Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige, aka the man responsible for masterminding Marvel's connected universe of movies, is a big Star Wars fan. A huge, ginormous fan. You might even say he's obsessed.
Which explains why he's seen to it that every movie in Marvel's "Phase 2" features a scene where the exact same thing happens. Can you guess what it is?
Think back on the Phase 2 movies we've seen so far: Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy. Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man round out Phase 2, but they're not out yet.
Still, Feige told CinemaBlend that those two movies will feature the same Star Wars homage as the other four.
Have you figured it out yet? Here's another hint. Feige said that he considered Phase 2 to be Marvel's Empire Strikes Back, so the easter eggs mimic something very eventful that happens in Empire.
That's right: in all of the Phase 2 movies, someone gets a hand or arm chopped off — just as Luke Skywalker did in Empire Strikes Back. CinemaBlend even put together a supercut video to prove it.
Perhaps what's most surprising about this, is that no one ever picked up on it. Feige said that "it didn't start out as intentional, but it became intentional."
In Iron Man 3, Tony Stark cuts off Aldrich Killian's arm during their final battle. In Thor: The Dark World, Thor's hand is seemingly cut off by his brother Loki, although it's later revealed to be just an illusion.
In The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes' flashbacks show that he lost his arm because of the events from the first Captain America film, and Hydra replaced it with a mechanical arm. And in Guardians of the Galaxy, when most of the main characters meet for the first time on Xandar, Gamora chops off both of Groot's arms. (Thankfully, the poor guy's arms quickly grew back.)
We have no idea the circumstances or identity of the individuals this will happen to in Avengers: Age of Ultron or Ant-Man. But when you see it happen on the big screen, now you'll know why it does.
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