Here's How 'Black Panther' Honors a Star Wars Tradition

Given that Disney owns both Marvel and Lucasfilm, many fans will likely see thematic similarities between the two franchises. With Black Panther, the Marvel Cinematic Universe continued a tradition of the shared universe of superhero films by paying its respects to Star Wars and featured a character losing their arm.

***WARNING: Spoilers below for Black Panther***

During an intense chase through South Korea, Klaue (Andy Serkis) uses a high-tech gun he had mounted to his severed arm to fire at T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), only for Black Panther to catch up to him and disarm him, in both literal and figurative ways.

In the Star Wars saga, characters are regularly amputated or decapitated, with the violent act becoming an expected staple of each installment.

This might seem like a coincidental connection, but Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has previously confirmed that these amputations are direct homages to the Star Wars series.

"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," Feige shared of the amputation trend to CinemaBlend in 2015. "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."

The Marvel Studios exec might have specified Phase Two of the MCU at the time, but with films in Phase Three featuring the injury, such as Winter Soldier having his arm ripped off in Captain America: Civil War, it's a trend that is seemingly continuing.

Another theory is that Phase Three will feature a character falling from a great height to their potential doom, like what happened to the Emperor in Return of the Jedi. Each film in Phase Three has featured this event, yet it's unclear if this is coincidental or intentional.

Black Panther is in theaters now.

Do you appreciate the nod to the Star Wars saga in the MCU films or would you rather they stick to doing their own thing? Let us know in the comments below!