If you have seen Ahsoka on Disney+, you have felt the cold chills of fan service up and down our geek body. No worries. No spoilers, but suffice it to say, someone over there in the Star Wars wing of the building understands how to get the fan base all hot and bothered.
We have all been thrust into a fan service moment watching a movie or a TV series, whether we realize it or not. There you are, enjoying something on the big or small screen. Imagine the show steeped in regalia and tradition. You’re enjoying a slice with some soda, then, it happens!
It can be a beloved character or a noted catchphrase, plastered memorabilia, or in a moment of comic relief, someone breaks the fourth wall. The unexpected scene becomes one of the most talked-about scenes among all fans.
Fan service doesn’t always work, which could be a detailed GVN list in the near future. Nonetheless, when it does work, it’s magic! It has on Ahsoka in certain scenes that made Star Wars fans’ butts pucker with the intensity of a Death Star tractor beam. What could be better than that? We have a few.
Here are the Top 10 best moments of fan service in movie history (so far)…
10. Red Light District, Rogue One (2016)
The menacing, scarlet glow of Darth Vader‘s lightsaber in that smoke-filled hallway spiked the adrenaline of any Star Wars fan watching this understated prequel/sequel. No one expected this movie to end at the precise moment that Star Wars: A New Hope began. History was made in 1977 and it took nearly four decades for that badass to bring it full circle. FAN-tastic!
9. Look!, Doctor Sleep (2019)
Here’s Danny, fighting the ice and snow with Abra in tow. The sequel has held up and continued the Stephen King in fine fashion. The gas station fades into the dark. The journey continues. And then the fastest rush of chills hit you like Satan walking butt naked in a cryotherapy chamber. When the Overlook Hotel appears with that resonant tuba (or whatever) is mystical, tear-inducing timing excellence.
8. Those Em-Effin Snakes, Snakes on a Plane (2006)
No one on this planet can cuss like Samuel L. Jackson. He’s like Mozart with his silver-jaded tongue–a conductor’s weapon for a symphony of expletives. So, when the straight-to-DVD film Snakes On a Plane showed up, fans went berserk. They invented phrases in Jackson-uese. One was so funny on a fan-edited trailer that it went viral. Mozart would then play his fan service “Magic Flute” on-screen masterfully.
7. Spores, Molds, and Fungus, Oh My!, Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
After one meh sequel and a failed reboot, most of the band got back together except Harold Ramis two years prior. Think it mattered? Not one bit and what a lovely moment when Egon Spengler and CGI gave all fans from the classic got a small frog in their throats. Who knew the ghost of Egon would catch us all off-guard square in the fan service feels? But it did.
6. The Iceman Cometh, Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
No, no. I’m not crying. You were crying. Tom Cruise was bringing yesteryear fans an F-6F Hellcat full of fan service with Top Gun: Maverick just making it to the theaters. Of course, everyone wanted a Val Kilmer reference. Following his horrendous fight with throat cancer, Cruise and company planned two conversations in unforgettable fashion–texting and the miraculous voice technology. No one saw that coming, and thank the spirit of L. Ron Hubbard we didn’t. (Scientology joke there, kids.)
5. The Dynamic Duo, Freddy V. Jason (2003)
Ever since the big-hair and synth-music eras of the 1980s when Jason Voorhees pillaged Camp Crystal Lake and Freddy Krueger haunted Springwood, Ohio, fans demanded these two killers crush each other. It was Godzilla vs. whatever titanic creature. Then, in 2003, there was horror hoopla as this face-off became a sequel in both franchises. Although Jason raised his bloody machete in victory, Freddy had a few maniacal laughs and a nice showing for this complete fan service lollapalooza.
4. Game On, Ready Player One (2018)
Although the entire movie was a truckload of ’80s memory lane fun., Steven Spielberg rolled up his custom-made sleeves and threw everything against the wall for the final confrontation. That moment featured every avatar uniting in the OASIS to fight the evil empire, IOI, for ownership of the virtual wonderland. The amount of fan service 1980s tokens in that scene would outnumber the amount of Father’s Day cards in the NBA last year. If that was your decade, you needed a cigarette.
3. Black Superman, Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2019)
It was rumored for years that somewhere amid the rushed dumpster fire of the DCEU would be Kal-El sporting the infamous black Superman suit. When the “Josstice League” hit the big screen, there were countless things missing, including that beloved suit (also, a serious script and above-remedial CGI). The fan service moment was from 1993’s Action Comics #689. More than 25 years later, comic enthusiasts lost their minds when Supes left the Fortress of Solitude looking “Back in Black.” Have mercy!
2. Seeing Triple, Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Tobey Maguire left Spider-Man as an emo afterthought. Andrew Garfield was booted unceremoniously without a thought. And it took Tom Holland, among a confusing soap opera of ownership, to think the webhead back among the Marvel faithful. Ever since Spider-Man joined the MCU, fans worldwide fantasized about the three Spider-Men reuniting like Peaches & Herb. Then they did in one sensational fan service moment and WOW, did it “feel so good!”
1. Hammering Out the Assembly, Avengers: Endgame (2019)
This glorious culmination of the “Infinity Saga” had two of the most intensely celebrated fan service moments in cinematic history. Depending on the nerd you ask, one is barely better than the other. Both demanded standing ovations in the theater. Both created chills and soda spills in sight. And both of these scenes were strong enough to raise a ‘Hallelujah’ in the cinema!
These moments were teased throughout the saga and both happened in the same film. First, cardiac arrest slapped us in the face during the “I knew it” from Thor watching Mjolnir racing to Captain America’s hand. Following his beating the Barney look-alike ass of Thanos with the shield and hammer, we get the Marvel Universe uniting in one of the most raucous in-theater hollers in history with the line befitting the entire saga.
If any fan service moment deserved the instant recall and delirious dork-out sessions, it’s these two.
Since he saw ‘Dune’ in the $1 movie theater as a kid, this guy has been a lover of geek culture. It wasn’t until he became a professional copywriter, ghostwriter, and speechwriter that he began to write about it (a lot).
From the gravitas of the Sith, the genius of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, or the gluttony of today’s comic fan, SPW digs intelligent debate about entertainment. He’s also addicted to listicles, storytelling, useless trivia, and the Oxford comma. And, he prefers his puns intended.
