'Avengers' & 'Star Wars' Crossover Confirmed by Stan Lee? Teases Luke Skywalker as an Avenger

Luke Skywalker from "Star Wars" is an Avenger -- that's what Marvel's top man Stan Lee wants to happen. The comic book legend discussed his ideas of a possible crossover in a recent interview.

Speaking with The Big Issue, Lee suggested a potential story to Disney executives, who might want to cash in on the successful franchises even more. "If they feel that incorporating Star Wars with the Marvel characters will be very successful, they'll find a way to do it. Can you imagine Spider-Man saying, 'May the force be with you'? It may come to that!" he remarked.

The unexpected pitch was raised after the interview discussed the possibility of Marvel exploring films that could involve other iconic franchise characters - not specifically comic superheroes created by Lee.  Now that "Star Wars" is under the Disney banner like Marvel, Lee sees no reason why it cannot happen. He even said that forming a team of superheroes from his different comic book stories was how he created "The Avengers" in the first place.

However, Lee also expects that the film's budget for the crossover would be the most expensive of all movies produced. He sees the fun in putting the characters in one film together. "All of a sudden Luke Skywalker is an Avenger!" Lee said.

Cinema Blend pointed out that while "Avengers" and "Star Wars" are two of the highest-grossing movies to come out in recent years -- thus, a money-making machine -- its crossover isn't likely to happen in the next ten years or so.  That is, if the studios do take on Lee's pitch. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has yet to roll out its Phase 3 until 2019 and there are already plans to develop a Phase 4. The line-up is likely going to be filled up even before Marvel and Disney workout an "Avengers" and "Star Wars" crossover.

Fans of both franchises welcome Lee's ideas though and the crossover has long been speculated ever since Marvel became a Disney property in 2009 and Disney bought the rights to "Star Wars" in 2012. In fact, the fans' enthusiasm for "Avengers" and "Star Wars" have been played out in different memes, gifs and YouTube videos on the Internet.

Watch this fan-made of one such imagined crossover, featuring Spider-man and Darth Maul:

Meanwhile, following the franchise, the still-untitled "Star Wars: Episode 8" movie is expected to be in theaters by Christmas season 2017, while "The Avengers: Infinity War" is coming to the big screen in 2018.