Hiro Hamada

"We didn't set out to be superheroes. But, sometimes, life doesn't go the way you planned. The good thing is, my brother wanted to help a lot of people. That's what we're gonna do!"

- Hiro's closing narration

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.

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 judgement 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.

Role in the film
Hiro Hamada is a young prodigy living in the high-tech city of San Fransokyo along with his aunt Cass and older brother Tadashi, who wants Hiro to become a productive member of society.

Despite his high intelligence, Hiro spends his time participating in underground bot fights throughout the city, which has frequently led to Tadashi having to bail him out of tough situations. On one particular night, Hiro takes part in an illegal bot fight against champion Mr. Yama and leaves the battle victorious. Out of spite, Yama and his goons attack the boy, who is immediately rescued by Tadashi. Though they escape Yama and his thugs, the two brothers, along with everyone else involved in the illegal bot fights, are caught by the police and arrested. Hiro and Tadashi are released that same night on account of Cass, who takes them home, scolding them along the way. The two are able to bypass punishment, but a frustrated Tadashi scolds Hiro on his bot-fighting obsession, wanting him to put his intelligence to better use.

Hiro scoffs at the idea and makes an attempt to go to another bot fight. Tadashi offers a ride, but instead takes his brother to his school, the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. There, Hiro meets Tadashi's closest friends — Go Go Tomago (a sassy adrenaline junkie), Wasabi (a neurotic neat freak), Honey Lemon (a hyperactive chemistry expert) and Fred (a hopeless fanboy with a love of comics and Japanese Kaiju). Though Hiro is shy and quiet throughout the introductions, he's secretly amazed by the institute, finding the inventions breathtaking, though he doesn't admit so just yet. After meeting the team, Tadashi takes Hiro to his lab, where he introduces him to Baymax (a squishy white robot programmed to be a personal healthcare companion and created as a means to heal the sick and injured). Tadashi explains Baymax was a creation meant to help people around the world and is additionally explained to be programmed by a special healthcare chip which, according to him, makes Baymax who he is. After the introduction, the two run into Professor Callaghan, a world-renowned robotics expert, mentor of Tadashi and Hiro's personal idol. With the help of Tadashi, Callaghan cunningly convinces Hiro to enroll in the Institute, claiming that the school is a place where the boundaries of robotics are pushed and geniuses put their brains to the test in order to shape the future. Callaghan's words instantly strike Hiro and after departing the school, he confesses his burning desire to join the Institute, much to Tadashi's happiness.

According to Tadashi, the school holds an annual convention, where up-and-coming geniuses are meant to showcase new creations. Those who impress Callaghan are accepted into the school. Tadashi advises Hiro to concoct a creation to do just that, but the boy-genius instantly hits a block of thought and nearly gives up. Tadashi restores his brother's faith by assisting him in enhancing his thought process, eventually leading to Hiro's breakthrough. After a long period of work and planning, with the help of Tadashi, Go Go, Wasabi, Honey and Fred, Hiro creates the Microbots—miniature robots capable of forming anything that comes to mind through the use of a telepathic headband transmitter. Hiro takes his inventions and showcases them at the convention. Though nervous at first, Tadashi eases his little brother, resulting in a fantastic showcase that thoroughly impresses both Callaghan and famous tech-guru Alistair Krei. Krei offers Hiro vast wealth in exchange for ownership over the Microbots. Callaghan interferes with the offer by accusing Krei of using technology and science for selfish reasons, advising Hiro to deny the offer. After much consideration, Hiro takes Callaghan's advise and refuses to sell the Microbots. A frustrated Krei leaves the scene while Callaghan congratulates Hiro on his success by granting him admission into the school.

In celebration, Cass offers to take Hiro, Tadashi and their friends back to the cafe for a free dinner, though Tadashi and Hiro separate to have some alone time. Once they're alone, Tadashi congratulates his younger brother on his success, proud to see him use his genius for bigger things in life. Suddenly, however, the school's fire alarm goes off, prompting Tadashi and Hiro to rush to the chaos. There, they see civilians escaping the showcase hall, which was mysteriously set ablaze. One woman informs the boys that Callaghan is still inside the burning building and Tadashi decides to go in after him. Hiro tries to stop him, but Tadashi rushes inside, not willing to risk losing Callaghan. Hiro then attempts to follow, but before he's able to, the building violently explodes, rendering him unconscious and killing both Tadashi and presumably Callaghan. A funeral and memorial are held and Hiro falls into deep depression at the loss of his brother and best friend. Cass tries to comfort her nephew, but to no real avail. As such, Hiro remains alone in his room, ignoring both Cass' attempts to cheer him up and his equally-saddened friends.

One day, Hiro accidentally stubs his toe and his pain summons Baymax, who was originally thought to be out of commission. Baymax explains that he heard the sound of distress and offers assistance. Hiro denies his offer, and tries to deactivate the bot, only to accidentally stumble upon one of his Microbots, which is still active and trying to reunite with the other bots. Hiro, thinking that the rest of his Microbots and the transmitter were destroyed in the fire, ignores the bot's activity, believing it to be malfunctioning. Baymax, however, takes notice of this and acknowledges it, only to have Hiro sarcastically order Baymax to find out where the bot is trying to head, which the robot takes literally and does just that. Hiro chases after a wandering Baymax through the city and the two eventually find themselves at an abandoned warehouse. The two break in and they soon stumble upon a machine creating millions of Microbots. As Hiro ponders on the mysterious discovery, the Microbots rise and attack. Hiro and Baymax evade them hastily and eventually encounter a dark, masked figure named Yokai; the man responsible for the theft of the Microbots. The masked man pursues the duo, but they eventually escape at the last minute, immediately heading to the police station to report the attack.

The two give their claims to Officer Gerson, who dismisses their story as rubbish, thus denying them lawful assistance. Just then, Baymax begins to lose power, forcing Hiro to leave the station and return home to have the robot recharge. After sneaking past an oblivious Aunt Cass, Baymax begins to charge and Hiro takes a breather from the exhausting day. Baymax acknowledges Tadashi's disappearance at this time, asking for his whereabouts. Hiro reveals Tadashi's unfortunate demise, but the mention of the fire being an accident sparks an epiphany. After the encounter with Yokai, Hiro realizes that the fire was no accident and recruits Baymax into helping him take down the masked culprit, wanting to avenge his brother's death. As such, Baymax is given a few upgrades, including a super-suit and a new programming chip equipped with karate-like battle programming. After his new upgrades are put to the test, the two head out to find and capture Yokai. They arrive at the warehouse, only to find it vacant. However, using the last Microbot to track him, Hiro and Baymax are led to the docks, where they find the demonic Yokai emerging from the fog with a massive piece of technology. The two go into silent hiding until Honey, Go Go, Wasabi and Fred arrive, having followed the two there after spotting them snooping about the city alone.

Hiro urges them to leave, until the group is attacked by Yokai. Baymax tries to battle the masked villain, only to be thrown onto the top of Wasabi's van. The gang retreats from the scene with Yokai immediately following behind them, leading into a chase throughout the city. Yokai makes several attempts to kill the team, but luckily, with Go Go's reckless driving, they manage to escape by driving off a ledge and into the bay, having Yokai believe them to be dead, thus prompting him to vanish once again. Baymax manages to rescue the team and bring them back to shore. Once Hiro suggests they needed a place to rest for the night, to recover, the group is led to Fred's mansion home. There, they ponder on the true identity of Yokai and how to find him, just before Baymax reveals that he scanned the masked man's body, allowing them to track him down via body temperatures and other health-related attributes. Before the mission to bring Yokai to justice begins, Hiro decides to upgrade both himself and the rest of the team, believing they'd have a much better chance if they all join together as superheroes.

After some scientific modifications and training, the group of friends become the team "Big Hero 6", bent on taking down Yokai. To do so, the team believes his mask is his source of power and the objective is to retrieve the mask to cease his control over the bots. Baymax is the last to be upgraded and after his new super-suit is revealed, he and Hiro take a test flight for the first time throughout the city, eventually landing on one of the air balloons towering over the city and overlooking a sunset. Hiro and Baymax take the time to relax and bond for a short moment, which brings happiness to the boy. Realizing this, Baymax asks Hiro if he's satisfied with his care, as his true objective throughout their adventure is to ensure Hiro's happiness and satisfaction, claiming Hiro to be his patient. Hiro denies Baymax's suggestion and returns to the matter at hand.

After scanning the city to find a match to Yokai's health information, Baymax discovers a match on an island not far from the mainland. The team heads to the area, which is revealed to be an abandoned facility. There, they find a machine in the process of restoration, but are unable to uncover what it is exactly. Soon enough, their snooping leads to a room with recordings taking place in the facility. After watching, they learn that the facility originally belonged to Alistar Krei and the machine was a portal meant to enhance transportation. The test subject, a woman named Abigail, was the first to try it out, but as she did, the machine malfunctioned. Instead of calling off the procedure, Krei insisted that they move forward, resulting in a tragic accident that left Abigail lost in the portal and apparently killed by the machine's destruction. The incident resulted in the closure of Krei's facility. The team then comes to the conclusion that Krei is responsible for stealing the Microbots in hopes of rebuilding his portals.

Just then, Yokai appears and attacks once more. A battle follows and in the process, Hiro accidentally removes the villain's kabuki mask. Yokai's true identity is then revealed to be Professor Callaghan. Callaghan confesses his crime of stealing the Microbots and reveals that he used them to escape the fire alive and unharmed, meaning that Tadashi had died for nothing. A heartbroken Hiro tearfully explains that Tadashi died trying to save the professor, but Callaghan coldly responds by blaming Tadashi for his own death. Enraged, Hiro orders Baymax to kill Callaghan. Baymax denies such an action, explaining he's unable to bring harm to a human being, but Hiro, blinded by hatred and grief, removes the robot's healthcare chip, leaving only his programming of battle and destruction, thus sending him on a violent, mindless rampage in an attempt to kill the professor. Seeing this, Go Go, Fred and Wasabi try to fend off the bot and, in the mix of the chaos, Callaghan manages to retrieve his mask and escape.

Luckily, Honey recovers Baymax's healthcare chip and restores the robot to his original peaceful settings. Realizing what he's done, Baymax apologizes to the team for causing harm, but Hiro berates them, blaming them for Callaghan's escape. The team retorts by explaining that the plan was never to kill Callaghan, but instead, to merely apprehend him. Leaving the team on the island out of anger, Hiro and Baymax return home to repair Baymax's suit. Baymax talks to Hiro about the situation of killing Callaghan, asking if his death would appease the boy. Instead of answering, with his mind clouded by thoughts of fury, revenge, sadness and the loss of Tadashi, Hiro breaks down in tears. Baymax comforts him by showing him videos of Tadashi, which he recorded during his creation process. Tadashi's presence and loving words bring enlightenment to Hiro, who thanks Baymax for his comfort. Honey, Go Go, Fred and Wasabi soon arrive as well. Instead of being upset with Hiro, they, too, comfort the boy, he says he is sorry for yelling at them and they understand that his actions were only out of grief and vows to bring Callaghan to justice and his four teammates forgive him. Before they set out, the team shows Hiro a recording they found, which reveals that Abigail was the daughter of Callaghan and the entire goal behind his villainy is to extract revenge on Alistar Krei.

The next day, Alister Krei is in the middle of an important showcase, just as Yokai arrives and captures him. Yokai reveals himself to be Callaghan, and the villainous professor subsequently reveals his plot to use the newly-recreated portal to destroy both Krei's new building and Krei himself. Alistar tries to talk sense into the villain, explaining the incident with Abigail was an accident, but Callaghan ignores him and proceeds with his plot. Just then, Hiro and the team arrives on the scene. Instead of immediate attack, Hiro tries to sympathize with the professor, explaining the fact that extracting revenge isn't the way to handle his daughter's death, but Callaghan's fury gets the better of him, and his plans proceed. Hiro and the others battle the villain, aiming for Callaghan's mask, but Callaghan soon gets the upper hand with the help from the Microbots and leaves the team members to die as his plot is set in motion. As Hiro is being pulled towards the portal, his distressed team members call to him for help, while at the same time, he sees several Microbots being sucked into a portal, giving him a new idea. Hiro then uses the words of wisdom from Tadashi to successfully guide each of his friends to safety.

After being rescued by Baymax and rejoining the others, Hiro relays his new plan, instructing the team members to take out the Microbots and get them sucked into the portal to eliminate Callaghan's source of power, whilst he and Baymax take on the villain, themselves. Hiro and Baymax fly to attract Callaghan's attention, making him fire towers of Microbots in their direction. Dodging the Microbots, the two fly the point where they are almost sucked into the portal, from where Hiro orders Baymax to dive and break apart the Microbot formations to send them into the portal. Eventually, Callaghan captures the duo and prepares to make the killing strike, only to find that he has run out of the remaining available Microbots, thus rendering him powerless and vulnerable. With this revelation, Hiro and Baymax break free of their confinement and launch towards the villain. Fearfully, Callaghan prepares for his supposedly oncoming demise, but much to his shock, Hiro decides to spare his life, wanting to follow the moral code set by Baymax. Instead, Hiro and Baymax swipe the mask of Yokai and smash it into smithereens, causing Callaghan to finally (and permanently) lose control of the Microbots.

With his plans foiled and power-stripped, the team apprehends Callaghan, but Baymax senses life within the portal, though the being is said to be in hyper-sleep. Hiro realizes that it must be Abigail and the young boy journeys inside to save her, along with Baymax. The two soon find Abigail, asleep in her capsule, and as they make their escape, some of the debris from the destruction of Krei Tech strikes them, causing Baymax to lose most of his armor. Hiro reaches out for Baymax, who manages to grab ahold of his hand, but they both find that the portal is soon closing. Baymax decides to use his rocket-fist to send both Hiro and Abigail to safety, and requests deactivation at Hiro's command. Realizing that this will result in the robot's permanent imprisonment within the portal, Hiro denies such a plan, not wanting to lose him. Baymax disregards his own safety to help of Hiro, reassuring his friend that he'll always be with him. Without a choice, Hiro tearfully hugs Baymax as he bids him farewell, telling the robot that he is satisfied with his care. With these words, Baymax sends Hiro and Abigail off, leaving himself trapped in the portal and eventually destroyed. After Hiro and Abigail manage to make it out of the portal, seconds before it explodes, Hiro reunites with the others and reveals Baymax's demise. Soon afterwards, the police and paramedics arrive to care for Abigail and arrest Callaghan.

Following these events, Hiro has made a tremendous recovery from his depression as he spends his days hanging out with Honey, Go Go, Wasabi and Fred. Finally joining San Fransokyo Tech as an official student, Hiro settles in Tadashi's old lab, where the young genius stores Tadashi's hat in his memory and Baymax's last piece of armor: his rocket fist, reminiscing of their time together fondly as he comes across it. Within the grasp of the fist, however, Hiro discovers Baymax's original programming chip (which contains both his personality and memories). After some work, Hiro is able to restore the robot, reviving him from his demise and reuniting at long last. The two rejoice in their reunion with a loving embrace and Hiro reassembles the Big Hero 6 team, dedicating themselves to protecting the city from any and all problems, thus finally putting his incredible potential to great use as Tadashi had always wanted.

During the credits, Hiro, along with Baymax, is seen hanging out around the city with his friends and watching television with Cass and Mochi. Newspapers show that Hiro has been awarded a grant from the university and the Big Hero 6 team performing heroic deeds around the city. Another newspaper shows a ceremony of a building dedication in Tadashi's name taking place, in which Hiro accepts the honor on behalf of his late brother.

Printed media
Hiro's story, relationships and overall character is further analyzed and developed in several printed stories.

The manga series Baymax, delved into Hiro's past, revealing his upbringing and relationship with Tadashi, prior to the events of the film. It is revealed that Hiro was dubbed a genius at a very young age (being able to solve a problem no one could have) and, as a result, he found himself bullied and beaten by a group of envious kids on occasion, though Tadashi would always come to his rescue, yet he'd lie and say that it wasn't on purpose. As he grew older, Hiro became increasingly antisocial, even growing distant from Tadashi. Nevertheless, the elder sibling made attempts to keep the bond between Hiro and himself strong by crafting fun inventions for them to share, such as a miniature airplane for two. With the latter, Hiro's enthusiastic side saw a resurgence, and together, the brothers spent their days side by side as scientific partners and best friends.

Hiro and Tadashi centers around the relationship shared by the Hamada brothers, where they are shown to share secret rules (at least 457 of them) and continuously joined together to concoct various inventions. It's also revealed that Tadashi supplied his younger brother with a journal, to keep track of his latest endeavors, which would tie into Hiro's Journal. This book focused on the inner thoughts of Hiro during the course of the film, including his excitement to join the ranks of San Fransokyo Tech, his devastation over the loss of Tadashi, and more; all told by written journal entries and photographs.

Hiro's adventures are also expanded upon in a Dutch magazine print centering around the film and containing several short stories revolving around the young genius and his team. For example, Tech Nightmare takes place during the events of the film, in the midst of Hiro's creation of the Microbots in anticipation of San Fransokyo Tech's annual science fair. Adventurous Imagination takes place after the events of the film, where the team faces a new villain by the name of Dr. Rat. In the story The Winning Robot, Mr. Yama returns to extract revenge.

Video games
Hiro has made numerous appearances in video games and applications, most of which are spin-off adventures of the film, including Big Hero 6: Baymax Blast and Big Hero 6: Bot Fight.

Disney INFINITY
Hiro and Baymax appear as playable characters in the second Disney INFINITY game, donning their superhero outfits.

Hiro's main source of power and attacks in the game are his Microbots, which, like in the film, can be used in combat, creating impressive damage to enemies.

Aside from that, Hiro also has the ability to ride atop Baymax, being one of the few characters in the game with the ability to ride on another playable character (the other being Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy).

Hiro can additionally use booster jumps for super-stealth spying purposes.

Big Hero 6: Battle in the Bay
Taking place after the events of the film, San Fransokyo falls under the attack of a battle bot invasion, at the hands of Mr. Yama, who seeks vengeance on Hiro for humiliating him and "usurping" his bot-fighting championship. With this, Hiro and the team band together to defeat the villain.

Disneyland
From November 2014 to mid-2015, Hiro and Baymax appeared as meetable characters to promote the film at the Starcade in Disneyland.

Hiro also makes a cameo appearance in the 2014 rendition of World of Color: Winter Dreams, as well as World of Color: Celebrate!, alongside Baymax.

Walt Disney World Resort
From November 2014 to mid-2015, Hiro and Baymax appeared as meetable characters to promote the film at The Magic of Disney Animation in Disney's Hollywood Studios. In December 2015, Baymax returned to the parks without Hiro. Hiro still appears at private events but, as of now, will no longer be doing meet and greets.

Disneyland Paris
In France, Hiro makes an appearance in Disney Dreams!.

In late December, 2015, Hiro made a special appearance in Disneyland Paris, debuting as an atmosphere character in both his civilian wear, and superhero armor

Hong Kong Disneyland
In June 4, 2016, Hiro had began meet-and-greet sessionsin as an atmosphere character in Art of Animation at Hong Kong Disneyland, as part of its 10th anniversary celebration. Prior, Hiro and Baymax appear in the castle show Disney in the Stars with new projection mapping since November 17, 2015.

Shanghai Disneyland
Hiro and Baymax briefly appear during the Ignite the Dream fireworks show finale.

Hiro, as a face character, and Baymax also appears in a dance party show in Tomorrowland.

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.