted Dinoco sponsorship.
This speaks to what type of racer Hicks is and how he is a mirror to McQueen. He’s arrogant racer tired of only being in second place to The King. There is a sense of hunger and also arrogance in Hicks. Which is also reflective in McQueen. Consider how McQueen views racing as a one man sport when it’s really not.
There is also a hint of jealousy on Hicks’s part as McQueen is the hot new rookie eating up all the attention. And Hicks is somewhat justified in those feelings as McQueen much as I come to love him over the trilogy in the first movie is a hotshot who thinks his shit doesn’t stink. McQuen’s time in Radiator Springs helps him to grow and become better. Whereas Hicks never grows and in a way stagnates as a character into remaining the cocky heel he is.
Grand Desire/Most Evil Deed
I have already touched upon this a bit but his grand desire is very much the same as McQueen’s, a desire to win the Piston Cup. As I mentioned we can take this further and look at his most evil deed. Again I know I’m combining categories but it makes sense here. In the final race for the cup in a vain attempt to win the cup and be seen as a great racer, he knocks The King off the track and causes The King to crash.
This moment parallels Lighting’s moment earlier in the movie when we find out Doc Hudson was once one of the greatest racers and after his crash, the racing community left him behind.
In this moment in a bid to win, we see Hicks doing the same thing to The King but with McQueen’s growth throughout the movie we see how he is not going to let those before him be forgotten. This’ll be a more prevalent theme in the third movie being the first movie in this trilogy without Paul Newman and with McQueen feeling as though he is aging out of the racing scene.
Getting back to this movie, the moment of Hicks knocking The King out of the race might be the most evil thing any Pixar villain has ever done, it shows how petty he is.
Demise
Hicks wins the race with his unsportsmanlike action. He won the race but he lost the goodwill of everyone who saw what he did. They knew that was a shitty thing to do. So while he may have won the race, his reputation is all but tarnished. Consider how the head of Dinoco goes to Lighting instead of Hicks. It speaks to how they don’t want someone like representing their company. If only companies irl were that ethical.
Is Chick Hicks a Good Villain?
He’s fine. Not my favorite Pixar villain, I doubt he is anyone’s favorite. Again, he’s fine and serves his purpose as a rival to Lighting well enough but the scenes without him in the movie are better than the scenes with him.
Welp next time we are looking at the villain from that has been cited by many as one of the worst Pixar movies as we head abroad to look at the villain of Cars 2 to look at…
Miles Axlerod
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I think the only thing I really find memorable about him was that Michael Keaton is his voice actor. Aside from that, I don’t really think about him all that much.
Yeah same
I actually spent years thinking Ken was Michael Keaton’s first Pixar character.
Ah