When Jon Favreau Joined Marvel's WHAT IF...? Series He Made One Request... "I Want To Be The Freak"

Jon Favreau, the filmmaker who launched the MCU with Iron Man and Iron Man 2, additionally took on the function of Happy Hogan within the MCU. He returned to reprise his function within the first season of Marvel’s What If…? animated collection and he might be again in Season 2!

Happy Hogan truly obtained his personal episode in Season 2 titled “What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?,” the synopsis of which reads, “Iron Man’s errand boy is the only thing standing between Tony Stark’s old nemesis Justin Hammer and his siege on Avengers Tower during the heroes’ annual holiday party.”

During a panel at a press conference for What If…?, creator A.C. Bradley talked about bringing Favreau on board to play Happy Hogan again, and revealed the one request the actor and director made when he came in to record his lines for Season 1, saying that in Season 2 “I want to be The Freak.” Bradley said:

“The second season, we knew we wished to do a Darcy episode and kind of had that in our again pocket. And then Jon Favreau, I’m allowed to inform this story. First of all, he is wonderful. He’s one of many absolute nicest human beings and most gifted human beings […] and so when he got here in to do season 1, he type of jokingly made a deal. He’s like, ‘I’ll do season 1, however season 2, I get to headline. And I wish to be The Freak.'”

In case you don’t know, Happy Hogan became known as The Freak after he was blasted by the Enervator ray machine, which mutated him into a giant, savage, nearly mindless, superhumanly strong humanoid. Bradley admitted that she had never heard of The Freak before, and she said:

“We’re like, ‘Oh no, what are we [agreeing] to?’ And then as we have been speaking concerning the episode, we’re like, ‘Let’s make it an ode to Mr. Favreau.’ And we began taking a look at his wonderful motion pictures. And we even had a little bit point out of ‘The Chef Show’ in there […] and we have been taking a look at ‘Elf,’ and have been like, ‘No, we will not do ‘Elf.’ Let’s do ‘Die Hard.” Which is my favourite film from childhood. Absolutely. I memorized it, I feel, by the point I hit 10 years previous.”

So, Happy Hogan’s story in What If…? is very much an homage to Die Hard as Happy crawling around in the ventilation shafts of Stark Tower. We’ll just have to wait and see how his transformation into The Freak plays out in the story! This will be a fun episode to watch!

In What If…? Season 2, “The Watcher continues the journey as our guide through the vast multiverse, introducing brand-new and familiar faces throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The animated anthology series questions, revisits and twists classic Marvel Cinematic moments with an incredible voice cast that includes a host of stars who reprise their iconic roles.”