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| “ | (with disguised voice) Welcome, everyone. I wish I could be with you on this very special day, but my clutch assembly broke. You know how it is. We are here to celebrate. Today, all your hard work pays off. The world turned their backs on cars like us. They stopped manufacturing us, stopped making our parts. The only thing they haven’t stopped doing, is laughing at us. They’ve called us terrible names: jalopy, rust bucket, heap, clunker, junker, beater, wreck, rattletrap… lemon. But their insults just give us strength. Because today, my friends, That... all... ENDS! They laughed at us, but now it's our turn to laugh back. Embrace your inner lemon. Let it drive you. This was meant to be alternative fuel's greatest moment. But after today, everyone will race back to gasoline. And we, the owners of the world's largest untapped oil reserve, will become the most powerful cars in the world! They will come to us, and they will have no choice, because they will need us. And they will finally respect us! So, hold your hoods high! After today, you will never again be ashamed of who you are! Long... LIVE... LEMONS!! | „ |
| ~ Miles Axlerod's speech to the lemons and rising to power and his most famous quote. |
Sir Miles Axlerod is the main antagonist of Pixar's 12th full-length feature film, Cars 2, the second installment of the Cars film series.
He is the CEO of Axlerod Industries, who in actuality is also the manipulative leader of the Lemons who wanted to turn the entire world against alternative fuels and make money out of it along with Professor Zündapp. However, his plans were foiled when Mater exposed his crimes. He is also the arch-nemesis of Mater.
He was voiced by Eddie Izzard, who also played Professor Bedlam in My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Dr. Schadenfreude in Igor, Nigel Bakerbutcher in The Simpsons, Abel Gideon in Hannibal, Lord Voldemort in The LEGO Batman Movie, Burnish in Abominable, Hervnick Z. Snerz in the 2019 Netflix Green Eggs and Ham series, and Rachel Hyde in Doctor Jekyll. In Cars 2: The Video Game, he was voiced by Dave Wittenberg.
Quick Answers
What is the real car model that Sir Miles Axlerod is based on?
What is Sir Miles Axlerod's role in Cars 2?
How does Sir Miles Axlerod's past influence his villainous actions in Cars 2?
How does Sir Miles Axlerod's character contribute to the theme of Cars 2?
Biography[]
Background[]
Not much is known about Sir Miles Axlerod's past, he was a car and the CEO of Axlerod Industries, later some cars mocked his model and later he wanted to take revenge against the carkind. But according to Mel Dorado, he has been known by the world for trying to traveling around without using a GPS, but in doing so, is thought to be dead when he runs out of fuel and comes into a rainforest. He eventually emerges more than a month later, using a fuel that is said to be made out of the natural elements. He is then reported to have sold his oil company, switched to an electric car, and invents a clean-burning fuel named Allinol. To try and get the world to use alternative energy, he creates a international racing competition called the World Grand Prix, inviting race cars from around the world to determine who is the world's fastest car.
Cars 2[]
Axlerod was first seen during a television interview where he announced he is hosting the World Grand Prix, a three-country race he created that attracts the world's top racing superstars and show off his latest creation: a new alternative fuel called Allinol. Many race cars around the world (including Lightning McQueen) signed up to participate in the races and test the new fuel, but as time goes by, crashes started to occur due to the Allinol igniting up during the first race in Tokyo.
After getting himself into an undercover mission with British agents Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell by accident, McQueen's friend Mater shows Finn and Holley the picture of Axlerod's engine, which was contained in a chip given to him by Rod Redline which reveals the mystery engine of the Lemons' leader. When Professor Zündapp contracted Axlerod of Mater having information, the leader ordered the professor to deal with Mater before any damage can done. Prior to this, Redline was executed by the Lemons, who felt betrayed by Redline due to his clever Lemon disguise. Zündapp contacted Axlerod that Redline passed the information into Mater, causing his boss to order the Professor to take care of it before any damage can be done by searching Mater and kill him.
Axlerod held a meeting with the other Lemon crimes lords at Italy. Although he wished he could be with the others in the meeting, but his clutch assembly broke although the crime lords knows how he feels.
Mater (who has gone undercover) soon learned of a horrible revelation: Professor Zündapp and his gang of Lemon cars are responsible for the crashes, as Zündapp created EMP weapons designed as TV cameras to ignite the Allinol as part of their plan to discredit alternative fuel so that the world can go back using oil. The Lemons still own the largest oil reserves in the world. Following the sabotage of the second race in Porto Corsa, Axlerod seemingly decides to suspend the races to use Allinol, though McQueen decides to continue using it for the final race in London. However, hearing Lightning McQueen is going to use Allinol in his final race, Axlerod contact Professor Zündapp and ordered him to kill Lightning McQueen, to ensure Allinol is finished forever which the Professor intend to.
Because of this, Zündapp receives orders from his unseen superior to kill McQueen at all costs, much to Mater's shock. Eventually, Zündapp and his gang were able to track down Mater, McMissile, and Holley before trapping them all and heading over to London. After having Grem and Acer to tie up Mater and the agents inside Big Bentley to enact the final stage of their plan, Zündapp fires up the EMP beam on McQueen during the race.
However, McQueen unexpectedly escapes unscathed, as it turns out that one of McQueen's friends Sarge secretly switched the Allinol with organic fuel to avoid such an incident, just as Mater escapes to warn McQueen. Anticipating that the attempt would fail and that Mater would escape, Axlerod had implanted a bomb inside Mater's air filter in hopes that it would go off to kill both McQueen and Mater. However, before Zündapp was able to detonate the bomb, Mater uses his rocket booster to speed himself and McQueen out of range, much to Zündapp's anger.
After Zündapp and the Lemon cars end up being defeated by Mater and the others, Mater tries to disarm the bomb but is unable to do so as it can only be disarmed by the one who activated it, plus he cannot unbolt the bomb out from his air filter. Eventually, Mater soon realizes that Axlerod was the unseen mastermind this whole time, as it turns out that Axlerod pretended to be an electric car to cover his true colors since he leaked some oil during the Tokyo party and framed Mater for it. Mater also suspected that Axlerod created Allinol as part of his plan to discredit alternative fuel. Without hesitation, Mater heads over to Buckingham Palace, where he angrily confronts Axlerod for the plot. At first, Axlerod tried to deny it and cowardly warned Mater to stay away from him, but was forced to deactivate the bomb to expose himself anyways and avoid being killed by the imminent explosion, thus confirming Mater's suspicions.
As Axlerod ends up being cornered by two police cars, Mater opens up Axlerod's hood, revealing a Rover V8 engine shown in a photo held by the agents depicting the unseen mastermind with his hood opened up, thus proving to be a perfect match and further exposing Axlerod as the true culprit behind the events. With the plot exposed, Axlerod is last seen being arrested by the police cars, much to his distraught as he expresses disbelief that Mater managed to deduce his plot. Following Axlerod's arrest, McMissile and Holley performed an investigation on Allinol, eventually learning that it was actually gasoline engineered by Axlerod to explode by electromagnetic radiation as part of his true plan to discredit alternative fuel as Mater suspected.
With the plot exposed, Axlerod, Zündapp and the Lemon cars are sent to prison for life, thus putting full closure for the crimes they committed, including avenging the deaths of Rod "Torque" Redline, Leland Turbo and all of the other secret agents that the Lemons have killed.
Cars 3[]
Miles Axlerod doesn't make a physical appearance in Cars 3, implying that he is in prison with his Lemons or maybe even dead. However, a photo of him appears on Sterling's shelves, which possibly signifies that Sterling (who otherwise never appeared) knew him before his arrest. Axlerod's cameo appearance is an Easter egg that the audience might not notice, and it's possible that Axlerod was once a good friend with Sterling because they are both antagonists that are money-hungry.
Video games[]
Cars 2: The Video Game[]
Axlerod is one of the characters who is playable in Cars 2: The Video Game. He is seen occasionally during races, as part of a simulation where Mater's friends train for the C.H.R.O.M.E. organization. Axlerod is one of the heavy characters, not having a lot of speed, but he does have a lot of power.
Axlerod is one of the characters who has to be unlocked during progress. To unlock him, the player must collect enough points to get to Clearance Level 5.
Creation and development[]
When Cars 2 was under development, the filmmakers had a character named Zil in the original story. Zil would have been a Russian who had the role of trying to make the world go against alternative energy and also be in place of Professor Zündapp. However, the filmmakers soon decided to use Axlerod and Professor Z instead.
Apparently, Axlerod's name seems to originate from a joke that his voice actor Eddie Izzard made about the invention of wheels and axles on one of his tours.
The DVD commentary for Cars 2 states that the climax where Mater confronts Axlerod at Buckingham Palace over the plot to sabotage the World Grand Prix came rather early in production, so the Pixar team worked backwards from there to make Axlerod the ultimate bad guy and someone else the good guy, so that when it got up to the climax, everyone could see how brilliant Mater was in figuring out the whole thing.
Personality[]
At first glance, Axlerod presented himself to be friendly and well-meaning to other cars and invented Allinol as a way to help promote the usage of alternative fuel.
However, it later turned out that Axlerod is actually a ruthless, greedy, deceptive, and manipulative criminal mastermind who wished for non-lemons to respect him and was willing to harm other cars in order to do so. He is even willing to commit murder in order to achieve his goals in becoming rich through his untapped oil reserves when he ordered the death of Lightning McQueen when the latter decided to use Allinol in the last race after the Lemons had managed to successfully discredit Allinol. Axlerod also planted a bomb on Mater as a way to kill him after the tow truck discovered and started interfering with his plans.
Axlerod is also very intelligent, as shown when he made the plan to get rid of alternative fuel. Additionally, he can speak in a deeper, disguised voice that is hard to be descrambled, which would serve to deceive any potential spies. He also was able to come up with backup plans in case any first plans did not work. For example, he planted a bomb onto Mater in case the latter escaped from his bonds and would rush to save McQueen if the EMP emitter did not kill the racecar.
Despite coming from a background where Axlerod was mocked and ridiculed for being a lemon, he has no redeeming qualities as his anger and greed made him willing to commit heinous crimes just to get revenge on those who laughed at him and all lemons. While he wasn't sadistic like his right-hand Professor Zündapp, Axlerod was still uncaring and cruel as he had no qualms with the injuries that the racers of the World Grand Prix received when their engines exploded by being hit by the EMP emitter, all while showing no remorse for his actions. Furthermore, Axlerod and Zündapp show no care for each other; their partnership being merely professional.
Axlerod was also shown to hate Mater where he blamed an oil leak on Mater, planted a bomb on him just to kill him, and started acting cruel towards him when Mater was trying to expose him. It's possible Axlerod's hatred of Mater stems from the fact that Mater is a tow truck, possibly hinting that Axlerod did not get a lot of proper help and fixing from tow trucks in the past.
Axlerod also showed signs of overconfidence as he kept his identity as the lemons' mastermind hidden until Mater exposed him, shocking Axlerod. He also tried to maintain his cover of being the lemons' mastermind when confronted and cornered by Mater until he was forced to deactivate the bomb he planted on the tow truck just to save his own life. This also shows Axlerod truly cares about no one, but himself as well his Lemons and is truly a pathetic coward.
Relationships[]
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Quotes[]
| “ | Thank you, Mel. It is very very good to be here. Listen to me. Big oil. It costs a fortune. Pollution is getting worse. I mean, come on! It's a fossil fuel. "Fossil," as in dead dinosaurs. And we all know what happened to them. Alternative energy is the future. Trust me, Mel. After seeing Allinol in action at the World Grand Prix, nobody will ever go back to gasoline again. | „ |
| ~ Axlerod being interviewed at the Mel Dorado TV show, slightly foreshadowing his evil plot.
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| “ | Axlerod: No, I know him. This is the bloke that called in to the television show. You're the one I have to thank. Mater: No, thank you! This trip has been amazing! Axlerod: Ah, he's a little excited isn't he? You got a towel? |
„ |
| ~ Axlerod blaming the oil leak on Mater. |
| “ | Axlerod: …till Lightning McQueen is dead! Zündapp: Of course. |
„ |
| ~ Axlerod's orders for Zündapp to kill McQueen.
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| “ | Electric cars don't use oil, you twit! | „ |
| ~ Axlerod insults Mater as the latter makes his case against him. |
| “ | This Lorry's crazy! He's gonna kill us all! | „ |
| ~ Axlerod trying to deflect blame from himself. |
| “ | How did the tow truck figure it out? | „ |
| ~ Axlerod's last words as he's being arrested for his crimes, and his second most famous quote.
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Trivia[]
- Miles is a 1978 Branford Axlerod, a type of car from a fictional company. His design is inspired on a Land Rover Defender.
- There are several easy-to-miss signs that foreshadow Axlerod's true nature and evil plot:
- His promotional diecast has an angry expression, foreshadowing his true personality as the film's main antagonist.
- In the Oil platform scene, on the bottom left, there are the letters MA, implying that the Oil platform belongs to Axlerod.
- During his interview on the Mel Dorado TV show, Axlerod eagerly says that oil costs a big fortune, hinting at his greed and saying how alternative energy is the way for future and no one would have to use gasoline by the end of World Grand Prix, hinting he's not really supporting the usage of alternative fuel and that his invention of Allinol is actually engineered gasoline.
- While speaking to Mater at the party in Japan, Axlerod's eyes widen at the sound of oil leaking when he quickly says that Mater had leaked oil. This implied that Axlerod realized he had leaked oil and blamed it on Mater, in order to hide the fact he's not truly an electric car.
- This comes back to light when Mater realizes that Axlerod had leaked oil while realizing that Axlerod is the Lemons' mysterious mastermind.
- After the first race in Japan, Axlerod defends that Allinol is safe and it didn't cause the racecars' engines to explode, though Allinol did cause the engines of the racecars to explode due to being engineered by Axlerod to blow up when coming in contact with the electromagnetic pulse emitter.
- Before the race in Italy, Axlerod tells the press that he went to court and had his scientists confirm that Allinol is safe. This is said to be a lie as Axlerod would not be willing to go to court to justify his fuel and that he only told the press his fuel is safe so his minions can inflict more harm to racecars during the race.
- During the Lemons' meeting, Axlerod's rearview mirrors can be seen and his dark green paint job is lightly visible underneath pale green padding.
- After a major crash during the second race, Axlerod rushes to speak to the press; hinting that Axlerod had to quickly change into his public persona so he can discredit the usage of Allinol in the next race.
- During the speech with the Lemons about the World Grand Prix, the disguised voice is occasionally accompanied with a British accent. Since no other known member was explicitly British, and given that Axlerod is the creator of the racing event, it's made clear that he's one of the Lemons.
- Before he discredits the use of Allinol, Axlerod says he cannot risk the lives of the racecars without sounding completely concerned. This foreshadows Axlerod does not truly care about what happens to the race cars if they use his fuel and was even willing to murder Lightning McQueen for when he decides to use Allinol just to prove the safety of alternative fuel. It also foreshadows that Axlerod does not truly care about the lives of anyone, but his own as he was forced to deactivate his own bomb just to save himself.
- When speaking to McQueen before the race in London, he tells him he has hopes of him winning and expectations of him proving that Allinol is safe. This implies that Axlerod wants McQueen to participate in the race just so he can be killed and prevent him from backing out in order to find Mater whom Axlerod's minions had managed to capture.
- When Mater and McQueen arrive at Buckingham Palace before Axlerod is exposed, he looks shocked to see McQueen and Mater as the latter informs Queen Elizabeth and Scotland Yard he knows who is sabotaging the World Grand Prix. Axlerod had planned to kill both Mater and McQueen for interfering with his plans and looked shocked to see them still alive when they arrived at Buckingham Palace.
- When Mater points out that Axlerod is the one behind the terroristic attacks during the racing event, the latter responded by doubting the claim, in which he chuckled while doing so. This shows that he was trying to hide his plans from being exposed to the public once someone suspects him about them.
- The original villain of Cars 2 was intended to be a Russian car named Zil. However, as Sir Miles Axlerod proved to be more popular among the producers, Zil was scrapped and Axlerod became the main antagonist while most of Zil's traits were given to Professor Zündapp.
- During his circumnavigation around the globe, the jungle he wound up in 36 days later was in Paradise Falls, which was from a previous Pixar film, Up.
- Miles, Cad Spinner, and Sterling are the only Cars Franchise Villains who are businessmen like Benson Dunwoody, Gene, and Mr. Maellard.
- Despite the name being spelled "Axlerod", his name gets to be more pronounced as "Axel-rod". This is probably done out of verbal convenience.
- So far, Axlerod is the only main antagonist in the Cars flim series to not be a professional racer, even though he was the one behind the World Grand Prix's creation.
- Axlerod serves as an evil counterpart of the following characters below:
- Mater: Both look to be worn-out vehicles with their racer counterparts way out of their league by comparison, and both seemingly have a passion for helping cars (Mater always willing to tow his cars to safety, Axlerod wanting to change the world with his new alternative fuel). However, their polar opposite traits could not be more distinct. While Mater is rusty on the outside, he's strong on the inside, being capable of physical combat as a spy vehicle, driving backwards at high speeds, and never leaks oil, even when Axlerod blames him for it. Meanwhile, Axelrod looks to be a high functioning electric-car on the outside, but when all is said and done, he's nothing more than a gas-guzzling lemon with a broken clutch assembly, faulty oil system, and "one of the worst engines ever built". Personality-wise, Mater is a low-class goofball who embarrasses McQueen in Tokyo, but is really a good-natured vehicle at heart who wins the respect of his peers by exposing Axlerod's crimes. Axlerod is presented as a highly dignified, gentlemanly oil tycoon running the World Grand Prix, but is really a vile monster who would kill or blow up cars in secret just so he could make a profit and gain power. It's heavily implied he's reduced to nothing more than infamy after his crimes are exposed to the public. Both cars also struggle with personal insecurity regarding the film's overall theme: being yourself. Mater, despite being The Ditz and a goofball, eventually becomes self-aware that he was getting on McQueen's nerves and ends up having a Heroic BSoD when Finn McMissile unintentionally calls him out for it. Though after a pep talk from Lightning, he eventually accepts who he is. Axlerod on the other hand knows that he is a Lemon with serious engine issues, but goes out of his way to maintain a gentlemanly philanthropic persona while also committing heinous actions towards other cars just so he could gain some respect among his peers. He'll even go as far as to throw Mater under the bus when he was leaking oil, just so that he could look good in the public as an electric car. If Mater tried to change his personality instead of being himself, he would've ended up like Axlerod.
- Francesco Bernoulli: Both are European Jerkasses who directly oppose one of the flick's main characters (Francesco being Lightning McQueen's main rival on the track, Axlerod being Mater's ultimate adversary in the latter's spy mission). However, their vehicle design and personalities could not have been more distinct. Francesco is a speedy racer on par with Lightning who is an open Jerkass, but ultimately has a good heart, as seen with his close relationship with his mother and even displaying horror when the other racers are blown out of commission from Allinol. Axlerod is nothing more than a Lemon (albeit pretending to be an electric car) who hides his sociopathic, monstrous personality with a gentlemanly philanthropic appearance and only ever sees those around him (even his fellow Lemons) as little more than tools for him to use as he sees fit. Axlerod serves an example of what Francesco would've become if he let his rivalry with Lightning consume him.
- Lightning McQueen: Both have shown annoyance towards other vehicles, such as Mater, for putting barriers on their respective goals (Lightning wanted to win the race; Axlerod attempted to discredit alternative fuel). However, Lightning has his reasons for being angered about his racing goals being hindered, while Axlerod simply had a rather petty basis for giving alternative fuels a bad name. In addition, Lightning, for all his external cockiness, was able to befriend several other vehicles, such as his now-best friend Mater, while Axlerod has only pretended to be friendly and doesn't seem to care about his underlings, not even his partner-in-crime Zündapp. If Lightning had continued to prioritize only fame and winning over genuine relationships and growth, he would've ended up like Axlerod.
- Thanks to his overall sinister attitude as the leader of the Lemons, he embodies each of the seven deadly sins.
- Greed: He plans to make a huge amount of fortune through fossil fuels by subtly convincing every automobile in the world to turn against alternative fuels with the use of Allinol (which is actually just engineered gasoline).
- Pride: He is very proud that he set up a racing event named the World Grand Prix for his criminal actions, and doesn't show any concern for the lives of others, even his fellow Lemons, but his own.
- Wrath: Judging by his own unspecified backstory during his first speech to the Lemons, he's infuriated by the fact that he was mocked before, so the World Grand Prix may have been used as a form of vengeance against that. He has also expressed different levels of annoyance throughout his entire appearance.
- Sloth: In order to hide his true agenda from the public, he lets his fellow Lemons do his dirty work more while he presents himself as having a "refined gentleman" image.
- Gluttony: He has ordered the Lemons to attack every possible Allinol-filled automobiles endlessly for the sake of persuading the entire world to give up on using alternative fuels.
- Envy: His first speech to his fellow Lemons suggests that they wanted to have some respect from others even while they're using gasoline, as alternative fuel is becoming bigger than before, to which a conceptualized idea for that is their attempt to monopolize the fuel business by selling fossil fuels.
- Lust: He is pleased by the numerous terroristic attacks that he ordered to enact during the World Grand Prix.
External links[]
- Sir Miles Axlerod on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Sir Miles Axlerod on the Disney Wiki
- Sir Miles Axlerod on the Pixar Wiki
- Sir Miles Axlerod on the World of Cars Wiki
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