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- “I'm a simple man making his way through the galaxy. Like my father before me.”
- ―Boba Fett presenting himself in the manner of his late father, Jango Fett.
Boba Fett is a major character in the Star Wars franchise. He first appeared as the secondary antagonist in The Empire Strikes Back, returning as a minor antagonist in Return of the Jedi and appearing as a boy in Attack of the Clones. He also appears as an antagonist in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and later as an anti-hero in The Mandalorian. He later became the titular protagonist of The Book of Boba Fett.
He is a clone of the Mandalorian mercenary Jango Fett, specifically made to be raised as Jango's own son. As a result, he remains heavily unaltered in contrast to the Clone Troopers and instead retains Jango's original genetic DNA. Ever since the death of his father, Boba Fett continued on his legacy as a bounty hunter, working alongside various bounty hunters, as well taking on other bounties made available to him. By the time of the Galactic Civil War, Boba Fett became one of the galaxy's most infamous bounty hunters across the outer region. Years later, he is hired by Darth Vader to find the Millennium Falcon.
After completing his mission, Boba took the Falcon's captain, Han Solo, captive and delivered him to the notorious galactic crime lord Jabba the Hutt on the desert planet of Tatooine. When Luke Skywalker came to rescue Han, it was believed that Boba was killed during the battle but he later was revealed to have survived but at the expense of loosing his armor. Years later, he seeks to reclaim his armor and in doing so crossing paths with Din Djarin whom he fights alongside, in order to rescue Djarin's adopted son, Grogu from a surviving Imperial faction. After which he takes control of Jabba's organization, building his own crime syndicate.
Background
Boba, initially called Alpha by his Kaminoan creators, was a clone of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett, who took him in as his son. In exchange for providing his DNA as the template for a clone army, Boba was created for Jango by the cloners of the planet Kamino. In addition, Jango requested for Boba’s DNA to be unaltered (unlike the clone troops who were engineered with accelerated growth rates and obedience modifications). While the clone troopers were eventually enlisted by the Galactic Republic, Jango raised Boba on Kamino wear he taught him Mandalorian fighting techniques and survival skills, chiefly on how to use a blaster. Jango would also sometimes bring Boba with him on his bounty hunting missions.
Personality
As a child, Boba idealized his father (genetic template) Jango and loved him very much. His training under Jango made him a hardened child who was unafraid to fight and even kill others without remorse. He also seemed to think of himself as superior compared to Jango's altered clones and didn't share their sentiment of regarding each other as brothers.
After watching Jango being killed by Mace Windu on Geonosis, Boba not only became grief-stricken but also hateful, cynical, and vengeful. He obsessively sought revenge against Mace Windu for “murdering” his father and was willing to go to extreme lengths to kill him, despite knowing that Jango wouldn’t have wanted to be avenged and that his death in battle was befitting of a Mandalorian such as himself. Despite this, Boba still showed remorse for his actions, as he was horrified by the deaths of the innocents his vendetta had caused as well as the ruthlessness and cruelty of the bounty hunters he was working with at the time. This remorse and guilt also extended to his fellow clones, despite not considering them his brothers. Despite remorsefully admitting his mistakes, however, Boba still held onto his hatred of Windu, refusing to forgive him for the death of his father.
After being sent to prison for his crimes, Boba became an even more hardened and ruthless, yet more mature individual. After escaping, Boba used the skills his father taught him to become a professional and capable bounty hunter despite being only a teenager. He also possessed great leadership skills, as seen how he commanded large groups of bounty hunters on assignments and earning their respect despite his very young age at the time.
As an adult, Boba’s compassion and moral code had greatly diminished, to the point where he became increasingly ruthless, cruel, apathetic, greedy, arrogant, sadistic, disloyal, merciless, and antisocial, bordering on sociopathic. As the “galaxy’s most lethal mercenary”, Fett swore allegeience to no-one, only working for those who could pay him the most money. In doing so, he often worked for highly immoral clients, including the the oppressive Galactic Empire and even powerful crime syndicates like the Hutt Cartel and Crimson Dawn. When pursuing targets, he had a penchant for disintegrating them, demonstrating his newfound bloodlust. In contrast to his early days as a bounty hunter, where he would usually operate with others, Fett became much more independent, preferring to work alone. Despite this, he was willing to work with other bounty hunters if he had too.
In the five years following his defeat on Tatooine, escaping from the Sarlacc’s pit, and being separated from his armor, Fett’s personality mellowed out considerably, regaining much of the moral code from his younger days and becoming somewhat of a wiser individual. This was shown when he rescued fellow bounty hunter Fennec Shand, despite not needing too and with no promise of reward or profit. He also became much more negotiable, preferring to solve issues through reasoning rather than outright violence. In addition, Fett proved himself to be a man of his word, as even though he had reacquired his armor from the Mandalorian, he still agreed to help him rescue his adopted son, Grogu from Moff Gideon to the point of risking his life in battle, due to considering himself indebted to Djarin for returning his armor. Fett also regained his ability to feel empathy for others, as he was visibly sympathetic to Djarin after Grogu had been kidnapped by the Dark Troopers. This mellowing out however, should not be mistaken for softness, as he retains his ruthlessness and effectiveness in battle, being able to single handedly slaughter an entire regiment of stormtroopers with ease and is even willing to kill enemies that have surrendered or that don’t pose a threat to him.
Boba’s change in personality was largely due to his time with the Tuskens. Despite initially being their slave and receiving harsh treatment from them early on, Boba eventually came to be recognized as a member of their tribe, after he proved his worth as a warrior. During this time, he came to consider them his new family and considered himself to be a part of their tribe, becoming very loyal to them, to the point of even willing to risk his life for them; something that contradicted his loner attitude as a bounty hunter. In addition, after living amongst the Tuskens, Boba came to consider Tatooine as his new home-homeworld. Upon returning to the planet after Grogu’s rescue, Boba seized control of Bib Fortuna’s empire not to benefit himself, but to help the poor people of the planet and ensure their prosperity. As the new Daimyo of Tatooine, he is shown himself to extremely selfless and honorable, refusing to abandon the people of the planet, even when it would be in his benefit to leave them to their fates, even if it costs him his life. He has also abandoned his loner status entirely, forming strong bonds and camaraderie with those who serving under him, to the point of considering them friends.
Even into adulthood, Boba still loved Jango very much and deeply cherished his memory. This caused him to develop a deep emotional attachment to his armor, since it was originally Jango’s armor before his death and thus one of the few things he had to remember him by. Boba was also easily angered whenever he felt some insulted Jango, having no patience or respect for those who mocked his deceased father. Despite his respect and love for his father, Boba had very little respect for his Mandalorian heritage. Similar to his relationship with the Clone Troopers, Boba doesn’t consider himself to be a Mandalorian, despite wearing their armor and being trained in their fighting arts. This shows that despite being able to work with others again, Boba still values his sense of independence and refusal to give others his allegiance.
Film appearances
Attack of the Clones
One day, a Jedi Knight named Obi-Wan Kenobi, came to arrest Jango for the attempts on Padmé Amidala's life. Though questionings between bounty hunter and Jedi were initially civil, things quickly turned violent when Jango and Boba attempted to flee the planet aboard their ship, Slave I. Obi-Wan and Jango scuffled on a rainsoaked landing platform, with Jango successful in keeping the Jedi Knight at bay and managing to escape off the planet, but ultimately unable to eliminate his antagonist. In the midst of the heated battle, young Boba shot at Obi-Wan with Slave I's anti-personnel cannons.
They were followed to Geonosis by Obi-Wan, who engaged the two Fetts in ship-to-ship combat in the planet's rocky ring. Obi-Wan managed to survive Slave I's ruthless assault with daring maneuvers of evasion, but was shortly afterwards captured by Jango's mysterious employer, Count Dooku, while performing recon on the planet. During the breakout of the Battle of Geonosis, Jango managed to eliminate many threats to his benefactors by gunning down the attacking Jedi, but ultimately was decapitated by Jedi Master Mace Windu after being trampled by a large, rhinoceros-like creature called the Reek. Jango's death was witnessed by a horrified Boba, who was left orphaned in a soon to be war torn galaxy, and swore vengeance against Mace.
A New Hope
In the Special Editions, Fett appeared in Docking Bay 94 as an enforcer for Jabba the Hutt as the crime lord confronted Han Solo about his debts to him, as well as the killing of the bounty hunter Greedo.
Fett was not in the original deleted scene due to the fact that he had not even been thought of yet. As such, he has been digitally inserted into the scene.
The Empire Strikes Back
Fett was one of the bounty hunters aboard Darth Vader's ship the Executor, who hired the motley crew of roguish mercenaries to track down the Millennium Falcon after the Empire had failed to do so. The reward was substantial, but Vader made a point of telling Fett there was to be "no disintegrations”, as he has a reputation for killing his targets instead of just capturing them. Fett was successful in tracking his quarry down by predicting Han Solo's method of evading the Empire by using a Star Destroyers routine garbage dump as camouflage. By also deducing the Falcon's destination, Fett was able to fufil his Imperial contract by informing Vader that the Rebels were heading toward Cloud City of Bespin.
However, Fett was also interested in collecting the bounty on Han's head placed by Jabba the Hutt, and negotiated with the Dark Lord in capturing Solo once Vader's business with him was concluded. Though he was wary over the torturous treatment of the smuggler over the worth he had being alive, Vader promised Fett that his suffering would not kill him, and even if it did, the Empire would compensate the bounty hunter over his loss. Fortunately, Han did survive, and was encased in a slab of carbonite. Their business concluded, Vader gave Han to Fett so that he could turn his full attention to the capture of Luke Skywalker. During the escort of Fett's prize to his ship, the bounty hunter encountered Luke in a vacant hallway of Cloud City. The bounty hunter opened fire on the young Jedi with his powerful EE-3 blaster, destroying a wall just short of his target, diverting Luke away from his frozen friend and towards a duel with Vader, which would conclude with a shocking revelation. Fett then hurriedly returned to Slave I, and began his journey to Tatooine to collect his reward from Jabba.
Return of the Jedi
Fett stayed at Jabba's Palace for some time, seemingly taking time off from his intergalactic career as a bounty hunter as a guest of honor at the villainous hive. Eventually, a mysterious bounty hunter named Boushh arrived at Jabba's court with Chewbacca in tow. Fett was prepared for trouble, and stood his ground when the other hunter threatened to destroy the palace with a thermal detonator. However, Jabba was amused by Boushh's "inventiveness," and agreed to pay for the Wookiee's bounty, which earned a respective nod from Fett. It was soon revealed that this mysterious hunter was in fact Princess Leia Organa, who managed to free Han from his carbonite prison before being captured herself by the Hutt. Soon afterward, Luke arrived in an attempt to save his friends, who fought and slayed Jabba's monstrous pet the Rancor before he too was captured. An infuriated Jabba sentenced the heroes to death by being devoured by the Sarlacc, a hideous creature nestled at the Great Pit of Carkoon that digested its prey for a thousand years.
Fett had accompanied Jabba aboard his lavish barge to Carkoon, seemingly prepared for trouble. When trouble did indeed break out into a great battle, Fett entered the fray. Back and forth, Fett and Luke struggled on the prisoner skiff, with the hunter's rifle being cut in two, and Luke becoming ensnared with Fett's whipcord. The Jedi soon broke free, and Fett was knocked off his feet by an explosive blast from one of the barge's cannons. A rather dazed Fett took aim at Luke, who had leapt to another skiff. Ultimately however, by a stroke of pure luck, a semi-blinded Han had heavily damaged the bounty hunter's rocket pack after Chewbacca had given a frantic warning of Fett's presence right behind him. Fett flew out of control, screaming, slamming into the side of Jabba's sail barge before tumbling into the Sarlacc Pit to his apparent death.
Unlike the original Expanded Universe, Boba Fett's survival in the new canon was only implied prior to the second season of The Mandalorian, not explicitly revealed.
Television appearances
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Fett went undercover in a clone cadet squad in order to kill Mace Windu, the killer of his father. After failing to kill him, he was recovered by a bounty hunter squad led by Aurra Sing. After some attempts to get revenge, he was arrested by the Jedi. He later worked with Asajj Ventress, who had become a bounty hunter.
The Mandalorian
5 years after Fett's apparent death, his eroded armor came into the possession of Jawas, who subsequently sold it to Cobb Vanth, a marshal from the small Tatooine settlement of Mos Pelgo. Din Djarin, who had been directed to the settlement and told that a Mandalorian was there, quickly found out that Vanth was not a real Mandalorian. Djarin demanded Vanth hand the armor over, and after some hesitation Vanth agreed on the condition that Djarin helped him kill a Krayt Dragon that had been terrorizing the town. Joining forces with the townspeople and a tribe of Tusken Raiders, the group successfully killed the Krayt dragon and gutted it.
Vanth handed over the armor and Djarin and Grogu departed. As they did so, an unmasked Boba, who had remained on Tatooine following Jabba's death, watched them.
Several weeks later, Djarin brought Grogu to the remains of a Jedi temple on Tython in order for him to reach out to a Jedi. Shortly after he began this process, however, Djarin saw the Slave I land on Tython. Realizing they were in danger but unable to get Grogu to stop his meditation, Djarin went to investigate. Fett fired several shots at him and then revealed that he wanted his armor back. He then revealed that he had saved Fennec Shand from death on Tatooine and told Djarin that if he did not return the armor, he would have Fennec shoot Grogu with her sniper rifle. Fett promised that he would ensure Grogu's safety in exchange for the return of his armor. All three bounty hunters dropped their weapons in order to calmly negotiate, only for a pair of Imperial transports to arrive and deploy a platoon of stormtroopers. The trio held off the stormtroopers long enough for Fett to retrieve his armor from the Razor Crest. He then proceeded to kill several stormtroopers in a furious melee, while the survivors retreated back to the two shuttles. However, as the ships took off, Boba shot a rocket dart at one of the ships, causing it to careen into the other, destroying them both.
A projectile from a ship then entered the atmosphere, completely destroying the Razor Crest. Moff Gideon, the leader of what remained of the Empire, sent a squad of Dark Troopers to capture Grogu, and despite Djarin and Fennec's best efforts, the combat droids successfully kidnapped the child and escaped. Boba followed them in the Slave I to see where they were going, and he was surprised to learn of the Empire's continued power despite its supposed collapse. Unable to shoot at the Dark Troopers or else risk hitting Grogu, Fett returned to the surface.
Boba explained to Din that Jango fought in the Mandalorian Civil War and was therefore a real Mandalorian, thereby making Boba a Mandalorian by association, proving that the armor is rightfully his. Boba and Fennec then both promised to help Djarin recover Grogu and stop Gideon as a show of gratitude for returning the armor.
Boba repaints his armor back to pristine condition, albeit still with the iconic dent in his helmet. He, Fennec, Din, and Cara Dune spring Migs Mayfeld, an ex-Imperial sharpshooter and an enemy of Djarin's, from prison in order for him to help find Moff Gideon's coordinates. He explains that there is a rhydonium refinery on Morak, and he offers to disguise himself as a tank trooper to get into the base. Fennec cannot accompany him because she is wanted by the ISB, Cara is unable to go because she is a New Republic marshal, and Fett is unable to go because the Imperials will recognize his face. Djarin goes with Mayfeld, also disguising himself as a tank trooper.
After Mayfeld and Djarin get the coordinates (albeit accidentally exposing themselves in the process), Fett extracts the pair from the base while Cara and Fennec cover him. Mayfeld, standing on the ramp of the Slave I, shoots a pile of rhydonium, which explodes, destroying the entire base. In exchange, Cara agrees to fake Mayfeld's death and sets him free. With the coordinates in hand, Fett, Djarin, Dune, and Shand depart, hoping to finally kill Gideon and take back Grogu.
Din and Boba recruit Bo-Katan Kryze and Koska Reeves to help them. Boba initially argues with Koska and Bo-Katan, leading him and Koska to briefly fight until Bo breaks them up. They then formulate their plan: Bo, Din, Koska, Cara, and Fennec will approach Gideon’s light cruiser in Dr. Pershing’s shuttle, while Boba will pretend to attack them in the Slave I. When the shuttle enters the cruiser after sending a fake distress call, it sends two TIEs to attack Boba. He quickly takes care of them and jumps to hyperspace as arranged.
Boba later picks up Fennec and travels to Jabba’s palace on Tatooine, which has been taken over by Jabba’s former majordomo Bib Fortuna, who also survived the battle at the Sarlacc pit. Fortuna, who is now extremely overweight, expresses his surprise at seeing Boba, saying he thought he was dead. Boba then kills Fortuna, throws his corpse off the throne, and takes his place on it with Fennec.
Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett
This series takes place in two different time periods: immediately after Return of the Jedi and sometime after the second season of The Mandalorian.
After being eaten by the Sarlacc, Boba wakes up and escapes from the pit by punching a hole in the creature's stomach and then burning his way out with his flamethrower. When he emerges, he discovers that the sail barge has been blown up and Jabba is dead. Boba faints from exhaustion, and a group of Jawas steals his armor while he is unconscious. He is then captured by a tribe of Tusken Raiders, who brutally beat him. An adolescent Tusken then takes him and another prisoner to dig for water without letting him have any. They instead encounter a giant six-legged reptile, which kills the other prisoner. Boba saves the young Tusken Raider by choking the reptile, whose head they bring back to camp as a trophy. The Tuskens allow Boba to stay and provide him with water as a show of gratitude.
Later, after being accepted as a friend by the Tuskens and training with them, a hovertrain run by the Pyke Syndicate attacks the tribe, killing several members. Boba leads the Tusken children to safety behind a dead bantha, and watches as the train passes. Afterwards, Boba, seeing several corrupt Nikto thugs on speeder bikes. Gaining permission to try and stop the train, Fett goes after the thugs and stops them when they attack two patrons named Camie and Fixer at a local cantina. After beating up or killing the Nikto gang, he steals their speeder bikes and then teaches the tuskens how to ride them, before leading the tribe in an assault on the train. After succeeding in disabling the train, Boba offers the Pykes their lives in exchange for paying tribute to the Tuskens, which the Pykes agree to after Fett directs them to Anchorhead and gives them water for their travels. After helping the tribe achieve this victory, the Tusken tribe's chief gives Fett a lizard that crawls up his nose and grants him mystical visions of oceans, sand, his time in the sarlacc, and a tree. When Fett returns to the tribe after wandering the desert during these visions, he gives them a piece of wood, which they use to help him craft his own gaderffi stick. Boba is also given black robes as a fully accepted member of the tribe and dances with them in celebration around the fire that night.
Following his and Fennec's takeover of Jabba's criminal empire, Boba is asked to meet with the mayor of Mos Espa. However, the meeting is interrupted when a group of bandits attacks him and Fennec, injuring Boba. Fennec then goes after the thugs by herself while Boba is put into a bacta tank back at the palace.
Boba interrogates the assassin brings back, dropping him into the rancor pit to make him talk. The assassin confesses that the mayor of Mos Espa hired him to kill Boba, not realizing the rancor pit is still empty from when Luke Skywalker killed the beast five years prior. Fett and Fennec then take the assassin to the mayor, who denies culpability, and kills the assassin before stating that the cantina owner Garsa Fwip is hiding more than she lets on. As he speaks to her, he is alerted to the arrival of Jabba's cousins, the twins. The twins and Boba have a standoff, as they have claimed Tatooine for their own, but Boba stakes his claim as the new Daimyo of the planet, Deciding that it would be bad for business to kill Boba, the twins decide to deal with him later, informing Fett that he should "sleep lightly".
Video games
Disney Infinity: 3.0 Edition
Boba Fett is a playable character in Disney Infinity 3.0.
Star Wars: Force Arena
Boba Fett is a playable character in Star Wars: Force Arena as a Legendary squad leader card.
Disney Parks
He is a meetable character during the Star Wars Weekends event at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
One of the possible final scenes in Star Tours: The Adventures Continue is being pursued through an asteroid field above Geonosis by Boba Fett in the Slave I, as well as Darth Vader, who chases the guests through the still-under-construction Death Star in orbit around the planet. Afterwards, Fett appears again, and fires a sonic bomb at the Starspeeder 1000, R2-D2 manages to deflect it by firing at the bomb and pushing it back to the Slave I, causing Fett to lose control of the ship, allowing the StarSpeeder and its passengers to make an escape.
Gallery
Trivia
- In Star Wars Legends, Boba is a full-fledged Mandalorian warrior who eventually becomes the ruler of Mandalore. In the Canon, however, it is shown that Boba disregards his Mandalorian heritage, and does not consider himself one. Because of this, fans have debated if Boba Fett is a Mandalorian or simply wears the armor, especially after his father was confirmed to be a Mandalorian foundling.
- Boba Fett's first appearance was not in The Empire Strikes Back, but rather in the maligned Star Wars Holiday Special, aired in 1978. He appeared as the main antagonist of a 10-minute animated segment in the program, although his film appearance differs greatly from how he appears in the Holiday Special, which is no longer considered canon due to the de-canonization of most of the Expanded Universe in 2014.
- The 1997-onwards rereleases of Return of the Jedi include several additional shots of Boba flirting with Jabba’s slave dancers.
- Jeremy Bulloch, Boba's actor, expressed interest in reprising his role of Boba in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. However, Boba ultimately did not appear in the film or in the rest of the sequel trilogy.
- Before Boba Fett was revealed to be alive in The Mandalorian series, Jonathan W. Rinzler had already confirmed that he survived the Sarlacc in 2014.[1]
- Boba also survived the Sarlacc in the Legends continuity, but in the canon continuity he was implied to be dead until The Mandalorian revealed otherwise.
- Although he is also a clone, Boba does not consider the Clone Troopers to be his brethren.
- It was revealed in Star Wars: The Bad Batch, that Boba isn't Jango's only unaltered clone. Besides him there is one other; a female clone named Omega. This series also revealed that Boba’s birth-name is actually Alpha.
- Boba’s relationship with the Empire differs in both the Canon and Legends continuities. In the Legends, Boba sided with the Empire out of sympathy for their ideology, while in the Canon, Boba merely worked for them for the sake of profit. This can be seen in episode 6 of The Mandalorian, where he has no issue killing Remnant Stormtroopers, where as in Legends, he was an occasional ally to them.
References
- ↑ "JonathanRinzler comments on Hi reddit, Jonathan Rinzler (Star Wars scholar and Lucasfilm historian) here. AMA!". Reddit.com (July 16, 2014).
External links
Boba Fett on Wookieepedia: The Star Wars Wiki
Boba Fett on StarWars.com (backup link on Archive.org)
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