On this week’s Big Hero 6: The Series, Hiro, tired of being just the team’s boy genius, invented a suit to enhance his strength, which naturally results in all kinds of daily problems. Fred also built a 1:1 scale replica of the giant monster from the movie Kentucky Kaiju, with even more disastrous consequences.
1. Batman Vs. Spider-Man
Given Hiro’s age, there’s always gonna be a lot of common ground between the ideas on this show, and those of the great Spider-Man creators, but there were a couple of moments in this episode that strongly recalled a couple of classic Marvel Comics storylines. Obake sending Globby and Noodle Burger Boy to wear down Hiro brought to mind how in the Sinister Six’s debut (1964’s “The Amazing Spider-Man Annual” #1), Doc Ock sent the villains one-by-one to wear down Spider-Man, instead of ganging up on him all at once. And, more obviously, there’s the black nanosuit that Hiro designs to increase his strength won’t deactivate, and when it finally does, it turns into a shirt, just like the pre-Venom symbiote that refused to detach itself from Peter Parker.
Things get more interesting on a meta level when Stan Lee returns as Fred’s dad, formerly the superhero known as Boss Awesome, making a video call while fending off mummies in a tomb. He’s here to deliver that age-old message to just be yourself, explaining that when he started out, he tried to find a way to gain super strength, but realized he didn’t need it. (So yeah, he’s an just old man who can defeat Yetis and mummies with a single blow, wow.)
Basically, Disney have given us a cartoon where Stan Lee has told us sometimes it’s better to be Batman than Spider-Man: I’m as amazed as you are. Now I mention Batman rather than any other superhero without any superpowers, because the way Hiro defeats Kentucky Kaiju at the end strongly brings to mind “Dark Nights: Metal” #1, where to defeat a giant robot, Batman allows himself to be swallowed by it. It was published way too late last year to have inspired the episode, and is probably more of a result of how every hero’s journey sees a descent into the belly of the beast, but still, the similarity was striking.
2. Keeping the Supernatural At Bay
Sticking with Stan Lee’s cameo for a moment, it’s funny how Big Hero 6 keep fighting these man-made monsters like Globby and Noodle Burger Boy, while Fred’s dad is always shown fighting supernatural creatures during his video calls. Could it be subtly messaging kids that it’s not imaginary creatures they have to be scared about, but what humans are capable of creating? Probably not, but it’s a pretty funny conscious decision, and it’s not like what’s passes for science fiction on this show is distinguishable from magic anyway.
3. It Looks Like Godzilla
It should be noted Fred’s giant replica of Kentucky Kaiju is really a big nod to his Marvel Comics counterpart, a guy who could actually transform into an enormous lizard called Fredzilla (what else could you really call him?), but there were a couple of nods to classic Godzilla films too. Kentucky Kaiju’s shoulder spikes recalled SpaceGodzilla’s design from the eponymous 1994 movie, and his ultimate demise, being electrocuted by wires, is a nod to the wires that bothered Godzilla in the original 1954 film itself. Given the show’s Japanese influences, it was great that the show finally had a giant monster, and that he was a giant robot to boot as well.
4. More Geeky Reminders
Hiro’s super strength causing havoc at school, rendering him unable to pick up anything, brought back memories of Dragon Ball Z‘s Cell Games Saga, when Goku, having undergone a year’s worth of training, picks up and breaks a tea cup. I wouldn’t have mentioned this given heroes not knowing their own strength is a pretty hoary trope (eg. Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man), but after Baymax attempts to remove Hiro’s nanosuit with a carefully applied shock, his hair looks so much like a “Dragon Ball” character that it must’ve been a direct wink at Akira Toriyama’s character designs.
5. Credit Where Credit’s Due
Aside from some jerky nerk movements, this episode marks the first time I couldn’t tell if the episode was animated by Norlum, or Snipple, which is generally the superior of the two animation studios working on the show. So kudos to Norlum, whose work this week marks a great new standard for the episodes they’ve produced: I found Globby’s upgrade, slithering and shapeshifting around like a slimy snake, particularly jawdropping in fact.
Bonus thoughts:
– The music while Hiro was making his nanosuit sounded more heavily synthesized than usual.
– Fred has seen Kentucky Kaiju seven times but insists on not giving a plot synopsis to his friends for fear of spoilers (which is dumb).
– Baymax is slowly but surely getting metaphors.
– Everyone has their own color-coded Sky-Maxes now.
– There’s a great moment where a female office worker reacts to Kentucky Kaiju stomping through the streets by closing the window blinds. She’s the same woman who ignored Globby slamming into her window at the end of his debut.
