Top 5 Pilots In 'Star Wars'
"I can fly anything"
-Poe Dameron (The Force Awakens)
One of the elements that make Stars Wars fun and exciting are the epic spaceship dogfights and the pilots involved. Throughout the course of the Star Wars franchise, there have been many characters whom have demonstrated amazing piloting abilities and have achieved major victories for both sides involved in the conflicts. Presented in no particular order, here are the top five pilots in Star Wars, with an honorable mention.
1. Poe Dameron:
Poe is the latest hotshot star fighter pilot introduced in Star Wars. In The Force Awakens, Poe, aided by defecting stormtrooper, FN-2187, renamed Finn, piloted a TIE Fighter back to Jakku. He also defended Takodana against a First Order raid, and, more importantly, scored a stunning victory for the Resistance by destroying Starkiller Base. He also led a Resistance squadron to victory against a First Order dreadnought at the start of The Last Jedi. He managed to single-handedly take out its surface turbolasers in his souped-up X-Wing, allowing the Resistance bombers to advance against the dreadnought and deliver their payload. In The Rise of Skywalker, Poe uses "lightspeed skipping" in the Falcon to help evade the First Order and get critical intelligence back to the Resistance. He also led the Resistance fleet, composed of civilains, to victory on Exegol.
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2. Luke Skywalker:
Although Luke's journey as a Jedi was, arguably, a more important part of his overall character, nobody can deny his role in making the one-in-a-million shot that destroyed the first Death Star in A New Hope. He went on to lead the snow speeder attack against Imperial walkers during the Battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back and came up with the brilliantly unorthodox strategy of using tow cables to "trip" the walkers. The Rebel counter-attack was ultimately unsuccessful in stopping the Imperial advance and preventing the destruction of the shield generator, however, it did enable Rebel forces the necessary time to successfully evacuate Hoth.
3. Han Solo:
Han Solo is known for many things throughout the Star Wars franchise, not the least of which is as having pulled off the amazing feat of making the Kessel Run in less than 10 parsecs. This feat, which was his main bragging point to Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope and even spoken of as a legend in The Force Awakens, was dramatically brought to life in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Most are more familiar with his exploits in A New Hope, when, instead of abandoning the Rebellion, he showed up at the Death Star at a crucial moment at the end of the film to save Luke from Vader and gave him the chance to make his crucial shot at the Death Star's main reactor. He also beat C-3P0's odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field in order to escape the Empire in The Empire Strikes Back. Furthermore, he also later fooled the Empire into thinking that the Falcon disappeared after coming out of the asteroid field by attaching it to a Star Destroyer. In The Force Awakens, Han came up with a plan to successfully penetrate Starkiller Base's shield in the Falcon, so that they could allow the Resistance to attack the base.
4. Hera Syndulla:
Although not featured in any of the movies, aside from a glimpse of her ship, The Ghost, in Rogue One Hera Syndulla was one of the most talented pilots for the Rebellion during the Galactic Civil War, as featured throughout Star Wars Rebels. Hera's piloting skills often made the difference between success and failure during her missions for the Rebel Alliance. Most notably, she had the honor and privilege to help test-pilot the newly-developed Blade Wing (B-Wing) Fighter, which helped the Rebel Alliance break through an Imperial blockade.
5. Wedge Antilles:
Although mainly a supporting character, Wedge has the distinction of infiltrating the superstructure of the second Death Star with Lando Calrissian, and blowing up its main reactor. Although he is mostly absent from the Sequel Trilogy, he does show up in the Expanded Universe and in The Rise of Skywalker, manning the guns of the Millennium Falcon during the Battle of Exegol.
Honorable Mention: Jango Fett/Boba Fett:
While neither Jango nor Boba are particularly known for their piloting abilities, they are both expert pilots, and have a ship, Slave I, with a number of deadly tricks up its sleeve. In Attack of the Clones, which introduced Jango Fett and a younger Boba, Jango evaded Jedi Knight Obi-Wan's pursuit from Kamino through an asteroid field surrounding Geonosis.
In The Empire Strikes Back, a much older Boba Fett managed to locate the Falcon, which was cleverly hidden among garbage jettisoned by a Star Destroyer, and clandestinely tailed it to Bespin. In The Mandalorian, when Boba Fett is re-introduced after escaping the sarlacc pit, he pledged to help Din rescue Din's Force-sensitive child, Grogu, from the Empire. Boba helped with extracting Din and his team from an Imperial facility and helped Din and his team capture an Imperial scientist with ties to the Empire. With The Book of Boba Fett currently streaming on D+, we may get even more examples of Boba's expert piloting skills, if he ever leaves Tatooine, that is.
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