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Balance, Mr. Hamada. Hard to achieve, harder to mantain.

Professor Grace Granville is a recurring character in the Disney XD show, Big Hero 6: The Series. She is a strict, stern professor who is the dean of San Fransokyo Institute of Technology and Hiro Hamada's thermodynamics teacher.

Background[]

There was a young student, a genius. I believed without limit, he would achieve great things. I granted this young genius free reign of the lab. Even after hours. I was unaware that his experiment was extremely dangerous. It went awry. The boy survived, but barely. I covered for the student, telling the authorities it was my work. In a way, it was my work. See, as a teacher, I failed. Students need limits. Even geniuses.

―Professor Granville, telling Hiro about her past student

Grace Granville has been a professor at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology for at least 20 years, having taught Wendy Wower and Trevor Trengrove among other modern day geniuses.

She used to teach robotics and had her own star student, Bob Aken, but once he began an experiment to build an energy amplifier, it went awry as the amplifier exploded on his face, the result of which sent him to the hospital.

Though Bob survived, Granville felt extreme guilt from the incident and resigned. However, she kept the remains of the amplifier, possibly unaware that it still worked, as a reminder to not repeat the same mistakes.

She would return decades later to teach thermodynamics when Robert Callaghan, the dean of the institute at the time, was thought to have died, then resurfaced as the villain Yokai and was arrested for putting San Fransokyo in danger. Professor Granville became the college's new dean as she settled into her new role quite well.

Personality[]

Professor Granville used to be laid-back with her students and had a philosophy that "You can't hold back genius", but after the accident that made her quit, she regretted this and became very strict and aggravated by student's behaviors. Nowadays, she is a stickler for rules but still likes to help her students even if it's with methods that they may not like.

Regardless, she is incredibly nice towards her star pupil Karmi, whom she usually treats better than most other students.

Towards Hiro, she is at odds with him as she believes the boy is reckless, troublesome and squanders his gifted intellect, which is only supported by Hiro's past questionable activities. The real reason for her attitude at him though, is that she does not want him to meet the same fate as Bob Aken, who she felt met his fate because she never gave him limits.

She is also intelligent enough to know that Big Hero 6 were her students, something that few people seem to realize. It's unknown for how long she had known this, however.

Appearance[]

She is a tall, slender African-American female with short black hair and gold earrings. She wears a gold necklace, a black long-sleeved shirt, and a long, gray pencil skirt.

It's shown that she had longer and curly brown hair in her early years. She also used to wear a white lab coat.

Powers and Abilities[]

  • Robotics knowledge: Granville demonstrated several times her knowledge of robotics and machinery, being a former mentor to Bob Aken, Wendy, and Trevor, creating spider-like drones to serve as security, and repairing Baymax on her own.
  • Espionage: As shown in "Rivalry Weak", she has the capacity to perform infiltration and covert operations, which she used to get past San Fransokyo Art Institute's security system.
  • Engineering: As shown in "Mini-Max", Granville is a gifted engineer, master both the creation of a machine and how to program her creations, despite the program got hacked easily by Obake.

Equipment[]

  • Night-vision goggles: Granville's spy suit comes equipped with a pair of goggles.
  • Improvised Armor: Granville donned an armor made of spare parts of the members of Big Hero 6 in "Seventh Wheel". This armor had the right glove and boots of Hiro's suit, a helmet of Honey Lemon's, the left glove of Wasabi's, and the leggings and chest armor of Go Go's. This armor has a plasma blade and a magnet, but because of her inexperience, Granville can't use these properly, using the armor only for protection and conceal her identity.

History[]

Season 1[]

Granville was introduced in "Baymax Returns" through a video that announced her as the new SFIT dean. The video played in Tadashi's lab but Hiro was not interested and muted it because he was excited that he could rebuild Baymax. Granville herself then showed up behind Hiro, and told him he was not meant to be there yet. Hiro replied saying it was his brother's lab but was saddened upon remembering Tadashi was no longer there. Granville comforted him by saying one day he'd get to earn the lab as his brother once did and suggested he could start by going to his classes then warning that his new thermodynamics teacher was tough but fair. Hiro got quickly to his class only to find out the teacher Granville talked about was herself. Confused on how she got there faster than he did, Granville told him she can take shortcuts that he cannot.

Later, Hiro kept working on Baymax's new body at Tadashi's lab, but the untested robot escaped and Hiro followed it. Outside, Granville saw HIro and told him to follow her. He tried to avoid it but Granville frowned, forcing Hiro go with her. At her office, she showed Hiro his bot-fighting record from the San Fransokyo Police Department and greeted him because she thought his bot-fighter career would mean he'd be a troublesome student, but was actually doing great. Baymax's body showed up visible through a window behind her and Hiro stopped paying attention, soon nervously shouting at her to stop complimenting him (actually meaning to tell the robot body to stop), then Granville just told him to keep up the good work, letting him go.

On the other hand, Bob Aken had also returned under the alias of Obake with a heinous plan to blow up the city. He hired Mr. Yama to obtain back his energy amplifier, but Yama later found Baymax's haywire body so he instead blackmailed Hiro and forced him to get the paperweight in Granville's office in exchange for the robot. Helped by Fred, he needed a copy of her ID to access her office, and planned to hug her to get close to the card and duplicate it. Granville however did not let Hiro hug her, but then at suggestion of Fred he started fake-crying and thanking Granville for believing in him, finally getting to hug her and obtain the ID, then went away running.

At night, Hiro waited until Granville left her office, going in and taking the paperweight. He and Fred gave it to Yama back at his place, but he betrayed and captured them. Both were later were saved by their friends, retrieving the item and returning it to Granville's office. Next day, she used her laptop and noticed the sculpture was off. She simply adjusted it unaware of anything that happened.

After Baymax was rebuilt and his conciousness was uploaded to the new body, Hiro showed him to Fred at Tadashi's lab. Both hid when they heard Granville approach while making Baymax pretend to be a couch. Granville however was smart enough to notice the "couch" was a robot, also seeing Fred's shoe. She sat on Baymax and told Hiro to come out as he couldn't fool her, reminding him that the lab was forbidden for him, then gave a quick lesson on balance and telling him to take the decision whether to follow Tadashi's example or pick Fred's path which she deemed as a bad thing.

A while after, Yama went by himself into Granville's office to take the amplifier himself, taking some Baymax Clones with him that wrecked the whole place. Hiro and his team still managed to beat the clones and finally destroyed the item. Next day, Granville was taking the stuff she could recover from the mess when Hiro came in, after reflecting on what she told him, and after discussing, Granville allowed him to stay at Tadashi's lab to work. Hiro tried to hug her yet again but Granville, yet again, refused.

In "Issue 188" she interrupts Hiro when he is trying virtual reality goggles, and makes him follow her to meet Karmi, another SFIT student because Granville noticed they were both younger than most students and said it would help Hiro's "social challenges". Hiro disliked the idea but Granville forced both by asking them to work for a week then give a report of their progress. Though Karmi seemed excited about it, she actually despised Hiro and only pretended to enjoy it while Granville was around.

By the end of the week and using Fred's comics as metaphors, Hiro talked with Granville at her office about his nice experience with Karmi, although it was actually a lie that Hiro said because he wanted to get along with Karmi due to their similarities. Hiro had realized that Granville actually wanted to help Karmi and not him, and told her this after Karmi left the office, but Granville simply said they were through and avoided answering, then smiled suggesting it was true.

Sometime after in "Failure Mode", Granville assigned her class a 3-week seismic project, intending them to think of ways to save buildings from collapsing during earthquakes and make models to test them. She tested Karmi's model first and was impressed, but also told her she could improve, and to get a new version for next week. On the other hand, Hiro had not done anything until the very last minute and his building collapses easily on the test.

Though Hiro tries applying other ideas later, they all had been done by his friends already, and for the next presentation he shows up with nothing, accidentally ruining every other student's project as well. Hiro gave up and told Granville he was not good at it, but Granville will not let him give up so easily and motivated him, telling him to rise up to the challenge even if he kept failing. For the third try, Hiro presented a building that counteracted the earthquake and Granville praised it, calling it excellent because it could also save the buildings around it too.

She appears again in "Killer App" at the Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab, announcing to her students that the International Space Agency contacted many institutes including the SFIT for a challenge to collect space junk and she asked if anyone was interested. Wasabi and Hiro were up to it, but planned to do it individually. Granville however assigned them to do it together as she believed they complimented each other, even though they didn't want to due to their different ways of working.

Despite their issues, Hiro and Wasabi worked it out and built a Mech Suit together, which impressed Granville and said they did a good teamwork.

Granville next appears in "Small Hiro One". Trevor Trengrove, one of her old students, visits the SFIT for a workshop where he'd let other students work with him. Granville makes them form a line to be allowed in the workshop but does not allow Hiro due to his young age. Instead, Granville gets Hiro to go with Wendy Wower, though her "audience" consisted of children far younger than Hiro. She kept watching over the door so that no one would sneak in.

Hiro stays with Wendy and later, many things from the past are revealed. Trengrove admits his work was stolen and Wower was the real genius, and Wendy goes with Hiro to the SFIT, where she reveals that Granville taught both her and Trevor 20 years ago. This shocks Hiro as he thought Granville had just joined the SFIT, and he goes to get an old yearbook, where he sees a picture of a younger Granville and Bob Aken. Though Hiro does not know who this boy is, he starts wondering why Granville never revealed she has been a teacher for so long.

Her next appearance is a scene in "Kentucky Kaiju"; after Hiro makes a Nano-Dex shirt to enhance his strength, he loses control of it and accidentally destroys things. He arrives at class and rips the door, then Granville angrily looks at him. Hiro also throws a chair at Karmi, and Karmi begins complaining. Granville calms everyone down and asks Hiro if he's done destroying school property, and asks Karmi if she's alright. The class then continues.

Then, in "Rivalry Weak", Hiro talks with Baymax about not giving random people foot massages, especially Granville, after Baymax had done so to her. Granville later finds Hiro and friends at the school's lab plotting a prank against the San Fransokyo Art Institute for the "rivalry week" between both schools. Though Hiro tries to hide the hologram with the plan, Granville realizes what's going on and sees it. However, instead of opposing to them doing it, she surprisingly allows it because the rivalry week has been a long-time tradition that she enjoys.

She gets Wasabi and Fred to go with her and defend the SFIT's cafeteria from any SFAI pranksters at night, giving both camo suits while she wears a spy suit. Granville gives both whistles and codes for it, but when she leaves both to guard, they get confused by Granville's code and end up trapped by Sabatini, the SFAI's mascot and then students paint them at unicorns, hanging both from the cafeteria's wall. The next day, Granville finds both still there and admits it was her fault for not training them adequately, then says they'll get properly trained later, though she doesn't help to free them.

Granville comes up with a new security system in "Mini-Max" after she notices how much the crime in San Fransokyo has been rising, but Hiro mistakes this for something evil and begins investigating her.

Fred starts chasing Globby and asks for backup, but the rest of the team was at her class so they were unable to help him. Later that day, Granville meets Hiro at night when he was about to create Mini-Max's chip so that Fred wouldn't have to fight alone, but Granville tells him the lab is closed until further notice. She, however, enters it after believing Hiro and Baymax had gone away, though they actually had snuck inside. She tests the system's voice command and Hiro begins suspecting of her.

Hiro later follows her to the dangerous Good Luck Alley. She went to obtain pods for the security system's robots, but the place's reputation only made Hiro think she was doing bad things. Although both Hiro and Baymax try following her, they are spotted by her but also clash with Yama and his thugs so they're forced to escape.

Because of her mysterious past, Hiro also goes to visit the former professor Robert Callaghan in prison, where he reveals the incident that made her quit her career and claims it was covered up as a "pipe burst". Hiro then goes back to the SFIT to keep spying on her but is caught by the security system robots and Granville, so she reveals the robots' intention. At first, Hiro admires the system's CPU, but unknown to both, Obake was spying on them and he hacks the system, causing the robots to attack both.

The two end up trapped in a classroom, where Hiro manages to contact his friends and asks for help. The team only sends Fred and Mini-Max, as they think Granville is smart enough to realize their identities. While waiting for the heroes to arrive, Hiro discusses Granville's visit to Good Luck Alley and about her past. Granville tells him the story behind her and Bob Aken, blaming herself for what happened and also saying it is the reason she is so strict with him.

Soon, both are saved by Fred and Mini-Max, and next day Hiro talks to Granville about his behavior, promising he will not end up like her former student. At the same time, both were being watched by Obake through one of the damaged robots, who frowned upon seeing the way he was being talked about.

In "Big Problem", Granville introduces Hiro and his friends to Liv Amara (unaware that she is a genetic clone of the real Liv), a bio-tech genius who visits the SFIT to meet Hiro and Baymax. Though Liv seems impressed by Baymax at first, she rapidly discards Hiro when he mentions that Baymax is actually his brother's creation, so Liv gains an interest in Karmi and her inventions instead. Hiro complains to Granville about this, but she tells him that he's just being jealous.

She later is seen at the SFIT dedication gala introducing the namesake of the new Amara Bio-Tech Center by thanking Liv Amara but the event is interrupted by a monster which Big Hero 6 fight there.

In "Obake Yashiki", Granville works on a Hyperconducting Magnet along with Go Go Tomago, who had volunteered because everyone else was doing Halloween shenanigans. Right then, Fred turns off the lights and tries scaring Go Go, but fails at doing so. Granville gets annoyed and turns the lights on, then leaves. The next day, Hiro mysteriously sees Tadashi walking outside the classroom, so he leaves the class without telling Granville why.

Hiro eventually realizes Tadashi was just an illusion created by Obake, who was distracting them so that Noodle Burger Boy could steal the Hyperconducting Magnet.

In "Countdown to Catastrophe", she is first approving projects for the SFIT's semester's final exposition. Honey Lemon proposes an investigation on Lenore Shimamoto's scientific works which Granville approves, but Honey Lemon keeps stalling so that Hiro can make it in time to school, as he was fighting Globby at the time. When Hiro arrives, he reveals he has no project ready, and then Fred comes in with his mascot costume to show his own "project", although Granville tells him there is no mascot final project.

Hiro then goes to Krei Tech to return a briefcase retrieved from his fight with Globby, and Alistair Krei reveals it was just "expensive garbage" from a failed experiment of an energy amplifier that was ultimately declared impossible to create. Hiro decided to take the item and attempt to succeed at making it work for his final project.

While at his lab, Granville visited him to ask if he had a project ready, and Hiro showed her the amplifier. This seemed to terrify Granville, as she immediately told Hiro that she rejected his project and should find another one, though this was simply by telling him it was impossible, rather than revealing it was what Bob Aken had attempted years before. Regardless, Hiro kept working on it to prove her wrong.

On the day of the exposition, Granville met with Wendy Wower but refused to be hugged by her. Later, Honey Lemon showed her a wax cylinder which contained a record of Lenore Shimamoto's voice, but much to everyone's shock, it revealed that Shimamoto was confessing she was responsible for the great catastrophe of 1906. Granville then stares at a photograph of Lenore and ponders about her, but is soon interrupted by Obake, her former student. Granville tried to apologize as it was the first time she had seen him since his accident, but Obake instead thanks her because she made him the man he is today.

Obake then leaves while his group of villains, Noodle Burger Boy, Globby and Momakase attack the SFIT. Big Hero 6 fight the villains, but they retreat when Obake steals Hiro's energy amplifier, intending to use it as the final piece for the machine he was working on all along during the previous six months. Granville then looks at Big Hero 6, knowing they are her students, and tells them everything about Bob Aken before he became Obake.

Big Hero 6 then set off to stop Obake's plan to destroy the city, but Obake stays in his lair falling apart instead of allowing himself to be saved by Baymax. In the aftermath, Hiro goes to Granville's office to discuss his project, but Granville gives him an "A" for his ingenuity in creating the energy amplifier and for his heroic efforts with the rest of Big Hero 6. Hiro, having learned his lesson about setting limits, then hands his energy amplifier over to Granville, who locks it in her safe. Before Hiro leaves, Granville asks if he knows what happened to Bob, looking sad about it. This prompts Hiro and Baymax to go to the destroyed base underwater, but they find no sign of Obake's body, which hints that he may have survived.

Trivia[]

Appearances[]

Gallery[]

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Professor Granville.
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