10 Best Times Star Wars Appeared In Other Movies
Not very long ago, in a bunch of famous, non-Star Wars movies...
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00:00So, everybody knows Star Wars, right?
00:03We know the text crawl, we know the light side, we know the dark side, and we definitely
00:07for damn sure know about the lightsabers.
00:09But apparently this love for George Lucas' and Disney's work isn't just contained
00:14within their own franchise, as numerous films have provided nods, references, easter eggs,
00:18and just full-on cameos from the Star Wars universe.
00:21And that's what we're here to talk about today, as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:24and these are the 10 Best Times Star Wars Appeared in Other Movies.
00:28Number 10.
00:29X-Men
00:30The original X-Men movie hit cinemas in 2000, one year after Star Wars' long-awaited return
00:36in the form of The Phantom Menace.
00:37As such, the timing couldn't have been better for X-Men to sneak in a Star Wars reference
00:42somewhere.
00:43And during the final battle between Halle Berry's Storm and Ray Park's Toad, that's
00:46exactly what happened.
00:47Park had just played Sith apprentice Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, a character whose
00:51insane lightsaber skills allowed him to battle Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who are obviously
00:57two trained Jedi at the same time, and come out on top.
01:00Well, almost.
01:02Jumping back to X-Men, though, Park paid homage to those lightsaber skills in that aforementioned
01:06fight against Storm by twirling his weapon around in a very Maul-esque way, shortly after
01:11kicking the weather-manipulating heroine down an elevator shaft.
01:14Park is known for the great physicality he brings to his characters, and this moment
01:17worked out not only as a cool tip of the hat to Maul, but as a way to make Toad feel even
01:22more skilled in the combat department.
01:24Number 9.
01:26Superbad
01:28The cheesy teen-comedy Superbad isn't exactly somewhere you'd expect Star Wars to appear,
01:31but the movie does have a couple of hilarious nods to the sci-fi franchise throughout its
01:35runtime.
01:36These mostly come from Seth Rogen and Bill Hader's buddy-cop duo, who frequently mention
01:40Star Wars after picking up McLovin from the convenience store.
01:43During their subsequent car journey, these cops, Slater and Michaels, start talking about
01:47Attack of the Clones, with Slater saying that the Force is strong with his rookie partner,
01:51before breaking out into a surprisingly convincing Yoda impression and calling Michaels his Padawan.
01:57Later, Slater and Michaels start using their torches like lightsabers, battling one another
02:00while adding their own sound effects.
02:03Slater then pulls out a Palpatine impression from his repertoire, before proceeding to
02:06run down Jonah Hill's character with his car, which if you think about it, is a pretty
02:10fittingly evil act for a dastardly Sith Lord.
02:13Star Wars humour may be a cheap way to draw a laugh, but Superbad executes these jokes
02:17so well that we can't really complain.
02:19Number 8.
02:20Indiana Jones
02:21With both franchises having George Lucas as a creative spearhead, it would be a genuine
02:25shock if the Indiana Jones movies didn't pay homage to Star Wars in some small way,
02:29but fortunately, they do.
02:31The most famous of these homages is found in Raiders of the Lost Ark, with a pair of
02:35R2-D2 and C-3PO hieroglyphs appearing next to Indy when he uncovers the Ark of the Covenant.
02:41There's another lesser-known nod at the start of the movie as well, with the text
02:45OB-CPO emblazoned on the side of Jock's airplane at the end of the opening sequence,
02:50a shout out to Obi-Wan Kenobi and C-3PO.
02:53Temple of Doom continued to dish out the Star Wars goodness, with the club that Willy sings
02:57in at the beginning called Club Obi-Wan, while the sound effect used for the crashing plane's
03:01engine failure is the same sound heard in The Empire Strikes Back when the Millennium
03:04Falcon's hyperdrive fails.
03:06And finally, while The Last Crusade is surprisingly light on Star Wars nods, Kingdom of the Crystal
03:11Skull has Indy utter the iconic line, I've got a bad feeling about this, which has been
03:15spoken in almost every single Star Wars flick to date.
03:18Number 7.
03:19Toy Story
03:20Going all the way back to the first Toy Story movie, it's been something of a trend for
03:23Pixar to include Star Wars nods in its movies.
03:26Some of the best of these include the dash forest chase in The Incredibles harking back
03:30to Return of the Jedi's speeder bike chase, or the fighter pilot dog Zin-Up referring
03:34to themselves as Grey Leader, Grey 2, and Grey 3, parodying the Red Squadron call sign
03:39in A New Hope.
03:40But it's the Star Wars references in the Toy Story series that people will remember
03:43most fondly.
03:44From dickbag neighbour Sid interrogating Woody with the Where's the Rebel base, to an Obi-Wan
03:49action figure in Toy Story 4, to the fact that Emperor Zurg is a clear riff of Darth
03:53Vader, there's a small piece of Star Wars in all four movies, some obvious, and some
03:58less so.
03:59Zurg telling Buzz, I am your father, and Buzz yelling NOOOOO is one of the funniest easter
04:04eggs in movie history, inadvertently foreshadowing Vader's own pained scream in Revenge of
04:08the Sith six years later.
04:10Pixar and Star Wars actually have a shared history, with George Lucas himself proving
04:14an instrumental player in the studio's formative years.
04:17With this in mind, it's almost like the Star Wars nods are a neat way for Pixar to
04:21honour its own past.
04:236.
04:24Star Trek 2009
04:26Star Wars and Star Trek have been closely intertwined for decades, with George Lucas
04:30once stating that Star Wars wouldn't exist if Star Trek hadn't softened up the entertainment
04:34arena, and original Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz revealing that Trek was a big influence
04:39on Lucas when creating his own space-set franchise.
04:42However, by the time lifelong Star Wars fans J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof were handed
04:47the keys to the Trek franchise for the 2009 movie reboot, the order of influence had changed,
04:52with Trek now drawing from the Star Wars movies that those two creatives had grown up revering.
04:57Not only were two scenes in Star Trek 2009, aka young Kirk staring at the under-construction
05:02Enterprise and old Spock saving Kirk from a monster, intended to echo two scenes from
05:06the original Star Wars films, where Luke stares at the binary sunset and Obi-Wan stops the
05:10Tusken Raiders from attacking Luke, but also a small piece of Star Wars also appears in
05:14the movie physically, or at least digitally, but you catch our drift.
05:18This appearance comes in the form of none other than R2-D2, who can be seen floating
05:22through the wreckage of several Starfleet ships after the Enterprise emerges from the
05:26warp.
05:27R2 also pops up in the sequel Star Trek Into Darkness in a similar manner, because apparently
05:31appearing in the vast majority of Star Wars movies just wasn't enough for this attention-seeking
05:35droid.
05:365.
05:37Captain America Civil War
05:38With Marvel Studios' Kingpin Big Kev being such a huge fan of Star Wars, it's little
05:43surprise that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is littered with nods to the Empire that Luke
05:46has built.
05:47Many movies in the franchise include a scene where a character loses a limb, such as Thor's
05:51arm being locked off in Thor The Dark World, all of which were intended as a wink to Vader
05:55chopping off Luke Skywalker's arm in The Empire Strikes Back.
05:58Ongoing gags aside, arguably the best singular Star Wars reference in the MCU is delivered
06:03by Spider-Man in Captain America Civil War, who uses his knowledge of the sci-fi franchise
06:08to help Team Tony take down Giant-Man.
06:10Asking his fellow Avengers if they've ever seen that really old movie, The Empire Strikes
06:14Back, Spidey proceeds to reference the scene where the Rebels use a cable to topple an
06:18AT-AT on Hoth, before using the same technique on Giant-Man.
06:22Civil War was chock-full of crowd-pleasing moments, but the pop in the theater when Spidey
06:26mentions Star Wars was one of the biggest of the lot.
06:294.
06:30Ferris Bueller's Day Off
06:31Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of the most rewatchable movies ever, and can effortlessly
06:35put a smile on your face whenever you sit down for another viewing.
06:38It's also a treat for Star Wars fans, with one of the most memorable moments of the movie
06:42featuring a hysterical nod to the franchise's famous music.
06:46The moment in question sees two parking attendants going for a joyride in Cameron's dad's
06:50Ferrari.
06:51Soaring through the air in slow motion, their epic leap is scored with John Williams'
06:54main Star Wars theme tune, which then carries on playing as they hit the ground and drive
06:58off into the distance.
06:59It's among the most iconic moments in any John Hughes movie, which is saying something
07:04considering the guy's incredible filmography, primarily because John Williams' music
07:08makes everything it touches a thousand times better.
07:113.
07:12The Lego Movie
07:13The Lego Movie was an absolute dream for pop culture enthusiasts, with famous faces like
07:17Batman, Gandalf, Wonder Woman, Superman, Dumbledore, and even Shaquille O'Neal appearing throughout
07:22its runtime.
07:23The Star Wars gang also gets some cameo action, with the Millennium Falcon interrupting Batman
07:28when he talks about obtaining a hyperdrive, musing aloud, what do you think, a spaceship
07:32is just going to appear out of the blue?
07:34Well Batsy, yes, that's exactly what happens.
07:36The Falcon parks up as the Star Wars theme plays, before Han Solo, Lando, Chewbacca,
07:40and C-3PO emerge from various compartments of the ship, talking about a sweet party on
07:44Naboo that they were supposed to be attending.
07:47Though Harrison Ford didn't return to voice Han, Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Daniels
07:50did return for Lando and C-3PO respectively, adding a layer of extra awesomeness to the
07:55scene.
07:56Also awesome is watching Lando talking to Batman, which is almost too much cool for
08:00a single screen to handle.
08:02Things don't end well for the Star Wars crew, though, when Batman steals the hyperdrive
08:05and they're eaten by a space slug.
08:07But they certainly gave audiences a memorable time in their brief trip across the Lego multiverse.
08:112.
08:12E.T.
08:13The Extra-Terrestrial
08:14Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have been the best of buds for decades, even going back
08:18to before they collaborated on Indiana Jones.
08:21In the 70s, the pair even traded back-end points on Close Encounters of the Third Kind
08:25and Star Wars, with Lucas believing that Spielberg's sci-fi classic would be by far the biggest
08:30hit.
08:31Needless to say, Spielberg emerged from that gamble with heavier pockets.
08:34With Star Wars proving to be such a smash hit in 1977, Spielberg decided to pay homage
08:39to the franchise in his 1982 flick E.T.
08:42The Extra-Terrestrial, with a few different references dotted throughout.
08:45At one point, we see a child walking down the street in a Yoda costume, which is accompanied
08:49by the same Yoda musical cue heard in The Empire Strikes Back.
08:52Elsewhere, the lead character Elliot's bedroom is stuffed with Star Wars action figures,
08:57including Boba Fett, Greedo, and Lando.
08:59And right before Elliot introduces him to E.T., his older brother Michael mocks him
09:02by doing a Yoda impression.
09:04Brilliantly, Lucas would later return the gesture, with a few members of E.T.'s species
09:08appearing on Coruscant in The Phantom Menace.
09:10It's a small universe after all, isn't it?
09:131.
09:14Free Guy
09:15Free Guy was one of those movies that felt like it had Easter eggs hidden in every frame,
09:19so it really wasn't a surprise that Star Wars made the cut.
09:22During the climactic battle between Ryan Reynolds' hero Guy and his ridiculously buff adversary
09:26Dude, Guy is completely outmatched physically, forcing him to call in a bit of help from
09:31some iconic pop culture weapons.
09:33Captain America's shield is first up, followed by a Hulk fist, and then, you guessed it,
09:37a lightsaber, which Guy uses with a level of skill that would give Vader a run for his
09:41money.
09:42Made possible by Disney's acquisition of Star Wars and Free Guy's distributor 20th
09:46Century Fox, these references were implemented after Reynolds, along with director Sean Levy,
09:50wrote to Disney and asked for permission.
09:52Obviously, the studio said yes, and we're glad they did.
09:55Guy using a lightsaber, while John Williams' Star Wars score plays, made for one of the
09:59best movie theatre moments of 2021.
10:01Here's hoping for something just as good in Free Guy's upcoming sequel.
10:05Although, to be fair, that's going to be tough to beat.
10:07And there we go, my friends, those were 10 of the best times that Star Wars appeared
10:10in other movies.
10:11I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in
10:14the comments section below.
10:16As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter at RetroJ with a zero,
10:19or you can swing by Liv and Let's Dice, where I do all of my streaming outside of work,
10:22and it'd be great to see you over there.
10:24But before I go, I just want to say one thing.
10:27I hope you're treating yourself with love and respect, my friends, because you deserve
10:30all of the best things in life, alright?
10:31And don't go beating yourself up for mistakes that you made in the past, we all make them,
10:34we are all human, and if you have the capacity to forgive those that have done you wrong
10:38in the past, then I urge you to do so, because holding onto hatred and resentment, it's
10:41not good for anyone in the long run.
10:43Big love to you, my friend.
10:44Now go out there and smash it, you massive ledge.
10:46As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak
10:49to you soon.
10:50Bye.