Marvel Is Including Star Wars Easter Eggs In Phase Two Movies

What do Star Wars and Marvel have in common, besides a parent company and a hugely successful film franchise? It turns out they share a fixation with cutting off hands.

The act occurs in ever film in the Star Wars Saga so far, to Luke Skywalker, Count Dooku, Anakin, Darth Vader, and more. It turns out Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is a big Star Wars fan, and decided to pay homage to the seminal sci-fi series by including the same act of dismemberment in every one of Marvel's Phase 2 movie.

Here's what he told Cinema Blend about the references:

So is this a spoiler for Ant-Man… not really. I'm obsessed with Star Wars. Who's not? I'm 40 years old. I'm in the movie business. I went to USC. So I'm obsessed with Star Wars - and it didn't start out as intentional, but it became intentional, including that beat that you referenced. It sort of happens in every Star Wars movie, but I was sort of looking at it, 'Okay, is Phase Two our Empire Strikes Back?' Not really, but tonally things are a little different. Somebody gets their arm cut off in every Phase Two movie. Every single one.

Cinema Blend also put together a super cut of all the instances of this shared moment so far:

We'll have to see if the trend continues with both franchise going forward.

Avengers: Age of Ultron opens May 1.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens December 18.