Warning! Spoilers ahead for Disney and Pixar's Lightyear!
While Chris Evans voices Toy Story's iconic Space Ranger in Lightyear, the origin story of Buzz mirrors Captain America in 3 big ways. Undoubtedly Evans' biggest and most well-known role, elements of the First Avenger's journey in the MCU can be seen in this new Disney and Pixar film. While they, of course, have their differences with their plots and genres, the motivations and relationships held by Buzz Lightyear in this new origin closely resemble those of Steve Rogers.
Rather than focusing on the Buzz Lightyear action figure voiced by Tim Allen in the previous Toy Story moves, this new film is meant to be the movie Andy watched which inspired one of his favorite toys. Essentially, Chris Evans' character is the Space Ranger Tim Allen's Buzz Lightyear thought he was. Casting Evans also makes much more sense considering the similarities to Marvel's Super-Soldier.
Not only do Buzz and Cap's origins feature time-travel narratives, but they also carry relationships that likewise end prematurely. Furthermore, they both share similar struggles with identity as heroes. Here are the three biggest ways Lightyear's Buzz mirrors Captain America.
After being marooned on an uncharted world, Buzz volunteers to test new hyperspace fuel (Star Command's key to returning home). Flying in a ship and looping around the sun, these 4-minute test flights for Buzz are time dilated, resulting in years passing in relation to Star Command. Mission after mission, Lightyear keeps trying with very little success. As such, he quickly becomes a man out of time who hardly ages when compared to his allies. This mirrors Captain America, who was frozen during WWII, waking up decades later in the present thanks to the Super-Soldier serum.
Furthermore, the villain twist with Lightyear's Evil Emperor Zurg mirrors Steve Rogers' time displacement as well. Revealed to be an older version of Buzz from a different timeline, Zurg is desperate to go back and reverse his mistakes (whatever it takes). While this version of Buzz has compromised himself due to his pride and ego, it's not hard to see Old Man Steve Rogers at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Due to the similar plot devices, Chris Evans' Lightyear and Captain America roles are both time-displaced heroes.
Keeping in line with Buzz Lightyear and Steve Rogers being men out of time, Lightyear's relationship with his friend Commander Hawthorne mirrors Captain America and Peggy Carter. Not only did both heroes miss out on having relationships in real-time with Hawthorne and Peggy, respectively, but both women gave valuable insights at the end of their lives. Hawthorne's message as an elderly woman nearing the end very much resembles Steve visiting Peggy as an elderly woman in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Buzz's main struggle in Lightyear is also the same as one of Captain America's in the MCU. For Buzz, Lightyear never wants to give up and is determined to keep fighting in order to always complete the mission. Success as Space Ranger is Lightyear's entire identity, so much so that he initially shoulders his challenges singularly. It takes time for him to adapt and realize that he can't save everyone, eventually seeing the benefit of having a team and relying on his allies by the ending of Lightyear.
Likewise, Captain America also struggled with his own identity in the MCU. As a Super-Soldier who lost 70 years of his life frozen in ice, Steve Rogers wakes up to a brand new fight in the first Avengers film. Following that, Steve never really stops fighting as an Avenger to save the day to the point where he's not sure what he'd do if the fight ends. After all, what is a soldier without a war to fight? While he eventually finds a way to live a full life of peace with Peggy in the past after the final battle seen in Avengers: Endgame, Captain America's initial struggle as a Super-Soldier is very comparable to Lightyear's Space Ranger. In any case, the commonality between both heroes played by Chris Evans is pretty entertaining.
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