Disney has owned both Marvel and Star Wars for a full decade now, and yet the Avengers have yet to travel to a galaxy far, far away.
In this age of movie studios putting their IPs into a blender and hitting “puree” (see The Flash), it might seem a mystery why the Mouse House has never reached for such low-hanging fruit. Except now we know what happened to prevent a touted MCU/Star Wars crossover from taking flight. Or, more accurately, we know who happened to prevent such a crossover.
What If…? director Bryan Andrews caused a stir when he confirmed, during an interview with Moovy, that the animated anthology series could have included a full-on crossover episode with the Star Wars universe. The problem? Marvel Studios prez Kevin Feige hated the idea.
“I think Kevin [Feige] really doesn’t want to cross certain streams. But we did pitch… We actually had a Star Wars/Marvel crossover,” Andrew admitted. “So I think it’s absolutely doable. I just don’t know if [Feige] wants to cross those streams, but it’s really funny. Once you get to the realization of why, you go: ‘Oh, that… oh, right!’ It totally makes sense. It won’t rain on anyone’s parade. But it was just a love letter to old-school Star Wars. And it was great. And I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to do it. But we have thought about that stuff.”
This isn’t actually the first time we’ve heard about this shocking scenario. Back when season 1 released in August 2021, showrunner A.C. Bradley gave her perspective on Feige’s steadfast refusal to do as the Ghostbusters did and cross the streams. “I was kinda notorious for trying to get a Star Wars character involved,” Bradley recalled. “We did try at one point but it’s kind of like ‘Play with the sandbox that you were given. We gave you the entire MCU, run with that.’ I was like, okay, but still, Luke Skywalker would be an amazing Avenger.”
In many ways, it’s curious that Feige has zero interest in launching a Marvel/Star Wars crossover. He’s a known Lucasfilm fan, for one, even being attached to produce a Star Wars movie for a time. And the MCU itself is crossover central. And yet Feige’s main mantra is to always follow the comics, and there’s never been a major Marvel/Star Wars crossover on the page — despite Marvel having the license to make Star Wars comics. So if it’s a no-no for Marvel Comics, that’s probably why it’s a no-no for Feige as well.
With Feige seemingly set to remain in the top seat for the foreseeable future, we don’t see the moratorium on Marvel/Star Wars shenanigans ending anytime soon, so this one will likely remain a fascinating What If…? what-if.