Star Wars is celebrating The Force Awakens’ 10th anniversary with an unlikely retcon that doesn’t quite work. There’s always been a sense in which coincidence and good luck were written into the Star Wars franchise, explained away as the will of the Force. That’s certainly the case with the opening scenes of The Force Awakens, which see the sequel trilogy’s heroes find one another with impressive speed. Even more impressively, straying from TIE fighters meant Rey, Finn, and BB-8 took refuge in the most iconic ship of all, the Millennium Falcon.
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The Force Awakens swiftly revealed that Han Solo had lost the Falcon years ago, under mysterious circumstances that still haven’t been fully explained – even now, a decade later. Some of those questions are finally being answered in Rodney Barnes, Guru-eFX, and Ramon Rosanas’ Star Wars: Hunt for the Falcon. Oddly, the recently-released third issue of this miniseries establishes a retcon that just doesn’t quite work.
Han Solo Traced the Falcon To Jakku
In The Force Awakens, Han Solo has absolutely no idea where the Falcon has been all this time. Nor does he know who stole it; he listens to Rey’s account of the ship’s history as though its new information, even if he does clearly know Jakku. He’s even familiar with both Niima Outpost and Unkar Plutt, which makes sense given how well-travelled Han is. (That said, it’s actually quite amusing that Rey knows the Millennium Falcon’s full history, telling Han that Plutt stole it from the Irving Boys, who stole it from Ducain.)
The Hunt for the Falcon tells a very different story, though. Set years before The Force Awakens, it reveals that Han did a great job of tracing his beloved ship. In fact, he and Chewbacca even made their way to Jakku, and the issue ends with them confronting Unkar Plutt himself. It’s all rather odd, fitting quite poorly with the movie itself.
There’s No Way To Fix This New Plot Hole
This can perhaps be explained away as Han bluffing to Rey, a perfect stranger, to see if her story makes sense. The problem, though, is that Han has no real reason to make such a bluff, and his specific dialogue with Chewbacca – who isn’t in the least bit confused – doesn’t support this interpretation. “Told ya we should’ve double-checked the Western Reaches,” Han snarks to Chewie, a comment that certainly doesn’t imply the two of them wound up on Jakku itself.
As continuity gaffes go, this is a very strange one. Recent Star Wars comics haven’t always handled continuity well (Marvel’s “Battle of Jakku” event contradicted the books that supposedly inspired it), but it’s certainly unusual to see a tie-in comic actually contradict the movies themselves. Only time will tell whether The Hunt for the Falcon #4 finds a smart fix.
Star Wars: The Hunt for the Falcon #3 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.
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