“Allinol must be finished for good. McQueen cannot win the last race. Lightning McQueen must be killed!”
―Zündapp ordering the death of Lightning McQueen
Professor Otto Wolfgang Zündapp, better known as Professor Z, is the central antagonist of the 2011Disney/Pixar animated film, Cars 2. He was promoted to be the leader of the Lemons, but it is eventually revealed that he is actually Miles Axlerod's second-in-command henchman.
Professor Z, aka "The Professor," is an internationally-wanted weapons designer in a small, sophisticated German package. He is a brilliant but mad monocle-wearing scientist who is plotting to sabotage the World Grand Prix. Though his true motive is unclear, Professor Z is willing to do whatever it takes to eliminate all obstacles and keep the "project" on schedule.[1]
Development[]
Originally, Professor Z was not added into the story of Cars 2, nor was Axlerod, as the filmmakers were supposed to use a Russian character named Zil. Zil would have been the lemons' leader, with the same evil plan of forcing the world to put alternative energy out of use. However, the filmmakers decided not to use the character, and they used Professor Z and Axlerod instead.
Personality[]
Professor Z is considered by others to be evil, greedy, ruthless, devious, intelligent, and mad. Occasionally, he speaks German, such as "Wunderbar", meaning "marvelous", "terrific" or "wonderful"; and "Guten Tag", meaning "Good day." He is also notably somewhat of a genius, as he fully knows about what the lemons' electromagnetic pulse generator can do. Like the other lemons, Z is deemed evil for trying to make the world turn against clean energy, as well as aiming to kill anyone who knows about - or unknowingly does something against - the lemons' plot.
Physical appearance[]
Professor Z is painted both dark and light green. The dark green shade covers the middle of his sides, beneath his windows, and goes down to his bumper at the front. The light green shade covers the rest of his body, including beneath the dark green shade on his sides. He has gray eyes and wears a monocle over his left eye. He also has a broken roof rack, which represents a comb-over. He is modeled after a 1957 Zündapp Janus, which is a very small car that has passengers in the back seats facing the opposite direction. His license plate reads "BAD GA 58", which includes most of the letters spelling "bad guy"; and the year 1958, which is the second and final year when the Zündapp Janus was built. German license plate rules state that the first 1-3-letter abbreviation represents the city where the car registered. "BAD" is assigned to his hometown, Baden-Baden.
Professor Z is introduced on one of the oil rigs that is owned by a group of lemons. He and the lemons have been secretly making a weapon that is disguised as a television camera, planning to sabotage Miles Axlerod's racing competition, the World Grand Prix. Before the weapon is loaded, Professor Z takes one last check, so as to make sure it is secured correctly for the lemons' voyage. Just then, Grem and Acer show him the remains of secret agent Leland Turbo, who they had found hiding on the oil rig. Moments later, a shadow is cast on the ground, and Professor Z looks up to see Finn McMissile, who had secretly been watching them the whole time. Immediately, Professor Z orders the thugs to kill him. It was not an easy fight for them, but Grem, Acer, and Professor Z soon believe that they have killed Finn, not knowing that he had actually faked his death.
Professor Z explaining to Rod "Torque" Redline about the lemons' plan to sabotage the World Grand Prix.
Soon, Professor Z and the lemons make their trip to Tokyo, to watch Axlerod on stage with the press in the National Art Center. During the World Grand Prix opening ceremony, the lemons find out that an American secret agent named Rod "Torque" Redline had been using a disguise while he was with Professor Z back on the oil rigs, and take him to their lair. At this point, Professor Z reveals to Rod that the lemons' weapon is an electromagnetic pulse emitter, which is designed to make Axlerod's unique fuel, Allinol, explode when coming into contact with the electromagnetic waves. He further explains that the lemons' plan is to use it on the World Grand Prix racers while they are taking part in each of the races. He then proceeds to demonstrate the EMP's power to rod first hand as Grem uses the weapon to begin torturing him, while Acer demands to know if Rod had given anyone a device with a photo of someone known to be their mastermind. Professor Z is able to catch Rod's reaction when Acer demands to know if Mater has the device, and orders the lemons to find and kill Mater. Z then kills Rod himself by turning the EMP up to its full power.
Professor Z giving out a toast to putting alternative fuel out of use.
After the first race ends, Professor Z and the lemons travel all the way to Porto Corsa to gather up for a secret meeting in the town's casino. Appearing on multiple televisions, the professor and the lemons listen to the mystery mastermind, who reminds them about when they were always laughed at, and mentions to them about planning to pay the world back by making several of the World Grand Prix racers crash as a result of their fuel exploding from coming into contact with the lemons' electromagnetic pulse emitter. This is to make the whole world go against alternative fuel and purchase regular oil, in which they will be forced to buy the oil from the lemons thanks to their huge oil reserve, so that the lemons will have wealth and power. Meanwhile, Grem and Acer are using the EMP generator to make a huge pile-up on the race track, resulting in Axlerod announcing to the press that the last race in London will not be run on allinol. Cheering for this, Professor Z and the lemons celebrate for their future. However, this is soon stopped when they hear one of the racers, Lightning McQueen, confirming that he will use allinol in the last race. With a phone call from the mastermind, Professor Z makes a plan to have McQueen killed in the last race. At that moment, they all spot Mater after his Ivan disguise turns off, and get ready to shoot at him. Mater is able to hold them off with his own guns that are activated by voice command, and escapes the casino to try and warn McQueen. However, Professor Z and the lemons manage to capture him, along with Finn and Holley Shiftwell, before he can reach McQueen.
Angry that the camera didn't work on McQueen and that Mater is trying to save him, Professor Z attempts to detonate a bomb.
Professor Z and the lemons then travel to London to get ready for their plan, where they have Mater, Finn and Holley tied to the gears of Big Bentley. As the race begins, Professor Z, J. Curby Gremlin, Tubbs Pacer, Victor Hugo and Vladimir Trunkov all watch from inside a glass-fronted building, feeling excited as Grem and Acer prepare to kill McQueen with the electromagnetic pulse emitter on full power. However, McQueen does not explode, due to the fact that Sarge had switched the allinol in McQueen's fuel tank with Fillmore's organic fuel prior to the race. Unsure of why there was no explosion, Professor Z informs Grem and Acer that they must go to their back-up plan. Grem and Acer mention to Mater that the back-up plan is to have a bomb inside McQueen's pit explode just when he will make a pit stop. Mater is able to get free and rush to the pits to warn his friends, but Finn and Holley then radio him that the lemons have actually put the bomb in his air filter. At that moment, McQueen comes into the pits, feeling happy to see Mater again, just as Professor Z prepares to detonate the bomb. However, Mater tries to save his best friend by driving away, leaving Professor Z unimpressed. Moments later, Professor Z sees his chance once again when McQueen goes after Mater and grabs onto him. Professor Z then presses the detonate button, but sees on the remote that the bomb is out of range, as Mater has activated his rockets, allowing him to go fast enough to get out of the detonator's range. Enraged, Professor Z repeatedly presses the detonate button, but to no avail. Just then, he notices Holley outside the window threatening to shoot at him, causing him to flee, while the lemon families decide that they have to go after Mater and McQueen.
Trying to get away, Professor Z races through London and to the River Thames to get picked up by a battleship named Tony Trihull, just as Finn arrives and attaches his grappling hooks to the professor. However, as Finn tries to hold back, Professor Z gets the upper hand when Tony uses his magnet to pull the scientist toward him. Eventually, Finn defeats Tony by releasing small explosives that stick to the magnet, killing him and extinguishing the professor's hope of escape. Professor Z is then tied up and taken to a spot where Holley, Mater and McQueen are located. Seeing McQueen, Z demanded to know why his death ray didn't kill him, as the latter was shocked to hear the mention of a death ray. Finn then tells Z to turn off the bomb stuck on Mater. Z tells the truth evily with arrogance and even pretends to be nice, he mentions that the bomb is voice-activated, but when Mater tries to shut it off he fails. He then mentions that it can only be turned off by the one who had turned it on.
Holley Orders him to turn it off, he obliges but it fails as well and he reveals that he did not activate it, and after arrogantly and jokingly asking everyone else if they want to try and deactivate, he gets violently tased by Holley, who says that he is getting on nerves since she had enough of him, He soon gets arrested along with the lemon families, while Mater is able to figure out that the lemons' mastermind is Axlerod, who also gets arrested after he is revealed to be the one who activated the bomb, Zündapp, Axlerod and the rest of the lemons are arrested and peace is restored to London,United Kingdom.
Video games[]
Cars 2: The Video Game[]
In Cars 2: The Video Game, Professor Z is the primary antagonist of the Hunter missions. While waves of henchman are sent to attack the player, Zündapp watches from his helicopter. On rare occasions, Professor Z's helicopter will swoop down while the Professor attempts to attack the player. A large bonus is awarded if the player manages to hit him.
Additionally, Professor Z is an unlockable playable character, available once the "Capitol View" crest is obtained. He is a light character, and focuses on speed rather than power. An alternate version of Zündapp called "Young Professor Z" can be also be unlocked by earning the "Master Agent" crest. Both versions of Professor Z have the same identical stats.
Professor Z in Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure.
In Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure, Professor Z appears on pictures that the player has to hit to get extra points when a new goal is unlocked in the first Cars level.
In the second level, he is heard talking as he tries to stop the player and Holley Shiftwell from deactivating the bomb on Francesco Bernoulli. He makes a physical appearance in the third level. He is in the helicopter with a convoy of trucks full of bombs. Throughout the level, he tries to stop Finn McMissile and the player from finding out where the bombs are being taken. In the ending cutscene, he shoots a missile at the player while in midair, but the player dodges the missile and pushes Professor Z out of the helicopter before the missile hits the helicopter. Finn asks Professor Z if everyone is all right in there, only that he replies saying no thanks due to Finn, who then says, "No thanks required, mate. All in a day's work." When the level is completed with the player seeing their score and what they unlocked, Professor Z is seen with a parking boot, as to prevent him getting away.
Gallery[]
Disney Fanon Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Professor Zündapp.
Trivia[]
He is portrayed by a 1957 Zündapp Janus, a German microcar known for the detail of having two doors one on the front one on the rear, with four seats in couples oriented one (the driver's) to the front and one to the rear, both couples reclinable on the central engine to sleep.
Young Professor Z.
Along with Grem, Acer, Miles Axlerod, and Victor Hugo, Professor Z is playable in Cars 2: The Video Game, even though they are villains. However, it could be that, along with the tracks, they are part of the simulation, or they reformed. He can be seen in voice on Attack mode.
Alongside this, a younger version of Professor Z is also playable in the game.
Professor Z for some reason is always referred by his real name only by Finn McMissile. However, McMissile refers to him as "Professor Z" in the cutscene of the start of Cars 2: The Video Game. And although McMissile and his voice actor Michael Caine are British, McMissile pronounces the "Z" in Zündapp's name the American way ("Z" in American is pronounced "zee" while in Britain is pronounced "zaid"). However, it could be that the "Z" in his name is always pronounced "zee" even in Britain (when referring to Professor Z) in that cutscene. It could also be that all people pronounce the "Z" in his name the American way. Also, although Professor Z pronounces "missile" in the British way (miss-i-all), he pronounces "can't" in the American way.
His license plate is BAD GA 58, which appears to be a pun on "bad guy". The 58 is one of the years the Zündapp Janus was made (1957-1958). Per the German license plate rules, the first 1-3-letter abbreviation represents the city where the car was registered. "BAD" is assigned to Professor Z's hometown, Baden-Baden.
When he opened the door to the lemons' meeting, he said "Guten Tag." Guten Tag is German for "Good day."
Also, another German word he said is "Wunderbar" when he is informed by Grem that Finn McMissile is "dead". Wunderbar is a German word for "marvelous", "terrific" or "wonderful".
His voice actor Thomas Kretschmann is German himself like his character.
Professor Z is the one of the two Cars 2 characters to have the same voice actor in multiple versions of the movie, as Thomas Kretschmann voiced Professor Z in both the English and German dubs of the movie.
Although he is the secondary villain, he is more evil than Axlerod because he was willing to sabotage the World Grand Prix not just by making the world turn against alternative fuel and rely on oil, but also as well as murdering Rod Redline. Additionally, he was also completely willing to kill Mater, Lightning McQueen, and Finn McMissile in order to keep his plan in full swing. Furthermore, he and Axlerod show no known care for each other - and no known care for anyone but themselves. Z also is the one who drives the plot and is far more dangerous than Axlerod. This makes Professor Z one of the darkest Pixar villains.
Mater's Tall Tales:Rescue Squad Mater • Mater the Greater • El Materdor • Tokyo Mater • Unidentified Flying Mater • Monster Truck Mater • Heavy Metal Mater • Moon Mater • Mater Private Eye • Air Mater • Time Travel Mater Tales From Radiator Springs:Hiccups • Bugged • Spinning • The Radiator Springs 500½ Cars on the Road:Dino Park • Lights Out • Salt Fever • The Legend • Show Time • Trucks • B-Movie • Road Rumblers • Gettin' Hitched Canceled Episodes:To Protect and Serve
Cars 2:You Might Think • Polyrhythm • Mon Cœur Fait Vroum (My Heart Goes Vroom) • Collision of Worlds • Nobody's Fool Cars 3:Run That Race • King's Highway • Glory Days • Ride Cars on the Road:Cars on the Road • TRUCKS Others:Free Ride • Welcome to Radiator Springs • Radiator Rock • Mambo Italiano • Stop in the Name of Love • Riding in My Car (Car Car Song) • Low Rider (Espanol Fantasma Mix) • Junkyard Jamboree • Big Bulldozer • Tow Mater (The One You Want to Call) • Mater's Square Dance • Let's Go Driving • This is Tokyo • Tokyo
Radiator Springs • Luigi's Casa Della Tires • Ramone's House of Body Art • Cozy Cone Motel • Fillmore's Taste-In • Flo's V8 Café • Radiator Springs Curios • Radiator Springs Drive-In Theatre • Wheel Well Motel • London, England • Paris, France • Porto Corsa • Tokyo • California • Los Angeles International Speedway • Motor Speedway of the South • Ornament Valley • Big Ben • Top Down Truckstop • Big Bentley • Hollywood • U.S. Route 66
Video Games:Disney Villains Challenge • Disney's Villains' Revenge • Disney Villains Cursed Café Villains:Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen • The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince • Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch • Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy • Mother Knows Best: A Tale of the Old Witch • The Odd Sisters: A Tale of the Three Witches • Evil Thing: A Tale of That Devil Woman • Cold Hearted • Never Never • Fire and Fate • Kill the Beast • Heartbroken Disney Chills:Part of Your Nightmare • Fiends on the Other Side • Second Star to the Fright • Be Careful What You Wish Fur • Liar, Liar, Head on Fire • Once Upon a Scream • The Circle of Ter-ROAR
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