BB-9E Isn’t The First Evil Twin Droid In Star Wars

The opening scenes of Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope established the overall importance of mechanical characters in the galaxy far, far away. Audiences are almost immediately introduced to golden interpreter droid C-3PO, the captain obvious of Star Wars, and his blue and silver compatriot R2-D2. As the Death Star-plan courier, Artoo also drove the plot of A New Hope, pushing Luke from his complacency and into a grand-scale adventure. Both automatons remained integral support players throughout the first trilogy and into the prequels and sequels.Of course, Artoo and Threepio were far from the only droids with roles in the space opera. Robots, such as the probe droid that discovers the Rebellion’s base on Hoth, were integral to both sides of the conflict. Recently, J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens, added another lovable droid into the mix, the Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz-voiced BB-8, who proved a charming and loyal companion for the Resistance’s forces. The lead-up to Force Friday II recently revealed BB’s evil counterpart, BB-9E, as part of the First Order’s mechanical contingent, although its true role in The Last Jedi remains unclear.Nevertheless, 9E represents the latest in a long line of deviant droids, each of which had a lasting impact on the Star Wars universe in their own rights.

The Dawn of the Dastardly Droids

In the classic storyline, heroic bots Artoo and Threepio were often counterbalanced by their Imperial versions, such as the mechanically tendriled Viper probe and the terrifying IT-O interrogator, which Darth Vader used to unsuccessfully pry the stolen Death Star plans from Leia. These droids were more workmanlike versions in comparison, though, lacking the personality of their Rebellion counterparts. But as Star Wars expanded from a hit movie into a trilogy, and later a cultural phenomenon, the mech world would balance out.

The first truly twisted robots arrived later in The Empire Strikes Back, when Vader summons a clutch of bounty hunters to his flagship, the Executor. Among their lot are rogue assassin droid IG-88, who rapidly became a fan favorite, and Threepio’s bane, 4-LOM. Scraped together from spare parts and using Anthony Daniel’s stand-in (according to Star Wars: Behind the Magic), the warped protocol unit is officially the first android doppelganger. Unfortunately, 4-LOM gets little more than a few moments of screen time and a tie-in toy, so he wasn’t exactly the most fleshed-out adversary, so to speak at least until Legends came around.

By Return of the Jedi, the baddies got their first somewhat well-rounded droid in EV-9D9. Running the cyborg operations side of Jabba’s palace, œEve was programmed with a feminine persona and an all-business attitude. The trouble was, she enjoyed her job a little too much, delighting in the torture and slaughter of her fellow mechanoids. In addition to EV and her helper-bot 8D8, Jabba’s palace also included the snippy, door-bot TT-8L/Y7, which made gaining entry a tricky prospect for Threepio and Artoo.

The conclusion to the classical Skywalker saga was just the beginning of a very adversarial android world to come.

A Retroactive History of Villainous Robots

Ironically, the next wave of antagonistic automatons arrived in the franchise’s past. During the prequel trilogy, director George Lucas pitted his heroes against legions of battle droids of varying sizes, shapes, and effects, including droidekas (with their Jedi-thwarting force fields), gawky-looking gun platforms, the spider droids, and automated vulture fighters with their pesky, missile-fired, ship destroyers, the buzz droids. Republic forces also employed a number of nondescript droids, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi’s R4-P17 (a casualty of the aforementioned buzz droids), JN-66 analysis droids from the Jedi Temple, more medical mechanicals like the midwife droids, and the 50s diner cliche waitress-bot WA-7 or FLO. Good or bad, though, none of these ‘bots really enjoyed serious personality programming.

The Clone Wars animated series changed things, though adding dozens of memorable automatons. In particular, D-Squad a Republic robo-force to be reckoned with insinuating that droids’ heroic mettle and complex personas extended beyond their programming. On the dark side, the Confederacy of Independent Systems army added numerous adversarial mechanoids, such as the armored and nimble BX commandos and the computational nightmare of the T-series tactical droids. Unlike the prequel trilogy, the cartoon saga featured some fairly well-developed antagonists, such as spy bot R3-S6 (or œGoldie), who fed the separatists info on Anakin Skywalker and the Republic forces at least until his showdown with R2-D2 and badass bounty hunter C-21 Highslinger.

Theoretically, General Grievous could represent another maniacal mechanical, but he was technically a cyborg. Calling him a robot also leads enhanced beings down a slippery slope, which would qualify Lobot and Vader, similarly more-machine-than-man, as droids. Hence, the Separatist leader is disqualified. Speaking of the Sith Lord, he and original trilogy colleague Doctor Aphra would soon reinvigorate the evil robot doppelganger world with two dangerous automatons.

Evil Androids: The Next Generation

Although Rogue One introduced two new classes of Imperial androids, highly touted black astromech C2-B5 didn’t really make an impact in the film. The other new ‘bot, Imperial security robots, or the KX-series, were completely fresh to the Star Wars scene but didn’t prove particularly villainous. The one unit with serious face-time in the first anthology, K2-SO, was reprogrammed to serve the Rebel Alliance and catapulted to fan-favorite status thanks to his sardonic sense of humor. Pre-OT cartoon Rebels also added a handful of enjoyable robot characters, but most of them were heroic or neutral, like crabby navigator Chopper (C1-10P) and equally snippy inventory droid AP-5. Still, a few duplicitous androids snuck onto the show, such as the Imperial sentry droids and ID9 seekers, but neither were particularly compelling characters.

The most significant addition to recent doppelganger droid canon came from the comics. For the Star Wars: Darth Vader story arc, writer Kieron Gillen created two of the most memorable, disreputable mechs in the entire series, astromech BT-1 and onyx C-3PO, 0-0-0. Even though they make an easy analog for the trilogy’s main duo, the murderbots quickly outstripped their mirror images and developed into delightfully malicious, multidimensional characters in their own right. The homicidal pair have no difficulty selling out their cohort Doctor Aphra, Wookiee tough Black Krssantan, or stepping outside the bounds of their servant-like protocols to cook up some real mayhem.

Like their heroic counterparts on D-Squad, Bee Tee and Triple Zero suggest evil droids are far-greater than their motivators, offering another curious peek at good and evil in robot-land. The nondescript mechs working for the Separatists and the Empire weren’t necessarily bad, they were just doing their job. Similarly, BT-1 was designed as a “blastromech,” a covert assassin capable of slipping past defenses as an unassuming navigation droid. On the other hand, Triple Zero was given a personality matrix specifically created for “protocol and torture.” Similar to their sadistic precursor, EV-9D9, though, they truly enjoy inflicting harm, apparently above and beyond their programming.

Thanks to their deliciously nasty personas, they’ve garnered a sizable following of their own, as Gillen’s enjoyable characterization and playing against type made them breakouts among the already standout Aphra comic¦ and a hard act to follow, even for the movies.

At this point, it’s hard to say where BB-9E fits into the Star Wars droid continuum. The black-plated droid recently made its debut in Marvel’s limited Captain Phasma series, but it’s unclear how much of a part 9E will play in the chrome-plated adversary’s overdue fleshing-out. Sadly, more often than not droids (such as C2-B5) wind up as little more than set dressing.

Nevertheless, 9E features in two toy sets, including Kylo Ren’s TIE fighter and a First Order Star Destroyer, as well as Supreme Leader Snoke’s Mega-destroyer, so it could land a decent backstory of its own. True, the rotund units might be a common sight on First Order capital ships. Still, the little droid could take an active role in hindering Finn and Rose Tico’s mysterious mission into the heart of the Order in The Last Jedi. Maybe it will even enjoy its job a bit too much.

If so, BB-9E would represent the first compellingly devious droid in the sequel trilogy. It could even become a true successor to the saga’s greatest sinister robots.

Next: R2-D2 & BB-8 Join Forces In Star Wars Animated Shorts