False Things You Believe About Boba Fett
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It's no secret that Boba Fett is one of the most iconic characters in the Star Wars universe. The infamous bounty hunter made his first live-action appearance in Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back, and although Fett only appears in the movie for six and a half minutes, his unique appearance and mysterious nature made fans hungry for more. Unfortunately, many of those same fans were ultimately disappointed with how he went out in Episode VI—Return of the Jedi. Nevertheless, Boba Fett would go on to appear in books, comics, video games, and — of course — merchandise. While recording his commentary track for the Return of the Jedi DVD, series creator George Lucas even admitted that he would have made Boba's death more exciting if he'd known that the character would become so popular.
After his undignified apparent death in Jedi, Fett fought his way out of the Sarlacc Pit and went on to further adventures in the Star Wars Legends continuity, which was wiped out when Disney purchased Lucasfilm. Fortunately for fans, the studio has slowly but surely hinted at his canonical return over the last few years, and in May of 2020, the Hollywood Reporter alleged that Boba Fett would appear in season 2 of the Disney+ show The Mandalorian, which is set after the events of Return of the Jedi. Since the wide-ranging mythology of Star Wars is not easy to digest, this article will debunk a series of myths that many fans believe about Boba Fett in the (mostly) current canon.
Boba Fett is a Mandalorian
Although Boba Fett wears the same type of armor as the titular protagonist of The Mandalorian, he isn't part of the Mandalorian creed — at least not always. Donald F. Glut's Empire Strikes Back novelization states that Boba was part of "a group of evil warriors defeated by the Jedi Knights during the Clone Wars." Moreover, Daniel Keys Moran's novella The Last One Standing: A Tale of Boba Fett, which was published in Kevin J. Anderson's 1996 anthology novel Tales of the Bounty Hunters, gave Boba a real name, Jaster Mereel, and claimed that he was exiled from his home world of Mandalore.
This story was canon until George Lucas changed Boba's origin for Episode II—Attack of the Clones to make him the unaltered clone and son of bounty hunter Jango Fett. Lucas has never explained the reasoning behind this change, but Moran was ultimately not upset about it. When speaking to Star Wars Interviews in 2018, Moran explained, "Even within the universe of commercial fiction, Lucas was utterly contemptuous of his own early writing, when it came time to make the prequels. The idea that I should get annoyed about him ignoring mine? No." Hopefully, Moran will enjoy The Mandalorian season 2's interpretation of Boba.
Boba Fett hates all Wookiees
Chewbacca spent years in Boba Fett's crosshairs due to his longtime friendship with Han Solo, but that doesn't mean that Fett hates all Wookiees. In fact, the Darth Vader comics reveal Boba worked alongside a Wookiee named Black Krrsantan when the two were both employed by Jabba the Hutt, and Boba even vouched for him when Vader asked if he was good at his job. Before Vader assigned Krrsantan to capture an agent of the Emperor, he ended up going toe-to-toe with Obi-Wan Kenobi in the comic Star Wars #20 because Jabba tasked Krrsantan with capturing the man who kept interfering with the collection of his water tax. Later in the series, Krrsantan would also go on to fight to Chewbacca in Darth Vader #14 while trying to capture Han Solo. Since there is no official rule in the galaxy against the co-existence of multiple hairy alien sidekicks, and Krrasantan remains alive and growling in the Star Wars comics continuity, he could appear in live action at some point in the future. Perhaps he and Boba might pursue a bounty together?
Boba Fett first crossed paths with Luke Skywalker in Empire Strikes Back
Opening a previously unknown chapter in their shared past, Marvel Comics revealed that Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker met long before they crossed paths in The Empire Strikes Back.
After the events of A New Hope, Darth Vader travelled to Tatooine and assigned Boba to hunt down a Rebel pilot associated with a man named Obi-Wan Kenobi and a smuggling vessel called the Millennium Falcon. Vader also specified to bring this pilot back in one piece. Boba tracked this bounty back to Ben Kenobi's home in the Jundland Wastes and temporarily blinded him with a flash grenade, but the mysterious rebel held his own against Boba and narrowly escaped his clutches. After all that, Boba must've been happy to take a shot at Luke in Empire.
Conversely, this comic marks the first time that Vader learns that Luke is his son. Even though Boba failed to capture his Rebel quarry, he did give Vader a name: Skywalker. For Boba, that name wasn't familiar, but for Vader, it made him rethink everything Emperor Palpatine had told him about the fates of his children. This information may explain why Vader appeared to remain so calm when the Emperor first mentioned the name "Luke Skywalker" in Empire Strikes Back.
Boba Fett followed in his father's footsteps
Boba Fett was a killer even before Mace Windu decapitated his father in Attack of the Clones. In fact, when Boba was growing up, Jango taught his boy the same skills he learned as a bounty hunter, including survival and martial arts.
In the 2019 Marvel comic Age of Republic – Jango Fett #1, Jango takes Boba on a mission with three other bounty hunters — a male Rodian named Needla, a male Gand named Rinn, and a female Chadra-Fan named Tiver — as part of his training. The mission is to capture a Twi'lek girl and return her to her father, but after they find this bounty, Tiver and Rinn threaten to kill Boba if he doesn't hand over the Twi'lek girl. Of course, these two bounty hunters underestimate the boy, and Boba kills them both without his father's help. The comic ends with Boba asking his father if he did all right, to which Jango responds, "You shot well. You trusted your judgement. And you've started building your reputation. A father couldn't ask for a better start for his son's legacy." Jango was never exactly Father of the Year material, but at least he cared about his son enough to prepare him for a galaxy that might not welcome him with open arms.
Boba and Windu never met again after Attack of the Clones
The current Star Wars canon portrays young Boba as someone in pursuit of his father's killer after the events of Attack of the Clones. One story arc from the popular CG-animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars sees Boba team up with bounty hunters Aurra Sing, Bossk, and Castas and impersonate a clone cadet in order to infiltrate a Republic vessel called the Endurance and kill Mace Windu in order to gain vengeance for Windu's murder of Jango Fett.
When his crew ends up taking hostages, however, Boba begins to become conflicted about the job even if it means avenging his father. One of the arc's strengths is that it shows a post-Attack of the Clones Boba as sympathetic and not just a ruthless killing machine. "I see now I've done terrible things," Boba says to Windu. "But you started this all when you murdered my father. I'll never forgive you." This arc sets up the code of honor that Boba would continue to establish and refine as he grew into adulthood.
Boba Fett was always meant to be a side character
Although the original Star Wars trilogy introduced Boba as a minor character, he was meant to have a much bigger role early in the franchise's development. Craig Miller, Lucasfilm's first fan relations officer, revealed in an interview with Inverse that George Lucas initially intended for Boba to be the main villain of Return of the Jedi since his original third trilogy plans featured a confrontation between Luke and Darth Vader as well as a battle with Emperor Palpatine.
"Originally Boba Fett was set up in Empire as a character, and the third movie's plot was going to be more about Boba Fett rescuing Han Solo and all of that," Miller said. "Boba was gonna be the main villain... That was set up, why he was taking Han Solo away, why there was a thing with him in the Christmas special." Lucas eventually scrapped those plans and compartmentalized three movies into one, which according to Miller is why Boba dies in the first ten minutes of Return of the Jedi. Would Boba have as a big of a following if he'd always had a major role? Either way, the idea of a Return of the Jedi in which Boba is the main villain is undeniably intriguing.
Boba Fett was always Boba Fett
This may come as a surprise to many Star Wars fans, but early in George Lucas' concept phase for the series, Darth Vader wasn't always intended to be a servant of the Empire — in fact, he was essentially Boba Fett. According to J.W. Rinzler's The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas wrote early drafts of A New Hope with Vader as an intergalactic bounty hunter, but after he became interested in knights and codes, he ultimately decided to portray Vader as a "grotesque knight." Lucas also looked at Boba Fett as an early version of Vader.
Although imagining a Darth Vader that does not wield a lightsaber or use the Force is quite difficult, the idea of Anakin Skywalker as a bounty hunter is another fascinating "what if?" scenario that Disney could one day explore in a non-canon comic or animated short. Then again, if Lucas hadn't ultimately retool his concept for Vader — and use the leftover parts to create Boba Fett — we might not have witnessed two of the greatest movie villains of all time.
Boba Fett's family ties
Boba Fett and Darth Vader are depicted as lightly antagonistic business associates in the original trilogy, but if things had turned out a little differently, they could have ended up being brothers as well.
Original trilogy editor Marcia Lucas explained in Dale Pollock's book Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas that her ex-husband initially considered revealing in the prequels that the two villains were indeed siblings, an idea that he ended up abandoning because he thought it was "too hokey." In the end, Lucas was probably right: Turning Darth Vader and Boba Fett into brothers just makes the Star Wars mythology much more convoluted than it has to be. The concept, however, is intriguing to say the least. With all these tantalizing "what if" scenarios Lucas left on the cutting room floor, Disney should one day consider telling these stories in the form of an animated anthology series similar to what Marvel is doing with their What If...? series on Disney+.
Boba Fett's screen debut
Boba Fett's first movie appearance came in Empire Strikes Back, but it wasn't his screen debut — in fact, by the time he appeared onscreen, more than a few fans had already seen him. The truth is, Boba's first appearance in the Star Wars universe actually came during an animated segment from the infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, which was aired in part to further stoke anticipation for Empire Strikes Back.
The short sees Luke, C-3P0, and R2-D2 crash land on the water moon of Panna to save Han Solo and Chewbacca, who have also crash landed. Luke, Threepio, and R2 run into Boba Fett, who saves them from a giant monster with a weapon similar to the Amban sniper rifle from The Mandalorian, and they decide to team up. Unfortunately, R2 later finds out that Boba is Darth Vader's right-hand man. Despite all its numerous flaws, the Holiday Special will always have the honor of giving us Boba Fett's first media appearance.
Boba Fett's official debut
Funnily enough, Boba Fett's official introduction was not in the Holiday Special — in fact, it wasn't onscreen at all. Instead, the character made his debut at a county fair, of all places.
Duwayne Dunham, the assistant editor of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, donned the Mandalorian armor and walked in near-100-degree heat alongside Darth Vader at the San Anselmo County Fair on September 24, 1978, months before Boba Fett would be seen in animated form during the Star Wars Holiday Special. Although he was an unknown character at the time, no one involved with the parade introduced Boba to the crowd. Speaking with StarWars.com in 2014, Duwayne explained, "I would imagine that [for] most people seeing the two, they just figured it was a new character aligned with Vader. We were at the front end of the parade; we were leading the whole thing."
It was a fairly undignified entry for one of the most feared bounty hunters in the galaxy — but then again, seeing as how he ended up suffering one of the more humiliating deaths in the live-action Star Wars canon, perhaps that's fitting.