Now the real explanation of how it made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs can finally be told. Video has just been released of the Millennium Falcon from the production team of Star Wars: Episode VII, and as the camera glides majestically along the edge of the famous ship, it eventually zooms in on a particular piece of equipment hanging on the underside, which reveals itself to be… The Tumbler, aka the Batmobile from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. It’s the kind of “aha!” moment that no doubt will lead to millions of curious fans watching the 30-second clip, and, at the big reveal, tilting their head slightly sideways, squinting, and saying, “Oh. Yeah. I guess I see it.”
In truth, the video is just the latest in a string of increasingly silly crossover teases between J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars and Zack Snyder’s latest installment of his DC-universe glower-fest, Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice. It began as an exchange of images repurposing characters from one fictional universe into another. For example, Snyder would tweet a picture of, oh, say, Batman on Tattooine:
And Abrams—who clearly enjoys this sort of thing—would respond with C-3PO as Batman:
However, it seems that Snyder’s most recent shot of Gotham cops arresting a stormtrooper spurred Abrams to new heights of joke commitment: actually creating a version of the Tumbler to affix to the bottom of Han Solo’s iconic ship. It’s just the kind of action that makes people sit up and say, “Whoa, hey, J.J., relax, we’re just making some funny images here. You’re going a little overboard.”