'Star Wars' Reveals Return Of MAJOR Character From 'Solo'

Exactly 25 years after the multimedia project Shadows of the Empire showed the struggle of Boba Fett to deliver the carbonite frozen Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt, current Star Wars canon is telling that story again. Beginning in May and running until October 2021, Marvel comics will deliver a story arc, comprising no less than 34 issues that will be marketed under the banner of War of the Bounty Hunters.

This biggest crossover project in Star Wars history will intertwine the storylines of all current titles that take place in the timeframe between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi - the main series Star Wars, as well as Darth Vader, Doctor Aphra and Bounty Hunters. Boba Fett’s story will be told in a 6-part miniseries called War of the Bounty Hunters, written by Charles Soule (who is more and more taking a Dave Filoni-like role for Star Wars publishing) and illustrated by Luke Ross.

The so-called Alpha issue published in May forced Boba Fett to make an unplanned stop with his precious bounty on the smuggler’s moon of Nar Shaddaa, as the carbonite had started to disintegrate, threatening Solo’s life. A Besalisk called Doc Ragon offered to fix this problem, but when Fett returned to pick up Solo, he found Ragon murdered and the carbonite block stolen.

The Alpha issue doesn’t reveal who took Solo, and the list of suspects was long, as there are a number of other bounty hunters eager to deliver the captured smuggler to Jabba first, while Darth Vader's searching for Solo to use him as a leverage against Luke Skywalker, and the young Jedi himself and Chewbacca are trying to find their friend, before he disappears in Jabba’s palace.

Issue 1 of War of the Bounty Hunters still leaves this question open until the very last panels, finally revealing a reunion of a special kind: The frozen Han Solo has been taken by Crimson Dawn, and it seems that its current leader is no other than Qi’ra, who seemingly tries to sell her former boyfriend to the highest bidder.

Han Solo’s childhood friend and later love interest was last seen at the end of Solo: A Star Wars Story. Already back then, 10 years before the Battle of Yavin, she was a member of Crimson Dawn. After she killed her boss Dryden Vos and helped Solo escape, she was contacted by Maul, the true leader of the crime syndicate, ordering her to come to Dathomir, where she and the former Sith would be “working much more closely from now on.”

When Maul was killed by Obi-Wan two years before the events of A New Hope, Crimson Dawn seemingly vanished, but Qi’ra somehow managed to take control over the syndicate.

Before the release of Solo, there were rumors that Disney had plans to continue the adventures of Han and Qi’ra in future feature films, as Alden Ehrenreich had reportedly signed a contract for three movies for Lucasfilm, but after the disappointing box office performance of Solo, these plans seem to have been shelved.

But the hashtag #MakeSolo2Happen is still going strong on social media, as fans try to persuade the Mouse house to commit to a sequel either for the big screen or at least for Disney+.

Qi’ra’s reappearance in comic form is surely not what these fans are hoping for, and it seems very doubtful that she and Han will get in personal contact in War of the Bounty Hunters, as she wouldn’t dare to unfreeze him, risking his escape and the loss of a lot of credits.

It remains to be seen how much of her backstory after the end of Solo will be told in future issues of War of the Bounty Hunters, but a time period of 13 to 14 years definitely leaves enough room for further stories, be it in form of further comics, books, or maybe even a film or a miniseries for Disney+. So, maybe this comic is a kind of testing ground for how much interest there actually is for the adventures of Qi’ra and her role within Crimson Dawn.

Written By Gerald Petschk

Source(s): ComicBook.com

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