Ever since Lucasfilm announced that they would be making Star Wars movies other than the main saga, fans have speculated as to what they may be.
A movie about young Han Solo always seemed likely. Han Solo remains one of the franchise’s most popular characters, and now that fan dream is here. Solo: A Star Wars Story arrives in theaters this weekend as the second ever Star Wars anthology movie.
Now that it is here, fans just can’t seem to put aside their quibbles and look forward to it. Perhaps that was bound to happen no matter what. With such a popular character like Han Solo, fan expectations were going to be high.
Any new actor playing the character couldn’t possibly satisfy every fan’s imagination of a young Han Solo. The movie itself has been rife with discouraging reports about the production. Most troubling is directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller leaving the movie towards the end of shooting and Ron Howard taking over as director so late.
However, if there’s one thing the internet has to make light of any situation, it is memes. If you’re nervous or skeptical about this new anthology movie, we’ve got a treat for you. These will have you rolling on the floor in less than 12 parsecs.
Here are the 18 Hilarious Han Solo Vs Star Wars Memes That Every Fan Needs To See!
18. THE REAL HAN SOLO
In 2011’s X-Men: First Class, there is an intimate scene between Magneto and Mystique that is prime meme material.
Michael Fassbender’s Magneto comes back to his room to find a clothless Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence, in his bed. He tries to brush her off by implying that she’s too younger than him, so she changes into an older version of herself.
Magneto turns to her, urging her to gradually present herself as closer and closer to her natural blue scaly form.
In his eyes, this is Mystique at her most beautiful– the real “Raven.” You can see how this became the template for an excellent meme. It establishes rankings of authenticity or preference for just about anything fans could want.
Star Wars fans are some of the most ardent in their ideas about what “real” Star Wars is.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is new and presents an unfamiliar incarnation of the beloved icon Han Solo. Almost any fan would feel more comfortable seeing footage of Harrison Ford as young Han in the original trilogy.
However, only the most devoted fans of all things Star Wars would consider the languid, cartoonish Han from the Star Wars Holiday Special the “real Han Solo.”
17. SO CLOSE
The theatrical release windows for Star Wars movies have a bit of weird history to them. During production of the first Star Wars, 20th Century Fox had originally planned to release the movie around the holidays in 1976.
The troubled production of Star Wars forced the studio to push back the release window to summer 1977. It clearly turned out alright for Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox. Since then, though, all six of the core Star Wars movies before the sequel trilogy have been released in May.
Starting with The Force Awakens, all of the Star Wars movies have been released in December, including Rogue One.
Since we’ve been getting them in December for a while now, Solo being released in May again feels different. May the Fourth is very special day for all Star Wars fans. Having a Star Wars movie released on May the Fourth just feels like something that should happen.
Director Krennic agrees. In this meme worthy moment from near the beginning of Rogue One, Krennic is trying to rope Galen Erso back into working on the Death Star.
They were “this close” to completing it apparently. If only Disney had bumped up the release of Solo a few weeks, we could have had a Star Wars movie come out on May the Fourth.
16. “LET’S START FROM THE BEGINNING”
Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens took a pretty bold risk with one of its most popular legacy characters.
In the third act of the movie, Han Solo confronts his son Ben and tries to turn him from the dark path he has taken as Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren tricks Han. At that moment, it seems like Ben may turn back to the light, but he ignites his lightsaber and impales his father with it through the chest.
That scene is still a bit raw for plenty of Star Wars fans.
When Disney announced a Han Solo origin story as part of their Star Wars anthology slate, some fans were skeptical. They thought that seeing a young Han Solo would be spoiled by knowing the ultimate and unfortunate fate of the character.
Fortunately, there’s a meme that makes pretty effective light humor of that feeling. Ron Howard is directing Solo: A Star Wars Story. Howard is already internet famous as the narrator of the hit sitcom Arrested Development.
Someone has already imagined Solo opening right with the shot of Han being impaled by Kylo Ren. Then Ron Howard’s narration comes in, reassuring the audience that there’s more to the story.
15. DOES THIS SEEM FAMILIAR?
Luke Skywalker is the protagonist of the original Star Wars trilogy. We follow his perspective for most of the movies, and he grows the most over the arc of the trilogy and he has the biggest beef with the main villain.
Han Solo is the snarky best bud– that’s his main role. In Solo, Han will get the chance to be the protagonist. However, there is another sci-fi movie where that kind of character has been the protagonist, even if it wasn’t a proper Star Wars movie.
Four years after Return of the Jedi premiered in 1983, Spaceballs premiered in 1987. Comedy and parody legend Mel Brooks produced, co-wrote, and directed this send up of blockbuster sci-fi and fantasy of the time.
Spaceballs follows Lone Star, the interstellar Winnebago driver and his sidekick Barf. Barf is a mog, which means he is half man half dog.
Since Lone Star is the protagonist, a lot of the plot and jokes of the movie revolve around the average Joes of the Star Wars universe, such as struggling to make gas money to keep their trailer going.
It’s not too hard to imaging Solo feeling like Spaceballs. Both should have comedic moments and both are focusing on the less upstanding characters in the space fantasy universe.
14. YOU USED TO CALL ME BEN KENOBI
In October 2015, Drake released the music video for his new hit song “Hotline Bling”. Hit might be a bit of an understatement actually, since the music video has over 1.3 billion views.
The song is about Drake preferring the way a girl used to treat him. Memesters quickly picked out two exploitable still images from the video.
One of them has Drake grimacing, leaning away from the camera and holding his hand up palm forward. In the other, he’s more relaxed, pointing to and smiling at the camera. The rest is history.
People have paired Drake’s grimace and smile in order to compare all kinds of things. As ever, Star Wars fans will make their preferences known.
Star Wars fans have plenty of reasons to be suspicious of Solo, and just as many ways to express their skepticism. Even the idea of a fan-made trailer for a Star Wars anthology movie about Obi-wan Kenobi is more exciting to some fans.
The screen shot that Drake is smiling at in the meme above is from a very convincing concept trailer. It was released by Smasher on January 2 in 2018.
The footage of Ewan McGregor they used is actually from the 2015 movie Last Days in the Desert along with audio clips from the Star Wars movies and The Clone Wars.
13. WHAT WE WANT
There’s been a cynical side to the Star Wars franchise after its phenomenal, unexpected success. There is something that lot of fans prefer to be wary of with each new installment– the merchandising of the universe at the expense of the story.
For these fans, there is no clearer indictment of that cynical angle than the porgs.
Introduced in The Last Jedi, porgs are native avian inhabitants of the Island on Ahch-To. They roost all over the island where Luke Skywalker resided in exile. Despite being a snack or an annoyance to Chewbacca, several of them snuck onto the Millennium Falcon when Rey left to confront Kylo Ren.
There is actually a reasonable explanation for the presence of porgs, at least on Ahch-To.
The scenes on Ahch-To were filmed in the real life location of Skellig Micheal, an island off the coast of Ireland. Skellig Michael has its own native fauna population of puffins.
Rather than trying to digitally remove the ubiquitous puffins from the footage, director Rian Johnson had the effects team design the porgs to take the puffins’ place.
If the porgs are just merchandising bait, then they are successful at the very least. Some fans might even prefer a Star Wars anthology movie about porgs.
12. DEPLOY THE HARRISON!
Han Solo is one of the most beloved characters in film and Harrison Ford is famous throughout the world for playing him.
From his very first appearance in Star Wars, Han Solo has been the prime example of the scoundrel with a heart of gold. He joins the good guys by convenience and stays because he knows it’s the right thing to do.
He’s got tricks up his sleeve to save the day even when the heroes are out of time.
Naturally, people are attached to Harrison Ford’s portrayal of Han Solo. His return even as an aging Han was a highlight of The Force Awakens.
When Disney announced a young Han Solo movie as part of their Star Wars anthology series, some fans dismissed the idea out of hand. No one else should play Han Solo, they felt.
Certainly among fans that felt that way, no young actor would be good enough to play young Han Solo. When Alden Ehrenreich was announced for the part, fans went into full defense mode.
In Rogue One, Director Krennic has a moment that’s perfect for this reaction. When the rebels reveal their assault on the base at Scarif, the Imperials stare out at the explosions in bewilderment.
Krennic steps up. “Are we blind? Deploy the garrison!” Just swap the “G” with an “H” and you are good to go.
11. THE FAN SERVICE LIVES
They Live is a 1988 sci-fi horror movie written and directed by John Carpenter. If you’ve seen any of John Carpenter’s films from the ’70s and ’80s, you should have a good idea of what you are in for.
They Live follows John Nada, who finds a box of strange sunglasses in the wreckage of a bulldozed church. When he puts them on, he learns a disturbing truth: most of the elite members of society are actually grotesque aliens.
He also learns that all the mainstream media is filled with subliminal messages urging people to obey, consume, reproduce, and conform.
There are convenient shots in the movie when Nada is taking the glasses on and off while looking at something off screen. These are easy pickings for would be meme makers. All you have to do is pair the first image with the way something looks at face value, and the second with what it is truthfully.
So what does Solo: A Star Wars Story look like with these truth glasses on? Two hours of fan service.
It’s not an unreasonable expectation, to be fair. We know that we will see fan-favorites like Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian, and not to mention A-listers like Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover, an Emilia Clarke, the Mother of Dragons.
Let’s hope there’s more to it than just fan service, though.
10. WHAT ABOUT THE DROID ATTACK ON THE WOOKIEES?
Truly, the meme potential of the prequel trilogy is infinite. You may remember the Cerean male Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, who has an elongated egg head and stately beard. He served on the Jedi Council at least from the time when Anakin arrived on Coruscant until the end of the Clone Wars.
In the world of prequel memes, he’s come roaring back with one line from Revenge of the Sith.
In the second act of the movie, the Jedi Council is convening to discuss the ongoing war effort. Some of them are forced to use telepresence holograms from their current deployments, including Ki-Adi-Mundi.
The Jedi are trying to hunt down General Grevious so that they could force the Separatists to surrender, but Mundi has another matter on his mind: “What about the droid attack on the wookiees?”
The strange thing about the meme is that part of the joke is that nobody else seems to care about the wookiees. However, in the movie, Obi-wan, Yoda, and Mace Windu all agree that the Jedi and the Republic should help the wookiees immediately.
Don’t worry Mundi, Drake has got you covered. Never mind Solo, you can have a whole Star Wars anthology movie about the droid attack on the wookiees.
9. MEME ENABLED
We knew for some time that the second Star Wars anthology movie would focus on young Han Solo. However, we had to wait a bit more to find out what the title would be.
The reveal came in a video released in October 2017. Ron Howard appears in a generic studio location with set rigging and props in the background. He wants to congratulate the cast and the crew on a fantastic job.
As he talks, he realizes that he may still be under contract not to say the actual name of the movie. He turns to look off camera and ask. Then a pair of very furry arms reaches towards him holding a black poster board. (Thanks Chewie.)
Ron Howard then flips the poster around, and low and behold, we have our title– Solo: A Star Wars Story.
However, Howard has got to be careful of memes. Any time any photo or video of a person holding a solid flat surface up towards a screen appears, you can bet people will meme it.
Even if the poster is already full with text, they will just cover it up with what they want. Now witness the meme potential of this fully armed and operational blank poster.
8. …HE DIDN’T
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller started out in the directors chairs for Solo: A Star Wars Story. They left the project rather late in the production schedule, reportedly due to creative differences with Lucasfilm.
While many fans were saddened to hear of their departure, other fans had a field day to learn that Ron Howard would take the director’s helm for the remainder of production.
Everyone started posting memes based on their expectations for how Ron Howard would direct the movie. Ron Howard has won Academy Awards among others for his critically acclaimed movies, including Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind.
He’s also well known for several comedic movies, including Parenthood and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
However, Ron Howard’s claim to fame that excited the internet the most was his role as the narrator for Arrested Development.
Ron Howard tends to clue the audience into facts about the characters when they try to pass off lies to each other. If a character claims that the situation is a certain way, you can count on Ron to clinically let you know that it is not that way.
Jabba the Hutt better listen to Howard, especially if his suspicion of Han Solo isn’t well earned already.
7. DONALD GLOVER’S EVIL TIMELINE
From 2009 to 2014, Donald Glover played Troy Barnes in the TV sitcom Community. One of his trademarks was how he would break down into fits of hysterics in such a hilarious and endearing way.
One Community episode has a really dramatic break down in an episode entitled “Remedial Chaos Theory”.
The study group are all playing Yahtzee and the pizza delivery guy buzzes their apartment. They all touch their noses to determine who goes to let him in.
Jeff touches last, so to be fair, he takes a dice and assigns all the people at the table a number on the dice. If their number is rolled, they go. Abed warns him that six different timelines will be created by this.
When the episode explores Troy’s timeline, all hell breaks loose. When he comes back to the apartment with the pizza, he looks around in shock and screams in dismay. Perfect meme material.
Solo: A Star Wars Story might not have been in as much dramatic trouble as that Community episode, but rumors did circulate.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller left the directors seat near the end of production and Disney was reportedly unhappy with Alden Ehrenreich as Han.
At least Lando is more sure of himself than Troy Barnes.
6. AS GOOD AS AN ANGEL
No new actor was ever going to satisfy every fan as a young Han Solo. Alden Ehrenreich may be getting the benefit of the doubt from some fans but plenty of others are still skeptical.
This doesn’t seem to be the case with Donald Glover as young Lando Calrissian, however. Everyone is excited to see him in the part.
Lando has just as much a distinct style as Han in the original trilogy. He effortlessly switches between stern and playful, even catching Han Solo off guard.
Even when he was backed into an impossible situation by Darth Vader, he waited until the time was right to take back his city from the Imperials. He’s also got that disarming smile.
In the side by side photos above, Donald Glover looks like a perfect younger Billy Dee Williams.
Once again, the prequels have a meme for that.
In The Phantom Menace when Padmé Amidala walks into Watto’s junkshop and Anakin sees her for the first time, he’s star struck. He thinks she’s an angel. Some fans are so excited for Donald Glover’s performance as Lando Calrissian that he seems just as divine to them as Padmé did to little Annie.
5. STEALING THE SPOTLIGHT
We can’t know for sure just how much Donald Glover will appear in Solo: A Star Wars Story. After Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, Glover is playing the next most recognizable character in the movie.
Lando Calrissian definitely has his own sect of devoted fans. However, how much of a chance is Lando going to have to steal the show? Can we assume he’s going to be a main character throughout the course of the movie? Or might he appear in only one act or sequence.
Even in Empire Strikes Back, Lando didn’t show up until half way through the movie.
Regardless, fans are ready to be swept off their feet by Donald Glover as Lando. He looks to be bringing just as much class to the part as Billy Dee Williams did.
Notice in the second trailer how Qi’ra seems to introduce Lando as the best smuggler around. Han has yet to prove his reputation, but Lando’s certainly got the swagger down.
This shot looks like he could be watching as a ship touches down in front of him– maybe even the Millennium Falcon. That confident grin and that black fur coat says it all. Lando is ready to be the best part of this movie.
4. YUB NUB!
Everybody has their own favorite part of Star Wars. That’s one of the things that makes the franchise so special. It’s so big and so popular that so many different stories have been told with it.
You can have fans who have played all the video games, but have not read the Expanded Universe novels. Or fans who have seen all the movies but have never watched the animated shows.
There’s so much that’s part of the Star Wars franchise that many fans are bound to have different favorite parts. Even characters or stories that some fans dislike may be another fan’s favorite part.
Ewoks are a good example of this. Some fans love them, while other fans think they are cheap, heavily merchandised wookiee copouts. HOwever, ewoks are still part of the original Star Wars trilogy. By that virtue alone, they are still better regarded than anything new or untested coming to the franchise.
That’s right– Drake gets a third memetic nod, especially since this version mentions the fun wacky lyrics to the original victory celebration song that first appeared in Return of the Jedi.
Never mind the silly ewok short movies or the cartoon from the ’80s– some fans would still prefer an ewok anthology movie.
3. NOT YOU
Fans can be a bit possessive about the things they love. Star Wars fans are some of the most notorious in this regard. Han Solo is one of the most popular characters from Star Wars and Star Wars is one of the most popular franchises in the world.
Harrison Ford played the iconic smuggler throughout the original trilogy and for his compelling return in The Force Awakens. Han Solo had even become a legend within the Star Wars universe to the protagonists of the sequel trilogy.
Making a young Han Solo anthology movie was always going to be a double edged sword for Disney.
On the one hand, people love Han Solo– any further story with his character would be and easy sell. On the other hand, though, fans are so attached to Harrison Ford as Solo that any other actor would inevitably leave some fans disappointed.
However, Alden Ehrenreich seems to be getting even less respect than you might expect, at least from certain fans.
In this classic meme generated by starwars.fanboy, Alden Ehrenreich’s portrayal in Solo doesn’t even warrant a thank you.
Even Jamie Costa, who played Han Solo in a Star Wars YouTube fan movie called Han Solo: A Smuggler’s Trade gets a nod over Ehrenreich.
2. GO SEE A STAR WAR
In Arrested Development, season 2’s episode 3 is called “Amigos!” In the episode, Michael Bluth embarks on a journey to Mexico to find his lost father.
Hopefully, that will settle some business with his family’s company and prevent Gob from getting any real power. One of the subplots of the episode revolves around Lucille and Buster. Buster threatens to join the army to get away from his mother, but he’s actually terrified of the army, so he sneaks into the trunk of Michael’s car to escape to Mexico.
Michael’s adoptive brother, a little Korean boy called Annyong by the family, tips off Lucille.
To reward Annyong, Lucille gives him some money and invites him to “go see a Star War.” Who knows which “Star War” she actually meant. Given the timing of the episode, she might have been thinking of one of the prequels. However, the prime meme material is there regardless.
Now almost 15 years after Arrested Development first premiered, Ron Howard is letting us all go see a Star War. Ron Howard has gone from narrating the twisted lives of the Bluths to directing a Star Wars anthology movie about young Han Solo.
Thanks for the tip, Lucille.
1. THE FIRST FEMALE DROID?
So about that first female droid business. It just goes to show how exhaustively knowledgeable Star Wars fans are.
Around February 2018, details were coming out about a new droid character being introduced in Solo: A Star Wars Story. L3-37 is being voiced by Phoebe Walter-Bridge and will be a companion of Lando Calrissian in the movie.
The headlines tended to make it out that L3-37 was the first ever female droid to appear in Star Wars. Will Smith is here to point out just a few examples that disprove that statement.
There is the silver clad protocol droid TC-14, who showed Qui-Gon and Obi-wan some hospitality aboard the Trade Federation Flagship in The Phantom Menace. There are also the BD-3000 luxury droids with exaggerated feminine characteristics flanking the Nemoidian Senator from The Clone Wars.
Then, there’s “FLO”, the WA-7 service unit found at Dex’s diner in Attack of the Clones. And these are just a few.
It’s more accurate to say that L3-37 is the first female droid in a Star Wars feature movie with more than just a bit part. Also, by the sound of it, she’s going to be much more interesting than just a droid in a servant role.
Are there any other Han Solo Vs Star Wars memes that we need to see? Let us know in the comments!
