Darth Vader Faces Off With An Unexpected Opponent
Spoilers Ahead for Darth Vader #13, Wars of the Bounty Hunters #3, and Star Wars #16
We have always thought Darth Vader was invincible. In the original trilogy, many try to go up against him only to fail. With the power of the Dark Side of the Force, he could easily overwhelm his opponents with sheer power. Recently in Darth Vader #13, we discovered that Darth Vader’s cybernetic parts making up his life supporting armor have a weakness that could be exploited. With a simple device (and a certain secret code), Darth Vader’s armor could be hacked and controlled by a device. With the device in his hand, IG-88 came close to forcing Darth Vader’s right limb holding the dangerous lightsaber very close to his neck. Only through sheer willpower was he able to reach through the Force and pull the device from the droid, saving his life at the last moment.
In the preview for the upcoming Star Wars #16, which comes out this week, we see an unexpected opponent fighting toe-to-toe with the Dark Lord of the Sith. It is not Luke, as the cover suggests. It is not any hidden Jedi or Sith. It is none other than Qi’Ra, Han Solo’s former paramour, and current leader of the Crimson Dawn syndicate.
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From Solo: A Star Wars Story, and previous comic issues in the Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters crossover event, we could see how cunning and capable Qi’Ra is. She had come a long way from one of the Corellian street gangs to become lieutenant of the Crimson Dawn. After Crimson Dawn leader Dryden Vos’s death at her hands in Solo, she took over as the face of Crimson Dawn. The end of Solo showed us that Maul was the actual hidden leader of Crimson Dawn. However, his fate is unknown in the current War of the Bounty Hunters miniseries. Could he still be pulling the strings from behind the scene or is Qi’Ra calling the shots now. With the carbonite-frozen Han Solo in her possession, she had called for underworld leaders around the galaxy to convene and bid on the infamous smuggler.
After threatening and forcing his way to gaining an invitation to this “Scoundrel’s Ball,” it appears Darth Vader will not let anyone stand in his way of getting his hands on Han Solo. The only person who dares to stand up to him is Qi’Ra. In the preview of War of the Bounty Hunters #3, her subordinate voices concern about Darth Vader’s presence at the auction. However, Qi’Ra does not seem concerned. She calmly comments “I know how to handle a Sith Lord.” What gives her such confidence to go up against one of the most feared men in the universe?
The action continues in Star Wars #16, with Qi’Ra crossing blades with Darth Vader. With what appears to be some sort of energy swords, or perhaps special vibroswords, she is able to parry and seems to hold her own against Vader’s aggressive lightsaber strikes. She is skilled enough to avoid getting cut down in the first blow. From Solo, we know that she receives training in the hand-to-hand combat art of Teras Kasi, which was created to fight Jedi. It appears Maul was a practitioner of this combat form, and taught it to Dryden Vos, who then passed down the knowledge to Qi’Ra. Furthermore, we saw Maul telling Qi’Ra at the end of the film that they would be working very closely together. Could she be Force-sensitive? Did Maul train her in the Sith ways? Solo did not reveal this information outright. Perhaps we will find out more about Qi’Ra and what has transpired with her and Crimson Dawn since the events of Solo.
The War of the Bounty Hunters storylines are finally converging together.
Both War of the Bounty Hunters #3 and Star Wars #16 are out August 18, 2021.
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Source(s): StarWars.com