"WARNING: SPOILER ALERT. Use Caution and obey the spoiler signals!"
Herc Hansen/Uprising contains plot and/or ending details of Pacific Rim: The Black and all its related media. Proceed at your own discretion.
- "Just get out of here. You'll never make it as a Ranger. You haven't got what it takes."
- —Herc Hansen[7]
Hercules "Herc" Hansen is the father of Chuck Hansen, and the brother of Scott Hansen. A Ranger in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps, he was the pilot of Striker Eureka, and later promoted to the rank of Marshal after the death of Stacker Pentecost. Later in his career, he piloted the Jaeger Striker Berserker, and is the one to initiate Operation Blackout over the entire continent of Australia.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Hercules Hansen was born November 10, 1980 in Sydney, Australia. At some point in time, he joins the Royal Australian Air Force, and gets married. His son, Chuck, is born August 2003.[2]
Scissure Attack[]
Herc and his family are in Sydney during the September 2014 Scissure attack.[7] Herc presumably loses track of Chuck and his wife during their escape. When reunited with his son, who narrowly escapes, Scissure, he asks what happened to his mother. Herc's wife is presumably killed during the Kaiju's rampage.
Pan Pacific Defense Corps[]
Following the death of his wife in 2014, Herc joins the PPDC Pilot Academy with his brother Scott the following year. Herc raises his son up in the PPDC as his career progresses, seemingly ignorant of the fact that his son considers him neglectful.[7] Herc and Scott's first assignment is the Jaeger Lucky Seven. Scott and Herc remain partners until the development of Mark-5 Jaeger, Striker Eureka, nears competition in 2019.[4]
Something Herc glimpsed in his brother's mind during their Drift motivates Herc to report his brother to the PPDC, who kick Scott out of the program.[4] Prior to his partnership with Chuck, Herc is deployed in Manila with Horizon Brave, and Gipsy Danger.[1]
Once Herc begins to work with Chuck, Herc's career record as the pilot of Striker Eureka breaks records. As the Kaiju begin to win more and more battles against the Jaegers, Striker Eureka stands out as undefeated in its defense of the Pacific Rim. Partnered frequently with Mark-3 pilots Joshua Griffin and Tyler Zachery (pilots of Vulcan Specter), Herc and Chuck defend the cities of Medellin[8], Santa Monica[9], and Sydney[10] from repeated Kaiju attacks.
Pacific Rim[]
Mutavore Attack[]
December 27, 2024[11], the Anti-Kaiju Wall is breached by the Kaiju Mutavore. Herc and Chuck are deployed alongside Joshua and Tyler to protect the city. During battle Vulcan Specter is torn apart[11], leaving Herc and Chuck to fight the Kaiju on their own.
Using the WMB2x90 Anti-Kaiju Missile Launchers, they're able to successfully kill the Kaiju before it can cause more damage.[1] Shortly thereafter, they relocated to the Hong Kong Shatterdome on the order of Stacker Pentecost. The Hansens are reintroduced to the Mark-3 pilot Raleigh Becket, with whom Herc worked with before. Herc tries to be welcoming to Raleigh, but his efforts are routinely undermined by Chuck, who objects to Raleigh's presence.
Following Chuck's fight with Raleigh and Mako Mori, Herc reprimands his son further, demanding to know when Chuck planned on "growing up".[7] Chuck avoids answering the question, and derides his father, passively accusing him of being a poor parent. Enraged, Herc threatens to hit Chuck, who dares him to throw the punch.
Frustrated with his son's behavior, Herc dismisses Chuck and walks way. Herc tells his son that he doesn't have what it takes to make it as a Ranger, and to stop trying to mimic him. Chuck rejects the very notion of trying to imitate his father and declares that he'll become a better pilot than Herc.[7]
During the Double Event, Herc and Chuck are regulated to emergency defense against the oncoming Kaiju, Otachi, and Leatherback. The two are able to cooperate with each other, working as a team in their effort to help Cherno Alpha, and Crimson Typhoon once they're overwhelmed by the Category IV Kaiju. Leatherback's disables Striker Eureka using its EMP ability, and a frustrated Herc disengages from the Conn-Pod. Leatherback's inspection of the inert Striker Erueka sends Herc crashing into the wall, and his arm is injured. In a vain attempt to draw Leatherback's attention away from the city, Herc convinces Chuck to step out of the Conn-Pod and fire flare guns at the Kaiju. The two are saved from certain death by the arrival of Gipsy Danger, who fights and kills Leatherback.
Unable to pilot Striker Eureka, Herc is forced to remain at the Shatterdome while Stacker and Chuck accompany Raleigh and Mako to the Breach. Knowing his son volunteered for a suicide mission, Herc attempts to articulate his regrets, but can't. Chuck reassures his father that he knows what he's thinking, and departs knowing his father's loves him. Herc oversees the Battle of Breach, monitoring the Kaiju's movements from LOCCENT. Following the destruction of the Breach, the now Marshal Herc Hansen declares the war over.
Pacific Rim: The Black[]
Post-War Life[]
Between the years of the Kaiju Wars and the Uprising Wars, Herc returns to active duty with Scott. During their military service together, Scott becomes involved in the private sector by trading Jaeger schematics for money to support him and his daughter, Olivia. Herc reports his activity to the PPDC, which results in Scott's dishonorable discharge from the organization. Scott gets into a fight with Herc for costing him his career, and deeming Herc to have betrayed his family, Herc estranges himself from Scott and Olivia.
Sometime after this, Scott passes away, but Herc does not attend the funeral. Years into his service, Herc is brought back together with Olivia after she is accepted as a trainee in the Australia Shatterdome, although their relationship is distant, even when Olivia is promoted to a controller overseeing Herc's missions.[12]
Uprising Wars[]
Herc is deployed at least fourteen more times during the wars. When Kaiju begin to emerge from multiple Breaches across Australia, Herc is one of several Rangers who attempt to fight the horde off in order to save evacuating civilians. During this time, Herc pilots Striker Berserker, a Jaeger identical to Striker Eureka, along with his co-pilot, Cooper. After a grueling fight and defeating the Turantulos Kaiju, Herc suffers a heart attack. Following his recovery, Rask orders Herc into retirement, only to immedately reverse the decision upon the sudden breaches of more Kaiju.[12]
Operation Blackout[]
To buy time for the Jaybird survivors to take off, Herc and Cooper attempt to fight off Acidquill in Meridian City. During the battle, Cooper is killed.[5][12]
Severely injured, Herc initiates the solo piloting protocol on Striker Berserker to finish the fight. Herc is able to initiate Operation Blackout, and kill the Kaiju on his own before he and the Jaeger both collapse. Herc was declared Missing in action following the battle.[5]
Herc became the third pilot (out of seventy one) to successfully drift solo after Stacker Pentecost and Raleigh Becket. Five years after Operation Blackout, Taylor Travis initiates a ghost drift with a record of Herc's memory of the Meridian City battle in order to pilot Atlas Destroyer on his own. As a consequence of ghost drifting, Taylor remembers Herc's memories like his own.[5]
Trivia[]
- In the Pacific Rim Uprising: Official Novelization, Herc makes a brief cameo where he is interviewed by PacAsia Radio near the beginning of the novel before swearing at the interviewer when he asks about Chuck. It is mentioned that Herc retired after the death of Chuck and the Battle of the Breach.[13]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Pacific Rim
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Pacific Rim: Man, Machines & Monsters, pages 32-33
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pan Pacific Defense Corps: Shatterdome
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Jaegercon Interview: Travis Beacham
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Pacific Rim: The Black, "Escaping Bogan"
- ↑ Tomokazu Sugita, Megumi Hayashibara, Tohru Furuya Cast in Pacific Rim Film's Dub
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Pacific Rim: Aftermath, Issue 5
- ↑ Pacific Rim Uprising: Ascension, pg. 88-98, 176-180
- ↑ Pacific Rim: Amara, Issue #2, #3
- ↑ Pacific Rim: Aftermath, Issue 3
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Pacific Rim: Aftermath, Issue 1
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Pacific Rim: Blackout
- ↑ Pacific Rim Uprising: Official Novelization, page 49-50
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||