Stan Lee’s Game-Changing Marvel Crossover Could Rescue Star Wars

Stan Lee loved a big swing. Decades after reshaping Marvel on the page, he was still daydreaming about wild on-screen mash-ups, including Marvel crashing into Star Wars. Sounds bananas, sure, but the way he framed it actually made sense. And yes, he also once pitched the cheekiest DC cameo idea imaginable.

Stan Lee on a Marvel x Star Wars mash-up

In an interview with The Big Issue, Lee said the people making these movies always chase what will work with audiences, and if mixing Marvel and Star Wars ever looked like a hit, they would figure out how to do it. He even painted the mental picture for us.

"Can you imagine Spider-Man saying, 'May the force be with you?' It may come to that!"

Absurd? Maybe. But with some recent Star Wars projects taking lumps from critics and the box office, you can see why Disney might keep a move like that tucked away as the big red button.

He also joked about a DC crossover cameo

Lee genuinely respected DC. He and Batman co-creator Bob Kane were friends despite working for rival houses, which tracks with how much those early architects watched and inspired each other. In 2017 at Wizard World Nashville Comic Con (via ComicBook), Lee riffed that if he were running DC, he would call himself to do a surprise cameo in a Superman movie. His logic: nobody would believe it, and everybody would buy a ticket just to see it.

And for the deep-cut crowd: DC already ran with a Stan-inspired character decades ago. Jack Kirby, Lee's old Marvel partner, created Funky Flashman for DC as a razor-edged parody long before Lee passed away.

Could Disney actually pull off Marvel x Star Wars?

Disney owns both Marvel and Lucasfilm, which puts them in a uniquely strong position across movies, TV, and publishing. Story-wise, the MCU has the Multiverse, and Star Wars has the World Between Worlds, a Force-linked plane that bends time and space. Those are ready-made doors if you want characters to bump into each other without breaking either timeline.

• Keep it contained: bottle it up as a limited series, one-off special, or animated event in the vein of Marvel Studios' What If...?, so it is additive, not invasive.
• Use the portals you already have: Multiverse shenanigans on the Marvel side, World Between Worlds on the Star Wars side, then cleanly snap everyone back home.
• Make it cameo-first: think short, hype-y encounters rather than full-on team-ups, so both brands keep their own flavors intact.
• Pick fan-safe matchups: Spider-Man swinging through a lightsaber fight is fun; you do not need to rewrite Jedi lore to make that play.
• Treat canon like a museum: look, do not touch. Label it as an experiment from the start.

If they ever actually try it and stick the landing, you are looking at a contender for the most ambitious crossover stunt in mainstream entertainment. Whether it is brilliant or cursed is another question, but Stan would have had a blast either way.