It's still hard to believe that Lucasfilm and Marvel Comics have actually done the unthinkable and greenlit a Star Wars/Marvel crossover. But that's exactly what we have to look forward to in January 2027, as Kevin Smith and David Marquez unite to give us Star Wars/Marvel: Hope Assembles.
Marvel just released a new preview of the first issue of the series, and in the process they've addressed what may well be the biggest question surrounding the series. Check out this new art in the slideshow gallery below, and then we'll break it all down:
The burning mystery in question is whether the Marvel characters are aware of the existence of the Star Wars franchise in this story. After all, there's been a proud tradition of Marvel's heroes making tongue-in-cheek Star Wars references over the years, both in the comics and in the MCU. It would be a little weird if they suddenly behaved as if Star Wars isn't a thing in their home galaxy.
As this art shows, they clearly are aware of Star Wars, with every hero but Captain America being intimately familiar with the movies. Somehow, Star Wars has gone from being a beloved fictional property to a flesh-and-blood reality for the Avengers, and they're clearly more than a little taken aback at being thrust into the opening scene of Episode IV.
All of this suggests that Smith is taking a slightly more self-aware and fourth-wall-breaking approach to this particular crossover in his scripts. Are the lines between fiction and reality blurring together here, or will the series ultimately reveal that the Star Wars movies were always a true account of events that really did happen "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away"? We'll find out in 2027.
Other big crossovers revealed this year have included Judge Dredd/Biker Mice From Mars, G.I. Joe/Tomb Raider, and Batman/Superman/Weird Al: World's Weirdest.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.