Mike Haggar

"Well done."

- Haggar (Final Fight Revenge)

"Hold back if you want. It's your funeral."

- Haggar (Marvel vs. Capcom 3)

Michael "Mike" Haggar (マイク・ハガー) is the deuteragonist of the Final Fight series and an ex-wrestler from Slam Masters. Though he doesn't appear as a playable character in the Street Fighter series, he still plays a role in the back-stories of Cody and Guy, and is a major enemy to the Mad Gear Gang characters such as Hugo, Sodom, Poison and Rolento. He also makes many cameo appearances in Street Fighter stages and in several characters intros and endings.

Haggar made his debut in the original Final Fight, originally released for the arcades in 1989. He is described as a former "Street Fighter" and pro wrestler turned mayor of Metro City.

Concept
Haggar seems to have been loosely modeled after real-life wrestler Randy Savage in the game; his ring name in Slam Masters is Mike "Macho" Haggar, and the games even feature a winning pose in which he lifts his daughter Jessica onto his shoulder, a possible nod to Randy Savage and his valet, Miss Elizabeth. Also, Haggar switches his career from wrestler to politician sometime between Slam Masters II and Final Fight. Coincidentally, Jesse Ventura would go on to be the Governor of Minnesota from 1999 through 2003, years after retiring from wrestling.

Haggar's full name "Michael Haggar" is a nod to Van Halen members Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar, the respective bassist and vocalist of the band during the development time of Final Fight.

Cody
Like an exasperated father to a delinquent son, Haggar stopped calling favors to keep Cody out of trouble and let him get jailed. However, due to being closely knit from before, there seems no major animosity between them aside from Cody getting sick of his sermons.

Jessica Haggar
His only daughter, he can be easily enraged when it comes to his daughter being in danger.

Guy
His ally and friend who helped him out through the years in cleansing Metro City of Mad Gear.

Mad Gear
The group he crushed twice, he stood up to their threats despite this resulting in Jessica being placed in danger.

Slam Masters series
Haggar's early career was as a pro wrestler, although it's suggested that before this, he was a "champion street fighter". Whatever the case, Haggar gained enough fame and respect that he began serving as a mentor for up-and-comers like Biff Slamkovich and Gunloc. They eventually signed for the CPWA. There, Haggar formed a tag team with Alexander the Grater, calling themselves the "Knuckle Busters".

Final Fight series
After retiring from wrestling, Haggar ran for mayor of Metro City and won, swearing to diminish the city's ever-increasing crime rate after winning the election. The plot of Final Fight centers around the Mad Gear Gang's attempt to manipulate the newly elected Haggar by kidnapping his daughter, Jessica. Instead of submitting to the gang's demands, Haggar enlists the help of Jessica's boyfriend Cody and his friend Guy, to combat the gang and defeat their leader Belger.

In Final Fight 2, Haggar sets out to defeat the newly revived Mad Gear Gang led by Retu in order to rescue Guy's girlfriend and master. Haggar is joined by Maki, Guy's future sister-in-law and Bushin-style fighter, and Carlos Miyamoto, a South American swordsman friend of Haggar staying with him at the time.

In Final Fight 3, Haggar is rejoined by Guy and the two team up with Lucia, a female cop, and another ex-Street Fighter named Dean to battle the Skull Cross Gang, a new criminal organization that has taken over Mad Gear's position by becoming the new dominant gang of Metro City.

Haggar did not appear as a playable character again until 1999's Final Fight Revenge, an American-developed competitive fighting game set immediately after the events of the original Final Fight. Haggar's story in Final Fight Revenge revolves once again around the disappearance of his daughter, who has vanished following a series of riots in Metro City. Jessica's disappearance is not resolved in Haggar's ending, which is instead a recreation of Rolento's ending in Street Fighter Alpha 2, which depicts Rolento's attempt to take over the city.

Street Fighter Alpha series
Mike Haggar appears in the background of Guy's stage in Street Fighter Alpha 2, where he is seen putting J into a headlock. He is seen in the background of Guy's Street Fighter Alpha 3 stage as well.

Super Street Fighter IV
In Super Street Fighter IV, Haggar makes five cameo appearances. First, a statue of Haggar can be seen in the background of the Skyscraper Under Construction stage. Second, the bonus car stage has a billboard of Haggar which can also be seen in the background. The third cameo is seen during Cody's prologue, which shows a picture of him, Guy, and Haggar on a poster (with the caption "THE HEROES SAVED OUR CITY", a reference to the aftermath of Final Fight). The fourth is when he suddenly pops out of a false platform in the Mad Gear Hideout stage. Finally, one of Zangief's alternate costumes is based on Haggar's outfit in a reference to their rivalry and similarities.

Street Fighter III series
Though Haggar doesn't appear and is never seen in the Street Fighter III games, he's briefly mentioned in one of Hugo's endings in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, where he forms a tag team with Black Widow. According to this ending, Haggar is still a wrestler as of SFIII, which indicates that he may have gone back to wrestling after his period as mayor ended. However, this could simply be a continuity error.

Capcom Fighting All-Stars
Mike Haggar was planned to be a playable character in Capcom Fighting All-Stars but the game was canceled. If this game came out, it would have been the first time Haggar was playable in a fighting game that also featured characters from the Street Fighter series; instead, he makes that appearance in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Capcom Fighting Evolution
Haggar makes a non-playable appearance in Alex's CFE ending where he is seen wrestling him.

Final Fight: Streetwise
In Final Fight: Streetwise, Haggar is no longer the Mayor of Metro City and now runs a gym, "Mike's Mat and Muscle" as well as a dock, "Mike's Maritime Maintenance". He has isolated himself from most of Metro City and bemoans how many of its residents have forgotten him. He aids Kyle by teaching him grappling techniques and advises him to find Guy if he wants information on finding his missing brother Cody.

Namco × Capcom
Haggar makes an appearance in Namco x Capcom as an ally character, where he is voiced by Tesshō Genda.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Ultimate
Mike Haggar is one of the many playable characters in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and its update; his attacks consist of moves using a steel pipe (his main weapon from Final Fight), his normal wrestling moves from Final Fight, and some of Zangief's moves. In his ending, his political career skyrockets after he defeated Galactus, eventually making him the President of the United States of America with Tony Stark (Iron Man) as his Vice President, being supported by Captain America and Chris Redfield.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
Haggar returns as a playable fighter in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. In the story mode, Haggar is the mayor of New Metro City (a fusion of Marvel's version of New York City and Metro City). He also became a sworn ally of Marvel's Spider-Man while protecting the city from the villains such as Ultron Sigma and A.I.M.Brella (a terrorist organization merged of Resident Evil ' s Umbrella and the Marvel Universe's A.I.M.).

At some unknown point during Haggar's duty as a mayor, he is suddenly kidnapped by one of the A.I.M.Brella agents and about to be transformed into a B.O.W.. Thankfully, Chris Redfield and his, unofficial, teammates Spider-Man and Frank West finds Haggar inside the A.I.M.Brella's container in time during their infiltration inside the organization’s lab to get the Mind Stone from M.O.D.O.K.. Upon hearing Frank's voice, Haggar awakes and break out from the container. Haggar first mistaken Chris' team as one of A.I.M.Brella abductors who kidnapped Haggar in the first place, until Spider-Man explains the situation to him, calming the mayor down. As Haggar ask why he's in A.I.M.Brella's containing room, Chris hears a conversation between M.O.D.O.K. and Jedah Dohma, who happens to have the Soul Stone with him. Nemesis then approaches Haggar, Chris, Spider-Man and Frank and after the team defeats the Tyrant, Spider-Man gets the Mind Stone from M.O.D.O.K.. However, just as Jedah and his large symbiote under his command emerge from the portal leading to the Dark Kingdom, the heroes runs out of the building.

Haggar and Frank try to rescue Spider-Man (the symbiote's liquids having splattered to Spider-Man's suit, turning it into his cursed Black symbiote suit) from the symbiote’s control. Frank hits multiple cars that projects sound noise, weakning the symbiote and saving Spider-Man.

After the final battle against Ultron Sigma, Haggar returns to his office to resume his usual mayor’s duty.

Street Fighter X Tekken
Haggar briefly appears in a cinematic trailer for Street Fighter X Tekken. He is seen being suplexed by King.

Street Fighter cartoon


He appears in the episode titled "Final Fight", in which his daughter Jessica is kidnapped by the Mad Gear Gang. Haggar is warned by Belger not to stop them. Haggar, being too lazy to obliterate the Mad Gear Gang himself by flexing his muscles, instead has Ryu and Ken go undercover and join Mad Gear to rescue Jessica. In the end Haggar kicks down the door to Belger's office while Cody and Guy defeat Belger.

He also makes a brief appearance in the episode "New Kind of Evil", where he's seen fighting Blanka in a wrestling ring.

UDON comics
Haggar makes an appearance in a bonus comic that details his origin.

In UDON's Street Fighter comics, Haggar is depicted as getting tired of calling in favors to keep Cody out of jail. After one brawl too many, Haggar berates Cody and gives him a lecture, at which Cody is unimpressed. Haggar finally gives up and decides that he can't keep Cody out of jail forever.

Hagger also appears in UDON's Super Street Fighter comics.

Fighting style
Mike Haggar fights using Wrestling. Haggar's moveset is most notable for being the basis for Zangief's moveset. In canon, Zangief having Haggar's moves was explained as Zangief seeing one of Haggar's fights and deciding to use the "Double Lariat" in his array of techniques. Due to this, Haggar responded by using the "Spinning Piledriver" as if it were his own. To reelect their similarity, one of Zangief's alternate outfits in Street Fighter IV is Haggar's attire from the first Final Fight.

Moveset
In Final Fight, of the three playable characters in the game, Haggar is the slowest but most powerful. He uses wrestling techniques such as a piledriver and the spinning clothesline. In addition, he also specializes in the use of a steel pipe (a pick-up weapon in the game), swinging it faster than the other characters. In Final Fight 2, he gained Zangief's spinning piledriver, replacing his regular piledriver, as a special move. In Final Fight 3, Haggar was also given a new super combo called the "Final Hammer", which is actually a series of various wrestling moves.

Trivia

 * Haggar is the only character that has been playable in every Final Fight game.


 * As the original Japanese plot shows, the Slam Masters games are set before Final Fight and depicts Haggar's professional wrestling career prior to being elected mayor but the English localization of the series removes all references of the games being set in the past and even goes as far to describe Haggar as the "former mayor of Metro City".


 * Haggar is of Scottish ancestry. He also bears the Scottish flag in his gym in Final Fight: Streetwise.


 * Mike Haggar is the only character from the Final Fight series to be playable in the Marvel vs. Capcom series (a case of irony, since he has yet to debut as a playable character in the Street Fighter series). By extension, he's also the only Slam Masters character to be playable in a crossover game.


 * In Street Fighter X Tekken and Ultra Street Fighter IV, Haggar appears in the background of the Mad Gear Hideout stage, he is seen chasing Sodom from the end of Round 2 onwards.


 * While perhaps unintentional on behalf of the creators, Haggar bears a strong resemblance to Paul Pons, the first world champion in Greco-Roman Wrestling, including his short hair, mustache and the belt worn across his chest.

Gallery

 * See: Mike Haggar/Gallery

Sprites

 * See: Mike Haggar/Sprites