Part of what made Lando Calrissian such a great character in The Empire Strikes Back is how much was left unanswered about the charming outer-space rogue. This year’s Solo: A Star Wars Story helped fill in the blanks of his past to some extent though as the prequel explained how Donald Glover’s young Lando lost the Millennium Falcon to Han, amongst other things, setting him up to be Billy Dee Williams’ older version from the Original Trilogy.
However, there’s still much we don’t know about He Of The Amazing Cape Collection. For instance, why is Lando running Cloud City when Han catches up with him in Empire? That doesn’t seem to make much sense with the man we know from his youth. Thankfully, Marvel’s Lando – Double or Nothing #4, a comic series that’s set before the events of Solo, goes someway to explaining these disparate parts of the character.
In the aforementioned issue, it’s revealed that Lando and his loyal droid pal L3-37 made themselves enemies of the Empire by going around and liberating the workforces of Imperial colonies. We knew this would be up the revolutionary L3’s street, but Solo didn’t make it clear that her moral spirit had rubbed off on Lando to this extent. It’s unexpectedly selfless and heroic for him and adds another layer to the character we thought we knew.
Given this, you can begin to see why Lando’s in charge of Cloud City. It’s clear that he’s dedicated to his people in Empire when he even sells out Han and the rebels to Vader in the mistaken belief that he can make a deal with the Imperial forces. Seeing as he was a freedom fighter, this mindset makes a lot more sense.
It also explains why Lando’s said to be such a major enemy of the Empire in the Original Trilogy. Solo left this open-ended – perhaps the coaxium heist was eventually linked back to him? – but this comic reveals that it was his bravery and not his crimes that made him a wanted man.
Be sure to check out the story in full in Star Wars: Lando – Double or Nothing #4 by Rodney Barnes, Paolo Villanelli, Andres Mossa, and Joe Caramagna.