Personally, for me, Robert Callaghan is that villain you love to hate.
This is a man who, in his own mind, is a hero out for revenge. He wants to avenge what he believes was his daughter’s death due to Krei’s greed and recklessness. His daughter was taken away from him right before his eyes, her whole life is gone, there is no more future for Abigail, he’ll never see her again, and that kills him inside. In his mind, he’s doing what’s right, even if it wouldn’t be what she wanted and won’t bring her back. He’s bringing justice to her memory.
However, he’s a hypocrite. Callaghan is perfectly willing to put countless others in danger for his revenge. Just forget Krei and his damaged property for a moment. Hell, forget the microbot theft for a moment.
Callaghan set fire to a building filled with dozens of people, a building that ended up exploding, and it cost someone his life. He tried to murder a child, not once, but twice, because he was a witness to his microbot production. He tried to kill his former students because they also became witnesses. He tried to kill the child and his former students two more times because they were hunting him down and fighting back. He puts dozens of people in danger again when he attacks Krei’s new office building during its grand opening. And Callaghan has no hesitation or remorse for any of these actions. He doesn’t care that he put so many people’s lives in danger over and over again. He doesn’t care that he killed one of his young, bright students. He doesn’t care if he kills a child. He doesn’t care if he kills more of his young, bright students. He knows the risks, he knows what he’s doing, and yet he never cares for a single moment.
The only moment in which Callaghan shows any humanity is when it’s linked to his daughter. Deep down, he knows his actions would not make her happy and he knows it won’t bring her back to him. But if it’s not about his daughter, he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care who gets hurt or killed by his actions because they aren’t his daughter. He simply doesn’t care about anyone else. He doesn’t even care if he’s somebody else’s Krei.
And in the end, there’s quite the interesting contrast between Callaghan and Abigail and Hiro and Tadashi’s situations:
Callaghan, presumably a good man in the past, lost Abigail due to someone’s recklessness and greed, so he went on a rampage that put innocent people in danger, killed a man, and tried to kill several more people several times, including a child. He lost his daughter and went mad with revenge. He doesn’t care about anyone else, despite what Abigail would think.
Hiro and Tadashi were both good people at heart. They’re both brave and heroic. Tadashi lost his life trying to save another’s life, and Hero went on to become a superhero in his brother’s selfless memory, despite his earlier breakdown and need for revenge. Hiro cares about people, just like Tadashi did. But Hiro lost Tadashi in the first place due to someone else’s recklessness and greed.
And you know what happened?
Callaghan got his daughter back. She turned out to be alive all along. The child he tried to kill, the brother of the man he did kill, saved Abigail’s life. Regardless of what their relationship will be moving forward, if they have one, his daughter is alive and all right.
But Hiro doesn’t get Tadashi back, and he never will. The father of the woman Hiro saved killed his older brother. He’ll never have the opportunity to see, hear, or touch Tadashi again, or at least find comfort in the fact he’s alive and all right - because he’s not.
It’s cruel, poetic injustice. Callaghan is an absolute fiend, but he gets his daughter back safely. Hiro is a hero, but he’ll never get his brother back no matter what.
I can’t stand Callaghan as a person, but he sure is a fantastic villain. I love to hate him!