Justin Hammer dances at the Stark Expo while showing off his Hammer Drones. However, the presentation takes a sharp turn as Hammer nearly blows up the event, leading to him being imprisoned.[1][2]
Happy Hogan stands in the giant Avengers logo on Avengers Tower as he talks to the Iron Legion, ordering them on where to place a giant Santa hat on the logo in preparation for Christmas. He is interrupted when Darcy Lewis calls on the radio. Hogan reminds her that since J.A.R.V.I.S. is inactive, the radio line was for emergency use only. Lewis assures him it is an emergency because the only thing the caterers brought were cheese cubes and carrot sticks. Wanting to get Lewis out of the way, Hogan sends her to the market to get more cherries, even though they have a lot left. Lewis calls him out for trying to get rid of her and Hogan is straight forward in confirming this.[1][4]
Hogan is then bumped from behind by the Iron Legion and scolds them before Director Maria Hill asks if he has everything under control. Howard greets Hill, who reminds Hogan how important the holiday party is and that since they had a bad year, she is counting on Hogan to do it right.[1][4]
As Darcy Lewis walks out of Avengers Tower on her task, she is distracted by choosing her music. Due to this, she fails to see Justin Hammer and his men walk in, wanting to ruin the party.[1][4]
On the event floor, Sergei opens fire into the ceiling as Hammer makes his grand entrance. Hammer then orders Rusty Vyacheslav to grab a tablet from a man. Hammer gets the tablet and puts in his code to hack the Avengers Tower system. He then uses the story of a BB gun from A Christmas Story as a reference to say that you have to take what you want instead of wishing for it.[1][4]
Maria Hill notices the alarms and gets her handgun ready. Meanwhile, Happy Hogan gets annoyed while the Iron Legion leave to stop Hammer. However, Hammer reprograms them to help him.[1][4]
Hammer and his team then go to the lab where Hogan sees them and hides. Hammer tells his men about the Hulk blood that he plans on using to become a superhero. Vyacheslav gets to work in cracking the vault by hitting it with a hammer. Meanwhile, Hogan calls Hill to inform her of his discoveries.[1][4]
Hogan then sees Hammer walking to the elevator where he is hiding, forcing Hogan to jump into the vent. Hammer talks about going to Iron Man's bathroom without intention of flushing. On top of the elevator, Hogan jumps into a vent on the wall and makes it in, annoyed at what he has to do.[1][4]
At the bar, Hammer dances to his music and grabs a drink but Hill shoots it out of his hand, telling him to put his hands up. Hammer turns around, unfazed, and tells her that she is facing off with Stark's greatest adversary. Hill expresses disbelief at the claim.[1][4]
Meanwhile, Vyacheslav and Sergei continue to break into the vault with no success. Sergei takes the hammer and tries himself. Meanwhile, Hogan manages to use the vents to break into the lab first. He tries to look for the blood while peering his head out of the vent, but slips, causing him to hang upside down as the goons hear him. The goons look in as Hogan's walkie-talkie goes off. However, the goons do not see him in the dark and assume the sounds are from a rat.[1][4]
Back at the bar, Hammer tells Hill that what he learned in jail is that cheating is for winners. The Iron Legion then blow up the windows behind Hill, sending her flying forward. Hogan falls through the vents as they cave in. He tries to stay still to hide, but the lights turn on, revealing him to the goons, who tell Hammer about his presence. As the goons work faster, Hogan runs around the find the blood. He finds a confetti arrow before finding blood.[1][4]
Hogan picks up the blood, only to get scared as the goons start shooting at the door. Hogan drops the syringe, causing it to stick into his leg and inject the blood into him. The Iron Legion finally break the door down as Hogan runs, despite his body mutating. Using knowledge picked up from Stark, Hogan takes a red chemical and throws it so he can make his escape. The goons start shooting, only for Hammer to tell them to stop as they could destroy the blood.[1][4]
Hogan uses his mutated leg to kick the door down easily. He gets a call from Hill, telling him to save the tower. Hammer walks in, forcing her to smash the walkie-talkie. Hammer has her put in handcuffs. Meanwhile, Hogan gets to an office and hides from a legion bot. He then sees a poster saying "Teamwork," convincing him to call for help. However, as he dials Black Widow's number, his arm mutates. Romanoff picks up, saying it is not a good time as she is being held at gunpoint by a HYDRA agent. She then hangs up.[1][4]
Hogan calls Stark only for him to be at a charity event posing as Santa Claus. Stark asks Hogan to tell Timmy that a replica of Captain America's Shield is nothing more than a patriotic frisbee. Stark then sees Steve Rogers being harassed by soccer moms and hangs up to go help his teammate.[1][4]
Hogan's second arm then mutates as he calls Bruce Banner, only to met by screaming children as he and Clint Barton are dealing with a toy drive. Banner argues with Barton about the last toy and that he should give it to a child, but Barton refuses, saying his wife is making him get one. Hogan then accidentally crushes his phone with his new strength. The noise alerts the legion bot, but Hogan punches it, sending the bot flying.[1][4]
As a last ditch effort, Hogan calls Darcy Lewis, who suggests getting J.A.R.V.I.S. to call someone. Hogan reminds her J.A.R.V.I.S. is offline, but then realizes he could bring it back and take back the equipment under Hammer's control. Hogan then finds the goons and is forced to hide, only to choose a glass covering, so he is spotted. Hogan grabs a table and uses it as cover. He gets a roll of spandex and use it to jump out the window and swing to another floor.[1][4]
Landing on another floor, Hogan finally completes his transformation into a Freak. Excited about his new physique, he punches a sandbag, causing it to go flying. The goons hear this commotion and follow it. Hogan tries to calm himself.[1][4]
Lewis manages to hack into the mainframe in the basement to activate J.A.R.V.I.S. She tells this to Hogan, who is overheard by the goons. When the goons report this, Hammer tells them to get to the penthouse as he wants the fight to come to him.[1][4]
Lewis reaches the A.I. backups and finds many of them like E.D.I.T.H. 1.0 and F.R.I.D.A.Y. Hogan tells her to just pick one, sho she does with W.E.R.N.E.R. However, Lewis is found by Hammer, who calls Hogan, giving him five minutes to meet in the penthouse or he would kill Lewis. Hogan agrees to arrive.[1][4]
While waiting, Hammer goes through the Avengers' presents. The elevator then opens up, and the Iron Legion opens fire right away. However, they are just met with a confetti arrow-rigged mannequin, which blows up in Hammer's face. Suddenly, Freak crashes through the floor and fights the legion while Sergei and Vyacheslav flee in fear. Hammer then leaves to go to the armory.[1][4]
Freak finally finishes off the Iron Legion and frees Hill and Lewis. He then tells them to reboot J.A.R.V.I.S. as he finds Hammer. Freak runs through the hallways and is met by an army of legion bots, which he easily defeats. He then gets to Hammer, who has Veronica supply him with the Hulkbuster. Hill urges Lewis to finish with W.E.R.N.E.R.[1][4]
Now an even fight, the two battle all the way to the penthouse as they exchange blows. Hammer launches Freak into the air then walks towards Lewis, only for Freak to land on him. The two fight some more as Lewis uploads W.E.R.N.E.R. and Hill orders it to shut down Veronica. However, the german A.I. refuses to listen, making Hill wonder why the artificial intelligence exists.[1][4]
Hammer repeatedly punches Freak in the face, sending him backwards. Freak gets the better of Hammer, ripping up his suit. However, he is stopped by the Avengers, who with no context, think it is a monster destroying everything. They start a fight, with Banner refusing to take part.[1][4]
The Watcher looks upon Avengers Tower and talks about reviewing his favorite yuletide story. He recites an edited version of The Night Before Christmas as the Avengers fight Freak. The Watcher realizes that he started too late in the story and decides to start earlier that evening.[1][4]
Iron Man asks where Thor is while Captain America realizes it is Hogan. Thinking that Rogers said "Happy" as in the emotion, Iron Man tells him he is not happy, then goes to fight some more. Lewis stops them, saying Freak is on the guest list. Freak then manages to tell Romanoff who he is. Lewis then reiterates, saying that Freak is good and the Hulkbuster is bad. Iron Man then disables the Hulkbuster, causing Hammer to fall out of the armor.[1][4]
Freak then roars, causing a shock wave to push Hammer off the ledge. However, Freak catches him, causing Hammer to ask why he saved him. Freak responds that it is Christmas and he wants to practice good will. Freak gets back to the Avengers and apologizes for the damage, saying he hopes insurance will cover it. Iron Man is ecstatic, saying that Hogan is the only insurance he ever needs.[1][4]
Freak asks if they have a cure, but Iron Man ignores him, bringing a round of applause. The Avengers then walk back into the burning tower, hungry for food. Thor finally arrives for the party, wishing Merry Christmas, only to see the burning tower. He concludes that he missed the party. The Watcher laughs and finishes the story.[1][4]
â 2.02.1What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas? shows that the events of the episode occurred because of Justin Hammer formulating a plan to enact revenge on Stark following the Battle at Stark Expo. These events can be taken to occur on the same day in the Gamma Enhanced Happy Hogan universe as in the main universe of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, May 31, 2010. Hammer forming his plan can be taken to be the next day as he is still mourning his loss and he reads a magazine dated 2010.
âSometimes the Marvel Cinematic Universe alludes to events which happened in our world, and it is assumed they happened on the same dates in the universe, for timeline purposes.
â 4.004.014.024.034.044.054.064.074.084.094.104.114.124.134.144.154.164.174.184.194.204.214.224.234.244.254.26In What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?, the Watcher opens his story by saying that the episode is set "the night before Christmas, placing the episode's events on December 24. This is confirmed by a Stark Industries tablet reading "December 24." Maria Hill is shown working at Stark Industries, which suggests that the episode is set at the Gamma Enhanced Happy Hogan universe's version of the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier in early 2014 (see 2014 references). The Watcher says, "Perhaps in this universe, Justin Hammer had a little too much time," suggesting that he was in jail longer than his main universe counterpart, who is shown to still be in prison in February 2014 (see 2014 references) in Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King. Just Hammer says, "I know I should have gone with the Sokovian team." This suggests that Sokovia has not yet fall in this universe's version of the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, placing the episode prior to May 2015 (see 2015 references). However, Clint Barton tells Bruce Banner about his wife, who in the main universe the Avengers aside from Natasha Romanoff did not know about until May 2015, suggesting it is set after that time. Despite this, the majority of evidence suggests that the episode is set on December 24, 2014.
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