What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?

Do they actually expect adults to watch these episodes and be invested? I've seen the first three and they are all nothing to write home about. The first season was way better and matured than what I've seen thus far from season 2.

I hope the rest of the season actually gets it right and stop heading down this comical direction. We want some real action, real stories, real consequences.

Do they actually expect adults to watch these episodes and be invested? I've seen the first three and they are all nothing to write home about. The first season was way better and matured than what I've seen thus far from season 2.

I hope the rest of the season actually gets it right and stop heading down this comical direction. We want some real action, real stories, real consequences.

This Christmas episode of "What If..." truly stands out as a highlight of season 2, offering an engaging plot brimming with very well-crafted action sequences. The narrative unfolds with a festive spirit that keeps viewers hooked from start to finish, making it an exemplary installment in the series. It's a well-balanced mix of humor, action and the classic "What If..." inventiveness. Overall, this episode is a delightful treat for fans and encapsulating all the wonder and joy of Christmas while maintaining the creative standards of storytelling and character development expected from the show.

If the first series of What If... went to the darker aspects of Marvel multiverse.

The second series has been lighter and frothier so far. This Christmas episode is what if Happy Hogan did Die Hard.

As Happy Hogan the head of security for Tony Stark is getting everything ready for the Avengers Christmas party.

Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) breaks into Stark Tower with two goons just as JARVIS is off line for a defrag. It allows Hammer to reprogram the robots.

Hammer wants the Hulk serum. It's Happy Hogan who realises that he is at the wrong place at the wrong time and gets to the serum first.

With Disney purchasing 20th Century Fox, they could poke fun of their acquired properties. This was an entertaining instalment. I liked when the other Avengers show up, they go for the wrong target.

Here's an idea: let's remake a true holiday classic and put in one of the biggest superheroes to act as the lead. That's probably what Kevin Feige expected to hear when A. C. Bradley said that she wanted to pitch him a Christmas episode. It's obviously not known how that conversation went, but I can only imagine that Feige must have scratched his hat when she told him that Happy Hogan was going to be the lead. It's an amusing thought, but the amusement unfortunately wears off very quickly in an episode which shows that "Die Hard" and the MCU are better apart.

Is this a bad episode? No, it is certainly not a bad episode. However, given the smart idea it would have been easy to expect that the writing would be a little more clever. Take aside the idea of putting Happy Hogan, one of the less interesting characters of the MCU, in as the lead, but bringing back Justin Hammer in this manner could have been something very special, but is just kinda treated as a joke. Hammer is once again played by Sam Rockwell, who just loses himself in the fun of playing this maniac, and amidst all the Christmas quips, he gives this episode the soul and the fun that it needed. The macguffin is the most obvious idea anyone could have, and the use of it is also something that feels like it was thought of by a six-year-old, and the conclusion to the storyline is pretty much not existing. There's a faint joy in the episode, and it's difficult to not be entertained by a Christmas setting, but outside of the annual Christmas film reference, as well as the very funny joke involving the Avengers, it doesn't really use its setting that much, and why would they, when they can just do "Die Hard" and get some cheap thrills that way? It's nice to see Jon Favreau in his own little solo outing, but he is the least fascinating part of this episode, and gets lost in the mix of more entertaining guest stars like Rockwell, and even Kat Dennings.

"What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas" is a misleading title for an episode that is openly a ripoff of something better and way more entertaining. The episode isn't bad, it's just a missed opportunity in the spirit of Christmas, as it doesn't evoke any feelings of the holiday, nor offers anything interesting at all.

The way the villain easily hacks the systems, how the supposedly heros aren't talking the situation seriously, I mean for a "filler" it should at least be fun. But it's only really really dumb.

So I'd just advise you guys to save your precious time and skip this one. But also if you are from the US (which I'm obviously not) you may find it ok since the whole plot is about Christmas and such.

Since I don't feel Happy has charisma, I usually don't like his stories.

Ok at this point I'm just trying to reach the minimum required characters.

But that's what there is to it, a Christmas plot with no appealing whatsoever.