Star Wars and Indiana Jones have a lot in common besides Han Solo bearing a suspicious resemblance to Harrison Ford’s swashbuckling archaeologist. Both are the brainchild of George Lucas, with many other people working on both franchises under the Lucasfilm banner.
But a new generation of fans has been appreciating the Star Wars Easter Eggs Lucas snuck into the movies. One of the best comes in Raiders of the Lost Ark, with a clear visual cameo from everyone’s favorite droids R2-D2 and C-3PO. The nod is at the midway point of the movie in the Well of Souls scene. Keep your eyes peeled on the background and you’ll see a hieroglyph depicting the pair.
Audiences have been enjoying this for nearly 40 years now, but earlier this year it got some traction on Twitter from people who hadn’t made the connection:
This wouldn’t be the only time the two franchises crossed paths. There’s another Well of Souls glyph that shows Leia uploading the Death Star plans to R2-D2, the plane that Indy escapes on in the opening sequence has OB-CPO written on it. Meanwhile, in Temple of Doom, he visits the “Obi-Wan” nightclub, and the sound of Lao Che’s Tri-Motor Airplane failing is the same as the Millennium Falcon’s failing hyperdrive.
My favorite crossover comes in the 2004 comic Star Wars Tales #19. In a story titled “Into the Great Unknown,” Han Solo and Chewie leap blindly into hyperspace and end up crashing into a mysterious leafy planet, where Han dies from arrow wounds after tangling with a local tribe.
126 years later, Indiana Jones is investigating the mythical Sasquatch and discovers the remains of a strange craft containing a “strangely familiar” skeleton. He decides to leave it be, only for it to be revealed that the Sasquatch had been secretly watching… and it’s Chewbacca!
Obviously, this is as non-canon as it gets, but it’s a fun and goofy story with a neat twist. With Indiana Jones 5 currently filming in the UK let’s hope they sneak in another couple of homages to a galaxy far, far away.
