Before the House of Mouse united Geroge Lucas’ seminal space opera and the only company that could stand up to the hegemony of DC comics under one roof, Marvel had one of its most popular heroes denounce Star Wars as something that he personally disliked.
Way back in 2007, when Disney was functioning with Disney Animation and Pixar, a particular issue of Marvel Comics decided to take a shot at Star Wars. In Volume 1, Issue #3 of the then-newly minted White Tiger title, it was revealed that Spider-Man has actually always hated Star Wars.
White Tiger was teaming up with Daredevil and Spider-Man to take down the Yakuza in New York
The White Tiger that was in question here was actually the fourth character to use the mantle, being the niece of the original White Tiger, Hector Ayala. Hector had had run-ins with the likes of Spider-Man and Daredevil throughout his career. In fact, Matt Murdock served as Angela del Toro’s, the White Tiger in question, mentor, until his secret identity was revealed during the events of Civil War, causing the character to be jailed.
Angela found herself aided by another vigilante operating as Daredevil when she was caught up in dismantling the Yakuza responsible for killing her FBI partner. This Daredevil was actually Danny Rand, who was taking over for Matt while the lawyer served his time in jail.
The duo were caught up in a hailstorm of enhanced, science fiction-looking rifle fire when Spider-Man swooped in to save the duo, commenting that he has always disliked Star Wars, in reference to the laser rifles that were firing at the trio.
MCU Spider-Man loves Star Wars, and that might be because Disney owns Marvel and Star Wars now
Given that the comic book was first released in 2007, Disney had no control over Marvel or Star Wars. However, when Tom Holland made his debut as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, the character was shown to have a profound love for Star Wars, even using the film to craft strategies to take down the likes of Giant-Man.
This might be a bid to rebrand Spider-Man as someone who enjoys Star Wars, such that there could be some synergy between Disney’s two flagship brands. 2016 was around the time when Star Wars: The Force Awakens had just been released, which might point to how Disney was trying to make sure that any backdoor marketing did not blow up in their face. Further, causing Spider-Man to say he loves Star Wars is actually a free brand endorsement from one of the most popular heroes in the world. Imagine if WB did that with Superman and the Wizarding World.
