Black Panther Actually Pays Homage To Star Wars

Marvel fans might not know, but Black Panther actually pays homage to Lucasfilm's Star Wars saga.

In T'Challa's (Chadwick Boseman) standalone film, Black Panther goes on an intense chase after Klaeu (Andy Serkis) in South Korea. The black-market arms dealer uses a high-tech gun mounted on top of his severed arm at T'Challa and Shuri's (Letitia Wright) car as they weave across the city, but in the end, Black Panther manages to catch up and disarm Klaeu – literally, and figuratively.

Fans might have dismissed it, but this limb loss is actually a homage to Lucasfilm's galaxy far, far away.

Disarmament and the loss of limbs is also a tradition in the Star Wars saga, with many characters finding themselves losing their hands or their heads in various installments in the franchise.

Speaking in an interview with an old interview on Cinema Blend (h/t Comic Book), Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirms that amputations and limb losses in the franchise are actually the studio's direct homages to Star Wars.

"I'm obsessed with Star Wars. Who's not? I'm 40 years old. I'm in the movie business. I went to USC. So I'm obsessed with Star Wars - and it didn't start out as intentional, but it became intentional, including that beat that you referenced. It sort of happens in every Star Wars movie, but I was sort of looking at it, ‘Okay, is Phase Two our Empire Strikes Back?' Not really, but tonally things are a little different. Somebody gets their arm cut off in every Phase Two movie. Every single one."

Now, as Marvel prepares for the debut of Avengers: Infinity War, fans can only wonder whether that Star Wars homage might carry on. After all, there have been rumors that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) might actually lose his arm in the battle to save the earth from the Mad Titan Thanos.

Let's wait and see.

Black Panther is currently screening in cinemas. Avengers: Infinity War makes its big premiere on May 4.

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