Spoilers beneath the cut, just me ranting and thinking about possible headcanons in Big Hero 6.
I actually didn't like Fred's character that much. More and more he appeared to have complete disregard for his friends and the world around him in general. Not only does he dole out nicknames for his friend to the point where Wasabi isn't totally comfortable with it, we actually don't learn what their real names are. Honey Lemon is the only one willing to voice to him that being able to turn into a fire-breathing monster isn't science and even then he doesn't listen to her even though she's really sweet and wouldn't pick a fight unless it meant something to her. He mentions too he's not a student, just the mascot, and he's otherwise this gross bum. He even states later he didn't do his laundry one time for six months. Not out of the blue for some stories I've heard of about college guys but that is rancid. So then if he's just the mascot and a science enthusiast, what does he do in the lab? Just hang out and otherwise pollute the area? That sounds harsh, but he just plops into a seat and declares himself a science enthusiast without actually doing any work. Fred doesn't know what real science is nor does he actually take part in any of it. He's a science fiction enthusiast, and the annoying kind at that. Fred has NO problem losing his humanity or any regard for the consequences of such a dream come true.
(It also ticked me off when he was singing his theme song in the hallway when all of them are trying to be quiet. Even Baymax by this point had the capacity to understand to keep his voice down and Fred just kept going. I'm glad Wasabi called him out on his bullshit. Fred was more or less putting his friends' lives on the line and giving away their position when they're trying to infiltrate a supervillain's lair, even if they are decked out in 3D printed armor that put their latest experiments and research to the test. And even then Fred's suit is just a superpowered mascot made by Hiro that can jump and breathe fire.)
And that's when we see it: Fred not only lives not far from campus, he lives in a freaking mansion. His parents are outstandingly rich and Fred is a massive comic book and sci-fi/fantasy geek. Even his father's character design is a nod to Stan Lee. Fred's so rich he has a massive room to himself loaded with all kinds of nerdy shit.
Now obviously if anyone's that rich they're going to be a patron of whatever hobby they indulge in. That's a given. But Fred is so rich he's actually delusional about real life expectations. He can just snap his fingers and he can get it. (This also means that he didn't do his laundry for six months just because he could, even though he could have his entire wardrobe done in an evening.) He's not a spoiled brat in the traditional sense because he's not overtly, intentionally malicious to his friends, he's just oblivious. He's obsessed with superpowers, being a giant monster in control over a giant city for him to destroy just for fun, you know, despite the loss of life -
And then something hit me. Mostly about the superpowers.
It's so rapid you almost don't see it but it is most definitely in the trailers. It's such a subtle move you almost have to think twice about it. A statue of Hans gets destroyed in Fred's courtyard while they're practicing using their suits.
Fucking. Hans.
Let's establish here for a moment I am entirely aware this is meant to be a hysterical joke, and it is. It's freaking hilarious. Hans' oh-so-perfect mug getting blasted even faster than Anna's punch (not to mention he's on the police officer's wanted slip in his office!). But think about it: Fred is stupidly rich, he lives like a prince in a palatial mansion with a ton of property in an otherwise densely populated city, Fred and his parents are in an oil painting like a royal couple, and there's a statue of Hans in the courtyard.
While possible that they just had that statue there to look pretty, it's well plausible Fred could be a descendant of Hans. Hans wanted a kingdom of his own, wanted to marry and then kill the queen, later to change his plans to marry the princess and kill both her and the queen, and what happens?
The queen has superpowers.
Elsa had cryokinesis, basically a form of thermal manipulation where she could freeze everything in sight. Hans got one look at her and realized, Holy shit, she has ice powers, and he needed to rethink his plan and fast, further realizing this could easily play into his hands. Hans is the type of person who might have laid to waste and killed everybody who he felt had wronged him if he just had powers of his own, be it fire like I've seen some people on Tumblr ponder, or other supernatural abilities. In the meantime he relied on his mind and his manipulative interpersonal skills to wield his power and influence over people. I've already speculated that Hans could have been sent into exile after the events of Frozen possibly to the far American West, but I know that's just a speculation. Fred's parents could have just as easily made their living on their own as is the American Dream, but you kind of wonder at the sight of a house like that if that amount of money was more likely to have been in the family for a while.
The more I thought about it the more I realized for better or worse Fred had a lot in parallel-common with Hans. He doesn't look anything like him or even sound like him of course, but there are some characteristics that ring a bell.
Hans and Fred don't actually relate to what their peers are emoting. Hans, being a raging sociopath, pays attention to it and mirrors it to manipulate others, whereas Fred just has complete disregard for his friends' feelings whether or not he's aware of it and just happily yells at Honey to turn him into a monster. Hans pays every bit of mind to what's going on around him to plan for the future. Fred really doesn't. Hans wants his own kingdom, being the last born and rather unlikely to inherit his parents' throne. Fred is his parents' firstborn and is content to live in wealth for the rest of his life doing absolutely nothing with it. Hans wants his own world and thinks he can at least control the one around him; Fred kind of already lives in his own world. When Fred plops down in his room he's more or less the king in charge of the castle while his parents are away on vacation. Fred desperately and blindly wants superpowers. Hans is the type of person who, again, certainly wouldn't mind them if he had any, but holy fuck he knows they'd be dangerous. Both would destroy a city in a heartbeat for shits and giggles. Hans would be more likely to have an ultimatum in mind whereas Fred likely wouldn't. I doubt Fred would actually kill anyone out of malicious intent but you can tell he'd love a massive cardboard city to stomp.
Is it no surprise that a picture of Stitch shows up in Aunt Cass' stairwell? An alien "monster" with nearly overwhelming anger, strength, and blinding, destructive prowess who learns to calm the hell down, use his abilities for good, and enjoy life as it is with the family he has? (For those of you who haven't seen it, it was to Hiro's left by his elbow when he was in a scene talking to his aunt.)
Granted, the Stitch analogy has closer ties with Hiro. Hiro is really young and whoppingly smart, and like Lilo in Lilo & Stitch Hiro and Tadashi's parents died when they were much younger, a good eleven years if Hiro is fourteen in the movie, but still when Hiro was a toddler. They're not on their own since they're under their Aunt Cass' care, but Tadashi has a far better idea how to take care of Hiro and look out for him (mostly because Tadashi shared a room with him and knows more of what Hiro's up to).
Longer story short though, I found it interesting that Fred could possibly be of actual royal descent and there was a stark parallel between Hans getting partially defeated by Elsa's ice powers and then you get Fred who's obsessed with superpowers and being a monster. I get the feeling Hans would instantly hate Fred and be incredibly jealous of him if they ever met in real life (which would apparently possible since he's on the wanted poster XD). I also had a fun time comparing how much Gogo's quick speed and skills reminded me of Frozone in Pixar's The Incredibles and then she slips on Honey Lemon's blue-ish sphere like it was ice.
