Boba Fett

"Pure genetic replication. No tampering with the structure to make it more docile, no behavior modification and no growth acceleration."

- Lama Su describes the cloning procedure that created Boba Fett

Boba Fett was a male Human bounty hunter, and the genetic clone of Jango Fett. He was created by the cloners on Kamino and was physically identical to the clone troopers created for the Grand Army of the Republic, though Boba was unaltered and did not grow at the same accelerated rate as the clone troopers. Raised as Jango's son, Boba began learning the skills necessary to one day become a bounty hunter in his own right.

Jango was killed during the Battle of Geonosis that began the Clone Wars, leaving Boba on his own. The young boy swore vengeance against Jedi Master Mace Windu, who killed his father, and teamed with a group of bounty hunters to kill Windu. The plan failed, and Boba realized what he had done was wrong despite still blaming the Jedi Master, and was imprisoned for his crime. He later got out of prison and became the leader of a team of bounty hunters, eventually taking on assignments from such beings as Jabba the Hutt and gaining notoriety along the way.

Years later, during the Galactic Civil War, Fett pursued Jabba's bounty on Han Solo, working with Darth Vader to do so. Fett and Vader successfully captured Solo, and the bounty hunter took his prize to Jabba the Hutt. After Solo's friends in the Rebel Alliance came to rescue him, a battle broke out over the Great Pit of Carkoon. Fett fought against the Rebel rescuers and was inadvertently knocked into the mouth of the sarlacc by Solo, to be slowly digested over the course of one thousand years.

Creation and early life
"Apart from his pay, which is considerable, Fett demanded only one thing: an unaltered clone for himself. Curious, isn't it?"

- Lama Su, to Obi-Wan Kenobi, about Boba Fett's creation

In the year prior to the Clone Wars, a clone army was secretly commissioned on Kamino by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, who believed it would be necessary in order to ensure the protection of the Galactic Republic. The army was, however, part of a Sith plot to overthrow the Republic and destroy the Jedi Order. Prior to the creation process, bounty hunter Jango Fett was recruited by the Sith Lord Count Dooku, under the name Tyranus, to be the genetic template for the clone army. Jango agreed to become the genetic template for a considerable payment, as well as one request: the creation of a clone who did not have the same genetic modifications, such as behavioral conditioning and growth acceleration. The Kaminoan scientists created this clone, who Jango raised as a son named Boba Fett.

As a child, Boba was raised on Kamino by his father, who taught his cloned son many of the skills Jango had learned as a bounty hunter. Boba learned survival and martial skills, and became proficient with a blaster as a child. He also learned how to operate the weapon systems on his father's ship, Slave I, and became familiar with members of the Kaminoan government.

Escape from Kamino
"Get him, Dad! Get him! Fire!"

- Boba, during his father's fight with Obi-Wan Kenobi

Shortly before the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Jango was sent on a mission to assassinate Senator Padmé Amidala, an outspoken opponent of a potential war, at the behest of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Jango and his associate, Zam Wessel, failed to kill the senator, and Jango was tracked to Kamino by Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, who knew a bounty hunter connected to Kamino was behind the attempt on Amidala's life. When Kenobi arrived on Kamino, the Kaminoans revealed the clone army to him, and Kenobi requested to meet Jango. Taun We, an aide to Prime Minister Lama Su, brought the Jedi Knight to the Fetts' quarters, where Boba greeted them. Despite being distrustful of the Jedi's presence, Boba allowed them to enter, where Kenobi spoke with Jango about the clones and implied he knew Jango was behind the assassination attempt. Knowing that he had been discovered, Jango and Boba immediately prepared to leave Kamino once Kenobi departed.

While loading Slave I to leave, Kenobi discovered the Fetts attempting to flee and engaged Jango in one-on-one combat, fighting across the ship's landing platform. During the fight, Boba engaged the ship's blaster cannons and fired at Kenobi repeatedly in an attempt to kill him. As the fight progressed, Kenobi kicked Jango from the landing platform towards the ocean below, causing the Jedi&mdash;who was attached to the bounty hunter by a wire&mdash;to fall as well. Jango cut the wire and was able to make his way back up the platform, while Kenobi landed on the lower levels. This gave Jango enough time to reach the ship and leave as Boba piloted it, though Kenobi arrived on the platform again in time to attach a tracking device to its hull.

Jango and Boba made their way to Geonosis, where the Separatist leaders had gathered. While en route, Kenobi caught up with them and engaged them in a firefight in the asteroid field surrounding Geonosis. The Fetts were able to evade the Jedi, and Jango shot a number of seismic charges into space in an effort to destroy Kenobi's starfighter. Kenobi was able to fake his ship's destruction but ejecting spare parts that exploded, leading the Fetts to think he was dead. They proceed to the planet's surface, while Kenobi remained hidden in the asteroid field before pursuing them.

Jango's death
Shortly after the Fetts' arrival at Geonosis, Kenobi began investigating the Separatists on the planet and was captured by the Geonosians. His capture prompted Senator Amidala and Kenobi's Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, to attempt a rescue of their friend. Jango and the Geonosians captured them, and all three detainees were brought into an execution arena, where Boba watched with his father from the sidelines as the detainees fought off the creatures that were meant to kill them. A team of Jedi, led by Master Mace Windu, soon arrived to rescue them. Windu held a lightsaber to Jango's threat while threatening Count Dooku, but Windu quickly left the stands for the arena below as Separatist battle droids began flooding the arena.

The battle droids and Jedi engaged one another in the arena. As the battle proceeded, Jango joined the fight, where the jetpack on his armor was damaged and rendered inoperable, leaving him more vulnerable to attack. Despite the setback, Jango faced off against Windu, who beheaded and killed the bounty hunter. Boba watched in horror as his father was killed. Once the battle left the arena, Boba made his way into the cleared arena and took his father's helmet, pressing it against his head while swearing vengeance against Mace Windu.

Quest for vengeance
After Geonosis, Boba joined with a team of bounty hunters, including Aurra Sing and Bossk, to have his revenge against Mace Windu for Jango's death, and came into possession of Slave I. Together, Boba and the bounty hunters crafted a plan to assassinate the Jedi Master aboard the Republic vessel Endurance. Boba posed as a young clone trooper cadet, with the nickname Lucky, using the fact that he was genetically identical to the other young clones to his advantage; no one onboard Endurance was aware of his true identity. Once aboard the Endurance, Boba and the other clones were greeted by Windu and Anakin Skywalker, before being put through tactical training. Each clone was able to engage in target practice, and they all missed their targets&mdash;except for Boba who was able to use the skills his father taught him to his advantage.

Later, while on a tour of the ship, Boba slipped away from the other clones and found his way to Windu's quarters, where he quietly installed a bomb that would be triggered by a laser tripwire in the doorway. Windu did not enter his quarters, however, but a clone trooper did, killing the soldier in Windu's place and forcing the entire ship into alert status. Sing instructed Boba via comlink to sabotage the Endurance's reactor core, thereby killing everyone on the ship, but Boba was reluctant to kill everyone. His only goal was to kill Windu. Nonetheless, Boba did as instructed, sneaking away from his fellow clones once again, before being caught by a clone trooper who called for security. The two engaged in a brief scuffle near the core, before Boba was able to stun the clone with the trooper's own blaster. He also shot at the core command console.

Much of the hull was immediately destroyed in the ensuing explosion, while Windu and Skywalker were nearly sucked into space and killed before the hull breaches were sealed. With the Endurance critically damaged, the crew began to abandon ship. Boba, whose identity was not yet discovered, and the other young clones were sealed into an escape pod and jettisoned into space, but they lost control of the pod and found themselves cut off from the other escapees. The pod was intercepted by Slave I, led by Sing and Bossk, which revealed Boba as the traitor who sabotaged the ship. Boba was given the choice to either stay with the clones or leave with the bounty hunters, and Boba somewhat reluctantly chose to leave with the bounty hunters.

After leaving the escape pod, Boba and the other bounty hunters, including Castas, made their way to the nearby planet Vanqor, where the Endurance had crashed after the explosion. Once there, they killed several clone troopers and captured Admiral Kilian, the ship's commanding officer, as well as clone commander Pond and another officer. Hoping to set another trap for Windu, Boba rigged his father's old helmet as an explosive on the ship's bridge, which would be detonated if Windu came looking for any survivors. The Jedi Master, with Skywalker, arrived shortly thereafter. The helmet exploded just after Windu noticed it, and remembered that Jango had a son&mdash;deducing that Boba was the one attempting to kill him. Windu and Skywalker did not die in the ensuing explosion, but were caught within the rubble of the quickly-deteriorating vessel.

As Boba and the other bounty hunters watched the explosion, he assumed that Windu had been killed and wanted to recover his body. Some of his companions objected, however, believing that their three prisoners were already enough to earn a sizable fortune from Count Dooku if they were turned over to the Separatists, but Sing sided with Boba and the team set out to find Windu's body. As they entered the ship, they encountered R2-D2, Skywalker's personal astromech droid, who attempted to slow their advance by throwing debris at them and closing doors in their path. Unable to make it to the bridge, Sing made the decision to use Slave I to destroy the remainder of the Endurance, ensuring that Windu would perish.

Before using Slave I, the bounty hunters overheard an explosion caused by R2-D2, who had been attacked by gundarks and used one of the Jedi starfighters to kill a gundark. The bounty hunters believed that meant Windu had survived and jammed all communication, hoping to prevent the Jedi from requesting help. R2-D2 was able to escape in the other starfighter, however, and survived a brief firefight with Slave I before jumping to hyperspace for Coruscant, where he successfully found help at the Jedi Temple and was able to bring a team of Jedi and clones to rescue Windu and Skywalker. The bounty hunters, meanwhile, decided to use the hostages to lure Windu into a trap.

Sing took charge of setting the trap, and she sent a transmission to the Jedi Temple revealing that they were holding the Republic prisoners. Sing told Boba to personally execute Commander Ponds during the transmission, but he refused, as his goal was to kill Windu rather than other prisoners. Sing executed Ponds on her own, jettisoning him into space, and Boba's relationship with her and the other bounty hunters began to deteriorate. Boba objected to the treatment of the other prisoners as well, going so far as to show compassion by providing them with water. Nonetheless, the transmission to the Jedi Temple did end up putting the Jedi on their trail, only the Order sent Master Plo Koon and Padawan Ahsoka Tano rather than Master Windu.

The group soon took refuge on Florrum, where Sing planned to seek the assistance of Hondo Ohnaka, a spice pirate and her former lover. Ohnaka declined to help her if the Jedi arrived on Florrum, but he also vowed not to stand in her way. Castas, however, contacted fellow a bounty hunter on Coruscant and offered to provide information on Boba and the others. Sing overheard his conversation and executed him, leaving Boba horrified as he began to realize he had made a mistake in teaming with the bounty hunters against Windu.

Despite Castas' betrayal, it was his transmission to Coruscant that allowed the Jedi to discover Boba and the others on Florrum, as Tano had overheard the transmission. The two Jedi arrived on Florrum shortly thereafter, where Sing attempted to ransom the prisoners. Both sides ended up attacking one another, with Boba holding a blaster to Koon's head and Tano holding a lightsaber to Sing's throat. The bounty hunters created a diversion and attempted to escape, but Boba was captured while Sing fled on a speeder. Koon interrogated Boba, who refused to disclose the location of the hostages despite his reservations about their treatment. Ohnaka was able to convince Boba to tell the Jedi, however, by saying that Jango would have wanted his son to do the honorable thing. The hostages were rescued, while Sing managed to make it to Slave I and begin to flee, but Tano clung to the ship and damaged it enough to cause a crash. The ship went down in a fiery explosion and the Jedi assumed Sing had been killed, but she survived.

Boba and Bossk, who was also taken into custody, were sent to Coruscant where they would be imprisoned. Windu met Boba upon his arrival, and Boba apologized for his actions and the destruction that he caused&mdash;but he vowed to never forgive Windu for killing his father.

Becoming a bounty hunter
Boba was imprisoned on Coruscant for his actions during the assassination attempts. During his time in prison, a Republic plan was put in motion aimed at preventing a suspected kidnapping plot against Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. To do so, Obi-Wan Kenobi faked his death and disguised himself as Rako Hardeen, the suspect in the attempt on his life, and entered the same prison where Boba was being held. Kenobi teamed with Moralo Eval, a suspect in the suspected kidnapping plot, and bounty hunter Cad Bane to escape the prison in the hopes it would lead him towards the heart of the conspiracy. As part of the escape attempt, Bane encouraged Boba to confront "Hardeen," and Boba claimed that Hardeen had cheated him out of a bounty. Boba and Kenobi briefly fought one another, before Bossk intervened and started a riot to defend Boba. Bane's plan was successful, and Kenobi eventually went on to help stop the plot against Chancellor Palpatine.

Boba left prison shortly thereafter and formed a team of bounty hunters, using Tatooine as his base of operations. As part of the team, Boba hired Bossk, Dengar, C-21 Highsinger, and Latts Razzi. One of the missions they chose to undertake was on Quarzite, where they were to protect cargo on an underground tram from being attacked and stolen by a band of raiders. After Assaj Ventress, a former apprentice of Count Dooku who was betrayed by the Sith Lord and became a bounty hunter, killed one of their teammates, Oked, Ventress was hired in his place. The team left Tatooine and proceeded to an orbital elevator station above Quarzite where they meet their employer, Major Rigosso, and received the specifics of their assignment. The crew was to protect the contents of a chest, which would be delivered to the Otua Blank, the ruler of Quarzite, via an underground tram, as the planet's atmosphere rendered delivery via spacecraft impossible. The chest needed protection from the band of raiders, which was why the bounty hunters were hired.

The team embarked on their mission by taking the space elevator down beneath the surface of the planet, where they boarded the tram and made their preparations to defend the chest from the raiders. The raiders boarded the tram during its journey and attacked, killing the Quarzite personnel. Most of the bounty hunters were thrown off of the tram. During the struggle against the raiders, Boba inadvertently knocked the chest over, revealing its contents: a young woman named Pluma Sodi, who had been kidnapped so she could be married to Otua Blank against her will. The leader of the raiders, Krismo Sodi, was her brother, who had been trying to save his sister. Ventress and Boba, who managed to remain on the tram, argued about the situation after Pluma pleaded with the former Sith acolyte, who felt sympathy for the girl; Ventress had also been forcibly taken from her home. Boba, on the other hand, intended to continue with the operation. Ventress used the Force to choke Boba, preventing him from fulfilling the mission.

Once the tram arrived at its destination, Ventress delivered the chest to Blank and claimed the bounty, departing before the ruler could discover the chest's contents: an angry Boba, who Ventress had tied up and placed into the chest. Ventress released Pluma to her brother and regrouped with the other bounty hunters, paying them their shares of the bounty before parting company with them.

In the ensuing years, Boba gained a reputation as one of the deadliest bounty hunters in the galaxy. One of his known tactics was disintegrating his adversaries. As his career evolved from the days of the Clone Wars, Boba took on Mandalorian armor reminiscent of his father's, and once again took possession of Slave I. Boba's armor was also adorned with numerous braids hanging from the shoulder, which he displayed as trophies of his fallen prey.

The hunt for Han Solo
By the time of the Galactic Civil War, Fett was an established bounty hunter who worked as one of Jabba the Hutt's go-to mercenaries. Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, Boba was present in Mos Eisley on Tatooine when Jabba confronted Han Solo, one of the Hutt's smugglers; Solo owed Jabba money after having dumped his smuggling cargo before his ship, the Millennium Falcon, was boarded by soldiers from the Galactic Empire. Solo promised Jabba he would pay him, but a bounty had been placed on the smuggler's head. Solo, who became a member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, ultimately did not pay Jabba, leading Boba to pursue the bounty.

In the meantime, Boba took on another bounty on Solo's head, this one placed by Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith. Vader intended to use Solo, as well as Leia Organa and Chewbacca, as bait to lure Luke Skywalker, Vader's son, into a trap. Boba and a number of bounty hunters were given permission to use any means necessary to capture Skywalker's friends, as long as they were captured alive. Boba located the Millennium Falcon hiding amongst the Imperial fleet in the Anoat system, and he pursued them out of the system as they made their way to Cloud City on Bespin. Boba and the Empire arrived before the Millennium Falcon, which allowed Vader to manipulate Solo's friend and the leader of Cloud City, Lando Calrissian, into helping them capture Solo and the others.

Boba became concerned when he learned that Vader intended to freeze Solo in carbonite, as a test to determine whether Skywalker would be able survive the same process. Vader promised the bounty hunter that he would be compensated by the Empire for the loss of any potential bounty earnings if Solo was to be killed. Solo survived the process, however, and Vader turned the frozen smuggler over to Boba, who had Solo taken to Slave I. He was pursued by Organa, Calrissian, and Chewbacca, all of whom were attempting to save Solo from being taken to Jabba the Hutt. Their attempt failed, however, and Boba successfully left Bespin and brought Solo to Jabba's palace on Tatooine.

Into the sarlacc
"Boba Fett? Boba Fett? Where?"

- Han Solo, just before knocking Fett into the sarlacc

Boba remained at Jabba's palace after delivering Solo to the Hutt. In the meantime, a plan was developed by Skywalker, Organa, Chewbacca, and Calrissian to free Solo from the palace. Boba was present while the plan went into action, and witnessed Skywalker and Chewbacca be captured by the Hutt, while Organa was taken as a slave girl and Calrissian posed as a guard. Organa was, however, able to free Solo from carbonite freezing, and the smuggler emerged temporarily blind as a result of the freezing process. At Jabba's decree, Skywalker, Solo, and Chewbacca was to be taken to the Great Pit of Carkoon, where they would be fet to the sarlacc&mdash;a creature that lived in the pit. Boba made the journey to the sarlacc with Jabba's entourage.

Once at the Great Pit of Carkoon, Skywalker and the others put their plan into motion, attacking Jabba's guards&mdash;and even leading to the death of Jabba himself, who strangled to death by Organa. During the firefight, Boba fought against Skywalker, who used his lightsaber to destroy Boba's blaster. In the ensuing chaos, Solo&mdash;still somewhat blind&mdash;inadvertently knocked Boba over the side of a desert skiff. The bounty hunter fell into the sarlacc pit, to be slowly digested over a thousand years.

Behind the scenes
Joe Johnston, who was primarily responsible for the design of Fett's armor and equipment, worked alongside Ralph McQuarrie to develop the concept art for the character of Boba Fett.

Boba Fett's first appearance "on screen" was in a cartoon that was part of the non-canon The Star Wars Holiday Special, which was aired in 1978. His popularity and mystique were also contributed to by the fact that Kenner released a Boba Fett action figure before The Empire Strikes Back was released. However, Boba Fett's first "public" appearance was at the San Anselmo's Country Fair parade on September 24, 1978, marching alongside Darth Vader at the parade.

His first canonical appearance in a Star Wars movie was in The Empire Strikes Back, in which his name is not actually heard in the dialogue. He was portrayed by Jeremy Bulloch (who reprised the role in Return of the Jedi), and voiced by Jason Wingreen. John Morton stood in Bulloch in some shots of the movie.

Fett's dialogue in The Empire Strikes Back, consists of only four lines: "As you wish", "He's no good to me dead", "What if he doesn't survive? He's worth a lot to me", and "Put Captain Solo in the cargo hold." In Return of the Jedi, he has just one; "What the?", just before his jetpack malfunctions followed by an inarticulate scream.



Composer John Williams used a recurring motif in the film to represent the character of Fett. The sound of spurs jangling was added in the scene when Boba Fett enters next to Darth Vader in the Cloud City dining room in The Empire Strikes Back. According to the DVD commentary and numerous other sources, this was done to give the character a menacing aura in keeping with mid-20th-century western films.

Despite being a minor character, Fett became famous amongst fans, resulting in his frequent appearances in the Star Wars Legends series and a strong cult following.

When the Special Edition of A New Hope was released in 1997, a scene with Han Solo, and Jabba the Hutt was added to the film, before Millennium Falcon took off from Mos Eisley, in which Boba Fett (played by Mark Austin) is shown in Jabba's retinue to improve the trilogy's continuity. Additional shots of Fett, played by Don Bies, in Jabba's palace were filmed for the Return of the Jedi Special Edition.

The 2004 DVD release of the original trilogy had Wingreen's voice in Episode V overdubbed by Temuera Morrison, who had played Jango Fett in Episode II. The idea behind the change was that Boba would have the same voice as his father, since he was a clone of Jango.

Daniel Logan appeared as Boba Fett in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and reprised the role vocally for The Clone Wars animated series. Fett was originally intended to play a role in the film Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. According to the book The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith, Fett would have been involved in the death of Mace Windu, as an act of revenge for Windu killing Fett's father Jango. However, Lucas at one point reorganized the entire story for the film, and cut what he considered to be extraneous characters and situations that he felt were not an essential part of the plot of Anakin's fall. The concept survived in a couple of The Clone Wars episodes, where young Fett attempts to kill Windu.

In the DVD commentary of Return of the Jedi, George Lucas had this to say about Boba Fett's death:


 * "In the case of Boba Fett's death, had I known he was gonna turn into such a popular character, I probably would've made it a little bit more exciting. Boba Fett was just another one of the minions, another one of the bounty hunters and bad guys. But, he became such a favorite of everybody's that, for having such a small part, uh he had a very large presence. And now that his history has been told in the first trilogy, y'know, it makes it even more of a misstep that we wouldn't make more out of the event of his defeat, because most people don't believe he died anyway. I'd contemplated putting in that extra shot where he climbs out of the hole, but y'know I figured that's... it doesn't quite fit, in the end."

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi