Little Bear meets The Iron Giant

***Little Bear meets The Iron Giant*** is an upcoming Little Bear/Warner Bros. Pictures crossover to be made by Hiatt Grey.

## Plot

During the Cold War, shortly after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in October 1957, an object from space crashes in the ocean just off the coast of Maine and then enters the forest near the town of Rockwell.

The following night, nine-year-old Hogarth Hughes investigates and finds the object, a 50-foot tall alien robot attempting to eat the transmission lines of an electrical substation. Hogarth eventually befriends the Giant, finding him docile and curious. When he eats railroad tracks in the path of an oncoming train, the train collides with him and derails; Hogarth leads the Giant away from the area, discovering that he can self-repair. While there, Hogarth shows the Giant comic books, and compares him to the hero Superman.

The incidents lead a xenophobic U.S. government agent named Kent Mansley to Rockwell. He suspects Hogarth's involvement after talking with him and his widowed mother Annie (Hogarth's father was a U.S. Air Force pilot who died during the Korean War), and rents a room in their house to keep an eye on him. Hogarth evades Mansley and leads the Giant to a junkyard owned by beatnik artist Dean McCoppin, who reluctantly agrees to keep him. Hogarth enjoys his time with the Giant, but is compelled to explain "death" to the Giant after he witnesses hunters killing a deer.

That night, the Giant has a vision of his past life, being one of many alien extermination weapons, which Dean sees through the TV. Hogarth is interrogated by Mansley when he discovers evidence of the Giant after finding a photo of him next to Hogarth and brings a U.S. Army contingent led by General Rogard to the scrapyard to prove the Giant's existence, but Dean (having been warned by Hogarth earlier) tricks them by pretending that the Giant is one of his art pieces.

Upset by the apparent false alarm, Rogard prepares to leave with his forces after berating Mansley for his actions. Hogarth then continues to have fun with the Giant by playing with a toy gun, but inadvertently activates the Giant's defensive system; Dean yells at him for nearly killing Hogarth, and the saddened Giant runs away with Hogarth giving chase. Dean quickly realizes that the Giant was only acting in self-defense and catches up to Hogarth as they follow the Giant.

The Giant saves two boys falling from a roof when he arrives, winning over the townspeople. Mansley spots the Giant in the town while leaving Rockwell, and stops the Army, sending them to attack the Giant after he has picked up Hogarth, forcing the two to flee together. They initially evade the military by using the Giant's flight system, but the Giant is then shot down and crashes to the ground.

Hogarth is knocked unconscious, but the Giant, thinking that Hogarth is dead, completely gives in to his defensive system in a fit of rage and grief and attacks the military in retaliation, transforming into a war machine and making its way back to Rockwell. Mansley convinces Rogard to prepare a nuclear missile launch from the USS Nautilus, as conventional weapons prove to be ineffective. Hogarth awakens and returns in time to calm the Giant while Dean clarifies the situation to Rogard.

The General is ready to stand down and order the Nautilus to deactivate its primed nuke, when Mansley impulsively orders the missile launch in a fit of paranoia, causing the missile to head towards Rockwell, where it will destroy the town and its population upon impact in the resulting nuclear detonation. Mansley attempts to escape after being given a furious scolding by Rogard, but the Giant stops him, and Rogard has Mansley arrested and orders his men to "make sure he stays there like a good soldier". In order to save the town, the Giant bids farewell to Hogarth and flies off to intercept the missile. As he soars directly into the path of the missile, the Giant remembers Hogarth's words "You are who you choose to be", smiles contentedly and says "Superman" as he collides with the weapon. The missile explodes in the atmosphere, saving Rockwell, its population, and the military forces nearby, but seemingly at the cost of the Giant himself, leaving Hogarth devastated.

Months later, a memorial of the Giant stands in Rockwell. Dean and Annie begin a relationship. Hogarth is given a package from Rogard, containing a screw from the Giant which is the only remnant found. That night, Hogarth finds the screw trying to move on its own and, remembering the Giant's ability to self-repair, happily allows the screw to leave.

The screw joins many other parts as they converge on the Giant's head on the Langjökull glacier in Iceland, and the Giant smiles as he begins reassembling himself.

## Trivia

* Wilbur, Cardigan, Nellie, Aranea, Joy, Templeton, Ash Ketchum, Pikachu, Misty, Brock, May, Max, Dawn, Piplup, Max Taylor, Zoe Drake, and Rex Owen guest star in this film.
* *Pokémon: The First Movie* and *The Iron Giant* were both released in the year, 1999.
* The first three *Pokémon* films, *Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns*, *Pokémon: Detective Pikachu*, and *The Iron Giant* were all released by Warner Bros. Pictures.