Star Wars is one of the biggest and oldest legacies in Hollywood. It has spawned numerous movies, games and countless merchandise. After Dark Horse comics started publishing Star Wars comic books under their name, the legacy grew with startling revelations greeting us in every other issue. Then Marvel took over the license to publish Star Wars comic books from Dark Horse and they too have continued the trend. Last year, they upped the ante with so many twists reveal that we had to make a list about it. Presenting – 11 Greatest Star Wars twists we learned from Marvel Comics!!
1. The Emperor is Darth Vader’s father
Up until now, we thought that Darth Vader aka Anakin Skywalker was a product of the Force tapping a random woman and knocking her up. Darth Vader was considered to be the product of biology and divine forces joining hands, just like Baby Jesus. But it was in Darth Vader #125 that we came to know that the Emperor manipulated the force to make Shmi Skywalker conceive Anakin. It was the Emperor who made Darth Vader, not the Force.
2. Vader blames the Emperor for his wife’s death
The Dark Side provides a manipulator of the Force with various unnatural and godlike abilities. One of those powers allows a Sith to prevent death, in himself as well as in others. It would have given Anakin the ability to stop Padme from dying, which was one of the prime reasons he joined the Dark Side. Alas, Padme still passed away after Anakin became Vader but he did not blame himself for her demise. He blamed Darth Sidious and claimed he did not teach him how to stop the love of his life from passing on to the afterlife.
3. Vader’s castle was his attempt to bring back Padme
Darth Vader’s black castle in Mustafar was said to be a hot spot for Dark Side of the Force. It was so rich in Dark side energies that any Jedi within a light year of its radius could feel it. It was said that Vader built his castle on Mustafar because he wanted to become more powerful by conquering the Dark Side and unlock lost Sith secrets. But he actually built the castle to reunite with his wife. Under the castle there is a system of caves. Within the depths of those caves, there is a portal with the power to bend reality. Vader intended to use that portal to bring back Padme.
4. Luke had already battled with Vader before The Empire Strikes Back
In Star Wars #1 and #2, the iconic battle scene between Darth Vader and his son, Luke Skywalker, is given a new twist. The movies claim that it was in the Cloud City of The Empire Strikes Back that Luke encountered Darth Vader for the first time. Star Wars #1 and #2 reveal that Luke had already met Vader while on a mission to sabotage Imperial equipment along with Han and Leia after the Battle of Yavin. Vader easily defeated Luke then since he had no training but was curious to meet him again since he recognized his old light-saber in his hand.
5. Darth Vader came to know about Luke’s parentage from Boba Fett
After a force sensitive X-Wing pilot blew the Death Star, the Imperial superweapon that was supposed to crush the rebels and establish the Empire’s supremacy, Darth Vader tasked Boba Fett, the famous bounty hunter, to track the guy down. After torturing the citizens of Tatooine in Star Wars #4-#6, Boba Fett relayed the information regarding the identity of this mystery pilot: Skywalker. The name was enough to allow Darth Vader to realize who Luke really was.
6. Luke, Han and Leia hijacked an Imperial Star Destroyer
In Star Wars #22, we see that Luke, Leia and Han Solo successfully hijacked a Star Destroyer. They were trying to bring back necessary cargo to starving citizens of a ravaged world. They used the Millennium Falcon to attack The Harbinger at key nodes as a group of rebels snuck aboard as shock troops. Luke Skywalker boarded the ship from another end and removed the ship’s primary reactor core. The crew of the ship abandoned the vessel thinking that the ship is lost and the rebel crew managed to complete the mission by driving the Harbinger on its secondary reactor’s power.
7. Obi-Wan was no saint
In the Revenge of the Sith and in A New Hope, we see Obi-Wan as one of the down to earth saint-like figures that we see in the movies. In Star Wars #15 and #20, that myth was busted. Obi-Wan was not spending the remainder of his life on Tatooine wasting his time on keeping tabs on young Luke. He has done everything imaginable for a man of action. From battling Tusken Raider hordes to fighting a Wookie Bounty Hunter called Black Krrsantan, he has been around a lot.
8. Vader and Sidious never trusted each other
The movies show it quite clearly – Darth Vader would follow his Mater to his death. That changed when the guy had finally had enough of Darth Sidious’ evil schemes and pushed him down a reactor shaft. But to say that Vader trusted his master completely before that would be an overstatement. Such is the relationship between the Sith and the Apprentice that they are bound to scheme against each other. Sidious tried killing Vader by sending assassins after him as well as undermine in front of everyone. Darth Vader reciprocated by secretly looting Imperial treasuries and creating his own personal army of mercenaries.
9. Han Solo was a married man before he met Leia
Many would like to think that Han Solo was a prick and had a no f*ks to give attitude towards everybody and it was only after meeting Leia that he decided to change his ways. But the reality is starkly different. In 2015, Sana Solo debuted in the Star Wars comic books. Sana was the first wife of Han Solo and Leia drove into a fit of rage after she came to know that. Han later revealed that the “marriage” was only a scam that Sana and Han conjured up together to rip off of Crime Lord who had double-crossed them a while ago and Sana meant nothing to him.
10. The magnificent Doctor Aphra
Doctor Aphra is one of the best things to ever happen to the Star Wars Universe and we are pretty sure she is about to get her own featured series soon. Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra is an archaeologist, treasure hunter, inventor, scientist and the Galaxy’s foremost expert on the Force and its many intricacies. But it is the one thing she has that no material possession no matter how valuable can ever replace – Darth Vader’s respect. Aphra worked under Vader and did many recon missions to find Sith Relics on his behalf until she faked her death and escaped his clutches. Aphra believes that Vader knows she is alive but is not doing anything to retrieve her back.
11. The tale of how C3PO got his red arm
Why did the golden butler droid have the Red arm in Star Wars: The Force Awakens? It looks like there is a story behind it and boy is it heart-touching. In the comic books, it is revealed that C3PO got his arm from an Imperial droid called 0-MR1 or Omrie for short. The droid was being transported to a Resistance base for questioning when their ship crashed on a deserted planet. The two droids luckily survived and started discussing deep topics like droid mentality and spirituality and whether the side they were fighting for was the right one.
The droids were bickering at first, against each other every step of the way. The realized that the only way to get off this planet was by working together. They managed to survive long enough for help to arrive. Right before they are saved, they are attacked by a giant swamp creature that almost kills C3PO before Omrie sacrifices his life to save his new friend. C3Po also loses an arm during that struggle and salvages Omrie’s arm and uses it as a replacement, to honor his ally.
