10 Awesome Additions From Marvel’s Star Wars Comics That You Need To Know About

Back in 2012, Disney acquired Lucasfilm in one heck of a lucrative purchase on their part. Immediately, they set about restarting the Star Wars franchise on the big screen, to the joy of fans everywhere. What people weren't so keen on, though, was that Disney's acquisition of the franchise rendered all of the many years of expanded universe material non-canon, now rebranded as "Legends." Thankfully, the Star Wars galaxy began to be fleshed out again in 2015 when Marvel Comics - another of Disney's companies - started publishing a plethora of comic books. If you're an old-fashioned fan who's still rankled by the loss of the expanded universe, you should know that Marvel's Star Wars comics have been uniformly strong across the board, offering a lot of material that brilliantly embellishes the world of the movies. Here, you'll find 10 of the best additions that the comics have given the Star Wars universe, ranging from new characters to fleshed out backstories. If you don't know about these, you really should.... 10) You The Daddy Let's start with one of the most celebrated additions of the comics. In The Empire Strikes Back, we see Luke find out that Darth Vader is his father - but we don't ever see the pivotal moment when Vader discover that Luke is his son. That must have been quite a shock, considering that the Emperor had told him that he had died in Revenge of the Sith. This wrong was finally righted, however, in the early issues of the comic, as Darth investigates the identity of his enemy. First, he's surprised to find Luke with his old lightsaber in Star Wars #2. So, in Darth Vader #1 he sends Boba Fett after Luke in order to find out who he is. In Star Wars #6, Fett returns with the news that the boy is called Skywalker. The moment when Vader finally realizes the truth is well worth the wait. The Sith Lord simply repeats the name and, in a vestige of his human feeling, crunches his fist in grief, cracking the glass on the viewing port in the process. 9) Yoda's Secret War One strength of the comics is their breadth of scope, with the many series encompassing different parts of Star Wars mythology - including the time-frame of the original trilogy, the modern movies or the gap between the original trilogy and the prequels. Yoda's Secret War dips into the often overlooked pre-prequel era. Set before The Phantom Menace, the series sees Yoda go solo as he sets out across the galaxy to answer the call of the Force, first to seek out a child with strong Force abilities and then to a mysterious planet with some dangerous inhabitants. The Jedi master also shows off some interesting new Force powers in the comic, including controlling two bodies at once and making them fight. We've seen different sides of Yoda in the movies - the lone exile and the grand master - but in these comics we get to see a slightly younger Yoda in his prime Jedi days of travelling around and righting wrongs in the Force. 8) Poe Dameron's Backstory Oscar Isaac's charming ace rebel pilot Poe Dameron stole viewers' hearts (and maybe Finn's too, if you believe the FinnPoe theorists) when he appeared in The Force Awakens. Apart from his swaggering personality, we don't actually know that much about the character, though. Enter Marvel's comics to set things right. The Shattered Empire miniseries fills us in on Dameron's family history, as the plot follows Shara Bey and Kes Dameon, Poe's parents. Two veterans of the Battle of Endor - they served under Han Solo - Kes and Shara were two of the rebels' finest. Kes was one of the Pathfinders, a squadron of special rebel soldiers, while Shara was the best A-Wing pilot in the alliance, whose skills meant she was often sent on missions by Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker. It was Shara who instilled a deep love of flying in her son from a young age. While maybe not essential, fleshing out Poe's backstory really helps to understand a character who was only sketched memorably but briefly in the movie. That's pretty much what tie-in comics are for, right? To enhance the story by adding in details the movies didn't have time to fit in. 7) Stormtroopers Who Are Actually Dangerous Everyone knows that the Stormtroopers, despite being the Empire's footsoldiers, are completely useless. They never hit their target, they're easily bested and they can't even avoid bumping their noggins on door frames. The comics have gone at least someway to vindicating them, however, by introducing Task Force 99. First properly appearing in Star Wars #21, Task Force 99 - otherwise known as the SCAR (Special Commando Advanced Recon) Squadron - were an elite team of troopers who can actually do their job properly. They're led by the fearsome Sergeant Kreel, who had previously got to know Luke Skywalker on an undercover mission for Vader. So, what makes Kreel so cool? He's got his own lightsaber, that's what. And he does a lot more damage with that then the average Stormtrooper does with a blaster. For instance, he and the SCAR Squadron wiped out the entire rebel base on Ghost Moon. 6) Evil Artoo, Threepio And Chewbacca All the good guys have dependable droid companions who help them save the day in Star Wars. But who says the villains can't have their own automaton buddies who aid them in spreading death and destruction? The Star Wars comics had the ingenious idea to give Darth Vader his very own droid sidekicks - and make them the dark mirrors of the pure-hearted R2-D2 and C3PO. O-O-O is Threepio if he chucked out all his protocol functions and instead became an expert in torture. His Artoo-like companion is BT-1, with homicidal tendencies as strong as Artoo's capacity for bravery. Similarly, an evil counterpart to Chewbacca has also been introduced. Namely Black Krrsantan, a fierce Wookie bounty hunter. If good ol' Chewie can rip a man's arm off, then imagine what damage a ferocious beastie like Krrsantan could do? The two Wookies actually faced off in a tooth-and-claw battle in Star Wars #14. 5) Mrs. Han Solo The Star Wars world was rocked when a surprising new addition to the universe popped up at the end of Star Wars #6 - Sana Starros, who claimed to be the wife of Han Solo. It later turned out that Sana and Han didn't marry for love but tied the knot as part of some big con, only for Han to run off with their winnings. And when Sana finally catches up with her other half, looking for the loot, she manages to put a sudden break on the growing attraction between Han and Leia. Sana also undergoes a smaller version of Han's own character arc; at first she only hangs around with the Rebellion to get her moolah back, but eventually aids them in their attack on Sunspot Prison. Sana is a great invention of the comics, one who brilliantly adds a whole different dimension to both Han's character and his romance with Leia. There are rumours that she even could be appearing in the upcoming Han Solo prequel movie (though probably not portrayed by Emilia Clarke). 4) Luke vs. Boba Fett As we said before when counting down Star Wars' 10 greatest villains, Boba Fett's huge popularity far exceeds his actual role in the movies. He helps capture Han in The Empire Strikes Back and then he stupidly falls into a Sarlacc Pit in Return of the Jedi, and that's about it. Thank God for the comics, then, for giving the bounty hunter some more to do. He's appeared a few times in the comics, but the most notable is the moment we alluded to earlier; when he squared off with Luke Skywalker. In Star Wars #5 and #6, Fett tracks Luke down to Tatooine and finds him in Obi-Wan's hut. Fett has the upper hand with the attack, immediately blinding him with a flash grenade. Impressively, the still-training Luke manages to hold his own, even without his sight, and eventually wins. However, he's battered and bruised by the end and only came out the victor due to his incredible Force powers. This thrilling slug of fight is exactly the sort of thing you would expect from the galaxy's most dangerous bounty hunter. More of this would have been great in the movies, but at least Fett got his due in the comics. 3) The Lost Adventures Of Obi-Wan Kenobi What did Obi-Wan do for all those years he spent on Tatooine? It's a question that fans have been pondering since Revenge of the Sith saw Obi-Wan retire to watch over Luke. Well, ponder no more, as the comics have gone some way to filling in this gap in Kenobi's history. In Star Wars #6, Luke finds Obi-Wan's journal which details the secret adventures he had while Luke was growing up. In issues 7, 15 and 20, we got to see a few of these exploits. Though he couldn't publicly reveal himself to be a Jedi, Obi-Wan did his best to protect Luke and the people of Tatooine from the likes of bounty hunters, Jabba the Hutt's men and Tusken Raiders. Until Ewan McGregor successfully gets his dream Obi-Wan Kenobi solo movie off the ground, these small windows into Kenobi's autumn years are all that we have to give us more from one of the franchise's most popular characters. 2) Doctor Aphra Most of what makes the Star Wars comics so great is how they embellish and embroider characters and situations that have come before. One of the few truly original creations of the comics is Doctor Aphra. Retconning such an important character into the universe - she's an ally to Vader and briefly the Rebels - could have backfired, but Aphra has quickly become a fan favourite. Simply put, Aphra is like a Star Wars version of Lara Croft. A rogue archaeologist with a sharp tongue, Aphra is recruited by Darth Vader to fulfill several missions on his behalf, along with his assassin droids Beetee and Triple Zero. Initially, she appeared in Kieron Gillen's Darth Vader run before breaking out into her own solo series, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra. To date, she's the only character original to the comics to do so. What's great about Aphra is that she captures some of that self-interested rogue attitude of the early Han Solo. Though she frequently works for Vader, Aphra isn't evil, she's just looking out for herself. She even helped out Leia and the Rebels after being arrested by them. 1) Darth Vader POV He might be one of the most iconic villains in pop culture, but Darth Vader has had his ups and downs over the years. The limits of the time meant that he's fairly stiff and depowered in A New Hope while the prequels... well, the less said about them the better. In the aforementioned Darth Vader solo comic, however, Vader was portrayed at his absolute best. What was so great about it was that we got to have Vader - proper Vader, not Anakin - as a protagonist. The comic nailed the two most important aspects of the character: his badass, unstoppable nature and his traumatic, tragic past. For instance, his immense power and strength is shown in the "Vader Down" arc when he crash lands slap bang in the middle of a rebel base. Despite being surrounded, Vader gives the rebels one chance to surrender - before wiping them all out. On the other hand, his underlying humanity is demonstrated in Darth Vader #24 when his body is shut down and he's trapped in his mind, relieving the painful memories of Padme and his final fight with Obi-Wan. Perhaps better than any other example on this list, the Darth Vader series is the finest reason why the Star Wars comics are must-reads. For anyone who loved that glimpse of super-Vader in Rogue One, these comics are for you.