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Harold Joseph "Happy" Hogan is the head of security at Stark Industries and one of Tony Stark's best friends. He was tasked with organizing and securing the Avengers Tower Christmas party when it was attacked by Justin Hammer and his men. While preventing Hammer from obtaining a sample of Hulk's blood, Hogan was accidentally injected with it and transformed into the Hulk-like Freak, thus being able to thwart Hammer's agenda and defeat him. Soon afterwards, Freak was abducted and imprisoned by Doctor Strange in the Sanctum Infinitum, though he was liberated by Captain Carter and sent back home by Kahhori.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Working at Stark Industries[]
To be added[2]
Christmas Party[]
Organizing the Event[]
Hogan on the Avengers Tower logo
- "This holiday party is vital, Mr. Hogan. After the year we've had, people need a reason to celebrate. I'm counting on you to pull it off."
"Yes, ma'am." - ―Maria Hill and Happy Hogan[src]
On the night of Christmas Eve, Hogan was put in charge of organizing an Avengers holiday gala at Avengers Tower. Hogan oversaw the Iron Legion placing a large santa hat on the tower's logo when Darcy Lewis radioed in to inform him of a lack of variety with the party's catering. Hogan noted to Lewis that the radio was for emergencies only while J.A.R.V.I.S. was temporarily offline undergoing maintenance, reminding her that she was only there for college credit.
Hogan learns he is Puffin-2
Upon realizing he was codenamed "Puffin-2" by Lewis, Hogan inquired who Puffin-1 was, only to learn that it was Bernard from accounting, something Hogan took offense to. As Lewis began listing off different bird-themed codenames for him to use instead, Hogan interrupted her and informed her of a "special assignment" to purchase maraschino cherries for Tony Stark's hot tub, which Lewis deduced was a ploy to get rid of her for the time being.
Suddenly, two Iron Legionnaires carrying a Christmas tree flew by and rammed Hogan from behind, who angrily chastised their erratic behaivor. Just then, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill arrived and questioned if Hogan had things under control. Hogan noted Hill's "festive" appearance before attempting to inquire about upgrading J.A.R.V.I.S.' threat matrix while he was offline, though he stumbled into a Christmas tree in the process.
Hill remarked that he should leave security matters to the professionals, to which Hogan retorted that he was before overhearing Hill being referred to as Eagle-1 by one of her subordinates. As Hill entered an elevator to leave for her command post, she reminded Hogan of how important the party was for everyone, stating that she was counting on him to pull it off, which Hogan affirmed that he would.[2]
Justin Hammer's Hack[]
Hogan notes the poor timing of the alarm
While continuing his preparations, Hogan was suddenly alerted to an alarm. Hogan lamented on the unfortunate timing of the alarm with J.A.R.V.I.S.'s maintenance as the two Iron Legionnaires behind him stopped what they were doing and crashed through the nearby window and flew down to the lower levels of the building. Confused by this, Hogan took the elevator down to investigate.
Inside the elevator, Hogan grumbled to himself about Maria Hill's Eagle-1 callsign when he spotted Justin Hammer and his goons with their backs turned to him as the elevator doors opened. Hogan listened as Hammer openly monologued to his men about his plan to procure a sample of Hulk's blood within Tony Stark's lab so he could become the world's next superhero. Hogan quickly informed Hill of the intruder's intentions before being forced to hide on top of the elevator as Hammer entered it while his men worked to break into the lab.
Hogan crawls through a vent
As the elevator began ascending, Hill asked if Hogan could secure the sample first, which he stated that he could by using an alternative way into the lab. Hogan lept off the elevator and into an open ventilation shaft, where he nearly slipped out before catching himself. Hogan began crawling his way through the vent, sarcastically referencing Die Hard and bantering with himself along the way.[2]
Mishap with the Sample[]
- "Whoa! No! Why'd it do that?"
- ―Happy Hogan[src]
Hogan eventually managed reach the lab and poked his head down into the room from the vent. While struggling to look for Hulk's blood, Hogan lost his grip and partially slid down into the room, catching himself with his legs before he fell in entirely. This commotion however caught the attention of Justin Hammer's goons Rusty Vyacheslav and Sergei, who peered into the dark room through the window to try and find the source of the noise.
At that moment, Hogan's radio slipped out of his pocket, which he was forced to catch by the antenna, inadvertently turning it on in the process. When Hogan couldn't turn off the radio, he remained still, using the cover of darkness to his advantage to try and allude Hammer's goons. Unfortunately, upon hearing Hammer attacking Maria Hill through the radio, Hogan called out for her, only for the vent to give out from his weight and collapse, sending him tumbling down into the room.
Hogan mocks the confetti arrow
Now in the wide open, Hogan tried to remain still, only for the automatic lights to finally turn on, exposing him to Rusty and Sergei, who informed Hammer of his presence. Hogan ran deeper into the room while the two terrorists continued to break through the window. Hogan began desperately searching the lab for Hulk's blood, briefly stopping upon seeing a confetti arrow Tony Stark designed for Hawkeye before finding the containment unit housing the sample of Hulk's blood.
Hogan began removing the syringe containing the sample from the containment unit, commenting that he should be getting hazard pay for his work. However, Hogan panicked upon hearing Rusty and Sergei open fire on the window with their guns, causing him to fumble with the syringe until it jabbed his right leg, injecting him with Hulk's blood. Hogan goaned in pain as his leg suddenly grew in size and turned purple. Hogan began stumbling away as Hammer arrived alongside three hijacked Iron Legionnaires, who breached the lab using their repulsors.
Rusty and Sergei immediately ran into the lab after Hogan and tried to gun him down. Hogan managed to find a beaker containing a red substance and shook it before throwing it at his attackers, creating a cloud of red smoke that allowed him to escape while Hammer reprimanded his goons for their reckless gunfire. Hogan spotted a side door leading out of the lab and effortlessly kicked it down using his mutated leg, which he noted could prove useful. Distancing himself from his attackers, Hogan was then contacted by Hill, who informed him that her leg was broken before ordering him to stop Hammer and save the tower before destroying her radio to hinder Hammer as he confronted her.[2]
Calling for Help[]
- "J.A.R.V.I.S. has a mainframe in the sub-basement. If we bring J.A.R.V.I.S. back online, we can take control of the building and everything inside it."
"Puffin-2, are you asking me to be your Reginald VelJohnson?"
"Reginald VelJohnson? That's what you remember from the movie?" - ―Happy Hogan and Darcy Lewis[src]
Hogan hid out in a dark office, where he lamented that it was all up to him. At that moment, Hogan noticed a hijacked Iron Legionnaire outside the room, forcing him to hide in a locker. While the Iron Legionnaire investigated the room, Hogan noticed a motivational Avengers poster, giving him the idea to call Natasha Romanoff with his phone while his mutation continued to worsen, spreading to his right arm.
Hogan managed to get in contact with Romanoff, who informed him that she was preoccupied with a former Hydra assassin. Hogan inquired if Romanoff needed help, though she declined, stating she would see him at the party before hanging up. Hogan then tried to call Tony Stark, who quickly hung up on him in order to save Steve Rogers from being mobbed by a group of soccer moms.
Hogan's left arm rapidly mutated as he resorted to calling Bruce Banner, who was in the middle of an arguement with Clint Barton over an Iron Man toy. Hogan tried to intervene in their arguement, only to grow frustrated by their bickering and crush his phone in the process. This alerted the Iron Legionnaire to Hogan's location, which he quickly dispatched with a single punch. At that moment, Darcy Lewis contacted Hogan through his radio to inform him that she had purchased cherries.
Hogan evades gunfire from Justin Hammer's goons
Hogan informed Lewis of Justin Hammer's attack as he stumbled through a designer workshop, who inadvertently reminded him of J.A.R.V.I.S. while she listed off options for help. Hogan informed Lewis that they can regain control of the building by bringing J.A.R.V.I.S. back online from his maintenance, though he was interrupted after being spotted by Rusty Vyacheslav and Sergei, who opened fire on him.
Hogan quickly found himself stuck at a dead end and cornered by the two terrorists, who continued to shoot at him. Grabbing a nearby table, Hogan used it as a shield to block their bullets before noticing a large roll of spandex material behind him. Hogan grabbed the loose part of the spandex with his free hand and remarked that the only way out was out before charging toward the terrorists. Hogan used the table to smash open the window behind the terrorists and leapt out of the building, using the roll of spandex as a grapple to reach the lower floors.[2]
Becoming Freak[]
To be added[2]
Face Offs[]
To be added[2]
Saving Christmas[]
To be added[2]
Doctor Strange's Captivity[]
Kidnapping and Rescue[]
To be added[3]
Personality[]
As Happy Hogan, his overall personality is similar to most other versions of Hogan that have been seen in the Multiverse, being a loyal friend to Tony Stark and the other Avengers. Though he often feels stressed and not fully appreciated at his job as the head of security for Stark Industries, he nonetheless takes his duties seriously and is shown to still care greatly for others as he became concerned when he found out that Maria Hill and Darcy Lewis had been captured.
As Freak, his personality takes on a manic kind of edge verging on psychotic with him constantly breaking out into random fits of laughter and turning positively feral whenever confronted by enemies becoming more or less a crazed animal smashing and tearing them apart, though it should be noted that even in this state he still possesses the capacity for critical thought and coherent speech and is still capable of empathy. This was shown when he rescued Justin Hammer from nearly falling to his death despite the fact that Hammer had previously been pummeling him with the Hulkbuster armor.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Artificially Enhanced Physiology: Hogan was accidentally injected with a gamma-radiated antigen serum containing the Hulk's blood.
- Superhuman Strength: According to Justin Hammer, the serum was intended to make the user a dozen times stronger than Captain America.
- Superhuman Durability: To be added
- Superhuman Speed: To be added
- Superhuman Agility: To be added
- Superhuman Stamina: To be added
- Superhuman Reflexes: To be added
- Regenerative Healing Factor: To be added
- Sonic Scream: To be added
Abilities[]
- Expert Combatant: To be added
Equipment[]
| This section requires expansion |
To be added
Facilities[]
| This section requires expansion |
- Avengers Tower: To be added
Prisons[]
- Sanctum Infinitum: To be added
Relationships[]
Allies[]
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Enemies[]
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Trivia[]
- In the comics, Happy Hogan was mutated into a giant mindless Hulk-like being, dubbed as the Freak, during an attempt to heal him after he was injured by Unicorn. As Freak, he has the same powers and abilities as Hulk as well as the ability to absorb cobalt power and discharge it from his hands as energy blasts.
Behind the Scenes[]
- According to A.C. Bradley, Jon Favreau jokingly made a deal with the writing team that he would accept the role of Happy Hogan and Happy Hogan in the first season of What If...? only if he got a spotlight in the second season and that an episode featuring Hogan's transformation into Freak would be incorporated. Bradley and Matthew Chauncey agreed, even though neither of them knew about Freak before.[4]
- Neither Favreau nor the writers of the second season of What If...? wanted this version of Happy Hogan to depart too significantly from the personality of his Earth-616 counterpart. Therefore, they chose to have Hogan stay in control of himself as Freak unlike the story in the comics.[5]
References[]
- ↑ Spider-Man: No Way Home
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 What If...?: 2.03: What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?
- ↑ What If...?: 2.09: What If... Strange Supreme Intervened?
- ↑ Jon Favreau Had One Demand Before He Joined Marvel's What If...?
- ↑ What If..? Season 2 Live Q&A With Creative Team (A.C. Bradley, Matthew Chauncey, Bryan Andrews)
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