First of all, we are going to start by telling you that Boba Fett is a character that has had many genesis. Especially in the old canon. “Star Wars” has seen its continuity rebooted and retold many times.

The first time, in an important way, was due to the prequel trilogies (Episodes I to III, wow). Later, in a smoother way, details of its plots were changed with the launch of the second animated series of “The Clone Wars” (whose fast-paced and last season we analyzed a while ago). And, finally, the last retro-continuity exercise came with the purchase of the franchise by Disney. The latter caused the Legends label to be created, a mixed bag where all the unofficial continuities prior to the Disney era are put.

With just about every one of these retcons, Fett has had his origin story altered in some way. However, details and elements of each of these versions have served to rework each new origin story. But let's go to the beginning of everything.

Originally, Boba Fett was conceived along two parallel paths, hatched in the pre-production period for The Empire Strikes Back. Initially, his concept as a character was inspired by the bounty hunters in Sergio Leone's films, as a mercenary who moved in gray morals, but close to the Dark Side. At the same time, his appearance, his cool armor, is due to Joe Johnston and Ralph Mcquarrie and the design of a "super stormtrooper" who, in some way, would have ties to an original concept of the Mandalorian people.

Designer Norman Reynolds worked on this to give it the final look. Thus, both ideas ended up crossing and giving rise to the character that many of us knew in the 1980 film. However, his staging dates from a few years before, when the film had not yet started shooting: the infamous “Star Wars Holiday Special” from 1978.

“Star Wars Holiday Special” was a kind of Thanksgiving magazine-program that brought together the cast of the original “Star Wars” movie with celebrities and television comedians of the time, giving rise to a product that speaks for itself. itself. As a "respite", the program broadcast an animated short within its space, which you can already see on Disney +.

In it, an adventure of Luke, Han and Chewie was told, who met a mysterious new figure: the adventurer Boba Fett. Initially presented as a "friend", Fett revealed himself mid-story as an agent of Darth Vader, which complicated his relationship with the group. Although the villain managed to flee, his presentation had already been made and the fans were captivated by him. Yearning for his return... which was fulfilled in "The Empire Strikes Back," when actor Jeremy Bulloch played him for the first time in live action.

His return in "Return of the Jedi" (1983), however, was a jug of cold water, since far from developing his dramatic potential as an antagonist, Fett was eliminated with relative ease by a blinded Han Solo, who in one blow he blindly sabotaged his jetpack, throwing him into the jaws of a giant sandworm, known as the Sarlacc.

The cruelest of a cruel race

During the '80s, Star Wars was a forgotten franchise. Therefore, following the example of Star Trek and other "forgotten" franchises at the time, George Lucas (creator of the product) produced novels and comics that expanded the adventures of his creatures beyond the original films. This gave rise to the so-called Expanded Universe, a cluster of video games, comics and novels that told more adventures of the heroes and villains of the Saga.

In this way, the so-called Thrawn Trilogy was produced (the novels that start with "Heir to the Empire") and the "Dark Empire" comic (a second assault against the Emperor's clone, which in a way inspires the film "The Rise of Skywalker”). In the latter, it was discovered, among other things, that Fett made it out of his encounter with the sandworm alive and was seeking revenge against Han Solo.

After this reappearance, his adventures expanded into classics with a Spaghetti Western flavor in comic and novel format. Some of them can be found in the special compilation of "Boba Fett: Anthology", in which a fictitious first confrontation with Darth Vader is told. Thus, this period, which goes from the early 90s until the premiere of "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones", developed the first origin of Boba Fett.

Daniel Keys Moran was responsible for telling this origin story in a short story, revealing that Fett was actually a pseudonym used by Jaster Mereel, a protective officer of Concord Dawn (the planet of the original Mandalorian people). Obsessed with enforcing the law, Mereel had gone too far and been exiled and deposed from rank and office, becoming a bounty hunter in order to bring peace, order and justice to a galaxy engulfed in war and chaos.

Of course, this genesis was erased with the arrival of the prequels. The comics and novels that came out in the wake of "Attack of the Clones" presented us with a different story, that of a bounty hunter named Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison). This Fett was in turn the "adopted son" of a Mandalorian known as Jaster Mereel.

As the last of his gang, Jango went to work for a Sith Lord in order to get revenge on the Jedi who had killed his companions. In exchange for his DNA to clone an army of perfect soldiers, Darth Tyranus would have a natural perfect doppelganger cloned for him, who would age like a normal child. I would call this son-clone Boba and he would be our future fearsome bounty hunter, who was played by the then young Daniel Logan.

Between 2002 and 2008, Boba Fett was resumed as a regular character in literary and comic productions. While some novels and comics recounted his early years and personal life (as in "Boba Fett: Blood Ties"), others made him the new leader of the Mandalorian people. All this was blurred and erased, sent to the Leyendas label.

Jango's Legacy

And finally, we get to the heart of the matter with who Boba Fett is in today's official continuity. Currently, Disney only recognizes as canon of the character's history what has been told in Episode II and his appearances in the "Clone Wars" animated series, as well as any Marvel Comics or modern published novels. in the past decade.

This selection of "official" material leaves us with the following as an approved account of the character's biography: Boba Fett is still the clone-son of Jango Fett, a member of the Mandalorian Death Watch. That is to say, a member of the most conservative and bellicose radical group of the Mandalorian people, which is already a quarrelsome and militarized group, with an elaborate warrior culture and a military tradition that converted these people in their day into a force that could stop even the Jedi and Sith themselves, without the need for "powers".

Born codenamed Alpha, Boba was raised by Jango as his successor. From his earliest childhood he learned to assemble and disassemble a blaster pistol before he could speak (so to speak) and he was always very close to his father. At least until he died under the lightsaber of Jedi Master Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) at the start of the civil war between the Republic and the Confederacy: the Clone Wars.

During the conflict, Boba was raised and taught by various friends and colleagues of the late Jango, most notably Bossk, a Tradoshian hunter. After a failed attempt to avenge his father's death, teenager Boba Fett made the world of Tatooine his base of operations, creating a small syndicate of bounty hunters that did not survive beyond the end of the war.

The rise of the Empire also saw the rise of Boba Fett as Jango's heir. The next 20 years served to establish him as the deadliest and deadliest hunter in the galaxy, earning him a bad reputation for his habit of disintegrating some of his prey. In turn, Fett recovered his father's armor, which he redecorated with his own color patterns and some cosmetic additions, and his ship. In this way, he became one of the most striking figures of the Underworld. Some of the stories from this period can be read in Volume 1 of “Bounty Hunters”.

This brings us back to the time of the original movies. When Episode IV starts, Fett works for Jabba the Hutt, as "muscle" for the criminal organization of the Hutt Cartel, while he had jobs for Darth Vader (such as discovering the identity of Luke and Obi Wan's house on Tatooine) . Both the one and the other would take him to the events of Episode V, "The Empire Strikes Back", to hunt down Han Solo and to stories that are told in the Marvel comics (such as in the "War of the Bounty Hunters" crossover). . Then comes his supposed "death" and subsequent reappearance in continuity.

Now, how did you manage to survive the Sarlacc? We do not have the answer to this. But we hope they tell us about it in "The Book of Boba Fett", where the actor Temuera Morrison will play him. If you want to discover it as much as we do, don't stop watching this series either. We already anticipate that it will be a treat for fans of "Star Wars".

Edition: Floux Jaffa