The Mandalorian [1]'s latest episode kicks off with information from a giant talking ant. That's a sentence that could really only be said in the Star Wars world, and as it turns out, the appearance of "Dr. Mandible" is a sly wink for fans — just not how you might think.

The joke isn't actually a Star Wars Easter egg but a Marvel one! Taking a quick look at the credits of this episode reveals that it's directed by Peyton Reed — best known for being the guy at the helm of the Ant-Man [2] movies within the Marvel universe. Reed directed both the 2015 Ant-Man and its 2018 follow-up, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and he's also set to direct a still-untitled third movie in the series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, that third movie was set to film in early 2021 [3] for a 2022 release date.

However, that was reported back in late 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most Hollywood productions and set back the Marvel release calendar [4] by almost an entire year. At the time, sources told THR that the next entries in the Doctor Strange and Thor franchises would film before the third Ant-Man, but nothing has been confirmed, especially after the chaos of 2020.

The name Dr. Mandible comes from one of the most notable features of an ant: their snapping jaws, or mandibles. On The Mandalorian, we've actually met Dr. Mandible before: he's a regular at the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine, and he is visible in the fifth episode of season one, during the scene where Din Djarin is looking for a bounty-hunting job (and asks the barkeeper droid, voiced by Mark Hamill, for help). He's just a background player during that episode, as opposed to this most recent one, where he actually plays a significant role in the plot by giving Din Djarin information about where he's heard there might be more Mandalorians. It's just the latest in a long line of clever references [5] in the Star Wars world, and we're sure there are many more to come!