Baymax

Baymax is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau, Baymax first appeared in Sunfire & Big Hero 6 #1 (September 1998). Baymax begins his existence as Hiro Takachiho's science project. Originally designed to be a hydro-powered robotic synthformer programmed to serve as Hiro's personal bodyguard, butler and chauffeur, Baymax becomes Hiro's best friend and father figure when the young inventor programs his recently deceased father's brain engrams into Baymax's artificial intelligence. When the Giri recruits Hiro into the fledgling super-team Big Hero 6, Baymax also joins the team, where his phenomenal strength, amazing surveillance and data analysis capabilities have proven useful.

Not to be confused with Betamax.
Baymax
Baymax attacking Sasquatch in Alpha Flight #9 (January 2005).
Art by Clayton Henry.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceSunfire & Big Hero 6 #1 (September 1998)
Created bySteven T. Seagle
Duncan Rouleau
In-story information
SpeciesSynthetic entity
Team affiliationsBig Hero 6
PartnershipsHiro Takachiho
AbilitiesMorph body into dragon or mecha

Baymax is an artificial synthformer capable of synthtransing his body into various forms: a large humanoid male, "Battle-Dragon" and "Action-Mecha". The first serves as his default form, designed to be less conspicuous in public while attending to Hiro's daily needs. His other forms, significantly more powerful and imposing, are primarily used during undercover missions and other hostile operations. In all forms, Baymax has internal scanners and sensors able to detect and evaluate threats posed by nearby lifeforms. He is also programmed with fighting techniques from forms of combat including karate, tae kwon do, Western boxing and Wing Chun.

Baymax appears in the 2014 Disney animated film Big Hero 6 and its extended media, voiced by Scott Adsit. He is depicted as an inflatable robot built by Tadashi, the older brother of the protagonist Hiro Hamada, to serve as a healthcare companion. When he is with Big Hero 6, Baymax wears armor that has wings allowing him to fly, while his fists can detach like rocket punches. The armor also has magnets attached to his back for Hiro to stick on while flying.

Publication history

Created by Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau in their spare time while working on another project, Baymax was first intended to appear with the rest of Big Hero 6 in Alpha Flight #17 (December 1998). However, the team first appeared in their own self-titled three-issue miniseries by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Gus Vasquez, which due to scheduling issues, was published before Alpha Flight #17.[1][2] The character appeared with the team in a subsequent five-issue miniseries which was launched by Marvel Comics in September 2008.

Fictional character biography

Monster Baymax began his existence as a science project created by Hiro. He was originally designed to be a hydro-powered robotic synthformer programmed to serve as Hiro's personal bodyguard, butler, and chauffeur. However, prior to the project's completion, Hiro's father died and the young inventor programmed Baymax's artificial intelligence using the brain engrams of his recently departed father. With the thoughts and emotions of Hiro's father, Baymax became much more than a robotic bodyguard. He also functions as Hiro's best friend and father figure, and is by his side nearly every hour of every day. Baymax also feels a deep attachment to Hiro's mother; however, Hiro and Baymax decided it was not in her best interest to inform her that her departed husband's memories were used as the basis for Baymax's artificial intelligence, at least for the time being.[3]

Baymax is programmed to serve and protect Hiro and therefore unable to allow his creator to be placed in possibly dangerous situations. When the Giri attempted to recruit Hiro into the fledgling super-team known as Big Hero 6, Baymax was also on their list of potential operatives. Baymax opposed the idea of Hiro being placed in harm's way but acquiesced to joining the team after the Everwraith, the astral embodiment of those killed in the 1945 nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, abducted Hiro's mother. Baymax continues to serve alongside Hiro on Big Hero 6, where his phenomenal strength, and amazing surveillance and data analysis capabilities have proven very useful.[3]

Powers and abilities

Baymax is an artificial synthformer capable of synthtransing his body into various forms. His default form is a large humanoid male designed to be less conspicuous in public while attending to Hiro's daily needs. His other forms "Battle-Dragon" and "Action-Mecha", are significantly more powerful and imposing than his default humanoid form, and are primarily used during undercover missions and other hostile operations. When Baymax sustains physical injuries beyond his damage threshold, he automatically reverts to his humanoid form and becomes temporarily depowered.[3]

In all forms, Baymax is equipped with internal scanners and sensors able to detect and evaluate the threat posed by lifeforms in the immediate vicinity. He can also deploy remote monitors to record events from afar. His feet are equipped with jet engines capable of generating a thrust sufficient to propel him at speeds up to Mach 4. He can send, receive, and intercept radio transmissions, and monitors all networks maintained by the Japanese Ministry of Defense. Baymax is also directly linked to Hiro's personal Core Cyber-Network (CCN). As a result, when Baymax is not in Hiro's vicinity, he can be immediately summoned via a communication device mounted on Hiro's wrist. Baymax is also connected to Hiro's cybernetic glasses, so that everything that Hiro sees and hears while wearing the glasses is stored in Baymax's databanks for later reference and analysis.[3]

Baymax is programmed with fighting techniques from several forms of combat, including karate, tae kwon do, Western boxing, and Wing Chun. He possesses a durable, polymantium endo/exoskeleton resistant to most forms of small ballistics. Baymax uses water as his primary source of power for locomotion. His artificial intelligence system is memory-card-based and contains thoughts and emotions of Hiro's departed father, industrialist Tomeo Takachiho.[3]

In other media

Film
Baymax
Big Hero 6 character
Walt Disney Animation Studios re-imagining of Baymax
First appearanceBig Hero 6 (2014)
Voiced byScott Adsit
In-universe information
NicknameThe Red Panda (by Karmi)[4]
Hugs (by Trina)
GenderMale (masculine pronouns)

In Big Hero 6, Baymax is voiced by Scott Adsit.[5][6] In the film, he is depicted as an inflatable robot with a carbon fiber skeleton built by Hiro Hamada's older brother Tadashi to serve as a personal healthcare provider companion. Co-director Don Hall said "Baymax views the world from one perspective—he just wants to help people, he sees Hiro as his patient." Producer Roy Conli said "The fact that his character is a robot limits how you can emote, but Scott was hilarious. He took those boundaries and was able to shape the language in a way that makes you feel Baymax’s emotion and sense of humor. Scott was able to relay just how much Baymax cares."[6][7][8] The film was released under the title Baymax in Germany and Japan.[9] Baymax's design in the film drew influence from Japanese anime and Shogun Warriors toys.[10] Mecha designer Shigeto Koyama, who previously did design work for mecha anime such as Gunbuster 2, Eureka Seven, Gurren Lagann and Rebuild of Evangelion, worked on the concept design for Baymax in the film.[11][12]

Baymax is immediately activated from his charging bay at the sound of a person experiencing pain. Due to being a personal "healthcare companion" Baymax is calm and nurturing, and one of Baymax's functions is that located on his chest is a small chip port. Any chip can be inserted into it and give Baymax large amounts of knowledge. His healthcare chip instructs him with "10,000 different medical procedures". Hiro later gives him a battle chip that instructs him on numerous forms of martial arts. It is shown that when his healthcare chip is removed, Baymax becomes deadly and slightly uncontrollable. To coat his easily deflatable body, Baymax wears bright red armor with purple accents. The suit has wings that allow him to fly and his fists can detach like rockets. Baymax's armor also has small magnets attached to his back that allow Hiro to stick to him in flight.

Television

Baymax appears in Big Hero 6: The Series with Adsit reprising the role.[13] The first episode, "Baymax Returns" takes place during the last part of the movie where Hiro rebuilds Baymax. Hiro changes his battle chip to a superhero chip so that Baymax won't turn evil like in the film. Later, Yama manages to copy his designs and creates evil versions of him though he and the Big Hero 6 destroy them.[14] Baymax is also shown to have, slightly, developed some self-awareness capabilities as he caught on to Wasabi's implication of urinating in fear.[15] Baymax is further shown to be versed in psychological evaluation and has even grasped the concept of emotional stress as seen in "Mr. Sparkles Loses His Sparkle".[16] Hiro later builds two other Max's that aid the Big Hero 6. The first are introduced in "Mr. Sparkles Loses His Sparkle" called Skymaxes.[16] They are six individually colored drones that contain and deliver the team's costumes where ever they are.[17] The other is a miniature version of Baymax called Mini-Max (voiced by John Michael Higgins) that watches Fred whenever the rest of the team is in class. Fred himself seems to view him as a sidekick, and the team never corrects him.[18] The episode "Portal Enemy", reveals that the original Baymax is still floating in the portal dimension.[19]

Video games

The Disney version of Baymax, in his armored form, appears in Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes, Disney Infinity 3.0 and Kingdom Hearts III.[20] According to Square Enix and the film's producer Roy Conli, the story of Big Hero 6's world is set as an alternate sequel to the events of the film.[21]

References
  1. "LaughingPlace.com » Movie Week: A Look Ahead To Big Hero 6". Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  2. Palmeri, Christopher (November 3, 2014). "Big Hero 6 banks on a huggable robot to draw in audiences" Archived 2018-12-16 at the Wayback Machine. The Vancouver Sun.
  3. Big Hero 6 #1 (2008)
  4. Juwono, Ben (director); Jenny Jaffe (writer) (August 18, 2018). "Fan Friction". Big Hero 6: The Series. Season 1. Episode 15. Disney XD.
  5. "Disney Gives Marvel Fans First Look at Big Hero 6 Animated Film". IGN. 9 August 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  6. Truitt, Brian (July 13, 2014). "Meet the saviors of San Fransokyo in 'Big Hero 6'". USA Today. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  7. Yamato, Jen (July 14, 2014). "Maya Rudolph, James Cromwell, More Join Disney's Marvel Animation 'Big Hero 6′". Deadline. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  8. "Baymax" (PDF). xprizechallenge.org. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  9. "Baymax" (in German). Disney Film Official Website. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  10. "How anime inspired Disney's 'Big Hero 6'". New York Post. November 1, 2014.
  11. "Interview: Shigeto Koyama Talks About Baymax, GAINAX And Kill la Kill". superadrianme.com. 17 September 2015.
  12. "Designer Reveals "Big Hero 6" Anime Connection". Crunchyroll. October 24, 2014.
  13. "'Big Hero 6': Maya Rudolph & More Reprise Roles for Disney XD Animated Series". Deadline. November 3, 2016. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  14. Heneveld, Stephen and Ben Juwono (director); Sharon Flynn and Paiman Kalayen (writer) (November 20, 2017). "Baymax Returns". Big Hero 6: The Series. Season 1. Episode 1. Disney XD.
  15. Heneveld, Stephen (director); Sharon Flynn (writer) (June 10, 2018). "Fred's Bro-Tillion". Big Hero 6: The Series. Season 1. Episode 4. Disney XD.
  16. Good, Kathleen (director); Paiman Kalayen (writer) (July 14, 2018). "Mr. Sparkles Loses His Sparkle". Big Hero 6: The Series. Season 1. Episode 10. Disney XD.
  17. Juwono, Ben (director); Sharon Flynn (writer) (August 4, 2018). "Kentucky Kaiju". Big Hero 6: The Series. Season 1. Episode 13. Disney XD.
  18. Good, Kathleen and Kenji Ono (director); Paiman Kalayeh (writer) (August 25, 2018). "Mini-Max". Big Hero 6: The Series. Season 1. Episode 16. Disney XD.
  19. Heneveld, Stephen (director); Sharon Flynn (writer) (January 11, 2020). "Portal Enemy". Big Hero 6: The Series. Season 2. Episode 20. Disney Channel.
  20. "Kingdom Hearts 3 will feature Disney's Big Hero 6". Polygon. 16 August 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  21. "Kingdom Hearts III to Include Big Hero 6". Disney Interactive. August 16, 2015.
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