Harold "Happy" Hogan is Tony Stark's chauffeur, bodyguard, and friend who is now the head of security of Stark Industries. He first appeared in Iron Man film, and later its two sequels Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3, and in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Harold Hogan was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck.
Contents
Background
Personality
Contrary to what his nickname suggests, Happy is actually cynical and dry. He takes his job and skills seriously, and almost with great pride, and becomes humiliated at times when he is beaten by opponents with greater skill than himself (Natasha Romanoff in combat or Tony Stark in-car driving). With his cohorts, however, he shows a more positive side - that of a loyal friend and a good partner, always ready to take any risk to protect Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. More of a friend than an employee, Happy always has Tony's back too, even when the eccentric billionaire doesn't think he needs him. Steadfast and loyal, Happy would do anything to keep Pepper and Tony safe. Although rude at times, he is willing to apologize when he is proven to be in the wrong.
Appearances
Iron Man
Harold Hogan, commonly called "Happy", is Tony Stark's personal chauffeur and bodyguard, and one of his closest friends. He often encourages Tony's excesses, as seen when he challenges his boss in a race from Stark's mansion to the airport, where James Rhodes is waiting for their arrival to take Stark in Afghanistan for the promotion of the new Stark Industries' weapons. He stays with his boss during all of his adventures, but he only acknowledges his secret identity of Iron Man during Stark's communication to press after the incident with the Iron Monger.
Iron Man 2
Happy Hogan, Stark employee
Happy Hogan is still at Tony Stark's employment and has added to his routine duties even the assistance to his superhero identity. He's initially seen sparring with Tony inside his mansion, in a boxing ring built in one of the many rooms. During their training, Pepper introduces one of the candidates for the role of Stark's personal assistant, Natasha Rushman. Impressed by the girl's curriculum, Tony asks Natasha to spar with Happy, but the bodyguard is quite humiliated when she annihilates him with a single, quick acrobatic move.
Happy accompanies Tony to Montecarlo, where the playboy enjoys himself in racing in the Gran Prix. During the race, Whiplash attacks him, and Happy, along with Pepper, intervenes, bringing the new armor to Tony. Happy too is attacked by the villain, but, once dressed up with the armor, Iron Man saves him.
When Whiplash' connection with Justin Hammer is revealed and Hammer Drones go on a rampage during the Stark Expo, Happy follows Natasha Rushman, aka the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Black Widow, to Hammer's base in which Whiplash is hiding, controlling the drones. Happy engages a fight with one of Hammer's guards, managing to defeat him after a long battle, only to realize that Black Widow has defeated all the others by herself in no time. Along with her, anyway, Happy manages to interfere with Whiplash' plans, even if he already fled away and assists Iron Man and War Machine in their battle against the Russian villain.
Iron Man 3
Happy is promoted to Head of Security at Stark Industries. When Aldrich Killian comes to visit Pepper, Happy suspects Eric Savin and decides to follow him to the Chinese Theatre where Savin meets Jack Taggart to deliver a batch of Extremis. Happy later bumps into Taggart, causing him to drop his case. Savin stops Happy but Taggart explodes from the Extremis, giving Happy several injuries and hospitalizing him.
Tony visits Happy in hospital and told the nurse not to turn the TV off because Downton Abbey was Happy's favorite show. After seeing what had happened to Happy, Tony decides to get revenge on The Mandarin. Happy later wakes up from the coma.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Happy appears in a recording depicting him "chaperoning" Peter Parker on his trip to Germany and giving him his Spider-suit during Captain America: Civil War. After returning to New York, Happy continues to be Peter's contact, albeit unenthusiastically, in which he received updates on Peter's crime-fighting and sent this information to Tony.
Happy is later promoted to the asset manager and is assigned in allocating all the items from Avengers Tower to New Avengers Facility. He oversees the items loaded into the cargo plane on moving day when he suddenly receives a message from Ned Leeds, who tries to warn him that the plane is in danger, but Happy ignores the warning. During the takeoff, the plane gets hijacked by the Vulture. However, Spider-Man intervenes and the plane crashes into Coney Island beach following their battle. Arriving at the crash site with the FBI, Happy finds Adrian Toomes restrained on the side of a car with a note from Spider-Man. Realising that Peter was right about the Vulture, Happy appears at his school later to personally apologize for ignoring him. He then brings Peter to New Avengers Facility where Tony Stark invites Peter to the Avengers. However, Peter declines and leaves to wait in the car, expecting Happy to drive him home. It turns out that Tony intended to announce Spider-Man to the world at a press conference behind the room. As Pepper Potts tries to cover for the reporters, Tony haphazardly asks Happy for the engagement ring he carries to announce a proposal to Pepper for a last-minute scenario.
Avengers: Infinity War
Although Happy does not appear in the final movie, he is seen in a deleted scene where he confronts both Tony and Pepper in Central Park, about being stressed out after having to keep their wedding out of the tabloids.
Avengers: Endgame
Happy attends Tony's funeral and comforts his daughter Morgan. Happy asks Morgan what she wants to eat and after she says cheeseburgers, Happy tells her that Tony loved cheeseburgers.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
In Far from Home Happy gives Peter much needed support in the aftermath of Tony's sacrifice telling him that even Tony could never live up to what people excepted of him. Happy acts as a father-figure to Peter during the movie and looks out for him, replacing Tony Stark in that role. Happy helps Peter build a new suit to fight Mysterio and rescues his friends. Happy also has a flirtatious, unofficial relationship with Peter's Aunt May.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Happy is set to return in this movie.
Trivia
- In the comics, Happy was married to Pepper, but they divorced.
- Jon Favreau played this role as a cameo whilst also being the director of the film.
- In an Iron Man deleted scene, Happy, talking with James Rhodes, notes his concern about Pepper's emotions during Tony Stark's disappearance.
- Happy was a boxer in the comics who earned his nickname for his refusal to fight back.
- Happy Hogan sports a rather fetching mullet in 1999. This is a nod to the hairstyle Stark favoured during the 80's and particularly the 90's in the comics. This appearance is also very similar to John Travolta's look in the movie Pulp Fiction.
- Happy's favourite TV series is Downton Abbey.
- Happy seems to be fond of badges.
- Happy appears in a deleted scene from Avengers: Infinity War, driving a buggy and confronting both Tony and Pepper about having to keep their wedding news out of the tabloids.[2]
- Happy acts as father-figure to Peter in Spider-Man: Far From Home, replacing Tony in that role after his death in Endgame.
- It was officially confirmed that Happy would return in Spider-Man: No Way Home, on April 16, 2021.
- The only Avengers movie that Happy appeared in was in Avengers: Endgame (not counting the deleted scene in Avengers: Infinity War.)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming was the first time Happy appeared outside of an Iron Man movie.
Gallery
Relationships
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References
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