A Familiar Face Made An Appearance In 'War of the Bounty Hunters'
The second season of The Mandalorian marked the return of a popular character to the screen. We last saw him chronologically in Return of the Jedi when he fell into the sarlacc pit. How many of us cheered when the Slave I streaked across the clear sky in “Chapter 14: The Tragedy?” When the season finale of The Mandalorian aired back in December 2020, announcing the new spin-off The Book of Boba Fett, we could not wait to see more adventures of Boba Fett. In The Clone Wars television series, he was a mere adolescent learning about the world. In The Book of Boba Fett, he would be older, and more mature, and most likely have a different outlook on life after the time spent inside the Sarlaac. The adventures of Boba Fett at the height of his bounty hunter career were chronicled in Legends novels. However, what happened after his custody of Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back? The crossover event Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters hoped to write that story into canon.
Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters is a canon comic book series reaching across different Star Wars comic book series published by Marvel. Each series will portray the events happening simultaneously from different points of view. Thus far, the released comic books revealed that Boba Fett did not make his way back to Jabba the Hutt directly after leaving Bespin.
Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunter crossover event.
May 5, 2021 saw the release of War of the Bounty Hunters: Alpha #1, introducing the story to be chronicled. Prelude issues from other comic series have since been released, and last week we got War of the Bounty Hunters #1. Someone had stolen the carbonite frozen Han Solo from Boba Fett. Jabba the Hutt, believing that the bounty hunter had double crossed him, put out an open bounty on Fett. Now every bounty hunter in the galaxy, big and small, are after him, hoping to claim the massive reward, and also earn the favor of the notorious crime lord.
Boba Fett returned to Tatooine to confront Jabba. However, Jabba was elsewhere. Persuaded by Fett’s firepower, the majordomo Bib Fortuna showed Fett a hologram that the Hutt received earlier of a cloaked figure revealing that Han Solo was in their possession, and inviting the various crime lords to witness “the return of Crimson Dawn.”
When was the last time we heard of the Crimson Dawn? The criminal organization was active during the waning days of the Republic into the rise of the Empire. We do not know too much about the Crimson Dawn other than it was controlled by Maul from the shadows. It was last showcased in the movie Solo: A Star Wars Story.
“Han Solo unites the galaxy....They all love him, hate him, need him, owe him or are owed by him.”
What does Crimson Dawn want with a mere “smuggler with a terrible reputation?” At the end of War of the Bounty Hunters #1, we discovered that the mysterious cloaked figure in the hologram was none other than his former paramour Qi’ra.
We last saw Qi’ra on her way to presumably take control of Crimson Dawn at the end of Solo. With this revelation, we now know that Qi’ra is still alive more than a decade later. Perhaps the War of the Bounty Hunters event will elaborate more on her story. We had seen her manipulating her previous relationship with Han before. Even though he's currently incapacitated, we have no doubt that she would take advantage of his current situation.
While this author enjoyed Solo: A Star Wars Story, the movie tanked in the box office despite positive responses from critics and fans. Its dismal performance made a sequel very unlikely. However, back in May 2019 (even before release of The Rise of Skywalker), writer of Solo Jon Kasdan seemingly teased a three-way war between Crimson Dawn, the Hutt Cartel, and the Pyke Syndicate.
While Jon Kasdan does not appear to be involved with War of the Bounty Hunters, we know from the tweet that there are unraveled threads and storylines to be explored. Crimson Dawn, and the Hutts already made an appearance in War of the Bounty Hunters. Perhaps the Pyke Syndicate would join in later. Star Wars is known for exploring seemingly insignificant events affect the galaxy. Creators would not let such storytelling opportunities go to waste.
Are you interested in following the story of Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters while you wait for The Book of Boba Fett? The series begins with War of the Bounty Hunters: Alpha #1. Fantha Tracks have also laid out the reading order across the multiple comic series.