| “ | It's Finn McMissile! He's seen the camera! Kill him! | „ |
| ~ Professor Zündapp ordering his minions to kill his arch-nemesis, Finn McMissile. |
| “ | (To Axlerod) Yes, sir, we believe the infiltrator has passed along sensitive information. I will take care of it before any damage can be done. (To the Lemons) The project is still on schedule. You will find the second agent, and kill him. | „ |
| ~ Professor Zündapp after receiving orders from Axlerod to kill Mater before killing Rod Redline. |
| “ | Axlerod: ..till Lightning McQueen is dead! Professor Zündapp: Of course. |
„ |
| ~ Zündapp when Axlerod ordering him to kill Lightning McQueen |
| “ | Allinol must be finished for good. McQueen cannot win the last race. Lightning McQueen must be killed! | „ |
| ~ Zündapp ordering Lightning McQueen’s death. |
Professor Zündapp, also known as simply Professor Z, is the secondary antagonist of Pixar's 12th full-length animated feature film Cars 2.
He is a German scientist and weapons designer who works for Sir Miles Axlerod in his plot to turn the entire world against alternative fuels and make profit out of it by creating an EMP Emitter. He is also Finn McMissile's arch-nemesis for killing his previous partners Agent Leland Turbo and Rod Redline.
He was voiced by Thomas Kretschmann in English and German, who also portrayed Eli Damaskinos in Blade II.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- He helped Axlerod invent Allinol, a gasoline set to explode if hit with an electromagnetic pulse, in order to paint alternative fuel in a bad light.
- He invented the EMP Emitter, disguising it as a TV camera, an extremely dangerous weapon that injured or kill those who are using the Allinol. He did a last check on his invention before properly loading it up to the voyage when considered his EMP Emitter to be a valuable equipment for the Lemons' goal to discredit Allinol and other alternative fuels.
- When he was being called by his henchmen Grem and Acer, he expressed zero sympathy towards Leland Turbo when he found Grem and Acer had crushed him into a cube.
- When seeing Finn McMissile above him, the professor alerted the Lemons and order them to kill Finn when he was watching Zündapp's EMP Emitter Camera.
- He tortured Rod Redline as a test subject for his invention while interrogating him by having Allinol installed into his system while allowing Grem to slowly increased the electromagnetic magnetic pulse to 50 percent power, before killing him by setting the EMP to full power after discovered Redline's association with Mater. He contacted his big boss that Redline passed on information which the professor was ordered to take care of it before any damage can be done. Due to the project being on schedule, the professor orders the Lemons to find Mater and kill him.
- He has the bodies of several crushed cars in his hideout, implying he had taken countless lives prior to the events of the film.
- He ordered Grem and Acer to use his camera that transmitted an electromagnetic magnetic pulse against World Grand Prix racers, causing massive crashes that risked the lives of the race cars, in order to follow Miles Axlerod's scheme to turn the world against alternative fuel so that he and the Lemons would become the most powerful.
- He attended to the meeting in Porta Corsa, Italy with his fellow crimes lords. He has Grem and Acer to set a trap for Finn McMissile by using an electromagnet, possibly the professor found out that McMissile was alive and figured he might stop by to ruin his big boss' operation to discredit Allinol. He and the other Lemons sadistically celebrating of the race cars crashing.
- Hearing Lightning McQueen is going to use Allinol in the final race, the Professor received a call from his boss to kill McQueen, which he intend to. After retrieving new orders, Professor Z orders all the Lemons to kill Lightning McQueen in order to discredit Allinol forever.
- He had Mater captured and replaced with Ivan when McQueen was about to hear the Lemon's intentions. He later mocked Mater for his care about McQueen, even tauntingly saying that it is a pity he didn't warn him in time.
- He attempted to kill Lightning McQueen with his death ray while forcing Mater to watch, with it only failing because Sarge switched out McQueen's Allinol with Fillmore’s organic biofuel due to Sarge never trusted Axlerod.
- He planted a voice-activated bomb on Mater's hood as a back-up plan, so if Grem and Acer failed to kill Mater, Mater would head to the pits to save McQueen and Zundapp would blow the pit stop up, which would kill dozens to hundreds of innocent cars.
- He tries to escape from Finn McMissile and about to come aboard on Tony Trihull (who tells to the Professor hurry to his escape). But, Finn reached to Zündapp. While Tony tries to pull the professor with a giant electro magnet and trying to kill Finn with missile launcher, Zündapp tells Finn to give it up, but not because he cared about Tony, but because he wanted to escape from McMissile at any cost.
- He tricked Mater into unknowingly activating the bomb that was attached to his hood, starting the countdown and making the count go back a minute, which clearly would have ended not only the life of Mater and his friends, but with many other cars including himself, all out of spite. He also decreased the countdown when he revealed he is not the mastermind of the bomb as well asking anyone else to try it just so to speed up the countdown.
- His excuse of being mocked due to being a Lemon is far too petty to justify his actions, especially since he finds sadism in torturing others and how a Lemon from Radiator Springs named Otis isn’t nearly as vengeful as him.
- He never seems to be affected by such an excuse, as he is never shown feeling upset over being mocked and he only seen sad at the casino meeting but it can be assumed that he only just made himself sad.
- Although he didn't threaten or abuse the other Lemons, he only gets along with them because they are simply doing it out of pragmatism, his greet to the Lemon crime lords at the mansion is also played for sarcasm as his face wasn’t amused which showing no true friendship for them.
- While he is working with Axlerod, it’s indicated that he is doing it out of convenience rather than loyalty.
- Although most of his actions are under Axelrod’s orders, he was not only the creator of the camera that acted as an electromagnetic pulse emitter and therefore directly caused the racers to explode, but also has actions that stand out like killing cars in gruesome methods like crushing or torture, to planting a bomb on Mater that would risk the lives of many cars, so he stands out.
- Unlike some villains from the Cars/Planes universe who are either generic jerks, bog-standard or have redeeming qualities, Zundapp (alongside his boss Sir Miles Axlerod) lacks any and he’s taken 100% seriously as a legitimate threat for his crimes.
- Also, while his defeat of getting tasered by Holley Shiftwell is also somewhat comical, the joke is more on Holley and Finn getting impatient with the bomb on Mater than Zundapp being treated like a joke, as it doesn’t make him Laughably Evil or any less of a horrible threat.
Trivia[]
- Zündapp is the first Pure Evil to be voiced by the same actor in two different dubs. Gwi-Ma is the second Pure Evil to have this trait.
External Links[]
- Professor Zündapp on the Villains Wiki
- Professor Zündapp on the Disney Wiki
- Professor Zündapp on the Pixar Wiki
- Professor Zündapp on the Cars Wiki
- Professor Zündapp on the Entertainingly Detestable Wiki
- Professor Zündapp on the Base Breaking Character Wiki
[]
 Pure Evils
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