Hiro Hamada

**Hiro Hamada** is the protagonist of Disney's 2014 animated feature film, *Big Hero 6*. He is the founder and leader of Big Hero 6, a team of young superheroes whose goal is to protect the city of San Fransokyo.

He is based on Hiro Takachiho from the Marvel comic of the same name.

## Background

### Official Description

*Robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada has the mind of a genius—and the heart of a 14-year old: his state-of-the-art battle-bots dominate the underground bot fights held in the dark corners of San Fransokyo. Fortunately, his big brother Tadashi redirects Hiro's brilliance, inspiring him to put his brain to the test in a quest to gain admission to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. When a tragic event changes everything, Hiro turns to a robot named Baymax, and they form an unbreakable bond—and two-sixths of a band of high-tech heroes on a very important mission.*
### Personality

Hiro Hamada is a young boy with intelligence far beyond his years. For example, he graduated from high school when he was 13. Because of this, he can be rather brazen and cocky (especially when he was seen to be bored during his bot fight with Mr. Yama), but never to the point of being annoying.

He spent much of his time using his technology to win money through illegal bot fight bets (he states that bot-fighting isn't illegal, but *betting* on it is, though he still did bet on bot-fighting illegally), something he prided himself on, though his older brother Tadashi heavily disapproved. While Tadashi felt that his brother had a greater purpose and should attend college, Hiro believed that he held the knowledge of all that there is to know in the world, or at least all that any school can teach him, showing a strong sense of pride, as well as possible past experiences of school being redundant, unchallenging, and boring for him.

Despite his bold nature, Hiro has a much softer side to him, as he's shown to sometimes be rather shy in front of crowds and during the process of making new friends, as well as socially awkward at times. Even so, he is very compassionate, which, in the beginning, is mostly seen when dealing with his older brother Tadashi who, despite his brotherly nagging, holds a special place in Hiro's heart as the latter's best friend and inspiration. When with Tadashi, Hiro's true colors emerge, showing him to be free-spirited, innocently sassy, warm and ultimately very loving and appreciative. Such aspects wouldn't be seen again until the void left by Tadashi's demise is eventually filled by the lovable Baymax, who cares for Hiro in the same sense, forming a strong companionship.

However, while Hiro has a kind heart, he is a very complex character, and is far from perfect, engaging in some darker behaviors when highly provoked. At certain points during the movie, the boy genius allowed his anger to cloud his better judgment and commit acts normally out of the question. He is similar to Yokai (the villainous mastermind responsible for the death of Tadashi) in this respect, as both experienced the loss of a loved one, thus mutilating their hearts to the point where they sought revenge against the wrongdoers responsible, going as far as conscious murder, rather than bring Yokai to justice. However, what separates the two and ultimately classifies Hiro as a hero and Yokai as a villain is the fact that, unlike Yokai, Hiro not only learns the error of his ways, but he makes a serious effort to right the wrongs he caused as quickly as possible. Such revelations are mostly due to the comforting nature of Baymax, the legacy of Tadashi and the support of his closest friends, resulting in a newly-reformed young prodigy who values the lives of all human beings and refuses to carry out acts of justice through the use of violence and murder.

As time would move on following the events of Tadashi's death, Hiro would slowly shape into a heroic, wise and inspirational leader, following in his brother's footsteps. Such traits passed down include Tadashi's philosophy of "looking for a new angle", as well as the devotion to doing whatever is necessary to help others and make the world a better place for all, especially the innocent and deserving. As mentioned above, Hiro would notably organize the Big Hero 6 team, vowing to protect the city of San Fransokyo in order to fulfill Tadashi's lifelong dream of helping others.

### Physical appearance

Hiro is a young boy. According to official sources, he is 5'0" (152 cm) in height and rather slender. He can often be found in a blue hoodie jacket, a red shirt with a robot on it, long dark beige Capri shorts and dark brown trainers with yellow laces. He has fair skin, brown eyes, and messy black hair. His eyelashes and eyebrows are somewhat thick and his eyes are a rounded almond shape. When he smiles or opens his mouth, a gap in his teeth can be noticed along with a slight overbite.

Hiro's super-suit is made of primarily indigo with red accents and black armor, with black clothing underneath that covers most of his body up to his knees, along with steel-toe black sneakers. On his suit are red magnetic pads, used to carry onto Baymax's armor for transportation and battle purposes.

### Powers and Abilities

Unlike the rest of the team, Hiro's armor lacks any real ability, as his true power lies within his genius. As mentioned above, however, his suit enables him to hold onto Baymax with magnetic pads whenever the robot takes flight, with him aboard, as well as partial protection from destruction. His helmet is also equipped with a communication device, enabling him contact with the rest of the team members despite their distance, if any.

With his vast intelligence, Hiro has the power to create various new concepts and inventions, often varying in scale, from a small, yet powerful, battle bot, to a state-of-the-art super suit. Not only was he able to "upgrade" both himself into a crime-fighting vigilante, but also Baymax, as well as his four closest friends, creating a series of powerful battle suits with various powers and abilities; making them a force in their own rights.

Other inventions notably created by Hiro include the Microbots (which were primarily used throughout the film as Yokai's source of power), Baymax's original battle suit (which was equipped with karate action), programming chips capable of enhancing (for better or worse) the knowledge and personality of a robot, and Baymax himself, whom the boy genius was able to recreate in every little detail at the end of the film.

In pictures of Hiro and Tadashi, it is implied that Hiro knows martial arts, though he never is shown using martial arts in battle.

## Family

* Unnamed Parents
* Tadashi Hamada (Older Brother)
* Aunt Cass (Aunt)
* Mochi (Pet cat)

## Friends

* Baymax
* Honey Lemon
* Gogo
* Wasabi
* Fred
* Professor Granville
* Karmi
* Alistair Krei
* Mrs. Fredrickson
* Mr. Fredrickson
* Mochi
* Mini Max

## Enemies

* Yokai
* Yama
* Yama's group
* High Voltage
* Baron Von Steamer
* Globby
* Momakase

## Trivia

* Based on teaser trailers, it is shown that Hiro is good at soccer.
* Hiro graduated high school at the age of 13.
* According to Hiro, he lost his parents at the age of 3.
* He seems to quote Tadashi sometimes in the film, such as "Unbelievable" and to look at things from a different angle.
* Hiro and Baymax's flight through the city is a reference to Iron Man when Tony Stark took his first flight in his first cinematic film.
* In the Japanese manga adaptation, it is shown that Hiro showcased high intelligence from a very young age, which caused him to be bullied by others and needing Tadashi to protect him. This may explain Hiro's antisocial, shy behavior around others along with his cockiness in his own intelligence.
	+ It is also shown from the manga that he is smarter than Tadashi.
* The 2013 Rotoscopers video and early information regarding the plot depicted Hiro with a slightly different backstory: He was already attending classes with Tadashi and could not fit in with the other students due to his intelligence (though he doesn't seem to mind). The Rotoscopers video also depicted Hiro as part of a "science club research team" lead by Tadashi (most likely consisting of Honey, Go Go, Wasabi and Fred) in which each individual would make different things and would eventually lead up to a competition. Like Tony Stark, Hiro felt pressure over using his intelligence for good or just building battle robots in the basement (garage in the final film).
	+ Also, in early stages of the story, Hiro was responsible for the creation of Baymax, as opposed to Tadashi, just like in the comic book.
* According to Baymax's first scan, Hiro has a slight allergy to peanuts.
* Hiro's name, written in Japanese, is "ヒロ". The transliteration of the English word "Hero" in Japanese is ヒーロー (Hīrō).
* Hiro loves Gummy Bears and was excited when he asked Baymax to retrieve said item.
* Hiro, along with his comic counterpart, shares many physical traits with fellow Marvel character Amadeus Cho: both are of Asian descent and bear a slight resemblance to each other along with being child prodigies.
* Hiro has a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) controller connected to his computer in his bedroom.
	+ He also has a poster of the deleted villain "Mr. Sparkles" in the same area.
* Along with Hiro's gap in his front teeth, he has a slight overbite. In addition, in one scene, Hiro was seen sticking his tongue out to bring a straw up to his mouth before sipping, a habit common among people who sucked their thumbs as children.
* Hiro has a habit of running his hand(s) through his hair. Some examples are when he is explaining to the policeman about the microbots, on the staircase telling Aunt Cass that he has a lot of homework to catch up on, or when he re-activated Baymax by the end of the film.
* Hiro appears to be a Whovian (*Doctor Who* fan) because of a Dalek-like action figure on his shelf in his room.
* During renovations of the Walt Disney Animation Studios building, beginning in 2014, Hiro was one of the character silhouettes featured on the wall mural.

## External Links

* Hiro Hamada on Marvel Movies Wiki
* Hiro Hamada
* Hiro Hamada on the Marvel Database

## References

1. ↑ Cast Announcement: Six Reasons We Can’t Wait to See Big Hero 6
2. ↑ Marvel/Disney's BIG HERO 6 - Plot, Characters & News!
3. ↑ RyanLangDraws Tumblr