“Millennium Falcon,” Batmobile Take Center Stage in J.J. Abrams’ “Episode VII” Tease

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — In The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo said his ship, the Millennium Falcon, still had “some surprises left in her,” but fans could never have guessed the old freighter hid a Batmobile. However, in a new tease from Episode VII director J.J. Abrams shows that’s exactly the case.

The video snippet is just the latest in a back-and-forth franchise mash-up between Abrams and his pal, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder. Snyder’s most recent salvo showed a snap of some of Gotham City’s Finest escorting a Stormtrooper into a cop car for reportedly stealing the Batmobile.

Abrams’ clip, shot on his U.K. set, gives fans their closest look yet at Solo’s ship, the painstaking detail on it more evidence of his pledge to return to the Star Wars saga’s roots with physical, non-computer-generated sets. But as the camera tracks along the ship’s hull, John Williams’ “Binary Sunset (the Force Theme)” gives way to Hans Zimmer’s pounding Dark Knight score — just as the camera zooms in on a detail that would have been invisible at a distance: Batman’s Tumbler as seen in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, painted so as to camouflage into the ship.

Incidentally, Abrams has hidden similar Easter eggs in other movies. Even before he was given the Episode VII gig, the lifelong Star Wars fan smuggled R2-D2 into both his 2009 Star Trek and its 2013 sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness.

Star Wars: Episode VII is slated for a Dec. 18, 2015 release, while Batman v. Superman swings into theaters March 25, 2016.

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