Star Wars Is Making One of Its Deadliest Bounty Hunters Canon Again

Durge, one of Star Wars‘ most fearsome bounty hunters, is entering the new Star Wars canon in June. Durge’s returns in Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #11, part of the Boba Fett-focused War of the Bounty Hunters crossover event (and one of the Star Wars comics receiving a Pride Month variant). Lucasfilm created Durge for the Clone Wars multimedia event in 2003. He first appeared in the Star Wars: Republic comic book series and later in Genndy Tartakovsky’s original Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon (which becomes available to stream on Disney+ in April). The Bounty Hunter proved more than capable of going toe-to-toe with entires squads of Jedi knights.

We don’t know Durge’s new backstory. His appearance here, between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (the era that Doctor Aphra and the other current Star Wars comics, besides The High Republic, take place), already suggests changes from his previous story, as Anakin Skywalker killed Durge towards the end of the Clone Wars. With every major bounty hunter in the galaxy vying for the ultimate prize, the carbonite-encased Han Solo, it’s appropriate for Durge to make his new canon debut.

In the previous canon, Durge worked with Asajj Ventress on behalf of Count Dooku to keep the Jedi from winning the Clone Wars easily. Durge’s body was enhanced by his armor, which encased a form that was all-nerves. He proved incredibly difficult to defeat or disable with no central nervous system and had been around long enough to have experience fighting Jedi.

Charles Soule, the writer of the current Star Wars ongoing series, is the primary architect of the War of the Bounty Hunters event, which spills into all of Marvel’s current series besides The High Republic. Announcing the series, Soule said, “Boba Fett clearly doesn’t take Han Solo directly to Jabba’s palace. Something had to happen in between that intervening time between Empire and Jedi. And I was like, ‘I would like to tell that story, and I would like it to be about Boba Fett and what happens to him.”

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #11 goes on sale in June.

• Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #11
• Written by ALYSSA WONG
• Art by MINKYU JUNG
• COVER BY SARA PICHELLI
• MYSTERIES ABOUND ABOARD A DURGE-ANGED SHIP!
• DOCTOR APHRA and SANA STARROS discover an eerie abandoned ship while on a new mission from DOMINA TAGGE.
• But on board they will come face-to-face with a nightmarish horror not seen in the galaxy for untold eons.
• And then there’s….THE FEARSOME BOUNTY HUNTER DURGE!