Season 2 Episode 3 of Marvel’s What If follows Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) as he is planning the Avenger’s Christmas Party. He has the help of Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). This episode features Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) as the antagonist. He had spent some time in prison, plotting his return.
On the night of the Christmas party, Justin Hammer and his gunmen Sergei (Isaac Robinson-Smith) and Rusty (Matthew Waterson) break in and hold the party attendees hostage. Hammer orders Sergei and Rusty to break into Tony Stark’s lab and steal Hulk blood for him. Happy finds out about this plan, and through the vents he attempts to get to Stark’s lab first. He is successful.
However, Happy triggers the lights in the lab, revealing himself to Sergei and Rusty. Happy has a limited amount of time to find the Hulk blood before Hammer’s guys do. He finds the Hulk blood but it slips, and is injected into Happy’s leg. Happy slowly starts turning into a Purple Hulk, limb by limb.
Happy fully forms into a big, purple, Hulk and he takes on a bunch of Iron Man robots that Justin Hammer has taken control of. He tears them apart, one by one. Hammer then takes control of Tony Stark’s Hulkbuster suit, and he begins to fight Happy. Darcy and Maria Hill race to try and reboot JARVIS, to attempt to take back control of the Hulkbuster but are unsuccessful.
Eventually, The Avengers show up to the party and see a big purple Hulk attacking the Hulkbuster. They engage the Hulk before realizing it’s Happy. Tony Stark then takes over control of the Hulkbuster, and strips it away from Hammer. Happy Hogan roars, and Justin Hammer does his best Hans Gruber impression of falling out the window, before Happy saves him in the spirit of Christmas.
This episode of What If is a treat, a Christmas-themed episode, with numerous Die Hard references, and even parallels to the story. We also finally get to see Happy Hogan be the hero, and save Christmas.
Overall, Season 2 Episode 3 of What If, is a wonderful delight, featuring solid voice acting performances from Jon Favreau, Sam Rockwell, and Kat Dennings, while also telling a fun, heartwarming, christmas-themed story.
Rating: 8.5/10