An epic battle of WWE proportions has just broken out between some of the major players of the Star Wars Original Trilogy era. The “War of the Bounty Hunters” crossover event continues to unfold in Marvel’s Star Wars comics, and issue #3 sees several duels break out between key Star Wars figures, including Boba Fett and Chewbacca throwing down, and Solo‘s Qi’ra crossing blades with Darth Vader himself. When it comes to Star Wars fan service, few battles have delivered on the scale of War of the Bounty Hunters #3, and the fight is still heating up (literally in some cases)!
Videos by ComicBook.com
Warning: Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #3 SPOILERS Follow!
The “War of the Bounty Hunters” crossover has hinged on the chaos caused by Crimson Dawn and its leader Lady Qi’ra stealing Han Solo’s Carbonite prison from Boba Fett, en route to Jabba the Hutt’s palace. To be even bolder, Crimson Dawn held an auction for Solo’s Carbonite prison and invited everyone from the Hutt Clan to the Empire to every criminal syndicate and high-rolling scumbag in between to come bid on Solo. Not surprisingly, things ultimately boil over.
Darth Vader crashes Crimson Dawn’s auction after learning about Solo being the prize; Vader wants Solo to draw out Luke Skywalker and his rebel friends, to finish them off once and for all. However, Lady Qi’ra isn’t ready to let Vader just come in and bully his way to Crimson Dawn’s prize; after all, Qi’ra has had her own experience dealing with Sith Lords (or rather, former Sith Lords) after working for Maul. To prove Crimson Dawn’s might, Qi’ra takes on Vader in a duel!
Meanwhile, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian have all snuck into the auction, only to run across Boba Fett in the rafters, also scoping out the situation between Vader and Qi’ra. Naturally, Leia’s crew and Boba have some fresh tension since the bounty hunter just grabbed Han. Chewbacca feels particularly raw about it – enough to try and rip Boba Fett’s head off.
As Lando points out to Leia, the key factor in the fight between Chewie and Fett is that they can’t use blasters, on fear of alerting Vader to their presence. It’s hand-to-hand combat, so Lando gives his blessing in the form of saying “Beat his ass, Chewbacca.” For a while, Chewie has the upper hand (quite literally), but the Wookie underestimates Boba Fett’s experience killing Wookies: the savage bounty hunter catches Chewie with his flame-thrower and nearly cooks the Wookie. The battle makes it clear just how real the beef was between the rebel crew and Fett by the time Return of the Jedi went down.
As for Qi’ra: it’s clear in her duel that she’s come a long way in her Teras Kasi – but as Vader quickly demonstrates, martial arts and swordplay don’t mean anything against the Force. The only thing that saves Qi’ra from a horrific death is the arrival of Luke Skywalker – the one person who immediately commands Darth Vader’s attention.
Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters is now unfolding in Marvel Comics.
