What If? (2×03) What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas? Review

For our review of the last episode of What If?, click here.

This latest episode of What If? sees Happy Hogan do his best John McClane impression but with a MCU twist. Giving side characters a chance to shine, Jon Favreau takes full advantage. Taking place at Christmas time, of course, and mostly in a single location of Avengers Tower, the situation only escalated to the point that it was up to Happy to save the day. Setting the stage, on the night before Christmas, the tower was gearing up to host a Christmas party with Happy in charge of coordinating the festivities along with Darcy who was working as an intern. Meanwhile, the tower was left vulnerable with Jarvis out of commission therefore it is only inevitable that someone would take advantage of that. That someone just happened to be Justin Hammer as he aimed a little higher than mere revenge against Tony Stark. In his mind, the key to achieving the kind of ultimate power he sought was acquiring the Hulk’s blood. Taking control of the tower, Hammer and his forces flaunted their way in.

After calling upon the other Avengers, who were otherwise indisposed, it became clear that it was up to Happy to somehow save the day. Following a series of unfortunate events, he was given an extra boost to help him take on Hammer and his forces. Watching this different Hogan dispatch waves of enemies was entertaining, more so because it was Hogan doing it and a lot of it. Thankfully, he had the chance to finish the job but that also made for an awkward situation once the Avengers finally arrived and the Christmas train got back on track. While there wasn’t much here, where the episode thrived was within its simplicity. The hommage to Die Hard was a nice touch as seeing an unlikely hero emerge makes it that much more compelling to watch.

Who doesn’t like Happy Hogan? Favreau brings his relatable energy and trademark snark once again as Happy and carries it throughout the episode in a hilarious fashion. Kat Dennings as Darcy was a nice counterbalance to Happy but who really stole the show was Sam Rockwell in his glorious return as Justin Hammer. His sheer presence and unhinged energy were nice to see while the animation did a great job at keeping up with that energy.

Curious to see what will happen to Happy after this?

still courtesy of Marvel Studios

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.