Lightning McQueen

Articles About Lightning Mcqueen
Main Series	Movie - Cars Toon
Games	Video Game
Non-Canon	Disney Infinity

“

Speed. I am speed.

„

Life is a highway

Background

Lightning McQueen is the main character of the Disney•Pixar Cars franchise. He is a famous race car who learns there is more to life than just racing and winning following a brief but life-changing stay in the remote town of Radiator Springs he was stranded in after getting lost on the way to California.

This dropdown contains the synopsis of Lighting's story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!

Cars Lightning is running in the race to win the Piston Cup, with the incentive that the winner would be the replacement for Dinoco's old mascot, Strip Weathers, who was retiring. However, during the race, he denies tire changes from his pit crew, requesting only gas. But about 100 yards from his Piston Cup, his back tires blow out. Rather than winning the race, he barely manages a tie with Strip Weathers and Chick Hicks. His pit crew abandon him after he tells "Not Chuck", one of his members, to get out of the camera shot. Strip Weathers (also known as "The King") admonishes him for his overconfidence and lack of teamwork, but Lightning does not listen because he is lost in thought about the joys of working for Dinoco. Afterwards, he is forced to go into his sponsor Rust-eze’s (a company that sells a rust-cleaning product) tent that is full of rusty old cars, which Lightning hates. He then has a talk with his agent Harv, who explains how he got tickets for Lightning to give to his friends, but Lightning is unable to respond to this due to the fact that he has no friends. Now on his way to the tie-breaker race in Los Angeles, Lightning orders his driver Mack to drive all night, but he inevitably falls asleep. Lightning ends up lost in a little ghost-town called Radiator Springs and after tearing up their main road, he is sentenced to community service to repair the road. While he is in town, he meets a selection of cars, most notably being Doc Hudson and Sally Carrera. Although at first rude to Doc, McQueen does find out his past as a Hudson Hornet who won 3 Piston Cups until a devastating crash put him out of season which caused him to be replaced by a rookie. With Sally, the two take a drive and McQueen begins to learn about Radiator Springs past and how it used to become a landmark until the interstate highways took over. As a result, he soon comes to realize how arrogant and selfish he has been and that there is more to racing than just winning and what people in the real world have gone through in their lives. He also makes friends with every car in town, especially Mater, a rusty tow truck who chooses him as his best friend, even going Tractor Tipping with him and showing his signature backwards move. At the end of the film, Lightning, Chick Hicks, and The King vie for the Piston Cup in a tiebreaker race in Los Angeles. During the race, he thinks about his new friends which cause him to spin out off the track, but regains confidence when he finds out that Mater, Luigi, Guido, Fillmore, Sarge, along with Doc Hudson who has acted as McQueen's new crew chief arrived to support him. McQueen even learned new tricks in the race when Chick Hicks plays dirty such as driving backwards and doing Doc Hudson's signature move when he goes out on the grass once more. Lightning is about to win the race by several car lengths when The King is wrecked badly by Hicks. Lightning is reminded of Doc Hudson's horrible crash that brought an end to his career and unable to bear the thought of something similar happening again, he abruptly skids to a stop just in front of the finish line, allowing Chick to win the title. Humbly accepting his loss, Lightning heads back down the track to save The King and help him across the finish line to give him a respectable finish for his final race, coming in third place, a best finish for him much to the crowd's amazement. Impressed by his good sportsmanship, Dinoco offers the contract to be their mascot to Lightning rather than the now unpopular Chick Hicks, but Lightning turns it down, saying he needs to complete his contract with Rust-eze, the company who gave him his big break, first. He then sets up headquarters in Radiator Springs, drawing attention back to the little town and making it popular again and simultaneously returning it to the map. In the process, Route 66 becomes a historical tourist attraction. Cars 2 In the second film, Lightning returns, but as the deuteragonist. After he won his fourth Piston Cup, Lightning comes back to Radiator Springs, where the townsfolk are happy to see him return, including Mater. While Lightning is spending time at the Wheel Well Motel with Sally, Mater makes a call to the Mel Dorado Show when it features Miles Axlerod, who is aiming to promote a fuel called Allinol for improving clean energy by hosting the World Grand Prix. Lightning intervenes and accepts the deal to be one of the racers, along with bringing Mater along following advice from Sally. Getting a new paint job for the World Grand Prix, Lightning travels to Tokyo with Mater, Luigi, Guido, Fillmore, and Sarge in time for the opening ceremony. On the journey, Lightning and Mater are enjoying their time together: watching a game show on their plane's television, amazed by Tokyo's neon signs, and attending a karate show. At the opening ceremony, Lightning meets up with fellow racers Lewis Hamilton and Jeff Gorvette, but he soon notices that Mater has been acting the same since living in Radiator Springs, and tries to explain that he should change his behavior so to get used to all the different things outside Radiator Springs. However, Mater does not completely understand, deciding to help Lightning by introducing him to Italian racer Francesco Bernoulli. Although reluctant by this, Lightning is forced to mention to Francesco that it is an honor for them to meet. They both agree to have a toast, but both of them make the same dedication of their own win in the initial race to Sally. Additionally, Lightning turns against Francesco, determined to beat him in the race the following day. To make matters worse, Lightning's interview with Axlerod in front of the press is disrupted by Mater rushing to the fountain after taking a huge amount of wasabi. McQueen gets even more worried when he sees what appears to be Mater leaking oil in public (which is actually Miles who did it), and orders him to go and sort himself out right away. Moments before the first race begins, Lightning makes his usual preparations, closing his eyes and talking to himself about keeping focus, only for Francesco to immediately mock him by making the same preparations. Annoyed, Lightning once again comments about his goal to beat Francesco. As the race begins, Lightning makes his way up the field, getting up to second place and behind Francesco. However, Lightning is not able to get past Francesco until they come up to the dirt section, where Mater, who is working as Lightning's crew chief, gives him the advice of using the same trick Doc had taught him. With Francesco struggling to drive on the dirt, Lightning makes an easy pass at the following chicane and takes the lead. However, drama occurs as a couple of the racecars flame out, leaving fans wondering if Allinol is responsible for the accidents. Next, Lightning begins hearing random words from Mater through his team radio, unaware that Mater is actually talking to someone else who tampered with his radio, even asking her if she likes flowers. Still being confused by Mater's words, Lightning moves to the outside of the loop up to Rainbow Bridge, enabling Francesco to snatch the lead. Shocked by what happened, Lightning goes after Francesco and goes side-by-side with him as they head towards the finish line. However, Francesco is able to cross the finish line first, while Lightning finishes second. Feeling dissatisfied, Lightning is left wondering why this all happened, as Francesco brags during the podium interview about making a move whenever someone makes a mistake. Just then, Lightning notices Mater driving to the pits, and when no one is looking, he sneaks out of the podium interview and confronts Mater in their pit, asking him why he was talking nonsense throughout the race. Mater explains that he had been away from the track because he heard a woman's voice talking to him out of nowhere and directing him through the streets, where he had seen a couple of cars involved in a fight and using flame-throwers. Lightning is still enraged and doesn't believe those words, reprimanding Mater for his actions, telling him that it is all his fault for making him lose the race and that he should not have brought him along so he could spend time "imagining" a girlfriend and watching people using flame-throwers in fights. Realizing what Lightning meant, Mater tries to make up by suggesting to talk to someone about what happened and that he can help, but Lightning, still too angry, berates Mater, declaring that he does not need, rather want any help from him at all, and he storms off, leaving Mater heartbroken and guilty for what he has done. The next day, Lightning finds a note from Mater saying that he has decided to head back home following the confrontation, not wanting to be responsible ever again for making him losing any future races. However, Lightning becomes completely ashamed of himself, as he did not mean for Mater to leave. Despite being relieved that he would know Mater would be safe being in Radiator Springs, Lightning still regrets his outburst, thinking that he should not 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 proud to be reunited with Uncle and Mama Topolino. The whole village hosts a celebration of Luigi and Guido's return, but Uncle Topolino begins to notice how down Lightning is. Having been told the whole thing by Luigi, Uncle Topolino explains to Lightning that everyone, even best friends, get into fights, 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 wondering if Allinol is safe, leading to Axlerod telling them that the fuel has been examined and is proven to be safe, leaving the second race to remain, taking place in Porto Corsa. However, Team Lightning McQueen begin to notice that Lightning feels sad. Fillmore advises him not to worry about his fuel, but Lightning admits that he is actually missing Mater. Furthermore, he gets insulted by Francesco saying that he is glad to be at home with his mother and fans. As the race goes ahead, Francesco soars into the lead as Lightning follows, trying to make numerous moves such as at the town's hairpin. On the final lap, Lightning temporarily leads, but as they approach the finish line, he and Francesco begin fighting for the lead, ending with Lightning crossing the finish line just ahead of Francesco. With this, Lightning celebrates his victory, but it immediately ends as numerous ambulances rush past, making Lightning and Francesco notice on the television screen that the other racecars have crashed out as a result of their fuel blowing up once again. This leads to everyone now completely concerned about its safety, which makes Axlerod decide that the last race in London will still be held, but no longer to be run on Allinol. Lightning, however, feels that it is impossible for something like that to occur, furthermore declaring that he will be using allinol for the final race. Soon, as a press liaison is leading him to the press, Lightning starts to hear Mater's voice from somewhere in the crowd. Taking another look, he sees a flash of Mater's roof in the distance, while the photographers try to get his attention. Trying to get closer, Lightning moves through the crowd, as the press liaison calls out to come back. However, as all the photographers finally move out of the way, Lightning instead finds a blue tow truck known as Ivan, saying that it was him who called out. As the press liaison takes him away, Lightning starts to get confused, pretty sure that he saw and heard Mater in the crowd. Before heading to London, Lightning contacts Radiator Springs so to talk to Mater, but he finds out that Mater had not been there at all. As he comes to his pit stall, he finds Sally and the rest of his friends present, having heard about what happened. While Sarge leaves with Sheriff to search for Mater, the rest of the townsfolk stay behind to assist Lightning in the race. However, still feeling concerned about Mater, Lightning is unsure about if he can keep his focus on the race, but Axlerod comes to thank him for his decision to use Allinol, encouraging him to prove to the world that they had been wrong about it being unsafe. Plus, Sally advises him to do the race for Mater. As the race begins, Francesco gets into the lead as they head up to the Victoria Memorial, but after they go through Admiralty Arch, Lightning snatches the lead. As Lightning soon comes in for his pit stop, he is glad to find Mater already there. However, in a panic, Mater drives onto the racetrack, ordering Lightning to keep away from him. Misunderstanding, Lightning chases after Mater, trying to tell him that what he said before no longer matters. Still panicking, Mater yells out that "he's the bomb", making Lightning believe that he is saying he is excellent. Again, Mater yells out to keep away, but Lightning refuses to listen, not wanting to lose Mater again, and grabs onto his tow hook, which causes Mater to activate a pair of rocket jets, making the two friends zoom along the track's straight, past a shocked Francesco, and go off the circuit at the following corner, zooming through the streets of London. However, Lightning declines Mater's request to let go, still not understanding what is going on. As the two friends finally screech to a halt, British secret agents Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell arrive, convincing Lightning that some thugs had planted a bomb on Mater so that they could try and kill them both, all because of Lightning's decision to use Allinol in the race. Lightning is left wondering who would do that to Mater, to which Finn brings in a captive Professor Zündapp, who angrily questions Lightning about why his electromagnetic pulse generator didn't kill him. Lightning is now left completely shocked by the fact that Professor Z had a death ray ready for him. Finn demands answers from Zündapp about how to deactivate the bomb, and as the bomb begins to tick, Professor Z reveals that the only way to turn it off is to get a voice command from the person who turned it on in the first place and that person is not him and he is shocked unconscious. To make matters worse, the thugs, who reveal themselves as lemons, block any chance of Lightning, Mater, Finn, and Holley escaping, to make sure the bomb goes off as Lightning notes they are the ones who want him dead which they confirm but states its not personal. Luckily, everyone from Radiator Springs show up and helps them defeat the criminals. As the remaining lemons try to flee the area, Sarge appears with the British military who presumably take the villains into custody. With the lemons arrested, everyone tries to figure out a way to get rid of the bomb. Thinking of only one option, Guido makes an attempt to unfasten the bolts, but his wheel gun would not fit. Then, Mater figures out who had put the bomb on, but he does not reveal it straight away, worried that no one will believe him, but Lightning encourages him, telling him to just be his regular self and that anyone not believing him should instead change themselves, not Mater himself, and the two reconcile. With no time to lose, Mater grabs Lightning and heads off to Buckingham Palace, where Miles Axlerod is waiting with the Queen of England. With the Queen's bodyguards preventing Mater from getting any closer, Mater explains to them, Lightning, Finn and Holley that Miles Axlerod is the one who activated the bomb, remembering that the bomb is attached with the same bolts used on an old engine shown on a photo that Finn and Holley had got, also that old engines contain oil. Miles Axlerod, however, tries to tell everyone that none of this is true, but Mater keeps on talking, saying that Miles Axlerod is the leader of Professor Z and the lemons, trying to make the world dismiss alternative fuel and buy regular oil from a secret oil reserve, because they had been laughed at for their entire lives. As the bomb gets closer to detonation, everyone braces themselves, while Axlerod tries to take Mater's comments as lies, but as he is encountered by Mater, he is forced to make a voice command, which successfully turns off the bomb, and proves that Mater was right about everything. To congratulate his bravery, the Queen makes Mater a knight, which also makes him as popular as his best friend Lightning. As they arrive back in Radiator Springs, Mater tells Lightning and their friends about how he met Finn and Holley and helped them to learn information about Professor Z and the lemons. Just then, Finn and Holley arrive, paying Mater and his friends a visit. Lightning is also given the time to ask how come he didn't explode when the lemons were using their EMP emitter on him in London, but Finn and Holley point out that they also do not know the reason, but found out that Allinol was just gasoline upgraded by Axlerod to blow up when coming into contact with an electromagnetic pulse. Lightning then begins 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. Fillmore states that before the race, Lightning's supply was replaced by his own organic fuel, but that Sarge actually did it, not Fillmore. Later, Lightning invites all of the World Grand Prix racers to compete in Radiator Springs' unofficial Grand Prix, as a way to treat them to a great race, even knowing that thanks to the fate of the World Grand Prix, still no one knows who is the fastest in the world. Before lining up on the grid, Lightning has Francesco meet Sally, who is honored by Francesco's comment about Lightning being very lucky to be racing, especially when racing against his rivals. Not long 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 having grins as they battle for the lead, while the other racers are enjoying it. Not long after, Mater joins in, having been given his rocket jets by Finn and Holley, and he and Lightning happily race each other to the end of the Radiator Springs Grand Prix, as Finn and Holley leave for their next mission. Cars 3 Lightning returns in Cars 3 for the second time as the protagonist. In the third film, Lightning has now won a total of seven Piston Cups, and has been racing in the Piston Cup for quite a lot of seasons, winning Piston Cup races alongside racers like Cal Weathers and Bobby Swift, who he has a good friendship and friendly, competitive rivalry with. However, during mid-season, a next-generation racer named Jackson Storm begins to win races, while many veteran racers, including Cal and Bobby, getting replaced by new racers throughout the season when they fail to win any more races. At the same time, Lightning also struggles to finish ahead of Jackson Storm. In most races like the Data Shift 400 he got 2nd place, in the Dinoco Light 350 he got 2nd and in the Gears and Glotry 450 he got 4th place. At the race at the Los Angeles International Speedway, when the two rivals pit, Guido changes Lightning's tires in time for him to come out of the pits and take the lead, but Jackson Storm shortly catches up to Lightning and retakes the lead, building up a long gap, while two other racers (Danny Swervez and Chase Racelott) easily overtake Lightning. In shock, Lightning tries to catch up by pushing as hard as he can, but both of his rear tires burn out and he loses control and suffers a terrible crash. Four months later, Lightning seeks help from new trainer Cruz Ramirez to learn some new tricks for challenging Jackson Storm in the Florida 500. In addition, Lightning is forced to make a wager with new Rust-eze owner Sterling: if he loses the Florida 500, he'll have to give up his racing career forever in favor of a spokesman for his brand. Unfortunately, Lightning does not improve his speed. Instead, he spends most of the day helping Cruz get used to a sandy coastline outside the training center. Later, they go to a dirt track for inspiration, but accidentally compete in a demolition derby. Cruz wins the derby, and Lightning gets humiliated on national television. Lightning gets furious at Cruz for wasting his time and breaks her trophy. Cruz later reveals that she wanted to become a racer. Later, Lightning is aware of Storm's new top speed record, even seeing his old rival turned announcer Chick Hicks berating McQueen's experience at Thunder Hollow and also realizing that his career might be over due to being ranked 95 percent on television. Disappointed, he calls Mater for advice. Mater suggests that he search for Smokey, Doc's old mentor. McQueen then begins to apologize to Cruz for his rudeness to her. Lightning and Cruz do so and find Smokey and some of Doc's old friends. Smokey tells Lightning that he is not the racer he once was and teaches Lightning and Cruz ways to outsmart Storm, knowing that even though he can't beat Storm, he can be smarter than him. During the Florida 500, Lightning starts the race first and begins outmaneuvering next-gen racers to gain advantage. But after finding out that Sterling is sending Cruz back to the training center, and realizing that she has always wanted to become a racer, he decides to substitute Cruz into the race. Cruz then remembers advice both Smokey and Lightning gave her and finally manages to come into second place, behind Jackson Storm. Jackson Storm tries to ram Cruz against a wall, but Cruz flips over him and wins the race, though she and Lightning are credited with the victory, thus he wins the bet with Sterling and decides to continue racing, but before that, he has something he wanted to do first. Later, back at Radiator Springs, Lightning gets a new paint job honoring Doc Hudson, and races Cruz around Willy's Butte. During the credits, Lightning spends the rest of the season as Cruz's crew chief, and the two enjoy their time together as a team.

General Information

Name: Lightning Mcqueen

Origin: Cars

Sex: Male

Age: 40 years old

Classification: Anthropomorphic Car, Piston Cup Racer

Status: Alive

Alignment: Initially Chaotic Neutral (At first, Lightning was self-centered and overconfident claiming himself to be a one-man show which resulted in his pitstop crew quitting their job. He is so full of himself to the point where he claims he does not need any friends and cannot even get anyone's names right.) Eventually Neutral Good by the end of the first movie (During his time in Radiator Springs, Lightning grew to become a more sympathetic, understanding, and selfless character even accepting defeat by forfeiting the Piston Cup to help Strip Weathers finish his last race)

Codex Statistics

Tier: 9-B

Cardinality: Finite

Dimensionality: 3-D

Attack Potency: Wall level (His max speed makes him reach this level of kinetic energy)

Durability: Wall level

Striking Strength: Wall Class

Lifting Strength: At least Class 5 (Can drag big Bessie)

Travel Speed: Superhuman (Lighting's top speed is 200 mph)

Attack Speed: Superhuman

Reaction Speed: Superhuman

Stamina: Peak Human (Can drive 200 laps and he's a professional racer)

Range: Standard Melee

Intelligence: Above Average Intelligence (Lighting is an extremely talended racer along with becoming Cruz Ramirez's mentor)

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Powers and Techniques

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Vehicular Physiology, Minor Light Manipulation (Via his headlights), Non-Standard Interaction (Lightning can physically interact with ghosts)

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Equipment

Nothing Notable

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Other

Standard Tactics: Lightning has never fought before, but he would likely try to run his opponent over.

Weaknesses: Lighting is arrogant, selfish, and conceited (He however overcame these faults later on), he can run out of gas (However this does not leave him unable to act simply unable to drive) and his wheels can pop leaving him nearly incapable of movement if it were to happen.

Note: Lighting does not get Inorganic Physiology due to it being shown he has organs such as a tongue