Recap / What If…? S2E3 "What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?"

"What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?"

Alternate take on: Iron Man 2 and Avengers: Age of Ultron

"'Twas only two hours prior and the tower was not yet on fire..."

— Uatu

In a world where the Avengers Tower is under attack, not by Ultron, but a familiar foe of Tony's company, panic ensues throughout the tower's personnel as Justin Hammer gifts terror and mayhem to everyone in the tower on Christmas Eve. Worse, Jarvis is not available and the Avengers are not present to counter the threat immediately. It is thus up to Happy Hogan to stop Justin and put an end to the nightmare before Christmas that the corrupt businessman has planned for the security team.

"What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?" contains examples of:

• Actor Allusion: Happy Hogan is given the nickname "Puffin-2" as he constantly radios Darcy during the events of the episode. Jon Favreau briefly voiced a stop-motion Arctic Puffin in his own Christmas movie Elf.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the comics, Happy's transformation into the Freak usually depicts him as a villain. Here, he's still portrayed as a hero after his transformation.
• Adaptational Intelligence: The comics' version of the Freak was a mindless beast, whereas in the show, Freak still retains Happy's intelligence.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: In the show, Happy becoming the Freak is due to Hulk's blood being injected into him. In the comics, Banner had no role in the Freak's creation.
• Air-Vent Passageway: Lampshaded. Happy crawls through one on his way to Tony's vault, and in the process complains that he repeatedly said Tony that the massive ducts were a security risk.
• An Asskicking Christmas: Being a Die Hard homage, it's a Christmas Episode featuring a whole lot of fighting and explosions.
• Bait-and-Switch: The episode starts with the Avengers beating up a purple Hulk, and Hammer specifically notes he wants that vial of Hulk blood for himself, suggesting that Hammer is the one being hammered. It's actually revealed to be Happy as the monster.
• Big Guy Rodeo: Steve does this to the mutated Happy Hogan while Tony and Nat hold his arms together. It doesn't work as Happy's too strong to be held down.
• Bit-by-Bit Transformation: Happy's transformation into the Freak after accidentally getting injected with the Hulk's blood happens this way. His leg, the injection site, is the first to transform and the rest of his limbs and body follow suit as he grows more stressed from the situation.
• Bob from Accounting: Darcy gives Bernard from Accounting the call-sign "Puffin-1," while Happy gets "Puffin-2". Bernard was also referenced by Black Widow and Captain Carter in the Season 1 finale episode.
• Breather Episode: After the Film Noir and superhero epic tones of the previous two episodes, this one is a lighthearted Christmas comedy, albeit one with plenty of action.
• Brick Joke: When the Avengers are briefly fighting against Happy, Tony asks where Thor is. At end of the episode, after Justin Hammer has been thwarted, Thor does arrive and finds Avengers Tower on fire, believing he missed the party.
• The Bus Came Back: This is Justin Hammer's first major appearance since the All Hail the King One-Shot.
• Call-Forward: One of the backup AI systems that Darcy finds in the server room is "E.D.I.T.H. 1.0", an earlier version of the system Tony would one day will to Peter Parker in the event of his death.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Natasha, true to form, casually chats with Happy on the phone while held at gunpoint by an ex-HYDRA assassin (whom she also quips at, calling her a show-off for taking credit for one more kill than Natasha knew about).
• The Cavalry Arrives Late: The Avengers finally show up at the end as happy gains the upper hand against Hammer and the Hulkbuster. Thor only shows up shortly after the whole thing is done and over with, though he thinks he only missed a party.
• Celebrity Paradox: Both Die Hard and A Christmas Story are directly referenced, raising some questions:
  • If Bruce Willis exists in this world, does the movie Unbreakable? If so, who plays Elijah Price? Is it the same actor who plays Mace Windu?
  • Does Peter Billingsley from A Christmas Story grow up to work as a technician at Stark Industries?
• Chekhov's Gun: Happy discovers a Hawkeye arrow that is filled with confetti in the armory. He later uses it against Justin Hammer.
• Christmas Episode: It's in the name, set on December 24th during Christmas Eve.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Happy is never called the Freak in the episode, although Justin Hammer does call him "a freak" a few times as an insult.
• Demand Overload: In-universe. Clint gets the last Iron Man action figure and refuses to give it to any of the clawing parents at the toy store. A possible Shout-Out to the Christmas movie Jingle All the Way.
• "Die Hard" on an X: The Avengers Tower gets attacked by Justin Hammer on Christmas Eve. This gets Lampshaded with Darcy trying to remember what movie it reminds her of, before Happy sarcastically calls her John McClane. To Happy's befuddlement, she only remembers enough about the movie to know that she's playing the Reginald VelJohnson role.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Jarvis being down for maintenance is the reason why Hammer was able to enter in the first place. Happy lampshades how Jarvis being down for five minutes is the cause of this mess.
• Dreaded Kids' Party Entertainer Job: Tony is playing Santa at a mall, but Steve has the even worse job as his elf, along with the silly costume, who gets the eyes of many mothers.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Darcy suggesting to boot up Jarvis to deal with the threat gives Happy the idea to ask her to upload one of Tony's backup AI.
• Everyone Hates Fruit Cakes: At the end of the episode, Happy says he's so damn hungry he could even stomach eating a fruit cake.
• Evil Is Petty: Among various other dastardly doings, Justin Hammer takes a moment to use Tony's personal toilet and not bother to flush.
• Exact Words: When one of Hammer's hired goons attacks the glass door to Tony's vault with a sledgehammer, Justin objects that he was supposed to be a safecracker. The mook answers that he's cracking the safe.
• Failed a Spot Check: Darcy passed by Justin Hammer on the way out of the Avengers Tower because she was too busy on her phone looking for Christmas songs.
• Funny Background Event: When the scene cuts to Clint and Banner arguing over an action figure in Clint's hand, there's a shelf full of Hawkeye toys on discount and none of them sold.
• Germanic Depressives: Hilariously Played for Laughs with W.E.R.N.E.R., a bizarrely German AI developed by Tony that Darcy attempts to inject into the Hulkbuster to wrest control away from Hammer. Except W.E.R.N.E.R. is worse than useless because of his uniquely German nihilism.
• Have You Tried Rebooting?: Darcy's solution to the computer freezing as they're attempting to restore Jarvis is to fall back on the classic CTRL-ALT-DELETE, which shockingly works even on Tony's custom hardware.
• How We Got Here: The episode begins with the Avengers, most of them donned in Christmas costumes, fighting a huge, muscular purple man not unlike the Hulk, before the Watcher pauses in the middle of the action, narrating to the viewer that they're probably wondering who this guy is, then decides to go back two hours.
• HULK MASH!-Up: Happy becomes a purple-skinned, bald version of the Hulk after accidentally getting stabbed by an automated syringe containing the Hulk's blood, much to his dismay. Unlike the Hulk, he can retain his mind and manner of speech. At the end of the episode, Happy wonders if Tony has a cure in hand.
• In the End, You Are on Your Own: J.A.R.V.I.S is under maintenence while W.E.R.N.E.R is no help at all. Maria Hill is out of action for most of the fight and Darcy can only assist behind the scenes, and the Avengers had their own stuff going on. Happy is forced to tangle with not only Justin Hammer and his cronies, but a hacked Iron Legion on his own until the end, but he at least has Hulk blood running through his veins to level the playing field; albeit by accident.
• The Intern: Darcy, as always, in this case at Stark Industries. It's become such a running gag that Maria Hill asks her if she's ever had a real paying job. Darcy says no.
• Kinda Busy Here: Happy calls Natasha while she's being held at gunpoint by a HYDRA assassin.
• Logo Joke: The opening credits for the episode have Christmas-themed music playing in the Marvel Studios logo.
• Machine Blood: Happy's massacre of the Iron Legion causes oil to splatter everywhere like blood.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Maria Hill apparently has no issues walking around with a broken leg.
• Mistaken for Santa: Darcy sees the rocket holding the Hulkbuster suit and assumes it's Santa sleigh, happily shouting, "Santa? He's real!"
• Mook Horror Show: Happy, fully mutated by the Hulk's blood, inflicts this on the Hammer-controlled Iron Legion. The fact that the Iron Legion aren't sentient beings and have oil instead of blood allowed the animators to make the scene as brutal as possible while still being PG-13.
• My New Gift Is Lame: Tony gets Steve thick Iron Man socks. Hammer is not impressed, but his Russian mook is.
• Non-Answer: When asked if he can cure Happy's gamma-irradiated condition, Tony just laughs and pays Happy a compliment without answering the question.
• Not What I Signed on For: Justin's goons have no problem helping him rob Avengers Tower. Fighting Purple Hulk, on the other hand, was not in the job description.
• Not What It Looks Like: The Avengers arrive to see a purple Hulk beating up someone in the Hulkbuster and proceed to pound on the former before Darcy intervenes.
• The Parody Before Christmas: Uatu begins and ends the story with an Avengers-themed version.
• Pass the Popcorn: When the Avengers finally get to Stark Tower and see the mutated Happy Hogan, they all team up to fight him... except for Bruce, who cheerfully watches what's happening while munching on a Christmas cookie.
• Point of Divergence: It's implied by the Watcher that this universe diverged from the Sacred Timeline when Hammer got a slightly longer prison sentence, which gave him the time needed to come up with his plan.
  • If this timeline otherwise follows that of the Sacred Timeline, this would be Christmas 2014: after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (since Maria Hill now works for Stark Industries and Natasha is hunting down an ex-HYDRA agent) but before Avengers: Age of Ultron (since they are still in Avengers Tower, the Iron Legion is still in active use, and J.A.R.V.I.S. is still a disembodied program).
    • That being said, there are a number of small but still-noticeable differences in this timeline that can't be explained simply by Hammer getting a heftier punishment. For instance, Maria Hill is still wearing her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, with the episode's subtitles referring to her subordinates as "S.H.I.E.L.D. agents", implying that S.H.I.E.L.D. was not dissolved, but rather absorbed by Stark Industries after the events of Winter Soldier. Also, Hawkeye mentions his wife in front of Banner, indicating that the other Avengers already know about his family.
• Poor Communication Kills: Happy tries to call the Avengers to tell them about Hammer's takeover but they are too busy to listen to him. Natasha is in a life-or-death situation so her distraction is understandable. The others are occupied by more trivial matters and have no real excuse for blowing Happy off. This culminates in the finale when the Avengers attack Happy, not understanding what is really going on.
• Purple Is Powerful: Happy's gamma-radiated form is purple-skinned and can contend with the Hulkbuster in a fight.
• Save the Villain: Happy rescues Hammer after Hammer is blasted out of the window. Hammer is surprised and touched by the gesture.
  Hammer: You saved me. Why?
  Happy: It's Christmas, Hammer. Goodwill towards men. Even the bad ones.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Hammer's goons decide to make a run for it when a rampaging Happy comes calling.
  Hammer: What am I paying you for?!
  Rusty: Not this!
• Serious Business: When Happy calls them for help, Clint and Banner are at a department store where Clint is refusing to give up an Iron Man toy while they're surrounded by screaming kids; Barton refuses to give up the toy (Laura apparently told him to come home with it or not to come home at all) and the stress of the situation makes Banner come close to Hulking out.
• Shout-Out:
  • When he invades the Christmas party, Hammer gives a speech about his childhood that is blatantly ripped off from A Christmas Story. One of the hostages calls him on it.
  • Hammer tells a crying hostage, "There’s no crying on Christmas."
  • Hammer calls the Iron Legion drones "Johnny Fives."
  • Darcy suggests calling herself Eagle-1.
  • Hammer refers to the Hulk version of Happy as "Hulk Hogan".
  • Hulked Hogan chasing Hammer while yelling, a lá Hanover Fist.
  • One of Tony's many JARVIS substitutes is an A.I. named Werner, who speaks in a melodramatic German accent.
    Hill: What are you, Siri for nihilists?
• Skewed Priorities: While the other Avengers wrestle with Happy, thinking he's a dangerous monster, Banner just munches on some sugar cookies and tells his teammates "you got this!".
• Sound-Only Death: When Happy calls Natasha, she's being held at gunpoint by a HYDRA assassin. When the scene goes back to Happy, we hear a few gunshots. Given that Natasha appears later in the episode, we can guess what happened to the assassin.
• Spandex, Latex, or Leather: There are big signs in the costume area marked “Spandex” and “Leather”.
• Special Edition Title: Happy's Die Hard-like Christmas episode gets its own Christmas twist on the title card to fit the occasion.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: As she sees the Hulkbuster flying in, Darcy mistakes it for Santa ("he's real!", she says in an awed hush). When the suit starts forming around Hammer, he makes a near-identical remark, calling himself Santa.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Discussed by Justin Hammer.
  Hammer: The difference between a villain and a hero is good PR.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Tony's childish distaste for Steve is on full display; the billionaire bought Cap socks for Christmas (Iron Man themed socks, no less), and while playing Santa, tries to convince a child that a replica Captain America shield is nothing but a "patriotic frisbee". That said, he cuts his phone call with Happy short in order to rescue Steve from a swarm of soccer moms, so there's still some affection between them.
• Waxing Lyrical: Hammer tells Happy that "all I want for Christmas is you." Darcy is impressed by the word play.
• Whole-Plot Reference: The entire episode is a self-aware homage to Die Hard, with Happy Hogan as John McClane, Justin Hammer as Hans Gruber, and Darcy as Al Powell. Darcy even refers to herself as Reginald VelJohnson, the actor who played Powell. The episode includes several recreated shots, including:
  • Hammer talking to all the hostages, just as Gruber does after killing Mr. Takagi.
  • Happy crawling through the vents and complaining about how this was just supposed to be a fun Christmas party, just as McClane does.
  • Happy jumping out of a window with only a ribbon tied around his waist, mimicking McClane jumping off the roof with only a firehose tied around his waist.
  • "Ode to Joy" plays when Darcy opens the vault, just as it did when the hacker Theo finally cracks the Nakatomi vault.
  • The elevator opens on the bad guys' floor, and inside is a body with a note taped to it. It's an artificial body, but the homage is there.
  • Hammer falling from the building slow-motion, just like Gruber does, though in this case Happy saves him.
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Happy is deeply flattered when Darcy calls him the best boss she's ever had, because she's had so many.

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Uatu: But I heard a voice say as the heroes vanished from sight...
Thor [enters]: Merry Christmas to all, and to all a— guys? Oh, I missed the party.
Uatu: (chuckles) "To all, a good night".