The multiverse exists in both major franchises, Star Wars and Marvel.
With the prominent movement of Star Wars continually producing live-action TV series for Disney Plus along with MCU’s ongoing Multiverse Saga, you might be thinking, will we ever see a Star Wars and Marvel crossover in live-action?
Have Star Wars and Marvel Ever Had A Crossover Before?
To non-comic book readers, a crossover between Marvel and Star Wars has happened a lot more often than you think.
After all, since Walt Disney acquired the exclusive rights to publish Lucasfilm’s Star Wars adventures with Marvel Entertainment’s comic books in 2015, their fate has been sealed — we are looking into a potential Star Wars x Marvel crossover.
Earlier in this year of 2023, Marvel Comics announced that a new crossover event will happen across four ongoing Star Wars series.
This coming summer, we’re looking at four Star Wars series involved in the mentioned crossover, namely, Star Wars, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Star Wars: Darth Vader and Star Wars: Bounty Hunters.
However, this only turned out to be a mistaken crossover news for Star Wars x Marvel. As it turned out, it had only been a crossover within the Star Wars franchise.
Fret not though, because this totally does not rule out the possibility of Star Wars and Marvel’s crossover!
Anybody can tell that this crossover is an inevitable force waiting to happen. Here are some of the times the franchises had their easter egg moments:
Marvel's What If…? actually had an episode featuring major Star Wars easter eggs, and while this is simply done through animation, these franchises often rely on their comic book stories to dig more into the core of the lore.
What If…? was Marvel’s first ever animated series and it teased plenty of Star Wars easter eggs.
In this case, the series snuck in some easter eggs paying homage to Star Wars’ iconic spaceship (similar to X-Wing) and a Darth Vader castle in the background signifying how closely entangled the two franchises are.
Additionally, plenty of Marvel actors also had their very own designated Star Wars roles (in live-action at that), including Natalie Portman (Thor: Love and Thunder), Lupita Nyong’o (Black Panther), Samuel L. Jackson (Avengers), Ray Stevenson (Thor Trilogy), and more!
But could this eventually reach a live-action platform?
Do Marvel and Lucasfilm Have Any Plans for A Live-Action Star Wars and Marvel Crossover?
Two of Hollywood's major franchises continue to be at par with one another, with Marvel's ongoing Marvel Phase Five and with Lucasfilm producing more and more of Star Wars spin-off stories in live-action.
While Marvel Phase Five found trouble moving forward, Star Wars boomed with success over developing their live-action series such as The Book of Boba Fett, Andor, The Mandalorian, and coming up next, Ahsoka.
Now this begs the question, will we ever see a Star Wars x Marvel crossover in live-action?
Well, considering that they both have ongoing comic book series, both of which are still being published under Marvel Entertainment, you would think we would have gotten our crossover by now.
Unfortunately, as of writing, they have not announced any plans for a Marvel and Star Wars crossover, although Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige previously had a scrapped Star Wars movie project that suggested a Star Wars and Marvel crossover plotline.
In a 2016 interview on The Big Issue, Marvel creator Stan Lee already anticipated that Star Wars could crossover to the MCU, giving out his blessing on the idea (via Cinemablend):
“Obviously, the people who produce these [movies] are looking to be as successful as possible. If they feel that incorporating Star Wars with the Marvel characters will be very successful, they’ll find a way to do it. Can you imagine Spider-Man saying, ‘May the force be with you’? It may come to that! I created the Avengers by taking many of our characters and making a team out of them. We can have as many characters join the Avengers as we want to for future movies. That might be fun, all of a sudden, Luke Skywalker is an Avenger!”
Back in 2021, though, when Feige was interviewed on the likelihood that his ‘secret’ Star Wars project is actually a crossover with Marvel, he told Yahoo! Entertainment:
“If you’d ask me if anything we’re talking about right now was in the realm of possibility 20 years ago, I would’ve said, ‘I don’t think so…’ But I really don’t think so. I don’t think there’s any reason for it.”
What are the chances of seeing a Marvel x Star Wars crossover in live-action?
Pretty slim, but we could be cutting it close, especially given that both MCU and Star Wars content go straight to one streaming platform: Disney Plus.
Keeping that in mind, a live-action crossover between these two would not be far-fetched at all. Just that it might not be coming anytime soon for now.
ALSO READ: Is American Born Chinese A Part of the MCU?
How Could a Star Wars x Marvel Crossover Happen in Live-Action?
Consider this: the existence of the Multiverse. The possibility calculation all falls down to how Star Wars and Marvel could use the Multiverse to cross over each other’s worlds.
Apart from both franchises having ongoing comic book series and of course, a huge slate of MCU actors who had their chance at exploring the galaxy far, far away, Disney Plus might be their key into this.
Having exclusive rights to only one streaming platform, Disney Plus could be looking at a landmine if a Star Wars x Marvel live-action does happen in the future.
Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm would have to work together to make things sail smoothly on the potential live-action collaboration project.
Perhaps Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy’s words could give you hope on a Star Wars x Marvel crossover project happening someday.
She debunked Feige ever pitching a Star Wars project for Lucasfilm but indicated she would be “all ears” should the day come (via Total Film):
“As everybody knows, Kevin’s a huge Star Wars fan, and if he did come up with something, I would be all ears, but that’s never really happened. So it’s not an abandoned project, it just didn’t happen.”
Stay tuned for more updates on this story right here on EpicStream!
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