Summary
Marvel gets into the Christmas spirit with a great riff on Die Hard that will probably end up being the best episode of the season.
Look, I’m not here to reignite the endless debate about whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie, since it is and anyone who disagrees is a joyless Grinch. And besides, Episode 3 of What If…? Season 2, “What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”, makes the argument for me by building the obligatory Christmas special around a re-do of Die Hard with MCU trimmings. So, that’s settled, I guess.
Honestly, this has been the best part of my Christmas Eve thus far. It’s a delightful romp that has high enough stakes to justify exciting action, low enough stakes for all the jokes to land, the right amount of cameos and callbacks to be fun without feeling up itself and manages to hew close to Die Hard without playing it beat-for-beat, sneaking in lots of nods to the wider MCU and enough very specifically Marvel-ish flourishes to still feel like its own thing.
What If…? Season 3 Episode 3 Recap
The setup is simple. While the Avengers are out doing world-saving things, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) has been saddled with the responsibility of organizing a Christmas party at Avengers Tower, helped by a fleet of automated Iron Man suits and Stark Industries intern Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings). And yes, there are tons of jokes about Darcy never having a real job or leaving college.
At first, it seems like the hors d’oeuvres being substandard is the biggest threat to the evening, but that doesn’t last long. S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) is concerned about JARVIS being temporarily shut down, which proves to be a valid worry since the absence of any security protocols allows Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), still seething from his defeat at the end of Iron Man 2, to waltz into the building with a bunch of goons, hijack control of the security suits, and take everyone hostage.
Spot the difference
As if this wasn’t obvious, Avengers Tower is Nakatomi Plaza here, Happy is John McClane, and Hammer is Hans Gruber. But there are other fun references too, like Happy crawling around the air ducts while ranting to himself, Darcy fulfilling a kind of Al Powell support role while she’s out picking up Mascherano cherries – Reginald VelJohnson even gets a namecheck – and various other nods and winks that’ll be great fun to spot for anyone who loves the 1988 film.
Hammer’s endgame is to turn himself into a supervillain using the Hulk’s blood, which ends up being accidentally consumed by Happy himself. This is where the episode veers away from being a straight-up retread of Die Hard and becomes much more of its own thing. John McClane might have had a lack of shoes and socks to contend with, but at no point did he ever transform into a giant purple abomination.
The Avengers are in this episode, but their presence is barely felt by design. Iron Man, Natasha, and Steve Rogers aren’t voiced by the usual suspects either, which is disappointing, but a very brief scene between Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) makes up for it. But for the most part, Happy is left to his own devices, relying on Darcy’s quick thinking to target the mainframe in the basement and turn JARVIS back online before he completely loses himself to his new Hulk form.
How does What If…? Season 2 Episode 3 end?
The climax of the episode is a giant punch-up between Hulked-out Happy (Hulky? Hulk Hogan?) and Hammer in the Hulkbuster armor, while Darcy and Maria handle the tech issues and, eventually, the rest of the Avengers return to join in (assuming that Happy is the villain.)
Hammer’s defeat recalls Hans Gruber falling out of the window, but Hulky catches him before he falls to his death. This is Marvel, after all.
Merry Christmas everyone. This was a nice little present.
What did you think of What If…? Season 2 Episode 3? Let us know in the comments.
RELATED: What If…? Season 2 Episode 4 Recap
