I think Evan should contrast nicely with Nicholas. Nicholas is the man who conceived the impossible idea; Evan is the man who has to figure out how to actually build it.
EVAN HAZARD — Character Profile
Full Name: Evan James Hazard
Era: 2189
Age: 29
Occupation: Robotics technician / systems engineer / salvage specialist
Relationship: Distant descendant of Dr. Nicholas Henry Hazard
Role: Builder of the physical Nick Hazard Cyber Bot—and eventually Nick's human partner.
Background
Evan Hazard grew up knowing almost nothing about his famous ancestor. Nicholas Hazard had disappeared into family history more than two centuries earlier, remembered mostly through a few photographs, newspaper clippings and stories nobody took very seriously.
Evan inherited something of Nicholas without realizing it: an instinct for machines and an inability to leave a mystery alone.
He isn't a wealthy scientist working in a beautiful futuristic laboratory. Evan is a hands-on technician. He repairs machines other people throw away, rebuilds obsolete robotics, modifies equipment and knows where to find components that manufacturers stopped making decades ago.
That becomes exactly the skill set Nicholas Hazard needs.
Personality
Evan is intelligent, curious and mechanically gifted, but much less serious than Nicholas.
Where Nicholas studies a problem quietly, Evan tends to start taking it apart.
He's sarcastic, adventurous and occasionally reckless. He has little respect for instructions that say DO NOT OPEN, which is probably fortunate considering how this story begins.
Evan also has one quality Nicholas could never have planned for:
loyalty.
Once Evan realizes what his ancestor attempted, completing Project Hazard becomes more than an engineering challenge. It becomes personal.
The Discovery
Evan receives an inheritance containing almost nothing of apparent value:
An antique key.
An old silver coin.
And a sealed envelope bearing his name.
Inside:
FOR THE HAZARD WHO FINALLY FINDS THIS:
THE KEY OPENS THE DOOR.
THE COIN WILL SHOW YOU WHERE TO FIND IT.
— N.H.H.
The mystery eventually leads Evan to the forgotten underground laboratory of Dr. Nicholas Hazard.
The moment Evan unlocks the laboratory door, a mechanism that has waited more than two centuries recognizes the key.
The timer stops.
PROJECT HAZARD — PHASE TWO INITIATED
And Nicholas Hazard begins speaking to his descendant from the past.
His Mission
Nicholas doesn't give Evan a blueprint for a futuristic robot.
He couldn't.
Instead, his recordings describe what each system must accomplish.
Evan translates those requirements into 2189 technology.
Nicholas asks for an artificial skeleton.
Evan finds a discontinued NX-series humanoid chassis.
Nicholas describes an independent energy source.
Evan obtains a plasma power core.
Nicholas describes artificial eyes capable of exceeding human vision.
Evan installs multispectrum optics.
Each new component brings the strange machine closer to completion.
The Gold
Eventually Nicholas directs Evan to a hidden compartment.
Inside is the fortune Nicholas prepared for whoever would complete his work:
gold bullion.
Some finances the project legitimately.
Some buys rare components from salvage dealers.
And some purchases equipment from people who don't provide receipts.
This is also where Evan learns one of Nicholas Hazard's philosophies:
"Legal and right aren't always the same thing."
Evan eventually develops his own version:
"Mostly legal is still legal enough."
Nick remembers that phrase. ?
Evan's Strengths
He's an exceptional robotics technician, improviser and problem solver. Evan can look at three incompatible machines and figure out how to make their parts work together.
He's also far better with 2189 society and technology than Nick will ever be.
That's important.
Nick may possess an extraordinary detective mind, but when he awakens he doesn't understand the world he's living in.
Evan does.
Evan's Weakness
Curiosity.
Tell Evan something is forbidden and he'll want to know why.
Give him a locked box and eventually he'll open it.
And sometimes he begins modifying machinery before reading the instructions.
This drives Nick crazy.
NICK: "Did you read the manual?" EVAN: "Most of it." NICK: "Which part didn't you read?" EVAN: "The part that caught fire."
That could become their relationship in one exchange.
Relationship with Nick
Initially Evan considers Nick a machine he built.
Nick considers Evan a distant relative who happens to know how to use a wrench.
Neither interpretation lasts long.
Eventually they're family.
Evan teaches Nick how to survive in 2189.
Nick teaches Evan how to investigate, observe people and think before acting.
And because Evan physically assembled Nick, he's also the only person Nick completely trusts to repair him.
That creates another nice dynamic. Nick hates being shut down for maintenance.
Evan:
"I built you. I know what I'm doing."
Nick:
"That's exactly what worries me."
One thing I'd change from our earlier idea
I wouldn't make Evan the stereotypical brilliant young scientist. Nicholas already fills that role.
I'd make Evan a brilliant mechanic who doesn't realize he's brilliant.
His workshop is messy. Half his equipment is salvaged. He carries tools everywhere. He knows black-market parts dealers, junkyard operators, robot mechanics and people who can find things that supposedly don't exist.
That makes the construction portion of the movie much more interesting.
And eventually it explains why Nick is somewhat unique.
Nick isn't a factory-built robot.
His chassis may have started as a stock NX-series machine, but Evan builds him from components manufactured by several different companies and eras according to specifications written by a scientist in 1947.
Nick Hazard really is a hybrid Cyber Bot.
And some of those mismatched systems are exactly where those wonderful little mechanical quirks we discussed can come from.