The subsequent wild Star Wars twist has emerged in a Darth Vader comedian

Enlarge / An alternative cover for Marvel Comics & # 39; new Darth Vader # 1 implies that this series goes deep into the history of Star Wars & # 39; most famous villain will plunge.

The "Skywalker Saga" of nine films may have ended, but that doesn't mean that the leaders of Lucasfilm and Disney dismantle the stories and characters of the original Star Wars films. Just under a month after the final of season one of The Mandalorian, the Star Wars universe has already thrown another curveball at fans – but not another TV or movie launch.

Instead, this week's news comes from a brand new Marvel series of comics with Darth Vader. We're here to spill the beans – providing context and advice on what's next.

Noooooooooooo …?

From now on we are in the field of full spoilage regarding several Star Wars objects. You have been warned.

Long-time comic writer Greg Pak has directed several Star Wars comics series since last year, and his newest, Darth Vader, made his debut on Wednesday by rewinding Empire Strikes Back until the late 1980s film. The first issue begins with Luke Skywalker, who decides to fall to his death instead of taking his father's hand. Unlike Empire, this comic strip Vader follows back to its Star Destroyer, where it instantly gets on an Imperial shuttle with a skeleton crew of soldiers and a single brand new droid.

• The standard cover of Darth Vader # 1. The rest of this gallery contains spoilers when you click through.

• We assume this board contains "spoilers", but they are from Empire Strikes Back from the 1980s. If you are shocked by this scene, you are in the wrong place.

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• Darth Vader gets a new droid friend, Z-67, in search of answers.

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• Why who is that Vader sees this woman and replies with "Padme?" But we have to wait to learn more about this mysterious person.

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• After the release of the first issue, Marvel went so far as to reveal the next two covers of the series. You definitely qualify as a "spoiler".

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• Your accompanying descriptions imply that this person from Vader's past has at least two other problems.

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This droid, Z-67, informs Vader that Skywalker has not been found since his fall. "I will find him when the time is right," replies Vader, as if to suggest that he already knows that his son is still alive. In the meantime, he privately tells Z-67 that their mission is to "find and destroy" the breadcrumb trail of those who have protected Skywalker over the years.

I leave out most of the details of the book for those who want to enjoy the pace and plot building, as it jumps to some familiar locations with a mix of new combat and old film flashbacks. The end of the edition will not remain secret for long, however, as the spoiler element on the cover of the second Darth Vader edition will be in the foreground. The first edition ends with Vader on a distant outpost that hides a familiar face: Padme Amidala.

Another type of "clone" war?

This is the first time that someone similar to Padme and played in Natalie Portman's prequel trilogy has somehow survived the events of Sith's Revenge. Since their latest appearance is in the form of a one-panel cameo, we don't have much information to work with at the time of going to print.

Vader is the one who called his possible ex-wife "Padme?" Welcomed. as a question, so the second edition could very well start with that person simply saying "No" or "Actually, I'm double your body, Sabe". If it turns out to be a projection or illusion, at least it will be seen by both Vader and Z-67, which means that this person is not just in his imagination. And the hell, this is Star Wars – a series that thought it appropriate that Emperor Palpatine was kept alive decades after the events of the Jedi return. In comparison, a Padme Deception funeral appears to be a milestone.

While we don't have any encyclopedic references to Star Wars in various novels, comics, and animated series, we can point to a strange treat that says Padme may have lived: a mention in a YA novel that retells Return Jedi. This 2015 book contains a question from Leia Organa, in which she wonders whether she actually met or saw her mother Padme as a child. Otherwise, Star Wars fans have been led to believe that she died after the birth of Luke and Leia.

If Padme is actually alive in the Star Wars era of this comic, we wonder how this is associated with the events of Vader Immortal, a pure VR series released by Lucasfilm in 2019 about Vader, who tries to bring Padme back to life, since he apparently had saved her life force in a "soul cube". However, the series ended up simply repeating Padme's statements from previous films instead of speaking to anything new from beyond the grave – which could mean that he was merely manifesting his own memories instead of interacting with a real Padme.

In any case, this week's comic book unveiling is a clear sign that the Lucasfilm empire wants to continue, um, and bring Star Wars opportunities back from the dead. Mark Paniccia, Marvel Comics' senior editor, points out in the epilogue of the issue the upcoming stories that deal with "very cool elements from The Rise of Skywalker" that are paid out by various comic series (not just Darth Vader) "touching and exploring all three trilogies" the secrets that led to the rise of Vader. "

The gallery above, which comes from Marvel's official website, contains this description from the third edition of the series, which implies that "Padme" has at least some problems: "In search of destruction for all who have hidden his son's existence Luke Skywalker By him, Darth Vader has partnered with an eerie shadow of his past life and is now returning to Naboo, where a powerful new host of vengeful spirits await, delving deeper into Vader's past than you think possible kept shocking story of tragedy and revenge! "