Darth Vader Faces Deadliest 'Star Wars' Creature Yet
The Star Wars galaxy is full of a lot of monstrous creatures. The dianoga from the garbage smasher from the original film looks comparatively quaint compared to the gigantic exogorth (or "space slug") in the asteroid belt in The Empire Strikes Back. And as we come to find out in The Phantom Menace, "There's always a bigger fish." On television, we have seen the Godzilla-inspired Zillo Beast in The Clone Wars animated series and the sandworm-esque Krayt Dragon in The Mandalorian live-action series. And the creatures do not just remain in the onscreen media; they extend to other materials as well, such as the comics.
One such comic series that has been including unusual creatures is Greg Pak's Darth Vader comic series. Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, this series has recently brougt Vader to a point where he has had to be tested by his master Darth Sidious, who leaves him to survive all by himself on Mustafar as he is assailed by assassin Ochi of Bestoon and his forces. While on Mustafar, Vader encounters the Eye of Webbish Bog, which looks like a spider on top of a giant's head. But that monstrous creatures do not end there.
After obtaining a Sith wayfinder, Vader uses it to navigate himself (with Ochi in tow) to the Sith world of Exegol so that he may uncover more of his master's secrets. However, the ninth issue of the comic series ends with him coming face to face with a giant squid-like creature in space known as a Red Horror. This Cthulu-esque creature may even remind fans of the tentacled summa-verminoth that Han Solo and company encountered near a black hole while trying to do the Kessel Run. Imagine flying casually through space and then having to deal with this, a deadly predator that is the stuff of nightmares, with its giant eye and tentacles.
Of course, given that Vader has to survive to be present for his redemption by his son Luke Skywalker, we know that he will make it out of this encounter alive. So will Ochi, for that matter, given that he is still around prior to the sequel trilogy. Still, it might end up being a wild ride seeing how Vader defeats or evades this creature. Perhaps he can lure it toward a black hole the same way that Han Solo did with the summa-verminoth. Or maybe Greg Pak has come up with another creative way for the Dark Lord of the Sith to defeat this creature.
What fans may be more curious about, however, is whether or not Vader ends up arriving on Exegol, and how much he finds out if that ends up being the case. Knowledge that Sidious can clone himself is a very huge deal, and something one would think he would have mentioned to his son even in his dying moments. While fans want answers to the stuff that's been going on over on Exegol, there is still potential for Vader's quest to add some headscratchers to the overall lore of the franchise. We will just have to wait and see how this storyline is handled as it progresses, and then make our own judgments as it plays out on the pages. People have been very satisfied with Marvel's comics that have been focused on Darth Vader, so hopefully what comes next does not disappoint.
The next issue of Greg Pak's Darth Vader comic series is currently slated to be released on Wednesday, February 10.
Source(s): Screen Rant