Chick Hicks

Chick Hicks (also known as Thunder) is the main antagonist of Pixar's 7th full-length animated feature film, Cars, and a minor character in Pixar's 18th full-length animated feature film, Cars 3. He is a green race car who appears as the rival of Lighting McQueen.

In Cars, he was voiced by the Academy Award nominated actor, Michael Keaton (who later voiced Ken in Toy Story 3). In Cars 3, he was voiced by the Pixar employee, Bob Peterson, who also voiced Roz in the Monsters Inc. films, Mr. Ray in the Finding Nemo films, and Dug and Alpha in Up.

Personality
Although highly talented and gifted at racing (he would not have maintained #2 spot as long as he had if he wasn't), Chick Hicks is extremely sarcastic, arrogant, conniving, self-centered, and manipulative on himself and winning, like McQueen himself. However, theses traits are more exaggerated in Chick Hicks, and often make him more argumentative, ridiculous, and obnoxious. Chick always brags about winning, and he is also sarcastic, unpleasant, treacherous, and intimidating. Having lived all of his career in the shadow of The King has made him bitter and devoid of any sense of fair-play.

Chick Hicks is a racing veteran with a chip on his shoulder, a ruthless and aggressive competitor who has cheated his way into more second-place finishes than any other car. He has 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.

Cars
In the Dinoco 400, Chick Hicks and his rival The King tie with 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 the fact to that thunder always comes "after" lightning, much to Chick's intense annoyance.

When Lightning McQueen disappears when McQueen's driver Mack arrives at the Los Angeles International Speedway without him, Hicks befriends the women from Dinoco and steals some of McQueen's fans. When McQueen is found in Radiator Springs, Hicks is revealed to have ripped off one of McQueen's signature poses and even finds his nickname "Thunder" to be quite commercially appealing.

At the final Piston Cup Race, McQueen finds himself unable to maintain focus, his mind slipping back to his time in Radiator Springs, allowing Chick the advantage. Fortunately, Doc Hudson arrives as McQueen's new crew chief and brings in several residents of Radiator Springs to help as McQueen's new pit crew. This allows McQueen to properly focus on the race and avert Chick's dirty moves before the final lap on the fourth turn, allowing McQueen to finally take the lead.

Just as McQueen is about to win the Piston Cup, Hicks tries to catch up and intentionally sideswipes The King as he refuses to come in last place behind him again, making The King spin out of control and crash. When Lightning sees what has happened to The King, he stops just before the finish line and goes back to help The King finish his last race. Although this does allow Chick to win the Piston Cup, the audience cheers Lightning for his sportsmanship and turns on Chick by booing him off the stage from harming the king. Outraged, Chick is forced to make a quick getaway with his trophy in disgrace, which Tex Dinoco offers to Lightning instead.

Cars 3
In Cars 3, Chick has since retired from racing and is now an announcer for RSN and hosts his own TV show, Chick Picks, where he introduces Jackson Storm along with special guest Natalie Certain. When Storm wins the Gears and Glory 450 at the Heartland Motor Speedway, Chick accompanies him on the winners 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. He is not seen again afterwards.

Trivia

 * 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.
 * On Chick Hicks' decals, He has sponsors that didn't sponsor racers in Cars, And that includes: Sludgee, YUM, Marshy-Marshmallows, Texas Tea, Motor Oil, E, Motor Oil 3000 and Varoom.
 * 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.. Additionally, both were voiced by Mads Mikkelsen in the Danish dub, who also played Le Chiffre in Casino Royale.
 * Chick is a 1979 Shyster Cremlin, a car that does not exist. It is designed after a 1987 Buick Grand National.
 * Chick shares some similarities with Wario from the Super Mario Bros. series, as both have similar mustaches and personalities. Also Chick acts as a rival to McQueen as the way as Wario is a rival to Mario.
 * 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 didn't appear in Cars 2, he can be obtainable 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 speed."
 * Chick's primary sponsor is the Hostile Takeover Bank (htB).
 * Chick Hicks' defeat is very similar to Makunga from Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa.
 * He was qualified 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.