Boba Fett has endured for over 40 years as one of the most popular supporting characters in the Star Wars franchise, without actually doing much that makes him worthy of such a lofty status. The legendary bounty hunter made his debut in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, and in the Original Trilogy he was hardly integral to the plot.
In fact, Boba gets just four lines of dialogue in The Empire Strikes Back, which is four more than he has in Return of the Jedi. He also dies an unintentionally hilarious death that’s hardly befitting of his esteemed reputation among the fanbase when he’s accidentally struck by Han Solo and flies into a Sarlacc Pit, in a scene that wouldn’t look out of place in The Three Stooges if you added some comical sound effects.
However, Boba had a cool costume, which was enough for the expanded universe to turn him into an icon despite his contributions to the live-action mythology amounting to almost nothing. He was also one of the first characters to make their name and establish a reputation outside of the Skywalker Saga in Legends canon, and The Mandalorian has finally fixed the disappointment of his original arc and made him into the genuine badass that the fans hold him up as.
After being glimpsed at the end of the season 2 premiere, Temuera Morrison returned in a big way last week by decimating hordes of Stormtroopers, while he also got the best hero shot in an action-packed episode when he took out two enemy ships with a single rocket, and everyone knows that cool guys never look at explosions. It may have taken 42 years, but thanks to The Mandalorian, the live-action Boba Fett has finally lived up to his reputation as someone you definitely don’t want to mess with.