Review: Marvel What If…? “What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

On a night before Christmas (presumably shortly before the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron) disgraced weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer escapes from prison to take over Avengers Tower while the heroes are away, forcing Iron Man’s friend, Happy Hogan to take drastic measures to fight him off.

OUR TAKE

Good lord, where do I even begin with how much this episode stuffs into its stocking? I guess the best place to start is with this episode’s protagonist, Happy Hogan, played once again by Jon Favreau. This is probably not news to anyone, but Favreau also directed the first two Iron Man films, the first one famously without a script, making him basically one of the core people who helped kickstart this massive franchise and help it become what it is today. So it’s pretty neat that he’s stuck around long enough that he gets to be in an episode of a MCU show that is basically a tribute to him and the house he helped build. It focuses on the character he plays, it brings back the only living bad guy from the movies he directed (Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer), and it’s a Christmas story which may or may not be a nod to the Christmas episode he directed, Elf. That last one might be a reach and I haven’t watched it again to see if there are any references to Elf, but I’m gonna take it. My point is, even if unintentional, this is most definitely a Jon Favreau love letter that I am all in for.

But even putting that aside, it’s also just a fun thirty minute ride for MCU fans and Christmas Special fans in general. We bring back Darcy, who’s been making sporadic appearances lately, as well as Maria Hill, who I REALLY hope was not truly killed off for real in Secret Invasion…but if she was, then this is at least a more dignified appearance. We get plenty of easter eggs to stuff going on in the MCU at that time, like Tony building Jarvis replacements (among whom is apparently a Werner Hertzog AI) and the Hulkbuster armor, as well as a a deepcut reference to a time in comics where Happy was briefly a giant guy called The Freak, so that’s neat. More Justin Hammer has been sorely needed, so hopefully this is will get Marvel to put him in more stuff. And of course, this whole plot is a rather unsubtle take on Die Hard, which they poke fun at numerous times. Basically, it’s got just about everything I could ask for in one of these episodes, and for the first time in a long while, I’m gonna give it full marks. And we’ve still got six more of these things to go, with today’s episode being the one they couldn’t finish in time for last season.