Though specific details concerning the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe remain a closely guarded secret, thanks to casting announcements and movie titles, it is pretty clear that Disney and Marvel are planning to take the franchise in a crazy new direction. Well, things could be about to get even crazier if a recent rumor is to be believed, which claims that characters from Big Hero 6 are due to make their live action debut in the MCU.

While there are sadly very few further details, the rumor goes that, while it is still unclear which Big Hero 6 characters would make the jump to live action, "we can at least expect Baymax and Hiro." it is also stipulated that the superhero team will appear in one of the following projects, Secret Invasion, Agents of Atlas, or Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, though presently there is no confirmation. Unfortunately, there is also currently no word on whether the actors from the 2014 animated movie will reprise their proposed live-action appearances.

Admittedly, the rumor is very thin, but the idea itself is an interesting one, and with the likes of WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness taking the MCU to strange new places, a live action appearance from the Big Hero 6 characters could be one of the less strange things in the shared universe's future.

Released back in 2014 by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures, Big Hero 6 was directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams and is (very) loosely based on the Marvel comic of the same name. Big Hero 6 tells the story of Hiro Hamada, a young robotics prodigy, who, along with Baymax, his late brother's healthcare provider robot, forms a superhero team to combat a mysterious, masked villain. Featuring the voices of Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Daniel Henney, T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr., Genesis Rodriguez, Alan Tudyk, James Cromwell and Maya Rudolph, Big Hero 6 was met with both critical and commercial success, grossing over $657.8 million worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing animated movie of the year.

The original Big Hero 6 was created by Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau, and appeared in their own self-titled, three-issue miniseries by writer Scott Lobdell. This imagining of the team is a lot less kid-friendly than its 2014 animated counterpart, with the team made up of members such as Silver Samurai, a freelance ronin, Fred, who can transform into a Godzilla-like Kaiju, with loveable character Baymax infused with the thoughts and emotions of Hiro's dead father.

So, will the MCU rip from the animated feature film exactly and introduce live action versions of those characters, or will the franchise instead take more inspiration from the slightly more twisted source material? Only time will tell.

For now, the cartoon versions of Big Hero 6 are due to return in Baymax!, an animated series which is due to debut on Disney+ sometime in early 2022. Described as "a continuation of the movie", Baymax! will once again take place in the fantastical city of San Fransokyo and focus primarily on the beloved healthcare bot with the small head and big heart. This comes to us courtesy of The Disinsider.