Spider-Man introduced a major wrinkle in the Marvel Cinematic Universe when he made his debut in Captain America: Civil War.
During the epic airport battle between the Avengers, Spidey comes up with a plan to take down Giant-Man, inspired by that "really old movie" called The Empire Strikes Back.
We knew that Star Wars existed in the MCU before because Steve Rogers had it on his list of cultural things to catch up on, but here was the first time that a character made a specific reference to it and showed themselves as a fan.
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The 'plot hole' is that Samuel L Jackson has played a fairly major character in the MCU and Star Wars with his roles as Nick Fury and Mace Windu.
Nobody has commented on Fury's past life as a Jedi Master and this was generally fine until Peter Parker officially met Fury in Spider-Man: Far From Home. But now we had a Star Wars superfan not even commenting on the similarity between the two.
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However, a theory from Reddit user yomyoo has potentially solved this niggly 'plot hole'.
The theory argues that the Star Wars prequel trilogy actually doesn't exist in the MCU, meaning Mace Windu himself doesn't exist.
Nick Fury himself even makes a Star Wars reference in Spider-Man: Far From Home when he gives Parker the EDITH glasses: "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Stark said you wouldn't get that because it's not a Star Wars reference."
(Maybe Fury was just trying to jog Parker's memory and make him realise Mace Windu didn't die in Revenge of the Sith; he just went undercover as the world's greatest spy instead.)
And, largely, the theory holds up as it also explains why nobody has mentioned in the first two Thor movies that Jane Foster looks an awful lot like Padmé Amidala. (Although, to be fair, Jane might just be another Padmé decoy that found a new life for herself.)
Samuel L Jackson isn't the only crossover from the Star Wars universe in the Spider-Man movies either.
In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Donald Glover played Aaron Davies, who had a couple of run-ins with Spider-Man. Glover went on to play the younger version of Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
If the prequel trilogy doesn't exist in the MCU, it could be extended to any of the Star Wars movies outside of the original trilogy.
That could explain the other star crossovers like Hannah John-Kamen appearing in both Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Ant-Man and The Wasp or Mads Mikkelsen in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Doctor Strange.
There is one issue with the theory though and that comes from the now-defunct Netflix Marvel TV universe, which is firmly established as taking place in the timeline of the MCU.
In The Punisher, Lewis Wilson (a former army vet responsible for bombings in New York) has a model of a Naboo Starfighter in his bedroom, something that wasn't introduced into the Star Wars universe until The Phantom Menace.
Anthony and Joe Russo (both big Star Wars fans) have their own explanation for the MCU's Star Wars issue though.
"They just look like those characters," Anthony told The Star Wars Show, with Joe adding: "Nick Fury happens to look a lot like Mace Windu."
(Of course, the real reason is that these are fictional universes and actors regularly appear in numerous franchises, but that's not as fun.)
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
