Star Wars is one of the most iconic film franchises of all time. Its impact on pop culture for the past 44 years has been immeasurable, and its effect on science fiction and fantasy cannot go unstated. It is no surprise then that the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a franchise that is equally as iconic, has drawn a lot of inspiration from the Star Wars films.

From Yellowjacket’s lasers using the same sound effect as the AT-ATs to nearly every MCU Phase Two film including a character’s arm being cut off, the influence of Star Wars is evident. Not only that but the franchise has even been directly referenced more than once. For instance, Steve Rogers has the film on his catch-up list in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and “Nick Fury” in Spider-Man: Far From Home (who is even played by Star Wars alumnus, Samuel L. Jackson) tells Peter Parker not to confuse a Shakespeare quote with Star Wars.

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Star-Wars All trilogies collage

However, probably the most curious Star Wars reference in the MCU occurs in Captain America: Civil War. During the battle sequence at the airport, Spider-Man comes up with a plan to take down Ant-Man by tying his legs up with a web. The character cites “that really old movie, Empire Strikes Back” as the source of his inspiration. While it is a funny moment that emphasizes the age difference between Spider-Man and the other Avengers, the wording is kind of strange.

Even though Empire Strikes Back is an old movie, the Star Wars franchise still has a heavy presence in pop culture today. In fact, by the time Captain America: Civil War was released in 2016, the series already had seven films to its name, as well as a few animated shows. Because of this, it's weird that Spider-Man treats the film as if it were a niche topic. Even at the age of fifteen, it seems like it would be common knowledge that most people are familiar with Star Wars.

There could be a deeper in-universe explanation for this, though. When looking at all the Star Wars references throughout the MCU, none of them appear to refer to the sequel or prequel trilogies. Instead, all the callbacks to Star Wars are deeply rooted in the original trilogy, meaning it is the only one that is confirmed to exist.

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While this could just be a coincidence, as the original trilogy is generally considered the most iconic set of films, the fact that there hasn’t been even one allusion to the franchise’s more recent outings comes across as a deliberate move on the part of the writers. If this is the case, then the original Star Wars trilogy might be the only one that exists in the MCU. This could mean that the franchise did not have the same resurgence in popularity that it did in the real world.

That's not to say that Star Wars isn't culturally relevant in the MCU. On the contrary, many of the references, such as Ned’s Lego Death Star in Spider-Man: Homecoming, imply that the MCU certainly has a devoted Star Wars fanbase. However, the context of its presence in pop culture might be very different, as George Lucas’s prequel trilogy did, for better or for worse, revitalize the franchise, as did Disney's sequel trilogy. This could, at the very least, explain why Spider-Man spoke of Empire Strikes Back as if there was a chance someone might not be familiar with the franchise.

Of course, the line could have been little more than a reminder of how young Peter was. After all, he also referred to the film Aliens in the same fashion only a few films later. But even with that in mind, it is a bizarre choice to reference a film from a franchise as relevant as Star Wars as if it was obscure. As such, the MCU being a world without modern Star Wars movies could be a plausible theory.

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