The Empire Strikes Back had a Mickey Mouse cameo in it. Even though it was ever so brief, and if you were more interested in the action of the movie instead of the scenery, he was there. To be honest, this is one of those things that once you have seen it, it can never be unseen, ever. So I guess you want to know where Mickey Mouse was in The Empire Strikes Back, and what his particular role in the movie was.
In what is the most pivotal, and arguably most memorable scene from the Star Wars franchise, the unmistakable rodents head can be clearly seen in the background. The scene we are talking about is the one where the incestuous Luke fights Darth Vader with special laser swords instead of laser guns, hap hazardously lets his hand get chopped off, and then just to make an already bad day worse, finds out that the evil villain, perhaps the biggest villain to ever grace the screen, is his father. It’s the scene that had movie goers talking for weeks when it was first released. But no one seemed to notice a more famous character in the background, just sitting around watching the carnage unfold before his eyes. That character was Mick Mouse.
Today we’re familiar with the connection between Star Wars and Disney. Following the disaster of the three prequels, and with more profits to be squeezed from the franchise, George Lucas sold the rights to make three more sequels to the original series to Disney. Surely Disney wouldn’t screw it up like Lucas did. They didn’t do it with Pirates of the Caribbean. Oh, wait a moment…
So the big question remains. Was it intentional that Mickey Mouse was in The Empire Strikes Back, or was it just a lucky coincidence of props being stacked in a certain way? To be honest, we don’t know. George Lucas, the writer, director, and it would seem possible prankster himself has not elaborated on the figure. But we will let you decide for yourself from the picture, and the video below. Pay close attention to the figure behind Luke at 3:15. What do you see?
