Subscribe
Follow Us
It's the time of year where the air is filled with joy and cheer, and the latest episode of What If…? got in on the holiday cheers with what was effectively the series' holiday special. Along with plenty of holiday gags, the episode makes no effort to hide its inspiration from one of the most hotly debated Christmas movies ever to make for one of the series' most fun episodes.
*Warning: This article contains spoilers for What If…? Season 2, Episode 3*
Recap
After opening on what appears to be a dramatic fight between the Avengers and a mysterious monster, The Watcher quickly brings the audience back a few hours to see Happy Hogan stressing over the Avengers holiday party he has been put in charge of. Darcy Lewis is on hand to “help” how she can all the while JARVIS is down for maintenance. Happy also has former SHIELD officer Maria Hill breathing down his neck to ensure everything goes well, only adding to his stress.
Just as Happy sends Darcy out on an errand, uninvited guests in the form of Justin Hammer and some hired muscle get into Avengers Tower with the intent of stealing Tony Stark's work. Hammer specifically has his eyes on a vial of Hulk blood Stark has been working on to help Bruce Banner better control the Hulk. He is able to hack into the building and using the Iron Legion sentinels to lock down the Tower, leaving Happy as the only hope for a smooth Avengers Christmas.
Happy attempts to contact the Avengers who are, unfortunately, all preoccupied with their own situations while Thor is simply not on Earth at the moment. He is able to get through to Darcy and tell her to find a backup of JARVIS in the tower's server mainframe in the basement.
All while Happy is doing this, he is attempting to evade Hammer's goons and secure the Hulk blood before Stark's former business rival can claim it. He succeeds in doing so before accidentally injecting himself with the blood, resulting in Happy starting to change.
Meanwhile, Darcy manages to get back into the building and into the server mainframe to get her hands one of JARVIS' backups. She gets captured almost immediately after, though, and is brought to the penthouse where Hammer has also been holding Maria Hill captive. The situation forces a now fully mutated Happy to jump into action.
The ensuing fight results in destruction of nearly the entire Iron Legion in Avengers Tower, Hammer's goons fleeing, and Hammer getting his hands on the Hulkbuster armor to try and take down Happy. Darcy is able to regain control of the building, as well, thanks to the backup AI seemingly modeled after famed German filmmaker Werner Herzog.
Just as it looks like Happy has Hammer beat, the rest of the Avengers show up and begin fighting with Happy, not immediately realizing the creature is actually him. Black Widow realizes it in quick fashion, though, and the fighting stops.
Hammer is ultimately taken back into custody while the Avengers celebrate the job Happy did to save the day, all the while Happy just wants to know if there is a way to undo what happened to him.
Review
With a title like What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas, the series makes it clear that this latest episode is simply meant to be a fun romp to ring in the holidays Marvel Studios-style.
It also makes no effort to hide the fact that it is Die Hard within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Happy Hogan serving as John McClane in this case. Almost every scene has some sort of reference or play on the beloved action movie, from Happy crawling through the vents while talking to himself or the way the server room lights up when Darcy opens it much like the safe in Nakatomi Plaza.
And every Die Hard needs a Hans Gruber, a spot filled by Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer for the duration of the episode. It is Rockwell's first outing in the MCU since 2014's All Hail The King short and he doesn't even try to hide how much fun he is having as this episode's Hans Gruber. He even gets the slow motion fall at the climax of the episode, though Happy does save him from certain doom.
Jon Favreau, Kat Dennings, and Cobie Smolders also slip back into the roles of Happy, Darcy, and Hill with relative ease for this episode as the primary heroes of this tale. Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, and Mark Ruffalo make small appearances in the episode, as well, as Thor, Hawkeye, and Banner, respectively.
Ending Explained
The episode's ending sees the Avengers all together to congratulate Happy on successfully defending Avengers Tower, even if it is a bit worse for wear after his fight against Hammer. Unfortunately for Happy, he is left hanging by Stark when he asks if he has developed a cure to turn him back to normal. It then closes with Thor arriving well after the eventful evening and The Watcher wishing all a happy holidays.
Compared to some of the other episodes across two seasons of What If…?, the ending for episode three feels a bit more self-contained. It is possible that The Watcher could call on Happy ‘Hulk' Hogan to help with a potential threat in season two's later episodes, though it remains to be seen if this will be the fate that befalls Stark's longtime friend and security guard.
Should you stream What If…? season 2 episode 3?
For anyone looking for a fun show or movie to ring in Christmas, this episode of What If…? is definitely worth the watch. It doesn't try to reinvent the wheel or take itself too seriously, given the very basis of the episode and beloved film it outright lampoons. The episode is no less fun because of these facts and also gives a spotlight to some of the MCU's more beloved supporting characters.
What If…? season two is available to stream on Disney+.
