Star Wars: New Darth Vader Comic Sees Return of Unexpected Phantom Menace Characters

While all nine films in the Skywalker Saga are meant to be consumed as a complete narrative, fans often define them by being part of the original trilogy, prequel trilogy, or sequel trilogy, and audiences all have their own favorite set of films. The fans who grew up with the original trilogy of films didn’t entirely accept the prequel trilogy, as they had aged enough that the kid-friendly adventures no longer appealed to them, despite their significance in Anakin Skywalker’s journey. The current Star Wars: Darth Vader comic book series has been uniting the events of the original trilogy with the prequel trilogy, which includes the latest issue bringing back some unexpected figures.

WARNING: Spoilers below for Star Wars: Darth Vader #4

The series takes place after the events of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Vader’s reveal to Luke that he was the burgeoning Jedi’s father, with the Sith Lord seeking answers for the death of Padmé, which already saw him reunite with the Queen’s former handmaiden Sabé. Vader’s arrival on Naboo also saw him confront Ric Olié, who fans might remember as the pilot who showed a young Anakin the controls to the Queen’s starship all those years ago in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Understandably, this reunion wasn’t entirely a welcome one, as Olié stood between Vader and Amidala’s tomb, but readers likely appreciated seeing what the character had been up to for all these years. The sequence also featured a number of Gungans and, while they didn’t identify themselves, we wouldn’t be surprised if any of them were characters who we had previously seen in the prequel films.

Olié wasn’t the only familiar face, as Vader’s arrival at Padmé’s tomb saw him confronting a number of other characters he had previously known well, replicating the experience he had when he first collided with Sabé in the book’s debut issue. Vader discovered four women, in addition to Sabé, protecting the tomb, as they revealed themselves to be the Queen’s former handmaidens, having pledged their lives to its protection in the years since her death.

Joining Sabé were Rabé, Eirtaé, Saché, and Dormé, with subsequent panels seeing the various scenes in which they appeared in the prequel films. This ignited unexpected emotions in Vader, as it saw him having to lash out against women who closely resembled Padmé, triggering what remnants of his humanity still existed.

With more issues to go in this storyline, we won’t be surprised if more prequel characters emerge to unite the events of the original and prequel trilogy timelines. Star Wars: Darth Vader #4 is on sale now.

Did you like seeing these characters show up? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!