You know Boba Fett as an original "Star Wars" trilogy villain,
but did you know he could actually get worse? From planting bombs to almost killing a baby,
these are the worst things Boba Fett has ever done.
In his first canonical appearance after "Attack of the Clones," Boba Fett pursued
a quest of vengeance against Mace Windu, the Jedi responsible for beheading his father, Jango Fett.
This plot unfolded in the second season of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" during the episode "Death
Trap." In the episode, a young Fett takes on the identity of a clone trooper named Lucky.
With this disguise, he's able to infiltrate Mace Windu's quarters and place a motion-activated bomb
in his room, all in the hopes of murdering the Jedi and finally getting revenge for his dad.
While Fett is successful in both planting and setting off the bomb,
it doesn't end up killing his intended target. An innocent clone trooper is instead slaughtered
after inadvertently setting the bomb off. But in the wake of this unintentional killing,
Fett doesn't give up on his plans for vengeance. Though he's initially reluctant,
he decides to attack the reactor core of a Republic Star Destroyer. If it works,
it's a plan that wouldn't just kill Windu, but also everyone else on board.
Through his bombing plan and subsequent unsuccessful attack on the reactor core,
it's clear that Fett is seriously grappling with the loss of his father by inflicting more pain
on others. And it's also apparent that he's more than willing to kill anyone who gets in
the way of his target. He may still be a kid, but Fett's already brutal beyond his years.
A few seasons after his first appearance in "The Clone Wars," Fett returned, a little older but
still just as dangerous. In season 4's "Bounty," Fett had become an even more hardened soul thanks
to an extended prison sentence. No longer just seeking revenge for his father, Fett was
inching close to his portrayal in "The Empire Strikes Back" by making a living as a bounty
hunter. To pursue this goal, Fett partnered with a squad of fellow hunters, got a mask to
conceal his identity, and took a job delivering a large chest to the powerful ruler Otua Blank.
While on his delivery mission, it was revealed that the chest didn't contain jewels or weapons,
but instead held a young woman named Pluma Sodi who was being sent to Blank as a forced bride.
When Dark Side Force user Asajj Ventress, who'd briefly joined Fett's crew for this assignment,
realized what their true cargo was, she hesitated. But while the former Sith apprentice had a crisis
of conscience, Fett demonstrated his growing darkness by remaining firmly committed to the task
at hand. In Fett's previous "Clone Wars" story, he seemed uncertain about hurting innocent people,
but this time Pluma Sodi's suffering fell on deaf ears. Fett's ruthlessness sometimes manifests
in shooting adversaries, and other times, it emerges in ignoring the cries of the helpless.
While it may seem like "The Empire Strikes Back" was the first instance of Boba Fett
and Darth Vader crossing paths, media outside of the movies has made it apparent that the
two characters met before. One such encounter came in Marvel's 2015 "Star Wars" comic series,
which saw Boba Fett being hired by Darth Vader to track down a figure who'd worked alongside
Obi-Wan Kenobi during the events of "A New Hope." Now on the hunt for his bounty,
Fett was willing to achieve his goal by any means necessary ... including murder.
While trying to track down his target, Fett encountered a number of people,
including Rodians and a group of moisture farmers that he interrogated for information.
Once they told him what he needed to know, they weren't released back to their humdrum lives,
but instead were promptly killed by Fett. This approach even extended to an unnamed farmer at
the Mos Eisley Cantina who, after being viciously interrogated, dropped a bombshell revelation to
Fett that the man he was looking for was named Luke Skywalker. In one of his earliest missions
for Darth Vader, Fett was on a hot pursuit that left a long trail of corpses behind.
While many were introduced to Boba Fett through "The Empire Strikes Back," it wasn't
the first appearance of the character. Fett actually made his debut in one of
the most infamous pieces of "Star Wars" media – "The Star Wars Holiday Special."
In between scenes featuring Harvey Korman as a cooking show host and Bea Arthur crooning,
there was an animated segment entitled "The Story of the Faithful Wookiee."
In this short story, Boba Fett arrives as a newly introduced character riding
a dinosaur-esque creature. He seems to want to help Luke Skywalker and friends on their
mission to retrieve a mystical object that serves as the plot's MacGuffin.
Though Fett initially acts as a helpful figure, it's later revealed that he's no
ally. R2-D2 ends up discovering that Fett is communicating with Darth Vader so that he can
reveal the location of the Rebels to the villain. This deception doesn't last long. Eventually,
R2 communicates this news to the rest of the crew, which prompts anger from Han
Solo and forces Boba Fett to scurry away — but not before vowing vengeance on the
team. The animated adventure doesn't show us Boba Fett at his most grisly,
but it does show him as a duplicitous, self-serving being right from the start.
In "The Empire Strikes Back," Darth Vader is a man on a mission. He's been chasing
after Luke Skywalker and company for quite a while, but the good guys keep dodging him.
So the villain decides to hire a little extra help, sending out a call for a crew of bounty
hunters. Among those answering the call are ruffians like Dengar, Bossk, and of course,
Boba Fett in his first live-action appearance. He isn't even on screen for a full minute
before Vader turns to Fett and orders him to refrain from disintegrating his quarry.
Fett lives up to this reputation throughout the rest of the movie as he slickly tracks
an unwitting Han Solo through space. The bounty hunter doesn't even blink at his mission here.
His only moment of real hesitation comes when he thinks Solo might be killed in the carbonite
freezing process. This isn't because he's worried the process is too cruel. Instead, his only
concern is how it'll impact his finances, since Jabba the Hutt would like Solo to arrive alive.
Fett's inclination to put money over people and his ability to keep a cool
head are both exemplified throughout his mission in "The Empire Strikes Back."
Everyone loves Grogu. That little guy formerly known to fans as Baby Yoda has
quickly become one of the most beloved "Star Wars" characters of all time.
"Stop touching things"
In the process of spawning memes all over the internet, he's also helped put "The Mandalorian"
on the map. And only 14 episodes into the show's run, audiences had become totally captivated by
Grogu ... which made him the perfect target to emphasize the cold-hearted nature of Boba Fett.
When Fett first meets Din Djarin,
the lead character of "The Mandalorian," he's not there purely to shed more blood.
Fett, having emerged from the Sarlacc pit, wants to get his Mandalorian armor back.
"I don't want your armor. I want my armor."
To instill some leverage into the scenario, Fett remarks that he's got an ally,
Fennec Shand, poised with a sniper rifle nearby. While Djarin notes that his armor would protect
him from any sniper blast, Fett clarifies that Djarin wouldn't be Shand's target.
Instead, at Fett's signal, the sniper would shoot and kill Grogu,
who's busy meditating so that he can call out for any other Jedi in the galaxy.
By the time this episode aired, Boba Fett had existed in pop culture for over four decades,
and his ruthless reputation was well-known. But by threatening to kill a beloved character like
Grogu, Fett's cold-hearted nature was taken to a whole other level
and established for a whole new generation of "Star Wars" fans.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Looper videos about “Star Wars”
are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.