I suppose two out of three ain’t bad as today’s What If…? episode, “What If Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?” is another good episode and is even better than yesterday’s Peter Quill episode. Of course, it’s also light-years better than the Nebula episode. It’s a shame they apparently rushed that Nebula episode because if it had been better fleshed out (maybe a two-parter) it could have been really good.
“So What If Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?” takes place sometime after The Avengers movie and Iron Man 2 and 3. It’s Christmas, and The Avengers are throwing a party, and it’s Happy Hogan and Darcy’s (from the Thor movies) job to throw the party and get things in order. However, Justin Hammer shows up with his goons and has different plans. Welcome to the party, pal!
Yeah, this is what if The Avengers did Die Hard (because, yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie!)!
The episode features lots of jokes, and references to Die Hard and other movies, I also believe there is some adult humor, and I couldn’t help but think maybe even borrowing from Captain America: Brave New World, according to rumors.
Note: Spoilers follow.
The Avengers assemble!
So Justin Hammer hacks into Avengers Tower and takes over the Iron Legion. Hammer wants a vial of Hulk blood to make himself into a superhero — because the difference between a superhero and a supervillain is PR! Similar, to Die Hard, no one is in Avengers Tower because it’s a holiday, The Avengers are all off doing Christmas activities with lots of funny jokes thrown in. So instead of Hammer getting the Hulk blood, Happy Hogan accidentally injects himself with Banner’s blood! Happy Hogan smash! Well, we already have a Green Hulk. Can’t be the Grey Hulk. Can’t be the Red Hulk (looking at you Harrison Ford). So how about a Super dee-duper Purple Hulk!
Regarding Captain America 4, the flick is rumored to feature numerous Hulks, and as we saw in She-Hulk, the Huk blood came into play, so it’s rumored and speculated, Hulk blood might be a plot element in Captain America 4.
Anyway, back to “What If Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?,” the episode features some cool fights between the Purple Hulk and the Iron Legion. Then Justin Hammer summons his own armor! It’s the Hulkbuster Armor! Super cool! Love the Hulkbuster Suit. More fights ensue. Purple Hulk gets mad enough where he smashes the Hulkbuster Suit. Then the Avengers show up and mistakenly battle the Hogan Hulk (they make a Hulk Hogan joke, too, get it?!).
The voice cast is also great as everybody returns to voice their respective characters, that is everybody except for the three Scrooges, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson! However, you wouldn’t notice unless you checked the credits.
It’s a really fun episode. They again pay attention to a lot of details with all the jokes and references. I really couldn’t find anything wrong with the episode. Nice job and Merry Christmas (watching through the credits is fun, too!)!
Update: Episode 4 is not good.
