Danger (Jay Baruchel)

Character Analysis

When you think about it, Danger Barch has a lot in common with Maggie Fitzgerald. Like Maggie, Danger doesn't have much money. He doesn't pay dues at the Hit Pit. According to Scrap, he can't even afford pants. Like Maggie, he also lacks emotional support. He made his way to the Hit Pit after his mom's new boyfriend drove him to Los Angeles and abandoned him there in the street. Oof.

What sets Danger apart from Maggie, of course, is boxing talent. Not to put too fine a point on it, Danger doesn't have any. But what he does have is heart. Oodles and oodles of heart. In fact, Scrap claims that Danger's the only fighter he ever met who was truly all heart.

Danger's frequently picked on by other regulars at the Hit Pit, specifically hotheaded Shawrelle. Truth be told, he's kind of an easy target. He's skinny and slow, and he has one laughable goal: to defeat Tommy Hearns, one of the best fighters in the history of boxing—and a guy who's long since retired from the sport.

Here's the thing, though: Nobody at the Hit Pit ever tells Danger that Hearns has retired from boxing. Not even Shawrelle. Danger repeatedly (and loudly) challenges Hearns to a fight, but nobody ever pulls him aside and says, "Uh, dude? Maybe cool it on the Hearns stuff."

Why not? Because Danger's the heart of the Hit Pit. He's its unofficial mascot. He may not have a killer uppercut, but he has the limitless heart and the positive attitude of a champion. In the boxing world presented in Million Dollar Baby, which critic Rex Reed calls "a grim wasteland of dirty bars and cruel ringside cheers where death and glory are the same thing," Danger's pure heart is worth fighting for (Source).