Not very long ago, in a bunch of famous, non-Star Wars movies...
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00:00 So, everybody knows Star Wars, right? We know the text crawl, we know the light side, we
00:05 know the dark side, and we definitely for damn sure know about the lightsabers. But
00:09 apparently this love for George Lucas' and Disney's work isn't just contained within
00:14 their own franchise, as numerous films have provided nods, references, easter eggs, and
00:18 just full-on cameos from the Star Wars universe. And that's what we're here to talk about
00:22 today as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are the 10 Best Times Star Wars
00:26 Appeared In Other Movies.
00:28 10. X-Men
00:30 The original X-Men movie hit cinemas in 2000, one year after Star Wars' long-awaited return
00:35 in the form of The Phantom Menace. As such, the timing couldn't have been better for
00:39 X-Men to sneak in a Star Wars reference somewhere. And during the final battle between Halle
00:43 Barry Storm and Ray Park's Toad, that's exactly what happened.
00:47 Park had just played Sith apprentice Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, a character whose
00:51 insane lightsaber skills allowed him to battle Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who are obviously
00:56 two trained Jedi at the same time, and come out on top. Well, almost.
01:01 Jumping back to X-Men, though, Park paid homage to those lightsaber skills in that aforementioned
01:06 fight against Storm by twirling his weapon around in a very Maul-esque way, shortly after
01:10 kicking the weather-manipulating heroine down an elevator shaft.
01:14 Park is known for the great physicality he brings to his characters, and this moment
01:17 worked out not only as a cool tip of the hat to Maul, but as a way to make Toad feel even
01:22 more skilled in the combat department.
01:24 9. Superbad
01:26 Raunchy teen comedy Superbad isn't exactly somewhere you'd expect Star Wars to appear,
01:31 but the movie does have a couple of hilarious nods to the sci-fi franchise throughout its
01:35 runtime. These mostly come from Seth Rogen and Bill Hader's buddy-cop duo, who frequently
01:40 mention Star Wars after picking up McLovin from the convenience store. During their subsequent
01:44 car journey, these cops, Slater and Michaels, start talking about Attack of the Clones,
01:48 with Slater saying that the Force is strong with his rookie partner, before breaking out
01:52 into a surprisingly convincing Yoda impression and calling Michaels his Padawan. Later, Slater
01:57 and Michaels start using their torches like lightsabers, battling one another while adding
02:01 their own sound effects. Slater then pulls out a Palpatine impression from his repertoire,
02:05 before proceeding to run down Jonah Hill's character with his car, which if you think
02:09 about it, is a pretty fittingly evil act for a dastardly Sith Lord. Star Wars humour may
02:13 be a cheap way to draw a laugh, but Superbad executes these jokes so well that we can't
02:18 really complain.
02:19 8. Indiana Jones
02:20 With both franchises having George Lucas as a creative spearhead, it would be a genuine
02:25 shock if the Indiana Jones movies didn't pay homage to Star Wars in some small way,
02:29 but fortunately, they do. The most famous of these homages is found in Raiders of the
02:34 Lost Ark, with a pair of R2-D2 and C-3PO hieroglyphs appearing next to Indy when he uncovers the
02:40 Ark of the Covenant. There's another lesser-known nod at the start of the movie as well, with
02:44 the text OB-CPO emblazoned on the side of Jock's airplane at the end of the opening
02:49 sequence, a shoutout to Obi-Wan Kenobi and C-3PO.
02:53 Temple of Doom continued to dish out the Star Wars goodness, with the club that Willie sings
02:56 in at the beginning called Club Obi-Wan, while the sound effect used for the crashing plane's
03:01 engine failure is the same sound heard in The Empire Strikes Back when the Millennium
03:04 Falcon's hyperdrive fails. And finally, while The Last Crusade is surprisingly light
03:08 on Star Wars nods, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has Indy utter the iconic line "I've
03:13 got a bad feeling about this", which has been spoken in almost every single Star Wars
03:17 flick to date.
03:18 7. Toy Story
03:19 Going all the way back to the first Toy Story movie, it's been something of a trend for
03:23 Pixar to include Star Wars nods in its movies. Some of the best of these include the Dash
03:28 Forest chase in The Incredibles harking back to Return of the Jedi's speeder bike chase,
03:32 or the fighter pilot dogs in Up referring to themselves as Grey Leader, Grey 2, and
03:36 Grey 3 parodying the Red Squadron call sign in A New Hope. But it's the Star Wars references
03:41 in the Toy Story series that people will remember most fondly. From dickbag neighbour Sid interrogating
03:46 Woody with the "Where's the Rebel Base?" to an Obi-Wan action figure in Toy Story 4,
03:50 to the fact that Emperor Zurg is a clear riff of Darth Vader, there's a small piece of
03:55 Star Wars in all four movies, some obvious, and some less so.
03:59 Zurg telling Buzz "I am your father" and Buzz yelling "Noooooo" is one of the funniest
04:03 easter eggs in movie history, inadvertently foreshadowing Vader's own pained scream
04:07 in Revenge of the Sith six years later. Pixar and Star Wars actually have a shared history,
04:13 with George Lucas himself proving an instrumental player in the studio's formative years.
04:17 This in mind, it's almost like the Star Wars nods are a neat way for Pixar to honour
04:21 its own past.
04:23 6. Star Trek 2009
04:25 Star Wars and Star Trek have been closely intertwined for decades, with George Lucas
04:29 once stating that Star Wars wouldn't exist if Star Trek hadn't softened up the entertainment
04:34 arena, and original Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz revealing that Trek was a big influence
04:39 on Lucas when creating his own space-set franchise. However, by the time lifelong Star Wars fans
04:44 - J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof - were handed the keys to the Trek franchise for the 2009
04:49 movie reboot, the order of influence had changed, with Trek now drawing from the Star Wars movies
04:54 that those two creatives had grown up revering.
04:57 Not only were two scenes in Star Trek 2009 - aka young Kirk staring at the under-construction
05:02 Enterprise and old Spock saving Kirk from a monster - intended to echo two scenes from
05:06 the original Star Wars films, where Luke stares at the binary sunset and Obi-Wan stops the
05:10 Tusken Raiders from attacking Luke, but also a small piece of Star Wars also appears in
05:14 the movie physically - or at least digitally, but you catch our drift. This appearance comes
05:18 in the form of none other than R2-D2, who can be seen floating through the wreckage
05:22 of several Starfleet ships after the Enterprise emerges from the warp. R2 also pops up in
05:27 the sequel Star Trek Into Darkness in a similar manner, because apparently appearing in the
05:31 vast majority of Star Wars movies just wasn't enough for this attention-seeking droid.
05:35 5. Captain America Civil War
05:38 With Marvel Studios' Kingpin Big Kev being such a huge fan of Star Wars, it's little
05:42 surprise that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is littered with nods to the Empire that Luke
05:46 has built. Many movies in the franchise include a scene where a character loses a limb, such
05:50 as Thor's arm being locked off in Thor The Dark World, all of which were intended as
05:54 a wink to Vader chopping off Luke Skywalker's arm in The Empire Strikes Back. Ongoing gags
05:59 aside though, arguably the best singular Star Wars reference in the MCU is delivered by
06:03 Spider-Man in Captain America Civil War, who uses his knowledge of the sci-fi franchise
06:07 to help Team Tony take down Giant Man. Asking his fellow Avengers if they've ever seen
06:12 that really old movie, The Empire Strikes Back, Spidey proceeds to reference the scene
06:16 where the Rebels use a cable to topple an AT-AT on Hoth, before using the same technique
06:21 on Giant Man. Civil War was chock full of crowd-pleasing moments, but the pop in the
06:25 theatre when Spidey mentions Star Wars was one of the biggest of the lot.
06:29 4. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
06:31 Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of the most rewatchable movies ever, and can effortlessly
06:35 put a smile on your face whenever you sit down for another viewing. It's also a treat
06:39 for Star Wars fans, with one of the most memorable moments of the movie featuring a hysterical
06:43 nod to the franchise's famous music. The moment in question sees two parking attendants
06:48 going for a joyride in Cameron's dad's Ferrari. Soaring through the air in slow motion,
06:52 their epic leap is scored with John Williams' main Star Wars theme tune, which then carries
06:56 on playing as they hit the ground and drive off into the distance. It's among the most
07:00 iconic moments in any John Hughes movie, which is saying something considering the guy's
07:04 incredible filmography, primarily because John Williams' music makes everything it
07:08 touches a thousand times better.
07:11 3. The Lego Movie
07:12 The Lego Movie was an absolute dream for pop culture enthusiasts, with famous faces like
07:17 Batman, Gandalf, Wonder Woman, Superman, Dumbledore, and even Shaquille O'Neal appearing throughout
07:22 its runtime. The Star Wars gang also gets some cameo action, with the Millennium Falcon
07:27 interrupting Batman when he talks about obtaining a hyperdrive, musing aloud "What do you
07:31 think? A spaceship is just gonna appear out of the blue?" Well, Batsy, yes, that's
07:35 exactly what happens. The Falcon parks up as the Star Wars theme plays, before Han Solo,
07:39 Lando, Chewbacca, and C-3PO emerge from various compartments of the ship, talking about a
07:43 sweet party on Naboo that they were supposed to be attending.
07:46 Though Harrison Ford didn't return to voice Han, Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Daniels
07:50 did return for Lando and C-3PO respectively, adding a layer of extra awesomeness to the
07:55 scene. Also awesome is watching Lando talking to Batman, which is almost too much cool for
07:59 a single screen to handle. Things don't end well for the Star Wars crew, though, when
08:03 Batman steals the hyperdrive and they're eaten by a space slug, but they certainly
08:07 gave audiences a memorable time in their brief trip across the Lego multiverse.
08:11 2. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
08:14 Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have been the best of buds for decades, even going back
08:18 to before they collaborated on 'Indiana Jones'. In the 70s, the pair even traded
08:22 back-end points on close encounters of the third kind and 'Star Wars', with Lucas
08:26 believing that Spielberg's sci-fi classic would be by far the biggest hit. Needless
08:30 to say, Spielberg emerged from that gamble with heavier pockets.
08:34 With 'Star Wars' proving to be such a smash hit in 1977, Spielberg decided to pay
08:38 homage to the franchise in his 1982 flick 'E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial', with a few
08:43 different references dotted throughout. At one point, we see a child walking down the
08:46 street in a Yoda costume, which is accompanied by the same Yoda musical cue heard in 'The
08:51 Empire Strikes Back'. Elsewhere, the lead character Elliot's bedroom is stuffed with
08:55 'Star Wars' action figures, including Boba Fett, Greedo and Lando, and right before
08:59 Elliot introduces him to E.T., his older brother Michael mocks him by doing a Yoda impression.
09:04 Brilliantly, Lucas would later return the gesture with a few members of E.T.'s species
09:08 appearing on Coruscant in 'The Phantom Menace'. It's a small universe after all, isn't
09:12 it?
09:13 1. Free Guy
09:14 'Free Guy' was one of those movies that felt like it had Easter eggs hidden in every
09:18 frame, so it really wasn't a surprise that 'Star Wars' made the cut. During the climactic
09:22 battle between Ryan Reynolds' hero Guy and his ridiculously buff adversary Dude, Guy
09:27 is completely outmatched physically, forcing him to call in a bit of help from some iconic
09:31 pop culture weapons. Captain America's shield is first up, followed by a Hulk fist and then,
09:36 you guessed it, a lightsaber, which Guy uses with a level of skill that would give Vader
09:40 a run for his money. Made possible by Disney's acquisition of 'Star Wars' and Free Guy's
09:45 distributor 20th Century Fox, these references were implemented after Reynolds, along with
09:49 director Sean Levy, wrote to Disney and asked for permission. Obviously, the studio said
09:53 yes, and we're glad they did. Guy using a lightsaber, while John Williams' 'Star
09:57 Wars' score plays, made for one of the best movie theatre moments of 2021. Here's hoping
10:02 for something just as good in 'Free Guy's' upcoming sequel. Although, to be fair, that's
10:06 going to be tough to beat.
10:07 And there we go, my friends. Those were 10 of the best times that 'Star Wars' appeared
10:10 in other movies. I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about
10:13 it down in the comments section below. As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow
10:17 me over on Twitter @RetroJWithAZero, or you can swing by Live and Let's Dice, where I
10:21 do all of my streaming outside of work, and it'd be great to see you over there. But
10:24 before I go, I just want to say one thing. Hope you're treating yourself with love and
10:28 respect, my friends, because you deserve all of the best things in life, alright? And don't
10:31 go beating yourself up for mistakes that you made in the past. We all make them, we are
10:34 all human, and if you have the capacity to forgive those that have done you wrong in
10:38 the past, then I urge you to do so. Because holding on to hatred and resentment, it's
10:41 not good for anyone in the long run. Big love to you, my friend. Now go out there and smash
10:44 it, you massive ledge. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome. Never forget
10:48 that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.