The Secret History Of Han Solo And Darth Vader

Having Darth Vader as a father-in-law would be pretty rough. Han Solo had it extra rough because not only was he attempting to romance (or had romanced depending on where you are in the timeline) the Dark Lord’s only daughter, but he was also wanted by the Hutts and the Empire. He shot Vader out of the sky, or space rather, before Luke made the final fateful shot that blow up the Death Star. Vader had plenty of reasons to hate Han Solo, but a new issue of Marvel's Darth Vader comic series showed that they had more history than was initially revealed. This article contains SPOILERS for the Darth Vader comic series and more specifically Darth Vader #12.

In Darth Vader #12, we returned to Darth Vader after his encounter with Emperor Palpatine on Exegol, where he saw the beginning of what would eventually become the First Order. Beaten, broken, hanging on by spare parts, and filled with rage, Vader was once again put into “surgery” to be rebuilt. While "shut off", he was still able to dream and think. He may have wanted to turn his son to the Dark Side at one point, but now he only sought to destroy him. He pondered his son’s strengths and weaknesses, and thought about the best way to exploit his weaknesses. That was when he remembers Luke's friends. More importantly, he felt that the only reason Luke had been able to have any sort of success was because of his friends' assistance. That was when his mind was drawn to the pilot, Han Solo.

He remembered Solo shooting him before he could finish off Luke during the trench run on the Death Star. Naturally, this angered him greatly, and we wanted revenge. However, this was just the catalyst to help Vader realize that going after Han would weaken Luke. A flashback then showed us that Vader actually tracked down Han on Corellia. Vader almost caught and destroyed them on the planet, but Han and Chewbacca narrowly evaded Vader by blending in with other ships. Vader did learn who he was after though, and he learned that Han also had a bounty on his head by the Hutts which he could use to his advantage. Then we moved to the scene in Empire Strikes Back when Vader sent bounty hunters after Solo.

Vader then woke from his operation with a new plan brewing in his head. He sent Sith assassin Ochi of Bestoon after Solo. Ochi was sent to meet with Bokku the Hutt. Ochi informed Bokku that he would obtain custody of Solo, and presumably deliver him to Vader. Bokku did not initially take Ochi seriously, but table turned when he discovered Ochi's connection to the Dark Lord.

Darth Vader #12 was part of the Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters storyline. The miniseries would be a massive crossover of several Star Wars characters past and present, and revolve around Boba Fett’s journey to bring Solo back to Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine. From previous comic issues, we already knew that Solo’s body was stolen from the bounty hunter on his way back to Tatooine. The story would most likely follow his attempt to get him back. Based on this issue of Darth Vader it may actually be Vader who stole Solo from Fett. The War of the Bounty Hunters may also give us more of a look at the history between Solo and Vader that we have not seen before. Either way, it would definitely be interesting to see that journey since we know the destination.

Darth Vader #12 is available now. War of the Bounty Hunters event began with the release of War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha 1 on May 5, 2021.

Written By Alex Lenzini

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