The Detail You Missed On Cobb Vanth's Armor On The Mandalorian Chapter 9
One of the best parts of meeting Cobb Vanth as he stands in the door of the Mos Pelgo saloon early on in chapter 9 of The Mandalorian is how quickly Timothy Olyphant's performance gives up the game that Vanth isn't actually Boba Fett, whose armor he's wearing.
The Boba Fett armor is there, but nothing else about the famous bounty hunter is. How Vanth stands, how he walks, how the armor fits him — it all looks off to the discerning eye. Initially, Mando (Pedro Pascal) is cautious, but he doesn't realize he's dealing with an imposter until later, when Vanth takes off his helmet to drink. Fans more familiar with Boba Fett know it immediately, and the dramatic irony is that difference in knowledge between the in-universe lead and the extra-universe fans serves to increase the tension of the scene.
For as much as Olyphant's performance told viewers they weren't looking at Boba Fett, the show's costume and props teams worked hard to let fans know this really was his armor. The colors are faded but recognizable. The dent on the helmet is obvious as Vanth puts it down on the table. And there's even a new addition that fits perfectly with the armor's history — a souvenir from Boba Fett's infamous and ignominious defeat while battling Luke Skywalker and Han Solo at the Sarlacc pit: a metal patch on the back of the jetpack.
Who damaged Cobb Vanth's jetpack?
As pointed out on Reddit, the repair work is most noticeable during the scene in which Vanth uses the armor to drive off the Mining Collective that took over Mos Pelgo in the wake of the destruction of the second Death Star. You can see it when he launches his backpack rocket at a fleeing landspeeder, a slash of gray breaking up the greens and off-whites and oranges.
This spot corresponds more or less with the place Han Solo hits it in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. The impact sets off a small explosion and ignites the pack. Fett bounces off the backboard of Jabba's Sail Barge and falls into the Sarlacc pit below. While the movie doesn't exactly go into how that contact caused such damage –– it's possible Han got him with the edge of a vibroweapon, but it's tough to tell –– the series pays homage to the finicky nature of Mandalorian jetpacks when Mando hits Vanth's with the butt of his rifle and launches him into the sky just before he allows a Krayt Dragon to swallow him and an explosive-laden Bantha.
Mando cleverly escapes from the Krayt Dragon's insides, and by episode's end, the Boba Fett armor is in Mando's possession — as part of the deal he struck with Vanth for helping kill the Krayt Dragon. Then, in the last few seconds of The Mandalorian season 2's premiere episode, a familiar face – that of none other than Boba Fett himself — is seen watching Mando from a cliff as he leaves Mos Pelgo.
The Mandalorian returns to Disney+ for the second episode of its second season, entitled "Chapter 10: The Confrontation," on Friday, November 6.