Harold Hogan (Earth-616)

His sad-faced demeanor in the ring earned amateur wrestler Harry Hogan the ironic nickname of "Happy" Hogan.^[1] Happy retired on the argument that he was getting "too good at losing;" in fact, his nice guy attitude often cost him when it came to trying to knock out an opponent.^[6] He also became sparring partners with Eddie March until Eddie's own retirement.^[7]

After abandoning his boxing career, Happy worked various odd jobs. One day at a race track, a new experimental car crashed. Ignoring the risk, Happy ran over and pulled the driver out. The man was the rich industrialist Tony Stark, who offered Happy a monetary reward for his heroic act. Happy turned it down, instead asking Stark to hire him. Stark agreed, and Happy became his chauffeur and bodyguard.^[1] However, since Tony was secretly the armored super hero Iron Man, Happy barely had to drive Stark anywhere because most of Stark's business trips were an alibi to keep a low profile as he suited up.^[8]

As soon as he started working at Stark Industries, Happy laid eyes on Tony's secretary, Pepper Potts. However, to his chagrin, Pepper was infatuated with their boss. Happy and Pepper's relationship was built on bantering, which originated mostly from Pepper rejecting Happy's early advances.^[1]^[6] Pepper started warming up to Happy after he tried to take on the super villain the Unicorn to protect Stark Industries and was heavily injured.^[9] Not long afterwards, Stark revealed to Happy that he was Iron Man after Happy was injured by another super villain, the Titanium Man.^[10]

An accident with Stark's experimental "Enervator" transformed Happy into the the man-monster named the Freak by the media. He was stopped and returned to his human form, although Stark had to repair his damaged armor.^[11]

On one occasion when the Mandarin attacked, Happy put on the armor to help Stark. Although he was successful, the armor was damaged beyond repair and Stark had to scrap it for a new model.^[3]

Some time later, Happy was transformed into the Freak for the second time.^[12]

Happy often donned the Iron Man armor to double for his employer, Tony Stark. This put him into conflict with Iron Man's opponents several times, at one time causing him severe injuries.^[13] These injuries caused Stark to use the Enervator again to heal Happy which, in thrn, caused him to transform into the Freak for the third and final time, once again pitting him against Iron Man, who managed to siphon off the cobalt radiation that he had absorbed this time and again return him to his human form.^[14] Fearing that they would always be pulled into Iron Man's battles as long as they were near him, Pepper quit her position with Stark International and took Happy to a clinic near Chicago to recuperate.^[15]

Years later, Happy was one of the few with Iron Man armor experience that was asked by James Rhodes to help him against Ultimo. Happy's armor was damaged to the point where it was risky for him to continue to engage in combat, but he was able to carry Force and Eddie March to safety for medical attention.^[16]

Financial difficulties and other troubles eventually caused Happy and Pepper to divorce while Stark was believed dead after battling Onslaught. Happy began to feel that he was "just a useless old bum".^[17] After Stark's return, Happy went back to work for him, and Doreen, a fellow worker, both took advantage of his fragile state to acquire Stark Solutions' secrets and attempted to take advantage of him during this time.^[18]

Pepper seemed to be growing closer to Tony, which did not help Happy's feelings of self-doubt.^[19]^[20] After seeing them kiss one night, Happy finally confronted Pepper and, after realizing he still cared deeply for her, he took a chance and asked her to have dinner with him, which she happily accepted.^[21]

Like his employer, Happy was in favor of the Superhuman Registration Act. While en route to meet Pepper for dinner, Happy was attacked by the Spymaster, who wanted to use him as bait. Although he managed to knock the Spymaster off of a balcony overlooking where he had been left, Happy succumbed to his injuries. He was rushed to a hospital and placed on life support. Pepper told Stark a story of how Happy did not want to end up brain damaged, and asked him to turn his machine off using his Extremis-abled abilities. Stark refused, saying he did not want to kill his best friend. It was hinted later that Tony actually did deactivate Happy's life support after a confrontation with the Invisible Woman.^[22]

Attributes

Power Grid^[24]

Powers

Happy Hogan had no powers of his own, but they were derived from the Iron Man armors.

Former Powers

The Freak possessed superhuman durability. Bullets fired from a short distance inflicted pain, but no serious injury.

Radiation Absorption: In his third and final battle with Iron Man, the Freak absorbed a large amount of cobalt radiation, making him several times more powerful that the last two times they had fought. As a result, he could shoot out blasts of cobalt energy from his hands. Furthermore, he continuously radiated deadly levels of cobalt radiation, which caused his body to glow and threatened to build to a critical mass and explode with the force of a nuclear bomb. This would have killed him if it had not been for Iron Man siphoning off the cobalt radiation that the Freak had absorbed and again returning him to his human form.^[14]

Abilities

Happy Hogan was a former professional boxer. He also had experience in a number of other jobs.

Weaknesses

The Freak possessed a limited intellect and always went on violent rampages.

Allergies: Happy was allergic to flowers.^[9]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Formerly the Iron Man Armor Model 1 and later versions of the Iron Man armor.

Weapons

Formerly the Iron Man armors' internal weapon systems.

Transportation

Conventional automobiles, formerly flight using the Iron Man armors.

Notes

In their earliest interactions, Pepper would often compare Happy to Bela Lugosi.^[1]^[6]
"Happy" Hogan appeared to be of Irish decent. He had a grandfather that lived in Ireland, whom he visited.^[4]
"Happy" shared some similarities with Joseph "Crusher" Hogan, with both of them being former fighters and sharing the same surname.

Links and References

References

[Tales_of_Suspense_Vol_1_45-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 Tales of Suspense #45

[Tales_of_Suspense_Vol_1_74-2] Tales of Suspense #74

[Tales_of_Suspense_Vol_1_84-85-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Tales of Suspense #84–85

[Tales_of_Suspense_Vol_1_67-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Tales of Suspense #67

[Iron_Manual_TPB_Vol_1_1-5] Iron Manual TPB #1

[Tales_of_Suspense_Vol_1_46-6] 6.0 ^6.1 ^6.2 Tales of Suspense #46

[Iron_Man_Vol_1_21-7] Iron Man #21

[Tales_of_Suspense_Vol_1_47-8] Tales of Suspense #47

[Tales_of_Suspense_Vol_1_56-9] 9.0 ^9.1 Tales of Suspense #56

[Tales_of_Suspense_Vol_1_69-71-10] Tales of Suspense #69–71

[Tales_of_Suspense_Vol_1_74-76-11] Tales of Suspense #74–76

[Iron_Man_Vol_1_3-4-12] Iron Man #3–4

[Iron_Man_Vol_1_82-83-13] Iron Man #82–83

[Iron_Man_Vol_1_84-85-14] 14.0 ^14.1 Iron Man #84–85

[Iron_Man_Vol_1_86-88-15] Iron Man #86–88

[Iron_Man_Vol_1_300-16] Iron Man #300

[Iron_Man_Vol_3_4-17] Iron Man (Vol. 3) #4

[Iron_Man_Vol_3_1-5-18] Iron Man (Vol. 3) #1–5

[Iron_Man_Vol_3_20-19] Iron Man (Vol. 3) #20

[Iron_Man_Vol_3_23-24-20] Iron Man (Vol. 3) #23–24

[Iron_Man_Vol_3_25-21] Iron Man (Vol. 3) #25

[Invincible_Iron_Man_Vol_1_13-14-22] Invincible Iron Man #13–14

[23] All-New Iron Manual #1

[24] Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 5

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