When Ben Kenobi took Luke Skywalker to Mos Eisley Spaceport in search of a pilot to take them to Alderaan, Chewbacca introduced them to Han Solo, who agreed to make the trip in his Corellian light freighter, the Millennium Falcon. As soon as Luke took one look at the Falcon in Docking Bay 94, he said, “What a piece of junk!”
Throughout the rest of the movie – and the rest of the Star Wars saga – the Falcon would go on to prove this statement wrong time and time again. Luke isn’t the only character to underestimate the Falcon, and he’s not the only one to realize this bucket of bolts has got a few surprises left in her.
Making The Kessel Run In Less Than 12 Parsecs
Whenever the Falcon’s integrity is called into question, Han’s go-to humblebrag is that it’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. This line has been widely ridiculed, because “parsec” is a unit of distance, not time, so the powers that be in charge of the Star Wars canon have had to do some wild mental gymnastics to explain it.
There’s a whole action sequence in the second act of Solo: A Star Wars Story dedicated to clearing up this minor plot hole. The spin-off details that, instead of making the Kessel Run faster than any other ship, the Falcon took a shortcut through dangerous kaiju-infested territory and lived to tell the tale.
Avoiding The Exogorth’s Jaws
The more cerebral scenes of Luke’s Jedi training on Dagobah in the middle act of The Empire Strikes Back are balanced out by the action-packed scenes of the Millennium Falcon desperately fleeing from the Imperial fleet. While being chased by TIE fighters, Han decides to land in a cave to lay low and hopefully lose them.
Except, as it turns out, it’s not a cave – it’s a giant space slug’s mouth. Han comes to this realization when it’s almost too late and the exogorth is already closing its jaws, ready to eat the ship. As always, the Falcon makes it out of the exogorth’s mouth just in time.
Racing Through The Underground Caverns Of Crait
Hope is rapidly dwindling for the Resistance in the final battle of The Last Jedi. The First Order has backed their few and far between survivors into a cave on the salty planet of Crait and is getting ready to blast them to oblivion. And then, Rey and Chewie show up in the Falcon to take the First Order’s fleet on a wild goose chase.
The Falcon races through the narrow underground caverns of Crait with ease. The TIE fighters on their tail all crash and burn along the way, but the Falcon remains unscathed.
Landing On Starkiller Base At Lightspeed
One of the main points of criticism levied against The Force Awakens is that it includes yet another Death Star. But the finale on Starkiller Base plays out differently, because some characters are down on the planet’s surface while the others are in X-wings shooting it from above.
When Han, Chewie, and Finn take the Falcon to Starkiller Base to free Rey and switch off the shield generator in anticipation of the Resistance’s arrival, the ship is forced to land in a snowy forest while still traveling at lightspeed – and, amazingly, the Falcon pulls it off.
Bringing A Civilian Fleet To The Battle Of Exegol
In the final battle of The Rise of Skywalker, when the Resistance arrives to take on the Final Order, they find themselves woefully outmatched by Palpatine’s secret fleet of Star Destroyers.
Just when Poe is about to give up hope and admit defeat, Lando and Chewie arrive in the Falcon with a civilian fleet in tow. Despite its striking similarity to the portals scene from Avengers: Endgame, this is a glorious Star Wars moment.
Shooting The TIE Fighters Off Luke’s Tail
After returning Leia to the Rebellion and collecting their reward, Han and Chewie go on their merry way. However, some time after leaving, they come around to Luke and Leia’s way of thinking and realize that the Rebels have a noble cause.
When the Death Star assault is looking futile and Luke has a band of TIE fighters on his tail, Han and Chewie triumphantly return in the Falcon to shoot them. This buys Luke the time he needs to land a couple of proton torpedoes in the station’s thermal exhaust port, making the mission a success.
Zipping Through The Wreckage Of A Star Destroyer
When the First Order sends a bunch of TIE fighters after Rey, Finn, and BB-8 on Jakku, they quickly look for a ship to escape in. Finn suggests one, but Rey calls it “garbage.” After the ship that Rey wants is blown up, she says, “The garbage’ll do,” and they head for the one Finn suggested, which turns out to be the Millennium Falcon.
The ensuing chase is one of the most thrilling in the entire Star Wars saga. Finn takes the turret, shooting at the TIE fighters, while Rey heads to the cockpit and flies the Falcon through the wreckage of an Imperial Star Destroyer.
Disguising Itself As Trash
When it becomes clear that the Falcon won’t be able to outrun the full might of the Empire, Han has to think of a new strategy. He cleverly evades the Imperial fleet by blending in with the trash it jettisons into the cosmos.
Unfortunately, the Falcon is spotted by Boba Fett. Attack of the Clones would later explain that Fett anticipated this trick because Obi-Wan used a similar method to hide from his dad.
Escaping The Explosion Of The Second Death Star
Although Return of the Jedi was criticized for rehashing the Death Star plot from the 1977 original with the construction of a second Death Star, this one raised the stakes from the first Death Star assault. The Rebels can’t just skim over the top of the second one; the fleet has to fly into the station’s core to blow it up.
Lando takes the Falcon into the second Death Star’s core, blows it up, and has to race the explosion to get back out. There’s a tense moment in which the Falcon is engulfed by flames mere seconds before emerging victorious back into the vacuum of space.
Successfully Navigating An Asteroid Field
While being pursued by the Empire, Han decides to take the chase into an asteroid field. C-3PO conveys the gravity of the situation when he says, “Sir, the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field are approximately 3,720 to one,” to which Han quips, “Never tell me the odds!”
Against these near-insurmountable odds, the Falcon manages to make it through the asteroid field. The Star Destroyers are too big to even attempt it and all the TIE fighters that follow them – a fraction of the Falcon’s size – crash and explode, highlighting the impressiveness of this feat.
