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"Ka-chow!" ― Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen is the main protagonist of the Cars series, one of the two tritagonists in My Reviews of EVERY Pixar Movie (alongside Phineas), and the tritagonist in subsequent media where Isabella is the main protagonist and also where Phineas is the deuteragonist. He is an anthropomorphic racecar who has won seven Piston Cups since his debut in the 2005 season. He lives in the small town of Radiator Springs, where he has his own racing headquarters, as well as his own stadium, and he appears in every installment in the Cars series (if not counting anything in the Planes franchise). He is voiced by Owen Wilson in the movies and some attractions, and Keith Ferguson in other media.
Creation and Development[]
Lightning’s concept art.
Throughout research for the original movie, director John Lasseter and General Motors met to talk about the renewed design of the Corvette. His number was originally set to be 57, a reference to John Lasseter's birthyear 1957, but it was changed to 95, which is a reference to Toy Story's release year 1995.
Appearances[]
Movies[]
Cars[]
Lightning shows himself to his fans.
In the original movie, Lightning was at first self-centered and cocky. At the Motor Speedway of the South, he is competing in the Dinoco 400 for the Piston Cup champion title. After a three-way tie with him, Strip Weathers, and Chick Hicks, Lightning makes a deal with Chick, where the first one to get to the Los Angeles International Speedway wins. Desperate to win the race, Lightning hurries to Mack, who makes him show up in the tent, which Lightning does not like. Soon, the two leave, and Lightning forces Mack to drive through the entire night without resting. Mack eventually falls asleep, and then gets harassed by a tuner car gang, who accidentally open Lightning's hauler and release him by mistake.
Lightning wakes up in the middle of the highway, and quickly attempts to find Mack. However, after mistaking a grumpy Peterbilt truck for him, Lightning decides to get help on the Interstate. Lightning speeds towards a police car named Sheriff, who then wakes up, next to a billboard, and chases him through the town. Frightened, Lightning accidentally rips up the main road with a statue of the town's founder, which immediately gets him in the town's impound. When he wakes up, he discovers that he is in the abandoned town of Radiator Springs, where its inhabitants sentence him to community service, and get him to fix the road by pulling Bessie, the road-paving machine.
Determined to get to Los Angeles before Chick, Lightning first tries to leave, but runs out of gas and is taken back to the town, where he tries to repair the road quickly. The residents feel insulted by the rushed bumpy road, and, Doc Hudson, the town's doctor/judge, challenges him to a road race, which Lightning loses, because he is not familiar with dirt tracks.
Thought at first reluctant to affiliate himself with the townsfolk, Lightning ends up making friends with the townsfolk, including the absent-minded tow truck, Mater, and the beautiful attorney Sally, whom Lightning develops a crush on. After learning more about the history of the town and Doc, who used to be a famous dirt-track racer, Lightning notices Doc practicing out at Willys Butte. Later, Lightning finishes the road, and while the townsfolk thought he left without saying goodbye at first, Lightning surprises them by arriving and asking for new tires and a new paint job. That night, while enjoying a "cruise" with the townsfolk, the press find Lightning and take him away to the tiebreaker race.
Upon arriving at the race, Lightning is surprised to see his friends have come to serve as his new racing team, and with the help of his team, even Guido, who performs the fastest pit stop in Piston Cup history, Lightning sees that he is well ahead of Chick and The King. However, having enough of coming in second,
Lightning helping The King complete the last race of his career.
Chick performs a PIT maneuver on Weathers, causing him to spin out of control and crash. When Lightning remembers Doc's words about winning, he gives up his victory in order to instead help the King finish his last race, which makes the fans delighted. Despite Chick technically winning, he is ignored and instead fans congratulate Lightning. Lightning then decides to permanently establish Radiator Springs as his hometown, and the publicity sparks big interest in the town.
Lightning arriving back in Radiator Springs.
Cars 2[]
In the sequel, Lightning returns, but as the deuteragonist.
He comes back home to Radiator Springs from his most recent Piston Cup racing season, and the townsfolk, even Mater, who takes him on several activities. After such a long day, Lightning tells Mater that he would like to spend some quiet time with Sally at the Wheel Well Motel. Feeling dejected, Mater poses as a waiter but while trying to take their orders, Mater gets distracted by The Mel Dorado Show on one of the TVs, which currently shows Italian Formula One racing champ, Francesco Bernoulli, who starts to insult Lightning. Feeling angered, Mater calls in to fight, and is successfully able to give Lightning a spot on the World Grand Prix, a series of three worldwide races, hosted by oil baron Miles Axlerod.
Lightning's new paintjob and body style
In preparation, Lightning is given a fancy new paint job and spoiler, and he, Mater, Luigi, Guido, Fillmore, and Sarge set off for Tokyo, which is where the first race and welcome party are held. On their way, Lightning and Mater are having fun together: watching a game show on their plane's television, amazed by neon signs, and attending a karate show. At the opening ceremony, Lightning meets fellow racers Lewis Hamilton and Jeff Gorvette, but finds out that Mater is acting the same as he was in Radiator Springs, and attempts to explain that he should change his behavior so to go used to everything outside Radiator Springs. Despite this, Mater does not fully understand, deciding to help Lightning by introducing him to Italian race car, Francesco Bernoulli. Though hesitant, Lightning is forced to mention that it is nice to meet. They both decide to make a deal, but they both make the same dedication of their own win in the initial race to Sally. Lightning is later asked to get on stage with Axlerod, but his interview is interrupted when Mater, who has gotten a large amount of wasabi, bursts on, and drinks water from the display. Lightning feels embarrassed that Mater has leaked oil, and Mater hurries into the bathroom to clean up the mess. However, an American agent who is being assaulted places his tracking beam onto Mater. British desk agent Holley Shiftwell meets Mater, who thinks she is asking him out on a date.
Moments before the first race starts, Lightning makes his normal preparations, closing his eyes and talking to himself about keeping himself about keeping focus, yet Francesco immediately mocks him by making the same preparations. Annoyed, Lightning once again talks about his goal to win against Francesco. However, Lightning is unable to get past Francesco until they come up to the dirt section, where Mater, who works as Lightning's crew chief, gives him the advice of using the same trick Doc taught him. While Francesco struggles to drive on the dirt, Lightning makes a quick pass and takes the lead. However, things go wrong when two of the racecars flame out, leaving fans to suggest that allinol might be the one to blame for the accidents. Then, Lightning hears words from Mater through his team radio, not aware that Mater is talking to someone else. Still confused by Mater's words, Lightning drives to the outside of the loop up to Rainbow Bridge, causing Francesco to take the lead. Realizing this, Lightning chases after Francesco and goes side-by-side with him as they are headed towards the finish line. However, Francesco crosses the finish line first, while Lightning lands in second place.
"I LOST THE RACE BECAUSE OF YOU!!" -Lightning getting angry at Mater for causing him to lose the race in Japan.
Upset, Lightning is left wondering why this all happened, as Francesco brags during a podium interview about a move every time someone makes a mistake. After that, Lightning spots Mater driving to the pit row, and when no one is looking, he drives out of the interview, and confronts Mater, scolding him for talking nonsense during the race. Mater states that he left because he heard a woman's voice talking to him out of nowhere and directing him through the streets, where he saw a couple of cars involved in a fight, and using flame-throwers. Angry, Lightning lashes out at him for such antics, and furiously tells him that he shouldn't have brought him along because of what he did. Finding out what Lightning meant, Mater tries to make up by suggesting to talk to someone about what happened, but Lightning is still angry, reprimanding Mater by saying he does not want any help from him at all. Hurt by Lightning's rejection, Mater sadly decides to leave for the airport to head back to Radiator Springs (unbeknownst to Lightning and his team). However, at the airport, Finn McMissile, mistaking Mater for a spy, leads him away from the line and introduces himself. However, two lemons named Acer and Grem -- who are chasing after Finn -- find him, and he and Mater escape on Siddeley (Finn's plane).
Lightning and the others finding out that Mater left his position after costing him the race in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, Team McQueen finds a note from Mater saying that he has made his decision to head back home after their argument, not wanting to be responsible for making him lose any future races. However, Lightning starts to feel sad, as he didn't mean for Mater to leave. Although relieved that he would know that Mater would be safe in Radiator Springs, Lightning is still sad, thinking he shouldn't have been too hard on him. Arriving in Italy, Lightning and his team come across Luigi and Guido's old hometown, Carsoli, where the latter two are happy to reunite with Uncle and Mama Topolino. The whole village hosts a celebration of Luigi and Guido's return,
Lightning sadly regretting that he got angry with Mater earlier.
but Uncle Topolino begins to notice how sad Lightning feels. Having been told the entire thing by Luigi, Uncle Topolino tells Lightning that everybody, even best friends, gets into arguments, as he remembers Luigi and Guido fighting all the time when they used to live with him.
Meanwhile, many of the fans of the World Grand Prix are still
Lightning and Francesco battling for the lead.
wondering if allinol is safe, leading Axlerod to tell them that the fuel has been examined and is proven to be safe, leaving the second race to remain, set in Porto Corsa. However, Team McQueen begin to notice that Lightning feels sad. Fillmore, oblivious, tells him not to worry about his fuel, but Lightning admits that he is actually missing Mater. Furthermore, he is insulted by Francesco saying he is so glad he is home with his mother and fans. As the race goes ahead, Francesco soars into the lead as Lightning follows, trying to make several moves like at the town's hairpin. On the last lap, Lightning briefly takes the lead, but as they reach the finish line, he and Francesco begin battling for the lead, which finishes with Lightning crossing the finish line just ahead of Francesco. With this, Lightning celebrates his victory, but it immediately ends as several ambulances rush past, making Lightning and Francesco realize on the television screen that the other racecars have been involved in a big crash, created by Grem and Acer's electromagentic pulse camera, which blows their engines.This leads to everyone now completely worried about its safety, which makes Axlerod decide that the last race in London will still take place, but no longer to be run on Allinol.
Lightning advised by Sally and Axlerod not to give up the last race.
However, Lightning feels that it's impossible for something like that to happen, furthermore deciding that he will use allinol for the last race. Soon, as a press liaison leads him to the press, Lightning begins to hear Mater's voice from somewhere in the crowd. Taking another look, he notices a flash of Mater's roof in the distance, while the photographers try to get his attention. Attempting to get closer, Lightning moves through the crowd, as the press liaison wants him to come back. However, as the photographers finally get out of the way, Lightning instead spots a blue tow truck named Ivan, saying it was him who called out. As the press liaison takes him away, Lightning begins to get confused, as he was pretty sure he saw Mater in the crowd. Before he goes to London, Lightning calls Radiator Springs so to talk to Mater, but he finds out that Mater had not shown up at all. As he comes to his pit stall, he finds Sally and the rest of his friends present, having realized what happened. While Sarge goes with Sheriff to find Mater, the rest of the townsfolk stay to help Lightning in the race. However, still worried about Mater, Lightning is not sure if he can focus on the race, but Axlerod arrives to thank him for deciding to use allinol, encouraging him to prove to the world that they had been wrong about it being unsafe. Also, Sally tells him to do the race for Mater.
Lightning trying to stop Mater from getting away from him again, not understanding Mater's warning about a bomb put on him.
As the race starts, Francesco takes the lead as they head up to the Victoria Memorial, but after they go
through Admiralty Arch, Lightning snatches the lead. As Lightning goes in for a pit stop, he is glad Mater arrived. However, a panicky Mater drives onto the racetrack, warning Lightning to keep away from him. Unable to understand, Lightning follows Mater, trying to tell him what he said before does not matter anymore. Still in a panic, Mater shouts out that "he's the bomb", making Lightning believe that what he is saying means he is excellent. Again, Mater shouts out to stay away, but Lightning refuses, not wanting to lose Mater again, and grabs onto his hook, which makes Mater turn on a pair of rocket jets, making the two friends speed along the track's straight, past a surprised Francesco, and go off the circuit at the following corner, speeding through the streets of London. However, Lightning denies Mater's demand to let go, still not knowing what's going on.
Lightning, Mater, Holley, and Finn entirely surrounded by Professor Z's henchmen.
As the two friends finally stop, British secret agents Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell arrive, informing Lightning that some thugs have put a bomb on Mater, so that they might try to kill them both, all because Lightning decided to use allinol in the race. Lightning is left wondering who would do so to Mater, to which Finn brings in a captured Professor Zundapp, who furiously asks why his electromagnetic pulse did not work properly. Lightning is now entirely shocked by the fact that Zundapp had been having the same thugs try to exterminate him with the emitter when it was supposed to come in contact with allinol, only that he survived when the plan was being performed. Finn wants answers from Zundapp about how to turn off the bomb, and as the bomb starts to tick, Zundapp reveals that the only way to turn it off is to get a voice command from the one who activated it in the first place. To worsen the matter, the thugs, who turn out to be lemons, ruin any chance of Lightning, Mater, Finn, and Holley escaping, but luckily they are soon defeated by Sally, Ramone, Flo, Luigi, Guido, and Red. Sarge arrives with the British Army who possibly take the bad guys away.
Lightning flying with Mater.
Lightning watches as Mater tries to prove that Axlerod is the criminal mastermind.
With the lemons taken to jail, everybody tries to find a way to get rid of the bomb. Thinking of only one option, Guido attempts to unfasten the bolts, but his wheel gun would not fit, much to his anger and frustration. Then, Mater finds out who had put the bomb on, but he does not reveal it quickly, concerned that no one will believe them, but Lightning encourages him, telling him to just be himself and that anyone not believing him should instead change themselves, not Mater himself. With no time to lose, Mater grabs Lightning and heads away to Buckingham Palace, where Axlerod is waiting with the Queen of England. With the Queen's bodyguards stopping Mater from getting any closer, Mater explains to them, Lightning, Finn, and Holley that Axlerod was the one who activated the bomb all along, realizing that the bomb is attached with the same bolts seen on an old engine shown on a photo that Finn and Holley got, and that old engines contain oil. However, Axlerod tries to tell everyone that Mater is wrong, but Mater keeps on talking, revealing that Miles is the leader of Pressor Zundapp and the lemons, trying to force the world to stop using alternative fuel and buy regular oil from a hidden oil rig, because they had been laughed at for lives. As the bomb is about to detonate, everyone braces themselves, while Axlerod tries to take Mater's words as lies, but as Mater encounters him, he is forced to make a voice command, which successfully deactivates the bomb, and proves that Mater was right about everything.
Lightning listening to Mater telling everyone about his spy story.
To congratulate his bravery, the Queen gives Mater a position as a knight, which also makes him as famous as his best friend Lightning. As they return to Radiator Springs, Mater tells Lightning and their friends about how he met Finn and Holley and helped them learn information about Professor Z and the lemons. Afterwards, Finn and Holley arrive, paying Mater and his friends a visit. Lightning is also given the time to ask why he did not explode when the lemons were using their EMP emitter on him in London, but Finn and Holley do not know the reason, but also found out that allinol was really gasoline upgraded by Axlerod to blow up when coming to contact with an electromagnetic pulse. Lightning then starts to realize that Fillmore had told him back in Italy that allinol was safe, and everyone assumes that something had been done to Lightning's supply of allinol before the race began. Fillmore does note that before the race, Lightning's supply was replaced with his own organic fuel, but it was Sarge who did it, not Fillmore.
Later, Lightning invites all of the World Grand Prix racers to compete in Radiator Springs' unofficial Grand
Lightning and Mater racing together in the Radiator Springs Grand Prix.
Prix, as a way to treat them to a great race, even knowing that due to the fate of the World Grand Prix, still nobody knows who is the fastest car in the world. Before he lines up on the grid, Lightning introduces Francesco to Sally, who is honored by Francesco's comment about Lightning being really lucky to be racing, especially when racing against his rivals. Shortly before the race, Lightning adds to Sally to wish him luck, to which Sally knows he will be lucky enough to win. This time, Lightning and Francesco are calmer towards each other, both smiling as they fight for the lead, while the other racers are enjoying it. Not long after, Mater joins just in time, having been given his rocket jets by Finn and Holley, and he and Lightning happily race each other to the end of the race, as Finn and Holley leave for their next mission.
Cars 3[]
Lightning racing against next-gen rookie, Jackson Storm.
In the threequel, Lightning returns as the main protagonist.
By the time of Cars 3, Lightning has been racing in the Piston Cup for over ten years. He has made friends with fellow racers Cal Weathers and Bobby Swift. Tex Dinoco still wants Lightning to race for him, even courting him within Cal hearing him. Throughout the season, however, while Lightning and Bobby were fighting for the lead, a newcomer named Jackson Storm comes out of nowhere and reaches the finish line first. Lightning later congratulates him only for Storm to state it was an honor to "finally beat him", later informing his crew that he "touched a nerve", meaning that he enjoys using emotional manipulation to distract his opponents by getting in their heads. Also, Storm uses the newest technology to train, making him a highly-skilled precision race car.
Having enough of losing to Jackson, Lightning pushes him himself as hard as possible in an attempt to catch up to him.
The season continues with Jackson winning frequently, and more advanced racers start to outsmart the previous generation. Cal chooses to give up racing, telling Lightning how much he appreciated their friendship. Bobby's sponsor discharges him and replaces him with Daniel Swervez. In the next race that follows, Lightning gets even more longing to win, but luckily Guido is still quick at pit stops and gets him back out, with Sally and Mater encouraging him. Storm continues to make fun of him on the track, going past him. Swervez and Chase Racelott - another next-generation racer - also go past Lightning. Lightning goes as quick as he can, but
Lightning crashes on the racetrack, threatening his main hobby.
Lightning in his primer paint job.
he loses his right rear tire and he gets injured from a huge crash. Sally, Mater, Guido and Luigi go out to see if he's fine while emergency responders make sure he survived. Four months later, Lightning has fully recovered and returns to Radiator Springs. He is now in Doc's garage watching footage of his career-ending crash. Sally then checks to see if he feels better, and Lightning doesn't want to end up like Doc, who was driven (no pun intended) to retirement. Sally advises him not to be afraid of failing, reminding him that he still has a chance. She turns to some reverse pyschology to get him ready. Lightning then tells all his friends he wants to keep racing. After Ramone repaints Lightning to his famous Rust-eze paint job, Mack brings him, Luigi, and Guido to the Rust-eze Racing Center. He realizes that Dusty and Rusty sold Rust-eze to a billionaire, Sterling, who is apparently a huge fan. He has fitted Lightning in a new suit which locates his speed and vital signs. Sterling shows off every high-tech training accessory, which counts the most advanced simulator accessible. Lightning meets an optimistic and friendly trainer named Cruz Ramirez, who first annoys Lightning by calling him an impostor, but it's just a motivational tactic. Cruz
Lightning meets Cruz.
trains Lightning, who is dying to try the simulator. Unfortunately, it goes poorly as Lightning bumps into several objects, catches on fire, lands off the restraints, and crashes into the screen. Sterling then calls him
Lightning and Sterling talking about the former's future.
in, showing him a lot of merchandise showing him. Lightning finds out that Sterling does not want to race him anymore, so he makes a deal: if Lightning wins, he will retire whenever he wants to, but if he loses, he'll send all the merchandise he can. Lightning, Luigi, Guido, and Mack go to Fireball Beach to train, while Cruz follows them to help.
Lightning & Cruz training together.
Cruz will accompany him using her digital personal assistant Hamilton to track his top speed, but will have to stay very near. This turns out easier said than done because Cruz doesn't know how to race on sand. It takes until sunset to make it work. Lightning's top speed is tracked at 198 mph, which is still slower than Storm. He decides to go to Thunder Hollow which includes a dirt track, but when Luigi gets worried about the press seeing him there, Mack convinces him he can give Lightning a disguise.
Lightning filled with mud, under the alias "Chester Whipplefilter", to avoid showing himself to the press.
After arriving, Lightning is filled with mud to cover up his appearance, under the name Chester Whipplefilter. He and Cruz find out too late that they are actually in a demolition derby, and now Cruz has to attend as well. The champ is a monster school bus named Miss Fritter. Both Lightning and Cruz barely try not to get hurt, but Lightning has to keep Cruz away from Fritter. Cruz wins, but accidentally makes Mr. Drippy tip over and inadvertently clean
Lightning feeling embarrassed at revealing his identity.
McQueen off, revealing his identity.
Lightning getting angry at Cruz for wasting his time and for getting his cover blown at Thunder Hollow.
Enraged, Lightning explodes at Cruz for wasting his training time, and complains that he had to spend the entire day taking care of her. He says that he has to win the race in order to continue with his job, stating that because Cruz is not a racer, she would never understand him at all. Feeling upset, Cruz orders Mack to pull over, and gets mad at Lightning. She did not want to be a trainer herself, but a racer like him. She started off in her first race, but felt that she did not belong and left. Lightning confesses that he never felt he didn't belong. Cruz wishes she knew what it felt like. Cruz then drives off alone.
Mack spends the night sleeping under a bridge, while Lightning watches TV. Clips of the demolition derby play. Also, statistical analyst Natalie Certain announces that Jackson has made a new record for the fastest lap, making him heavily favored at 95.2%. Lightning calls Mater who was luckily still awake. Initially, Mater couldn't come up with any good ideas for advice until Lightning says he wishes he would talk to Doc again. Mater makes a comment that without previous thought that the car who taught Doc would figure out more about racing than him. And so, Lightning follows Cruz and gets her to come with him to Doc's hometown of Thomasville.
After arriving, Lightning and Cruz check out the dirt track where Doc used to race on. They meet Doc's crew chief Smokey, who takes them into a bar with fellow racers River Scott, Junior Moon, and Louise Nash. Lightning tells Smokey that he wishes he should've seen Doc during his racing days back when he was at his happiest. Smokey tells Lightning that he never heard from Doc after he moved to Radiator Springs, but one day he started receiving letters from him. Smokey shows Lightning a wall containing pictures of Lightning and Doc, revealing that coaching Lightning was the happiest time of his life. Smokey tells him he'll never be as fast as Storm, but he can be smarter than him, as proven by making it through the derby without any damage.
Because Lightning forgot to show up for the qualifiers, he will have to start dead last and Jackson will start first. Cruz gets a spoiler installed and black tape is used to make her look like Jackson, so that she could become his "sparring partner". The two race on the speedway, with the latter having only three laps through the entire field to catch up to her. They use other ways to train: avoiding bales of hay thrown by Guido and other obstacles, going through a tractor stampede, and driving through the trees at evening with their headlights turned off. The duo manages to do the exercises. While driving at night, the trees tear off Lightning's suit, reverting him back to his original racing colors.
Throughout this, Lightning and Cruz watch footage of Doc's racing career, and see that he used the drafting trick to gain speed and see him use the barricade to flip over another race car who tried to ram him into the wall. On their last training day, Lightning is able to pull ahead on the speedway, but Cruz still succeeds. They have to go to Florida for the race.
With Red, Lizzie, and Sheriff staying at home to watch the race on television, the rest of Lightning's friends arrive to cheer Lightning on, with Smokey as his crew chief. Lightning may have started dead last, but he does gain around. Sterling commands Cruz to leave, seeing that she has a spoiler and racing tires. Lightning finds this difficult, hearing the coversation, and wants Cruz to return. After a crash involving some of the Next-Gens, Lightning calls that Cruz will complete the race for him. Ramone, Luigi, and Guido quickly prepare her, with Mater keeping Sterling away. With the number, racing tires, and a spoiler, Cruz is accepted into the race. By Smokey, Lightning tranfers advice to her but acquires the position as her crew chief. Cruz uses all the training perfectly and manages to go near the lead. While Jackson is in the lead, he purposely falls back to second place as Cruz makes it to third. He trash-talks against her but Lightning tells Cruz that Jackson sees her as a threat or he would not be using such strategy.
The final lap starts, with Cruz right behind Jackson, who cannot shake her. Irritated, Storm rams her into the wall, but Cruz uses Doc's flipping move to escape and take the lead. Cruz wins, which delights the crowd.
Lightning sporting Doc's paint job.
Everyone congratulates her on her win, and as Lightning is about to accept his fate as Sterling's product, he finds out on the scoreboard on the jumbo-tron that he won the race alongside Cruz, which means he will finally decide when he is done. At the end of the movie, Lightning decides to hold a friendly demonstration race at Willys Butte with Cruz for all of their friends, with Lightning recieving Doc's color and number, continuing his legacy.
[]
Shorts and Television[]
Mater and the Ghostlight[]
Lightning with Mater in Mater and the Ghostlight.
Lightning appears in the short, seen at Flo's V8 Cafe alongside the rest of the residents. While talking to Sally, he sees a tow hook behind cans and begins to think it is Mater's, and hopes that he would not be planning to scare him. However, Mater then gets closer, hops out of nowhere and scares Lightning, showing that is was just one of Mater's signs. Mater teases Lightning, believing he looks like he saw the Ghostlight. However, Sheriff warns Mater to not mock the Ghostlight, and everyone listens as Sheriff tells the story about the creature, and as Sheriff finishes, everyone, except Mater, quickly leaves and says goodnight.
Mater, paranoid about the Ghostlight, notices a blue light hanging from his tow cable, thinking it was the Ghostlight, and screams and drives away. The so-called ghostlight turned out to be a prank pulled by Lightning and Guido who have placed a lantern as payback for his pranks. Lightning and his friends watch as Mater continues driving throughout the whole town until he gets exhausted and finds out what it really is. Lightning and the others then laugh, to which Mater sarcastically replies that he knew it was a joke the entire time. After Doc and Sheriff tell Mater to only be scared of his imagination and the Screamin' Banshee, everyone hurriedly heads to sleep once again.
Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales[]
Lightning appears in every episode released.
In every episode, a random thing causes Mater to tell Lightning about everything he used to be. Telling him neither of them ever happened, Lightning ends up being in all of Mater's "flashbacks" as a lad-in-distress, a daredevil, a matador, an import, a monster truck wrestler, a a police car, an astronaut, Lightning McQueen Hawk and a time traveler, and afterwards, the stories turn out to come true. This leaves Lightning usually shocked.
My Reviews of EVERY Pixar Movie[]
Lightning returns as a major character, although he doesn’t appear until the Finding Nemo review. He is the secondary tritagonist of the series (alongside Phineas). He currently has the most appearances in the show than any other Cars character. When Isabella gets sad about an enotional moment, Lightning at first gets annoyed, but then immediately realizes that he took it too far, and starts to feel her sorrow.
Isabella & Friends Watch the THX Logo[]
Lightning appears as one of the two tritagonists of the series (next to SpongeBob). He usually warns his friends (including Isabella herself) not to watch any movie which has the THX logo, whether it be on DVD or VHS. Regardless, he has made the second most appearances on the show after Isabella herself.
DVD, VHS, and Blu-ray Openings with Isabella[]
Lightning returns once again as one of the tritagonists.
He is shown eager to participate in Isabella’s VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray openings, especially for the DVD opening of Cars. It is shown in this series that he has a strong dislike towards Wario, mainly because he annoys him and his friends so much.
Cars on the Road[]
Books[]
Patch Disaster?[]
Lightning appears as the tritagonist in the book.
When he and Phineas notice a heartbroken Isabella, she tells them that she couldn't even remember her Emotional Bravery patch. Like Phineas, Lightning feels sympathetic to her, and tells her she should have known how to earn it. When Isabella tells him she never got her chance, Mike, questioned by this, brings up the pharmacist zombie attack, but Isabella tells him not to remind her of that. When Sally sees Isabella feeling sad, she comes up to Phineas and Lightning, who tell her that Isabella is upset about failing to earn her patch.
In her room, Isabella cries and reminisces about some of the patches she earned, and, after taking a look at her Emotional Bravery patch, she starts tearing up, and when Phineas wants to check on her, Lightning feels that she needs to be left alone. When Isabella dejectedly greets him and the rest of her friends, Phineas tries to remind her that she did earn the patch once, but Mitch says she didn't. Lightning warns Chick to stay away from Isabella, but Isabella realizes that Mitch is right about her unable to earn her patch. Lightning and Mike feel shocked, and realzing that Isabella blew her chance, they, Sally, and Phineas start to feel bad for her.
Later, when Mater comes to talk to Lightning, he
My Opinion of Him[]
I really like Lightning McQueen. He is my favorite movie character in history, if not of all time.
Why I Love Him[]
- Owen Wilson did an awesome job voicing him.
- His iconic catchphrase "KACHOW!"
- He is a huge icon for professional racing, an underrated sport.
- He gets major character development in Cars & Cars 3, where he goes from hotshot rookie to struggling veteran.
- He has a humble side, an example of this is when he pushes a mortally injured King across the finish line.
- He changes paint jobs in each film, which is very unique for a Pixar protagonist.
Bad Qualities[]
- He was so full of himself to the point where he got his technician's name wrong and even got his tire blown. He eventually did get better though.
[]
Physical Appearance[]
Lightning's most memorable appearance.
Lightning is a handmade racing car, built to race to be exact. He has blue eyes and primarily has bright colors in each of his paint jobs. He is a cross between a stock car and a more curvaceous Le Mans endurance racer, although the Car Finder game found on the Cars Blu-ray states that he is more of a 2006 handmade race car.
While Lightning is sponsored by Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment, he has the team's logo on his hood and the back of his sides, along with the name shown on his spoiler, which is still a ducktail. His own name is seen on both sides of his roof, and he has chrome bolt stickers on his front-sided fenders. He has a big lightning bolt on his sides that is yellow on the front, and orange in the back, and has individual black and white lines. His racing number is painted yellow, orange, and red, and is located on his roof and sides. In addition, he has several decals of the Piston Cup teams both over and under the end of the bolt shape, even stickers that resemble headlights, which he does not technically have, and are the reason why he is usually called "Stickers" by Sally. His racing number is also displayed on one of them. He even has black tires which have on them the Lightyear brand, that is a reference to Goodyear and Buzz Lightyear, and red rims. His back bumper is painted yellow, which references the yellow back bumpers of NASCAR rookies' cars.
While he helps out the residents of Radiator Springs, he gets a new paint job, which is a darker red, with a half of a long oval shape painted in wheat and with a thin bolt shape inside. His racing number, name inscription, bolt stickers, and sponsor are absent along with his spoiler, and he gets his racing tires replaced with whitewalls. However, when he gets taken to the Los Angeles International Speedway by Mack and the press, he gets his Rust-eze customization and racing tires back.
Gallery[]
Personality[]
At first, Lightning started off as cocky and arrogant, with all he has on his mind being racing and winning. He even refused to take pit stops, and caused his own pit crew to quit, and even claimed he didn't even need friends to be a winner. Because of his attitude towards others, he turned out to be rather friendless and became lonely, which is shown when his agent Harv gave him a few tickets to give his ‘friends,’ unaware that Lightning did not have any friends. However, he is also something of a perfectionist and is capable of getting something done right, even if it was not in his best interest to indulge in it in the first place as seen when he was tasked by the townsfolk to fix the road that he himself destroyed when he first arrived at their place. After a few grudging performances in his attempts to fix the road, he finally succeeds in doing so. His sponsors are Rust-eze, a small company selling soothing ointment for rusty old cars, which Lightning is aggrieved with. However, he becomes a more sympathetic, understanding, compassionate, and selfless character during his time in Radiator Springs on Route 66. He has since learned to enjoy making friends, as well as getting others' names right.
Trivia/Facts[]
- His number ID, 95, is a precise reference to the year 1995, which is the year Pixar's 1st movie, Toy Story, was released.
- He is the only character in the Cars franchise to appear in every movie and short (excluding anything from the Planes series, unless you count his cameo on a newspaper cover in Planes: Fire & Rescue) and Bugged.
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Cars: Lightning McQueen | Sally Carrera | Tow Mater | Doc Hudson | Luigi | Guido | Ramone | Flo | Chick Hicks | The King | Fillmore | Sarge | Mack | Lizzie | Red | Mia & Tia | Harv | Van | Minny | Tex Dinoco | Mrs. The King | Stanley | Jay Limo | Tuner Cars | Bessie | Tractors | Frank | Jerry Recycled Batteries | Not Chuck |
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