| “ | You took everything from me when you sent Abigail into that machine. Now I'm taking everything from you. | ” |
Robert Callaghan, also known as his alter-ego Yokai, is a major antagonist in Disney’s Big Hero 6 franchise, serving as the main antagonist of Disney’s 54th full-length animated feature film Big Hero 6 and a minor character in Big Hero 6: The Series.
He is a former professor at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology and is the father of Abigail Callaghan.
Background[]
Callaghan has a military background,[2] but later turned his goals to science and technology. Once a renowned scientist, he was an aspiring man with the ambitious hope of using his research to make the world a better place. He was recognized for his work in the fields of robotics and was the creator of Callaghan's Laws of Robotics, as well as the Callaghan-Catmull spline.
Later in his life, Callaghan became an instructor and the head professor at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology to mentor the new generation of prodigies. One of these students, Tadashi admired him greatly. Though Callaghan was passionate about his job, his daughter Abigail was the light of his life. Callaghan was shown to support Abigail up to adulthood when she became the test pilot for Krei Tech Industries under Alistair Krei. One day, Krei founded Project "Silent Sparrow", an experimental portal design meant to revolutionize teleportation technology. However, during the experimental test run, the portal experienced a malfunction and was forcibly shut down, trapping Abigail in the space between the portals. Callaghan, who was present during the test, snapped and tried to assault Krei in a fury, blaming him for losing Abigail.
The event catalyzed a transformation in Callaghan. He began to descend into madness, growing more unstable and obsessed with revenge on Krei. Ultimately, this would lead to Callaghan discarding any semblance of his former self and the birth of the villainous entity known as Yokai.
Personality[]
Callaghan is a highly intelligent man who seeks to teach young people and make the world a better place. He does not like it when people try to do things the easy way or take shortcuts to get to their goals.
When his daughter Abigail is lost, he believes her to be dead and is consumed by rage and desire for revenge on Alistair Krei and his company who are responsible for it. He keeps his daughter's supposed death to a minimum exposition and appears relatively calm after it. But behind the scenes, he plans a way to get to Mr. Krei and destroy everything he has as payback. As a direct result of his loss, Callaghan's mental and physical health is borderline turbulent which even Baymax's scan of him diagnoses with acute stress disorder, high risk of cardiovascular disease, and emotional instability.
Upon getting a hold of the Microbots, he fakes his death and becomes relentless, doing his plans anonymously and in secret. Because of this, he does not care about hurting anyone getting in his way even if it is people who care about him.
After Abigail is revealed to be alive and brought back, Callaghan's face expresses silent repent, a sign that he regrets his actions once he is incarcerated.
Appearance[]
Callaghan is a middle-aged man who has blue eyes, grey hair, and slightly wrinkled skin. He is often seen wearing sweater vests and slacks.
Once becoming Yokai, he wears a white yellow-eyed Kabuki mask with red stripes to hide his face, a black trench coat, stealth suit, black gloves, leg wraps, and ankle-length ninja boots.
After being incarcerated, Callaghan wears an orange prison uniform which indicates the status of medium risk.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Genius-level intellect: Callaghan was originally an inspiration to lots of young geniuses due to his many inventions and became the dean of the SFIT because of this. He had enough coordination to keep many Microbots doing different things at once.
Equipment[]
- Neurotransmitter: A high-tech headband designed by Hiro and used to control the Microbots which Callaghan attaches to a Kabuki mask and uses it to hide his true identity.
- Microbots: Callaghan steals Hiro's microbots and due to being the inventor of the Magnetic-bearing servos, he makes more for himself in secret to attack Krei Tech Industries.
History[]
Tadashi introduces Hiro to Go Go, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred at the Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab.
Before leaving, Hiro meets Callaghan who compares the young man to his daughter because both love Bot Fighting. Then he allows Hiro to join the SFIT in spite of his age. Hiro is excited by this and creates Microbots to showcase at the SFIT student exposition, hoping to join the school. Both Callaghan and Alistair Krei attend it, being impressed with Hiro's project. Krei approaches Hiro and offers to buy the bots, but Callaghan advises Hiro not to do it or he would not exploit his whole potential, treating Krei with disdain. Hiro agrees not to do it and Krei leaves. After most people leave the exposition including Hiro and his gang, Callaghan sets the building on fire and shields himself with the microbots to fake his death. Tadashi, who thinks Callaghan is not protected from the fire rushes in to save him, only to perish for nothing. Both men are mourned by their friends and family at Lucky Cat Café.
However, Callaghan is still alive and adopts the identity of Yokai to work secretly and attack Krei Tech Industries for his daughter's supposed death. Hiro manages to save a single encased Microbot which is acting all weird, leading him and Baymax to an abandoned warehouse where they find more Microbots being produced. Yokai spots them and starts chasing them, but they manage to escape. After their encounter, Hiro and Baymax go to the San Fransokyo Police Department to file a report, but the man attending them acts skeptical and uninterested due to how unrealistic the description sounds. Because of this, Hiro decides to take matters into his own hands by designing armor for Baymax and giving him a battle chip to fight against the mysterious man.
The duo goes back to the warehouse, but Yokai has already left the location empty of any trace. Hiro's Microbot once more tries to reunite with the rest of the bots and so they follow again, being taken to the pier where they meet up with Hiro's friends since Baymax contacted them to help Hiro's mood. While they all talk, Yokai appears out of nowhere and throws a crate at them and they all get in Wasabi's car to escape. Hiro orders Baymax to stay and attack, but Yokai easily knocks out the robot and sends him flying to the top of the car. Hiro and his friends are chased by the man throughout the city streets and almost get trapped by the Microbots, but end up thrown to the bottom of the ocean and are saved by Baymax while Yokai gets away once more and believes them to be dead.
Hiro and his friends then go to Fred's Mansion where they are greeted by Heathcliff. Inside, Hiro shows them a drawing of the Silent Sparrow symbol which he could spot when Yokai was carrying parts to build a machine. Fred suspects that Krei is Yokai, but everyone doubts it. Then Baymax reveals some of the health data that he obtained from scanning Yokai during the car chase. With the information, Hiro realizes they can scan the whole city at once with an upgrade and find Yokai.
By this time, Yokai has moved his operations to Akuma Island, the same place where the Silent Sparrow project took place and lost his daughter. Hiro upgrades Baymax's armor and gives his friends and himself suits to apprehend the masked man. When Baymax finds a match on Yokai's scan, he takes the team to Akuma Island where they find out the truth about the Silent Sparrow project, but mistakenly believe Yokai to be Krei trying to bring back the project. Yokai then throws a block of cement at them and engages the inexperienced team in a fight, easily defeating them, but gets his mask knocked off by Hiro in the process.
Upon seeing Callaghan's face and finding out he was Yokai the whole time, Hiro is shocked and enraged that Tadashi died in vain. Callaghan tells Hiro that Tadashi's death was his own mistake, only for Hiro to snap and remove Baymax's healthcare chip, turning him into a killing machine which Hiro orders to kill Callaghan as revenge to make him suffer for what he did to Tadashi. While being attacked by Baymax, Callaghan recovers his mask and gets away as the rest of the team stops Baymax and reinstalls his healthcare chip. Later, the team is picked up by Heathcliff in Fred's family chopper and they show Hiro more of the Silent Sparrow project's footage. Hiro finds out that the test pilot was Callaghan's daughter and they finally realize that Callaghan only wants revenge for this.
Callaghan moves his plans faster and attacks Krei Tech Industries when Krei announces the inauguration of a new campus. Krei tries to tell Callaghan that the Silent Sparrow project's malfunction was an accident, but Callaghan accuses Krei of already knowing it was unsafe and he uses the Microbots to reassemble the Silent Sparrow's portal pieces. The portal turns on and starts sucking up Krei's new building then Callaghan says to Krei, "You're going to watch everything you built disappear. Then it's your turn." Big Hero 6 arrives and fights Callaghan once more, but is caught again by Callaghan's Microbots. Hiro then says to his team, "Listen up. Use those big brains of yours and think your way around the problem. Look for a new angle." They all break free and Hiro tells them to attack the Microbots instead of trying to obtain the mask. The team succeeds at this and most of the Microbots are sucked into the portal until Callaghan is powerless. Finally, Baymax takes the mask and destroys it, causing the remaining Microbots and the portal to fall to the ground. While the portal is still on, Baymax detects female signs of life inside, meaning Abigail is still alive and Callaghan realizes his destruction was ultimately for nothing. Hiro and Baymax go into the portal to save Abigail who is still in her pod and unconscious. Once they get a hold of her, Hiro and Baymax make their way out, dodging Krei Tech debris along the way. Suddenly, a large chunk of concrete hits Baymax, damaging his armor. Baymax can no longer fly because of this, but he can still save Hiro and Abigail by using his rocket fist to propel them through the portal before it closes. Hiro tearfully agrees to this and hugs his best friend goodbye. Then Baymax detaches from his rocket fist and drifts away. Hiro and Abigail come out of the portal right before it closes and little does Hiro know that Baymax gave him his healthcare chip before he drifted away. Due to his crimes, Callaghan is arrested by the police, but manages to see Abigail one last time before being driven off in a police car.
Following these events, the attack at Krei Tech Industries is broadcasted in the news while everyone asks questions about the new heroes who saved the day. On the other hand, the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology hires Professor Granville to replace Callaghan as its new dean.
In "Mini-Max", Hiro visits Callaghan in prison to learn more about Granville's history, upon learning that she had been teaching at SFIT for longer than she claimed but tried to hide this fact from everyone. Callaghan reveals to Hiro that many years ago there was an incident at the school involving Granville and one of her students. Although it was officially reported as a pipe burst, Callaghan had heard rumors about it being an experiment gone wrong which in turn made Granville resign. Getting the information he wanted, Hiro was ready to leave the prison instantly, but Callaghan stopped him to thank him for having saved Abigail, then admitting fault for Tadashi's death and apologizing, though he knew it was not enough. Anguished, Hiro replies that while forgiving him is what Tadashi would have wanted, he is still not over it and hopes that he will someday be able to.
In "Hiro The Villain", Callaghan is interrogated by Chief Cruz about Big Hero 6. Callaghan only tells Chief Cruz that Big Hero 6 saved two lives, Krei and Abigail, and he's paying for his past unforgivable mistakes. When Chief Cruz mentions the fire incident at SFIT, Callaghan solemnly tells the chief that he's wrong about Big Hero 6.
Etymology[]
- Yokai - Yokai is the Japanese word for "spirit" or "phantom". Individually, the kanji used for the word is "bewitching" and "mystery". The term Yōkai can also refer to a class of supernatural spirits and monsters in Japanese folklore.
Quotes[]
| “ |
Hiro: [voice breaking] B-but Tadashi... you just let him die! Callaghan: Give me the mask, Hiro. Hiro: He went in there to save you! Callaghan: THAT WAS HIS MISTAKE! |
” |
| ―Hiro and Callaghan after Yokai's identity was revealed. | ||
Trivia[]
- Callaghan's blood type is AB−.[1]
- Yokai is the only character in the film with no apparent Marvel Comics counterpart, although he does bear a resemblance to Lord Deathstrike.
- In the manga adaptation, Callaghan has a wife named Sarah. However, in the main continuity, it is unknown if he has a wife or not.
- Despite being given the name "Yokai" in marketing, Callaghan is never actually referred to as such in the film. Yet, he is the only one to have a codename for his alter-ego, as the other superhero characters have nicknames for both their referred name and codename. He is referred to as Yokai until the Season 2 episode "Hiro The Villain", suggesting it may be a moniker that the press gave him in the aftermath of his arrest rather than one he created for himself.
- His name may have originally been Dr. Martin Lieber according to the 2013 Rotoscopers video and early information. As Lieber, he was not a big fan of Hiro's intelligence, though this may have been changed to prevent any dead giveaways to his identity.[3]
- Interestingly enough, Stan Lee's birth name was Stanley Martin Lieber.
Appearances[]
| Big Hero 6: The Series - Season 1 | |||
| 1-2. "Baymax Returns": | Mentioned | 13. "Small Hiro One": | Absent |
| 3. "Issue 188": | Absent | 14. "Kentucky Kaiju": | Absent |
| 4. "Big Roommates 2": | Absent | 15. "Rivalry Weak": | Absent |
| 5. "Fred's Bro-Tillion": | Absent | 16. "Fan Friction": | Absent |
| 6. "Food Fight": | Absent | 17. "Mini-Max": | Appears |
| 7. "Muirahara Woods": | Absent | 18. "Big Hero 7": | Absent |
| 8. "Failure Mode": | Absent | 19. "Big Problem": | Absent |
| 9. "Aunt Cass Goes Out": | Absent | 20. "Steamer's Revenge": | Absent |
| 10. "The Impatient Patient": | Absent | 21. "The Bot-Fighter": | Absent |
| 11. "Mr. Sparkles Loses His Sparkle": | Absent | 22. "Obake Yashiki": | Absent |
| 12. "Killer App": | Absent | 23-25. "Countdown to Catastrophe": | Absent |
| Big Hero 6: The Series - Season 2 | |||
| 1. "Internabout": | Absent | 14. "Mini-Maximum Trouble": | Mentioned |
| 2. "Seventh Wheel": | Absent | 15. "El Fuego": | Absent |
| 3. "Prey Date": | Absent | 16. "The Globby Within": | Absent |
| 4. "Something's Fishy": | Absent | 17. "Hardlight": | Absent |
| 5. "Nega-Globby": | Absent | 18. "The Present": | Absent |
| 6. "The Fate of the Roommates": | Absent | 19. "Hiro The Villain": | Appears |
| 7. "Muira-Horror!": | Absent | 20. "Portal Enemy": | Pictured |
| 8. "Something Fluffy": | Absent | 21. "Fred the Fugitive": | Absent |
| 9. "Supersonic Sue": | Absent | 22. "Major Blast": | Absent |
| 10. "Lie Detector": | Absent | 23. "Fear Not": | Absent |
| 11. "Write Turn Here": | Absent | 24-25. "Legacies": | Absent |
| 12-13. "City of Monsters": | Absent | ||
Gallery[]
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An Image Gallery is available for Yokai.
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