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"As for you, well you're easy. You’re an egotistical jerk with daddy issues. A simple puzzle I solved on day one. But you are your father’s son. So we'll Drift just fine."
—Stacker Pentecost to Chuck

Charles "Chuck" Hansen is the son of Herc Hansen and Angela Hansen. He was a Ranger in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps and one of the pilots of Striker Eureka before his death in 2025.

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Chuck was born on August 14, 2003 to parents Angela and Hercules Hansen, an air force pilot.[1] Chuck is nine years old when the Kaiju Trespasser attacks San Francisco in 2013. A year later, Sydney is attacked by Scissure. Chuck is at school at the time of the attack. When civilians are given an hour to evacuate Sydney's downtown district before the second nuclear strike against the Kaiju, his father only has time to reach him. As a result of Herc's decision, his mother is said to have been killed in the Kaiju's attack before the military kills it.[1] Following the authorization of the Jaeger Program, his father and uncle, Scott, enlist in the Jaeger Academy in 2015. Chuck is “raised in a cockpit” by his father and on the principles of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps.[2]

Pan Pacific Defense Corps.[]

Chuck is the youngest Ranger in the Defense Corps to enlist the Academy at sixteen years old.[2] His headstrong and impulsive nature allowed him to rise to the top of the ranks, excelling in all areas of the Academy’s program.[3] Some time after his uncle is dismissed from the Jaeger Program in 2019, he is assigned to the Striker Eureka with his father, six years before the downfall of the Defense Corps at the hands of Kaiju.

Pacific Rim[]

The closure of the Sydney Shatterdome is followed by the decommission of Striker Eureka. Sydney’s part of the Anti-Kaiju Wall is destroyed by Mutavore. Chuck and his father are reactivated and take on the Kaiju in Striker Eureka. After a quick skirmish inside the city, they kill Mutavore using Striker’s Anti-Kaiju Missiles. During an interview, Chuck is quick to lay the blame of the Jaeger Program’s failure at the feet of the pilots that came before him.

Despite Striker Eureka’s need in Australia, Chuck and his father are relocated to Hong Kong, China, to complete their service stationed at the only Shatterdome still active. Marshall Stacker Pentecost recruits them and the remaining Jaeger pilots on the mission to assault the breach at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Chuck and Herc are to deliver a thermonuclear bomb, strapped to Striker Eureka’s back, into the heart of the breach in order to destroy it.

When Chuck meets Raleigh Becket, he is quick to dismiss him for his inactivity after leaving the PPDC and his status as a worker on the Wall. Regardless of his father’s disapproval, Chuck remains antagonistic with Raleigh. When Mako Mori's first Drift goes awry, Chuck tries to help Tendo Choi and his father deactivate Gipsy Danger from the LOCCENT. Once they're successful, Chuck and his father convene with Pentecost in his office. Chuck is angered by Mako's lack of experience and Raleigh’s lack of control inside the Drift.

The fact that he may have to rely on Gipsy Danger’s potential pilots makes him angry. Stepping out of the office, Chuck confronts Raleigh and insults Mako, provoking a fight. Raleigh and Chuck are almost evenly matched in skill, but Raleigh gains the upper hand when he uses one of Mako’s counter moves and throws Chuck against a wall. Despite Raleigh demanding that Chuck apologize to Mako, he charges towards him again and ends up on the ground, his arm twisted behind him. Pentecost and Herc intervene, breaking the fight up, Herc literally forcing his son back and into another area to prevent further problems.

When two Category IV Kaiju emerge from the breach, Herc and Chuck move out of the Shatterdome into the Victoria Harbour alongside Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha. Pentecost orders the Hansens to remain out of the fight and guard the coastline. The battle against Otachi appears to lean in the favor of Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon until Crimson Typhoon's pilots are crushed inside their Conn-Pod by Otachi's tail.

Gipsy vs Sydney

Herc and Check watch as Gipsy Danger prepares to fight Leatherback.

The emergence of Leatherback prompts Chuck and Herc to disobey Pentecost's orders. Unable to save Cherno Alpha, they take on Otachi, gaining the upper hand in a few moments. Preparing to fire Striker's AKMs, the Jaeger's systems are knocked out by Leatherback's organic EMP.

Chuck warns his father at the last second not to disengage from the Conn-Pod's harness as Leatherback attacks the disabled Striker. The force of the attack sends his father across the Pod and into a wall, breaking his arm. Frustrated by their inability to do anything inside the Jaeger, Chuck and Herc exit Striker Eureka and face Leatherback with a pair of flare guns to keep its attention away from the city. Firing their flares into the eye of Leatherback does nothing but irritate the Kaiju. As it prepares to smash them, Gipsy Danger arrives; Chuck cheers Mako and Raleigh on from the sidelines until Gipsy Danger is thrown into the docks.

Chuck and Herc Farewell

Chuck and Herc say their goodbyes,

After Gipsy Danger kills both Kaiju, Herc's broken right arm leaves him unable to fight. As everyone celebrates, Herc tells Raleigh that while Chuck would never say it, he's grateful for Raleigh and Mako saving their lives too. When Raleigh looks at Chuck, Chuck gives him a smile and a nod of both thanks and likely apology for his earlier dismissal of Raleigh and Mako's piloting ability. Pentecost replaces Herc as the new co-pilot of Striker Eureka on a mission to attack the breach beneath the Pacific Ocean. As they depart, Chuck is uncertain of how compatible he and Pentecost will be in the Drift. Pentecost tells him he brings no memories or ego with him into the Drift.

But, despite his egotism and familial issues, he and Pentecost should be able to connect without issue. Chuck accepts the answer without issue, ending the discussion. He proceeds to speak with Herc, expressing that he's always known everything his father wanted to tell him. Chuck, Herc and Max say their farewells before departing.

Chuck and Pentecost

Chuck before he and Pentecost detonate the bomb.

At the breach, Chuck and Pentecost take on Slattern. The subsequent fight with the Kaiju damages Striker's ability to deploy the thermonuclear bomb, but they are able to hold their own against the Category V Kaiju, nearly managing to amputate both of its arms. Slattern's call for assistance follows the intervention of Scunner.

Chuck and Pentecost make the conscious decision to detonate Striker Eureka's nuclear payload while still inside the Conn-Pod in an effort to allow Gipsy Danger to carry out the mission. The detonation manages to kill Scunner and wound Slattern severely.

Personality[]

Chuck, like Mako Mori, is a perfectionist; he does not tolerate failure from anyone, including himself.[2] Raised around the lifestyle of Rangers, Chuck has little to no social life outside of the Defense Corps. He views former ex-Ranger Raleigh Becket as a washout who sacrificed his brother and failed someone in need of protection. Raleigh's failure as a Jaeger pilot incites his dislike of what he perceives as weaknesses that brought the Jaeger Program down.[2] The two however, are able to come to an understanding after the battle in Hong Kong. Also, despite his rather arrogant nature towards other pilots, he refuses to simply stand by and watch his fellow rangers die in battle, as he convinced his father to help Cherno Alpha against the Kaiju rather than follow orders.

Chuck's status as an elite pilot and world record holder for the most Kaiju kills makes him arrogant and overly self-assured. The fame of being a Jaeger pilot has allowed Chuck to do whatever and behave however he wants without anybody troubling him.[8] Chuck is demeaning to everyone he doesn't consider worthy of his time.[8] Outside of combat situations, Chuck and Herc's relationship is "non-existent". Bitter over the loss of his mother, Chuck resents his father for not saving her.[1] Despite Herc's attempts to become a better father to his son, Chuck sees Herc only as a rival and someone to surpass in ability.[2]

Skills[]

Chuck is one of the most skilled Rangers in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps as well as one of the most accomplished, with 10 recorded Kaiju kills under his belt by 2025. Like all Rangers, he is skilled in mixed martial arts and due to having been raised among Jaeger pilots, it is highly likely that his father personally trained him in hand-to-hand combat from a young age.

Although his fighting skills rival that of Raleigh and Mako, unlike them, Chuck relies on brute force techniques instead of on more nimble movements. Striker Eureka's status as a dirty boxer also suggests that his fighting style primarily revolves around traditional boxing or kickboxing.

Known Inconsistencies[]

  • According to Pacific Rim: Man, Machines & Monsters, Herc's only next of kin is Chuck, suggesting his immediate family may have died or been killed during the Kaiju War.[2] Herc's dossier in the novelization lists his parents (Tess and Donovan) and brother (Scott) as his and Chuck's their next of kin.[1]
  • According to Robert Kazinsky, Chuck was born and raised by his family in Melbourne where Herc lost his wife in the Kaiju attack described in Tales From Year Zero.[9] According to Man, Machines & Monsters, Tales From Year Zero, the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. website, and the novelization, the Hansens lived in Sydney where Herc's wife died during the Scissure attack.
  • Man, Machines & Monsters states that Chuck joined the Jaeger Academy in 2018.[2] However, Travis Beacham says that Chuck joined the Academy in 2019.[6]

Trivia[]

  • Chuck owns a pet bulldog named Max that matches Striker Eureka's decal.[10]
  • Chuck has the Striker Eureka decal as a tattoo on his right forearm.
  • In the Japanese dub of Pacific Rim, Chuck refers to Raleigh as "Mr. Pilot" (or "Pilot-san") in the dining room scene instead of making fun of his name.[11][12]
  • In the episode "Final Approach" of Pacific Rim: The Black, Chuck's name can be seen on the memorial wall across from Brina Travis.

Gallery[]

Pan Pacific Defense Corps Logo An image gallery is available for
Chuck Hansen

References[]

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