A New Star Wars Comic Has Actually Given Us A Reason To Root For Darth Vader, And No Amount Of Republic Credits Could Change That

When you’re going through the Star Wars movies in order, there are certain events that stand out as being especially important in the life of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Among the earliest is when Qui-Gon Jinn frees from the young boy from slavery so that he can be trained as a Jedi. Sadly, eventually Anakin fell to the Dark Side, became Darth Vader and carried out the will of Emperor Palpatine for over two decades There’s no question that Vader is one of the greatest villains in Star Wars history, but a new comic has actually given us a reason to root for the Sith Lord, and it involves the Toydarian who once owned him, Watto.

Back in October, Marvel announced an ongoing series called Star Wars: Legacy of Vader, which will follow Kylo Ren in the year between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker and explore his “enduring connection” to Vader, i.e. his grandfather. The first issue comes out on February 5, but Senior Editor Mark Paniccia shared on X some artwork from Issue #2, and one of the panels depicts a moment that’s too priceless for Republic credits.

See what I’m talking about? While the Toydarian Darth Vader is attacking isn’t actually named, given the dialogue “He must have returned here. Taken his revenge,” I think we can safely assume that it’s Watto who’s being cut down by that crimson blade. And frankly, given how cruelly he treated Anakin and Shmi Skywalker when they were his slaves, and thinking back to how the adolescent Anakin wanted to free all of the slaves when he became a Jedi, we really shouldn’t be shocked that he killed the guy who kept him and his mother as his personal property.

This revelation is given as Kylo Ren is visiting Tatooine with Vaneé, Vader’s attendant previously seen in Rogue One whose head is apparently now attached to a droid body. Now if you’ll recall, Watto was last seen onscreen in Attack of the Clones, when Anakin returned to Tatooine as a Jedi Padawan with Padme Amidala to find his mother’s whereabouts. Anakin kept his cool with Watto then, but if there’s one thing Darth Vader is not, it’s a chill guy. It’s not a stretch whatsoever that he would return to Tatooine for the sole purpose of murdering Watto.

So when did this killing take place? As pointed out by io9, in one of the stories from the From a Certain Point of View anthology collection revolving around A New Hope, it’s mentioned that Obi-Wan Kenobi was buying supplies from Watto several years into his time on Tatooine. So this could have happened anywhere from roughly half a decade into the Empire’s reign to shortly before A New Hope. My money’s on the former, as I can’t imagine Darth Vader would allow Watto to live for another two decades after they last crossed paths.

Pick up Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #2 digitally or at your local comic book store on March 12, and break out your Disney+ subscription if you’d like to revisit all of Darth Vader’s cinematic and small screen appearances. And as always, visit CinemaBlend for the biggest news items concerning upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows.