All 10 Major Boba Fett Retcons & Changes Star Wars Has Made Since His Return 4 Years Ago

Boba Fett was once one of the most mysterious figures in all of Star Wars, but his backstory has since been fleshed out, and the new details also changed several parts of his character. Boba Fett has long been known as one of the best bounty hunters in Star Wars, ever since his first introduction to the galaxy far, far away. Since then, Boba has had major differences in canon and Legends, but recently, even his canonical appearances have changed.

The enigmatic bounty hunter was first canonically introduced in The Empire Strikes Back when he was hired by Darth Vader to hunt down the Millennium Falcon. As soon as he was inserted into the Star Wars movies, Boba became a fan-favorite due to his mysterious nature, incredible armor, and terrifying efficiency in bounty hunting. However, not every part of Boba’s original character design has survived to the present day, and he’s experienced 10 major changes in just the past 4 years alone.

10
Boba Fett Survived The Sarlacc Pit

Fate sometimes steps in to rescue the wretched

The biggest retcon Boba Fett has experienced brought him back from the dead. In Return of the Jedi, Boba was working for Jabba the Hutt when Luke Skywalker and his friends came to rescue Han Solo. During their assault on Jabba’s luxury sail barge, Boba fell into a sarlacc pit after his jetpack was damaged by Han Solo. He was presumed dead, eaten by the sarlacc, with his body left to be digested in its intenstines.

For years, that was the way the legendary bounty hunter died, until his gloved hand reached out of the sand in The Book of Boba Fett. It turned out that Boba had survived for a few days inside the sarlacc pit, and he was able to claw his way out. His survival may have been miraculous, but it was also well earned, as Boba received extensive injuries due to the sarlacc. His injuries required him to consistently spend time in a bacta tank to recover his strength, which also gave him time to reevaluate his storied past.

9
Boba’s Helmet Dent Got A Canon Explanation

An early duel with Cad Bane nearly cost Boba his life

One of the most interesting parts of Boba’s Beskar armor is the prominent dent on the top of his helmet. Since Beskar is strong enough to block a lightsaber, only something hugely powerful could have made such a large dent on his helmet. His helmet’s dent was a source of speculation about Boba’s backstory for years, but there wasn’t a truly canon answer to what caused it until The Book of Boba Fett.

The origin of the helmet’s dent was nearly depicted in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but the story arc that scene was part of, along with several other unaired Clone Wars arcs, were scrapped when Disney canceled the show in 2013. In that unaired arc, Cad Bane dented Boba’s helmet during a duel, but its status in canon, coming from a deleted scene, was dubious at best. The Book of Boba Fett canonized the origin of Boba’s helmet dent by showing a metal plate on Bane’s head that he had installed to fix injuries he sustained during their duel.

8
Boba Doesn’t Work Alone Anymore

He learned to rely on others and ask for help

For years during his prolific bounty hunting career, Boba Fett worked alone. While he had teamed up with other bounty hunters like Aurra Sing and Bossk in the past, that was when Boba was still a child and mostly due to his inexperience in bounty hunting. As an adult, Boba almost always worked by himself. As one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy, he didn’t need any help on his missions, and working alone limited how much trust he had to place in colleagues who were likely to stab him in the back.

That fact changed in The Mandalorian, though, as Boba enlisted the help of Fennec Shand to reclaim his armor and take over Mos Espa. That alliance started off as a necessity, as Boba was left weakened by his time in the sarlacc pit, but it soon grew into an amicable partnership. Boba also learned how to work with several allies, like Din Djarin, and he saw the benefit of having friends and a tribe to call his own.

7
Boba Didn’t Originally Inherit A Mandalorian Identity

Despite the armor, Jango wasn’t a Mandalorian at first

Long before The Mandalorian brought the heavily armored warriors to the forefront of Star Wars, Mandalorians were an incredibly complicated topic, with aspects of the culture and its people switching between varying states of canon constantly. Boba Fett and his father, Jango, were the only live-action example of Mandalorians, but they weren’t officially members. In The Clone Wars, the Mandalorian prime minister, Almec, outright disavowed Jango and established that he was not a Mandalorian.

For years, Jango, and by extension Boba, were just regular bounty hunters who had found or stolen pieces of Beskar armor. Then, in The Mandalorian, that history was reversed. As Boba himself told Din Djarin, Jango had in fact been a Mandalorian foundling, which granted him membership to the culture, and that they had gifted him his armor. His father’s heritage made Boba a Mandalorian by blood, though he refused to subscribe to the Way of the Mandalore, the traditional Mandalorian religion Din followed.

6
Boba Isn’t The Only Perfect Clone Of Jango Fett Anymore

The Bad Batch introduced Omega, Boba’s twin sister

When Jango agreed to be the genetic template for the Republic’s clone army, he only had one special request for compensation, in addition to credits. Jango wanted an unaltered clone of himself to call son, so the Kaminoans gave him Boba. Where other clones were genetically modified for combat and obedience, Boba was, for a long time, the only exact copy of Jango.

Unbeknownst to both Jango and Boba, though, the Kaminoan cloner Nala Se created another perfect clone of Jango, a female named Omega, in secret. Omega’s history became extremely important in Star Wars: The Bad Batch, as she was the only known clone at the time who’s blood was capable of sustaining Midi-chlorians, an attribute that was vital to Emperor Palpatine’s Project Necromancer. Currently, Boba never met Omega, but The Bad Batch is actively in its final season, and the two could very easily meet.

5
Boba’s Ship Was Renamed From “Slave I” To “Firespray”

The original name had a very negative connotation

For both the original and prequel trilogies, Jango and Boba’s unique ship was known as Slave I. The ship was extremely useful to both of their bounty hunting careers: it was durable, agile, and it had impressive stealth technology. It was also fitted with a huge arsenal of weaponry, from laser cannons to seismic charges, that helped it learn a legendary reputation throughout the galaxy as a deadly ship.

Recently, however, Boba Fett’s ship was renamed from Slave I to Firespray, a reference to the ship’s make and model, as it is a Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft. This was most likely done by Disney to distance Boba from the idea of slavery, which is a far too controversial aspect of Star Wars for one of its flagship characters to be associated with. The move was slowly being implemented for years, but when Boba got the opportunity to star in his own show, any trace of the divisive name was scrubbed to make him more appealing to wider audiences.

4
Boba’s Armor Got A Fresh Coat Of Paint

He finally gave his armor some much-needed attention

Boba’s legendary green and red armor was part of the reason he became such an iconic character in Star Wars. His armor in the original trilogy was scratched, scuffed, dented, and thoroughly battle-worn, which hinted at the countless tough fights he had won throughout his bounty hunting career. While the state of his armor was a great visual storytelling device to show how much Boba had endured, it also meant his gear was in great need of refurbishment.

Repainting his armor became one of Boba’s top priorities after reclaiming his gear in The Mandalorian. His new paint job symbolized both Boba’s fresh start and helped erase some of the damage it sustained in other people’s hands, like the Jawas who stole it and Cobb Vanth, the marshal of Freetown. The new look didn’t completely erase Boba’s history, though, as the major dents and damage still appeared through the paint, and he earned more than enough scratches in the course of The Book of Boba Fett.

3
Boba Fett’s Arsenal Has Expanded

He gained a gaffi stick from his Tusken tribe

Bounty hunting is a dangerous trade, and while Boba’s Beskar armor helped protect him on his more dangerous jobs, sometimes the best defense is a good offense. Boba clearly understood that from very early on, as he had a wide variety of weapons at his disposal. Some of his weapons included a carbine blaster rifle, a wrist-mounted flamethrower, rocket launchers on both his gauntlet and his jetpack, and many more. Still, there was always room to expand his arsenal, and Boba gained another weapon in The Book of Boba Fett, a Tusken gaffi stick.

His gaffi stick was a memento of Boba’s time spent with a tribe of Tuskens on Tatooine. While it had sentimental value, as it served as a reminder of the late tribe he grew to love, it also had practical applications. Boba used his gaffi stick to win his duel against Cad Bane at the end of The Book of Boba Fett. The unassuming weapon saved Boba’s life that day, and proved more useful than all of his fanciest gadgets. It also symbolized the spiritual transformation he experienced in his show, and how he could carry the Tuskens’ memory with him going forward.

2
Boba Fett Is Now Much More Kind

He had a change of heart in The Book of Boba Fett

One of the biggest, and most controversial, changes to Boba’s character also came in The Book of Boba Fett. In the original trilogy and subsequent comics, Boba was depicted as a ruthless bounty hunter and remorseless killing machine. That characterization added to his appeal for many viewers, as it made him seem like one of the few truly irredeemable villains in Star Wars and added to his legend.

Boba was capable of redemption, though, and The Book of Boba Fett showed exactly how he grew. After his rescue by, and subsequent tragedy with, the Tusken tribe, Boba gained a significant amount of empathy. The emotionless bounty hunter was gone, and he was replaced by a man who felt for the suffering of others and tried to make things right. That shift in Boba’s morality also inspired him to undergo a career change, as bounty hunting was too morally ambiguous for his new sensibilities.

1
Boba Isn’t A Bounty Hunter Anymore

He promoted himself to daimyo of Mos Espa

Boba was trained as a bounty hunter for as long as he could remember, as Jango wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. From the very beginning, all Boba was good at, and the only method he could use to survive in a dangerous galaxy, was bounty hunting. Jango’s training helped Boba survive in his dangerous profession and become one of the best bounty hunters the galaxy ever saw, but it also limited his opportunities in life. In The Book of Boba Fett, Boba chose to give up his bounty hunting ways and forge a new path for himself as a leader.

With Fennec Shand’s help, Boba took over Jabba the Hutt’s former criminal empire on Tatooine and installed himself as the daimyo of Mos Espa. He decided to run things differently than Jabba did, however, as he aimed to rule with respect instead of fear. Boba used his newfound redemption to serve the people of Mos Espa, and while he was a crime lord, he ran the town’s underground operations ethically. It was a major change to Boba Fett‘s character, but his new role perfectly complemented the better man he had become.

• 

  The Book of Boba Fett

  Sci-Fi

  Fantasy

  After pulling himself out of the Sarlaac pit, Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) is kidnapped by the Tusken Raiders. But after gaining their trust, Boba is able to return to Tatooine and claim Jabba the Hutt’s throne with the help of Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). The Book of Boba Fet also directly led into The Mandalorian season 3, which premiered in March 2023. 

  Cast

  Temuera Morrison
  , Ming-Na Wen
  , Pedro Pascal

  Release Date

  
  December 29, 2021
  

  Seasons

  1

  Streaming Service(s)

  Disney+

  Showrunner

  Jon Favreau

• 

  The Mandalorian

  Fantasy

  Sci-Fi

  The Mandalorian is set after the Empire’s fall and before the First Order’s emergence in the ever-growing Star Wars universe. The series follows the travails of a lone gunfighter named Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) in the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic. Acting as the first live-action Star Wars series, The Mandalorian has become incredibly popular on Disney+, partly due to Mando’s relationship with Grogu, which the internet dubbed “Baby Yoda” upon his introduction in season 1.

  Cast

  Werner Herzog
  , Emily Swallow
  , Pedro Pascal
  , Nick Nolte
  , Omid Abtahi
  , Gina Carano
  , Carl Weathers
  , Giancarlo Esposito

  Release Date

  
  November 12, 2019
  

  Seasons

  3

  Streaming Service(s)

  Disney+

  Showrunner

  Jon Favreau