15 Things 'Star Wars' Fans Probably Didn't Know About Boba Fett

In A New Hope, Darth Vader trails behind Luke Skywalker's X-wing during the Death Star trench run. He recognizes that "The Force is strong with this one," but they never have the chance to actually meet one another. Then, in The Empire Strikes Back, Vader lets Luke know that he's his son, and the story progresses from there. Did you ever wonder how Vader figured it all out? Some may have thought that he was able to sense their connection through the Force, but it was never confirmed in the movies.

Thankfully, the 2015 Marvel Comics run, Darth Vader, features a moment that lays it all out. Vader hires Boba Fett to learn the identity of the unknown Jedi who blew up the Death Star. Through his efforts, Boba Fett is only able to learn one thing: the last name. He informs Darth Vader, and it's immediately apparent to the Dark Lord of the Sith that he has a living son and that Palpatine lied to him about Padme's fate. From this point forward, Vader works to undermine his master, which results in his attempt to recruit Luke to the cause in that epic scene on Cloud City in Empire.

When George Lucas was writing the first Star Wars script, he had a lot of ideas. The original concept is very different from what was ultimately shot, but many of his ideas, the characters he wanted to use, and the themes made it into the movie. He envisioned the story as a trilogy epic (three film trilogies) when he was working through it all. That's what was ultimately made, but it didn't follow Lucas's initial plans.

Initially, he wanted Boba Fett to be the main antagonist of Return of the Jedi. He would have then put the Vader/Luke confrontation and parentage reveal in the subsequent trilogy. According to Lucasfilm's director of fan relations, Craig Miller, Lucas decided to do it differently when it finally came time to make the movie: "(Lucas) took what was planned for the third trilogy, which was the confrontation between Luke and Darth Vader and the battle with the Emperor, and that got squished down from three movies to one movie. And that became the plot of Jedi."

The idea of using Boba Fett as the main villain makes sense if you look at the events of the films. Boba Fett captured Han Solo, which necessitated a standoff of some sort to get him back. It would also explain why Boba Fett made appearances in The Star Wars Holiday Special and the San Anselmo County Fair in 1978. Lucas was building a buzz around the character. Ultimately, he went another way, but the buzz he created remains quite active more than 40 years later.

It's clear from the movies that Boba Fett has a working relationship with Jabba the Hutt, but it's unclear as to how long that relationship has been going on. In fact, very little is clear about their relationship, seeing as Boba essentially stands around Jabba without uttering a word in their appearances together. Fortunately, the expanded universe has stepped up to reveal just how close these two characters actually were in the franchise.

When Boba Fett was working his way up in the galaxy, he built a reputation for lethality that made him a prime candidate to work for Jabba. He quickly became Jabba's go-to bounty hunter, and they got so close, you might even call the two of them friends. When everyone was passed out from a night of partying in Jabba's Palace, it wasn't unusual for the two to share a bottle of Gardulla. He'd even wake up Max Rebo to play a sad song, which would establish the perfect setting for Jabba to tell his bounty hunter friend sad stories about his life.

When Boba Fett is introduced in Attack of the Clones, it's revealed that he is an unaltered clone of Jango Fett, and he was one of the conditions the bounty hunter made to the Kaminoans in agreeing to supply his genetic code. He is unaltered in that his maturation wasn't accelerated, his life expectancy wasn't shortened, and he wasn't given any behavioral modification. In every way that matters, Boba Fett is a duplicate copy of Jango Fett, but he doesn't see himself that way.

Granted, Boba knows exactly what he is, but he sees Jango not as the original version of himself - he sees him as his father. It was clear that Jango saw Boba as his son, and their identical genetic makeup wasn't an issue for either one of them. This was apparent during his time in the Clone Wars. The one thing he hated more than anything was being compared to the clone troopers. Granted, they all looked like him (and vice versa), but he saw himself as entirely different from them, and because he was unmodified, he wasn't wrong.

If you're a fan of Star Wars, there's a good chance you know that the whole look and feel of the franchise's design was created by conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie. The work he did outlined what the world of Star Wars looks like, but when it comes to Boba Fett, the design is credited to Joe Johnston. The famed director worked as a concept artist on both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and pretty much all of his design elements went into creating the character.

The original idea had Boba Fett in white so that he would look like the stormtroopers, but a more elite kind of warrior. This idea was ultimately scrapped, and Johnston tweaked the design by adding the colors seen in it today. Because of his work, Johnston is often called the "father of Boba Fett." While he may have gone on to direct numerous films, including Captain America: The First Avenger, his contributions regarding Boba Fett will always tie him to the Star Wars franchise. The white design has been featured in toys over the years, so Johnston's original concept has survived.

You probably already know that Star Wars toys are highly collectible, with some reaching values in the thousands of dollars. What you may not know is that there's a Boba Fett action figure that's one of the most valuable toys ever made, and it's widely considered to be the "Holy Grail" of Star Wars memorabilia. In 2019, that very toy sold at Hake's Auctions in York for a whopping $185,850, so you know it has to be rare, which it very much is.

The figure is so rare because there are less than 30 in existence, and it's a prototype. The 3.75-inch J-slot rocket-firing prototype never went into production. It was offered up as part of a rebate promotion, which could be found on the back of Kenner's Star Wars toys. Before the toy shipped to consumers, concerns were raised that the rocket-firing mechanism represented a choking hazard for children. That kept it off the shelves and in short supply. The toys that shipped kept the rocket as a solid piece without any firing function, so getting your hands on one of these is all but impossible.