Star Wars is a 2015 Marvel Comics series set in the eponymous fictional universe, and the first series to be officially written by Marvel Comics since the series written in the seventies and eighties. Due to the Continuity Reboot, it is also the first canonical comic book released since Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir (Dark Horse's only canon contribution to the franchise before Disney bought the rights to publish comics from them).
The story of the first 75 issues is set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and revolves around the continuing adventures of Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO as the Rebellion gains traction following the destruction of the first Death Star. In 2020, the storyline changed to take place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, focusing on how Luke and the rebel army grew and evolved in the interim. To signify this change, the numbering is reset to #1.
The series has gone through several leader writers during its run. During the initial run Jason Aaron wrote issues #1-37, Kieron Gillen #38-67, and Greg Pak #68-75. With the 2020 reset, Charles Soule took over the title.
Not to be confused with the 2013 Dark Horse comic of the same name written by Brian Wood, which is set in the exact same time period but within the Legends continuity.
Tropes featured in this comic include:
2015 run
- Aborted Arc: Greg Pak's arc introduced two new major characters, Leia's former love interest Dar Champion and Force-sensitive criminal Warba Calip. When his run ended after only eight issues and Charles Soule took over the reset series, both were dropped without mention.
- Actually, I Am Him: Subverted. Vader orders Luke to take him to the pilot who has destroyed the Death Star. Luke wisely chooses not to reveal himself. Vader instead has to deduce it from how he could sense the pilot's presence through the force, which lets him know he's around here somewhere, just not who it is.
- Affably Evil: A double subversion with Sergeant Kreel. At first, he's introduced as the gamemaster of Grakkus the Hutt's arena. While there, he neither sugarcoats things for Luke, nor talks down to him. However, it's then revealed that he's an Imperial spy trying to capture Luke for Vader. In the end, it turns out that he is a stormtrooper who truly believes that what the Empire is doing is right.
- All There in the Manual: Vader shows up on Nar Shaddaa at the end of the second arc, Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon. If one follows Star Wars: Darth Vader too, this seems to create a Continuity Snarl, since Vader was constantly preoccupied in the simultaneously running Shadows and Secrets arc, and the events of the two series are implied to coincide with each other. However Showdown actually takes place before Shadows.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The entire premise of the Hope Dies arc is Vader leading the Imperial fleet in assaulting the assembled Rebel fleet at their headquarters, after having Trios cripple them for him.
- Ambiguously Bi: Issues #18 and #19 slowly reveal that Sana and Aphra use to be in a relationship that ended badly, and Sana's fake-marriage with Han, along with Aphra's early fangirling over Vader makes both women's orientation unclear (though Aphra was later confirmed by
Word of God as a lesbian.) - Annoying Laugh: After hearing Salacious Crumb cackling during a bantha hunt, Darth Vader calmly informs Jabba that if the creature does it again in his presence, he'll kill it.
- Armor-Piercing Response: In Issue #67, Leia talks down the Partisans from destroying Shu-Torun by taking their motto of "the dream won't die" (meaning their dream of a galaxy free of the Empire) and pointing out that they'll be killing the dream if they become no different from the Empire.
- Artifact of Doom: The fourth Annual features a pair of lightsabers once belonging to Darth Atrius, an ancient Sith Lord so consumed by rage that it contaminated the lightsabers, which now infect anyone who wield them with that rage. Even Vader has trouble not being overwhelmed by them.
- As You Know: In the very first issue, C-3PO explains that Leia and the others intercepted and replaced a diplomatic envoy sent by Jabba the Hutt. He's telling this to Leia, who of course already knows all this, and tells him to shut up.
- Bad Boss: Darth Vader even more than in the movies. While until this comic series he was best known for handling out You Have Failed Me judgements for even the smallest mistakes, here he uses the Force to turn two Stormtroopers into his Bulletproof Human Shields and snapping another Stormtrooper's neck just for seeing him without his helmet on.
- Bad Guy Bar: Luke enters one on Nar Shaddaa. It goes about as well as you'd expect. Later, Chewbacca and Threepio enter the same bar looking for Luke. They ask the patrons for information on Luke's whereabouts, but to no avail. Cue Chewbacca throwing one of the patrons through a window.
- Batman Gambit: In Issue #35, Han lets a captive Grakkus think he's gotten the upper hand and is free to escape, counting on some Evil Gloating in the process about where the Hutt's hidden weapons stash is. Then he knocks Grakkus out with some pre-planted shock charges, re-imprisoning Grakkus and leaving the rebels free to get his weapons.
- Big Bad Friend: Trios befriends Leia as part of her Double Agent act. She admits later she genuinely regrets things because of that (but still feels that she did what she had to do).
- Big "YES!": Han in Issue #52, after he manages to ditch Vader's TIE Fighter in the debris field of an exploding cruiser.
- Bullying a Dragon:
- Luke's decision to challenge Vader is not a smart one.
- Jabba continues annoying Darth Vader even after Vader has proven he is a threat to Jabba. Justified, since he knows Vader won't kill him as long as he continues giving supplies to the Empire.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Issue #62 sees the rebels recruiting Tunga (last seen in Issue #49) and the Partisans (last seen in Issue #43) for help in a new mission.
- In Issue #63 Commander Kanchar, likewise not seen since Issue #43, shows up on Shu-Torun, still working with Trios.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: This conversation between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, which absolutely drips with Dramatic Irony.Darth Vader: You hold that weapon like an untrained child. You have no right to it. You, boy, are no Jedi. Who Are You?
Luke Skywalker: You Killed My Father.
Darth Vader: I've killed very many fathers. You'll have to be more specific.- Technically, it gets subverted when, as far as either of them are supposed to know at this point, Vader recognizes the lightsaber that belonged to Luke's father.
- Butt-Monkey: The Rodian gang members on Tatooine make the mistake of trying to extort money from Sana and end up getting shot in the kneecaps and hands. Then Boba Fett shows up after Sana leaves.
- The Cameo:
- Jedi Master Shaak Ti appears in an old holocron message Luke finds.
- Hera, Zeb, and Rex appear in one of the issues of the "Mutiny at Mon Cala" arc.
- Call-Forward: Han hijacks an Imperial Walker and mentions that Chewie would have loved it.
- The Chessmaster: Issue #34 depicts Sana as this, as she carries out a multi-sided con that ends up ripping off a group of pirates, the Imperials, and Jabba, and lets her walk away with a small fortune.
- The Collector: Grakkus the Hutt is a collector of Jedi artifacts, and has a sizable private museum devoted to them. When he finds out Luke is one of the last living Jedi, he decides to add him to the collection.
- Continuity Nod:
- In issue #9, a number of Jedi artifacts can be seen in Grakkus the Hutt's private collection. This includes a holocron message from Shaak Ti and a Jedi Temple Guard helmet from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
- Leia calling Han a nerf herder as an insult is finally given a context (and might be kind of a cheap shot, considering).
- Ibaar is mentioned as suffering under Imperial sanctions due to being suspected of housing sympathy to the rebels. Considering in Rebels, the Empire starved the citizens in an attempt to lure rebels that want to feed them into taking the bait, the people have good reason to like the Rebellion more.
- Queen Trios of Shu-Torun is brought in by the Empire to oversee mining the remaining kyber crystals to be found in the ruins of Jedha.
- When the rebels attempt to convince the remnants of Saw Gerrera's Partisans to rejoin the mainstream Alliance, Benthic recounts to them the attack on Inusagi's Sakoola Blossom Festival, where the Partisans used flechette rifles against the festival-goers, Imperial and civilian alike, just to send a message to the Empire.
- In Issue #58, Han recounts to Leia most of his new backstory as established in Solo.
- In Issue #67, Han mentions how he first met Benthic back when the latter was one of Enfys Nest's Cloud-Riders.
- Continuity Overlap: In issue #6, the scene where Boba Fett tells Vader Luke's name is also shown in the 6th issue of Star Wars: Darth Vader. Both issues released on the same day, to boot.
- Continuity Snarl:
- Between Rebel Jail and The Last Flight of the Harbinger, Sergeant Kreel's red shoulder pad (or pauldron) changes from left to right side. While this can be easily handwaved because it was never established at what side the pauldron has to be worn, it's obvious that this error happened because both Issues (#19 and #21) were pencilled by two different persons.
- A lore example happens in Issue 54. According to The Rebel Files reference book, General Draven survived at least to the Battle of Endor. The comic shows him dying in a Heroic Sacrifice against Darth Vader three years before Endor. According to Matt Martin, Draven's death in the comic was planned before Rebel Files was written (the order works are published isn't necessarily the order they are created), but miscommunication led to notes being missed. As such, Draven's death is his canon fate and future editions of Rebel Files will reflect this.
- Crossover:
- Vader Down is one with the Darth Vader comic.
- The Screaming Citadel is one with Doctor Aphra.
- Cthulhumanoid: The scavenging species of Cymoon-1 have yellow eyes, along with tentacles protruding from their hooded robes.
- Cult: The Cult of the Central Isopter is a death cult which views large scale death and destruction as a means of viewing the true nature of the Force. Naturally, they've set up a temple on Jedha, overlooking the crater left behind by the Death Star.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Luke Skywalker's first duel with Darth Vader is decidedly not in his favor, as Vader succinctly notes.
- A Day in the Limelight:
- The in-between story arcs comics from the earlier issues each feature a one-shot episode from Kenobi's journal detailing his time on Tatooine after the events of Revenge of the Sith.
- Issue #34 focuses on Sana, with help from Lando, pulling off a con against some pirates, the Imperials, and Jabba.
- "Die Hard" on an X: The Rebel Jail arc is pretty much Die Hard in a Rebel Alliance prison.
- Didn't Think This Through: Luke, what in the Galaxy made you think that going after Darth Vader when he had recently killed Obi-Wan was a good idea? You've barely been trained to use the Force and wield a lightsaber! Vader could clearly tell before the fight even started.
- Discontinuity Nod: A variant cover of the first issue features the much-maligned Jaxxon trying to force himself into the comic while the rest of the cast resists.
- Disposing of a Body: The very end of Issue #3 finds two thugs from Mos Eisley unceremoniously dumping the corpse of "a dead Rodian" — presumably not Greedo, as they note this sort of thing happens a lot — in the Dune Sea, right near Ben Kenobi's old house. (They would've done it in town, but such an act would've attracted too much Imperial attention; plus, they would've had to pay the steep "murder tax" instated by Jabba.)
- The Ditz: Threepio subverts this gloriously in issue #10. He asks two droids to help him find Luke. The droids are Obviously Evil, but Threepio does what they tell him without question. However, the comic soon reveals that this had been Chewbacca's plan all along — he tears the droids to pieces, and it becomes apparent that Threepio was knowingly bait for Chewbacca's tour de force. However, Threepio is a little disgusted with the droids' demise.
- Doomed by Canon:
- Invoked in Hope Dies arc, which kills off a number of Rebel officers who appeared in A New Hope and Rogue One, but were not in The Empire Strikes Back.
- During The Escape arc, Luke strikes up a romance with a girl named Tula. As she's never been heard of in any of the movies, it should come as no surprise that this blooming relationship ends up breaking down by the end of the arc.
- Dramatic Irony:
- In the canonical first duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, Luke tells Vader that the Sith Lord murdered his father while Vader demands that Luke lead him to the pilot that destroyed the Death Star or he would join his father in death. Both of the people being discussed are standing right there.
- In Issue #4, Jabba the Hutt notes the irony that the mighty warrior who destroyed the indestructible Death Star is a mere boy that hails from the empty dunes of Tatooine. He then rhetorically asks Vader if he knew anyone of note that was born on this planet.
- Driven to Suicide: Implied when an Imperial officer lost a Star Destroyer to the Rebels, that he asked another officer to hand him his blaster when Darth Vader wanted to talk to him.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The alien that appeared in a promotional video for The Force Awakens makes a small cameo as one of the slaves in the first issue.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom:
- During the Scourging of Shu-Torun arc, the Partisans attempt to sabotage Shu-Torun's mining infrastructure to tear the planet apart.
- Chewbacca and Threepio's mission during the Rebels and Rogues arc is to use proton torpedoes planted at key points on a lifeless planet's unstable tectonic plates to blow the planet apart after luring Imperial forces there. Things are complicated when they discover the planet's not actually lifeless.
- Eating the Eye Candy: In Issue #57, Leia catches sight of a shirtless Han chopping wood. Let's just say Ben got it from his Dad.
- Elite Mooks: Task Force 99, aka SCAR Squadron, is a squad of elite Stormtroopers Darth Vader sent to apprehend Luke and take out the Rebels. One of them is Sergeant Kreel, who is trained to use a lightsaber.
- Enemy Mine:
- Sana teams up with Han and Leia when she realizes that the Empire is after her, too. This leads to a long-term alliance.
- When trying to imprison her, Leia and Sana are forced to work together with Dr. Aphra when the prison is taken over by an unknown element trying to kill all the prisoners.
- Exact Words:
- After interrogating the bartender, Chewbacca tells Threepio that he "let him go." Threepio is happy to hear this and thinks this means Chewie let him return to the bar, but in reality, Chewie meant that he dropped him off the roof.
- Trios tells Leia she will do "anything it takes" to safeguard her home world from ending up like Alderaan. Too late, Leia realizes this means Trios is willing to join with the Empire rather than fight them.
- Face Palm: Han, when he sees Sana has walked back into his life. The fact that she announces her relation to Han right in front of Leia probably didn't help matters.
- Fire-Forged Friends: At first Sana and Leia don't really get along, but they are both pragmatic enough to put aside those feelings. After Leia saves Sana though, genuine friendship blooms.
- Fly Or Die: Grakkus the Hutt holds Luke at gunpoint and demands that he use the Force to activate the old holocrons in his collection. Luke initially has no idea how to do that, but he manages to tap into the Force at the last possible second.
- Foregone Conclusion: Due to its nature as an interquel, any characters that appear in The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and/or The Force Awakens will make it through this series.
- Foreshadowing:
- After Luke crashes his Skyhopper, Owen Lars says to Luke Skywalker "... as long as I live you'll never fly again" thereby foreshadowing the events in A New Hope where Luke flies away from Tatooine shortly after his uncle's death.
- In Issue #62, Luke decides to visit the Cult of the Central Isopter for advice while the rebels are on Jedha to recruit the Partisans for a new mission. To his surprise, however, they've abandoned their temple, despite the fact that viewing such large-scale destruction is their whole driving belief, making him wonder where they could have possibly gone. The end of the issue reveals they've gone to Shu-Torun, implying that the revenge mission there will be more disastrous than Leia promises it's supposed to be.
- The mission that teams up Chewbacca and Threepio together in the Rebels and Rogues arc results in Chewie developing a genuine respect for and friendship with Threepio, which explains Chewie's concern when Threepio goes missing in Cloud City and then his efforts to save, repair, and protect Threepio in Empire Strikes Back.
- Frame-Up: Han and Leia's mission in the Rebels and Rogues arc is to plant evidence that the Carpo Crime Syndicate has been working with the Rebellion, so that the Empire will eliminate them.
- From Bad to Worse: Luke finds that Obi-Wan's hut has been taken over by Tusken Raiders. He drives them off, only to find himself attacked by Boba Fett.
- Gilligan Cut:
- In Issue #16, we see Han preparing to cheat at Sabacc to double the Rebellion's funds. On the very next page, we see him and Luke running from outraged gamblers.
- And then again a few pages later, Luke negotiates a smuggling run for Han at a cantina on Nar Shaada(after he successfully guesses that Han can't show his face there either). Han asks what kind of cargo they'll be smuggling, throwing out guesses of black-market droid parts or a shipment of spice. Luke replies, "Not exactly..." And upon turning the page, we see Han and Luke in the Falcon's cockpit, packed in with nerfs. The icing on the cake is Han's response to Luke over the situation:
Han: You're dead to me now, you know that, right? - Gladiator Games: Grakkus the Hutt staged these. Stormtrooper Sgt. Kreel was the overseer and champion of Grakkus's arena, and learned to fight with lightsabers there. Despite being neither Sith nor Force-sensitive, Kreel's gladiator combat skills and experience may count him as a deadlier lightsaber fighter than any other, save Darth Vader. Luke was no match against him.
- Government in Exile: The Rebel Alliance invokes this with Mon Mothma's title being Chancellor, no doubt a Take That! to Sheev Palpatine's title Emperor and the Galactic Empire's status as the official successor to the Galactic Republic.
- Heel Realization: As she's dying, Trios shows regret for selling out to the Empire, and the harm it's caused to Shu-Torun.
- Heroic BSoD: Towards the end of Issue #3, the Rebel heroes along with the slaves escape Cymoon 1 but Luke feels depressed because of his performance there (namely that his presence caused the Imperials to mow down on several slaves, and that his attempt to avenge Obi-Wan and his father in the first duel with Vader ended in a Curbstomp Battle) and that he's not the Jedi he could be. He heads off to Tatoonie by the end of the Issue #4, with the intent of finding himself.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- In Issue #49, the Mon Cala tanker cruiser Aurora Flare charges at a Star Destroyer, allowing itself to be destroyed so that its stockpile of coaxium will detonate, creating an explosion that cripples the Star Destroyer and creates an opening for the rest of the fleet to escape.
- In Issue #54, General Draven and a group of Rebel commandos, despite knowing it's futile, holding off Vader long enough for Leia to escape with the Override Commands needed to bring the Rebel fleet back online.
- In Issue #55, General Dodonna and the crew of his ship keep the Imperial fleet busy long enough for the rest of the Rebel fleet to escape, at the expense of their own lives.
- In Issue #60, Thane Markona takes on SCAR Squadron by himself, keeping them busy long enough for his people and the Rebels to escape Hubin.
- In Issue #67, Tunga impersonates Leia in order to lead away the TIE fighters attacking the building the Rebels are hiding in, in order to provide them an opening to escape on the Falcon, and gets shot down. Then subverted, as he's shown to have survived the crash and been recovered by the Cult of the Central Isopter.
- High-Altitude Interrogation: Chewbacca dangles the bartender from Nar Shadda over a building to find out where Luke was taken.
- His Name Is...: Non-lethal variant. Darth Vader realizes that the lightsaber Luke uses is actually his old lightsaber from his Jedi days. He gets as far as a surprised "This once belonged to—" before an Imperial Walker foot crashes through the roof.
- Hope Crusher: Vader's plan in the fittingly titled Hope Dies arc: tracking down and destroying the entire Rebel fleet, in order to crush any hope of resisting the empire.
- Hover Tank: The Imperials roll out an upgraded version of the Trade Federation's AATs to stop the walker Han and Leia commandeered.
- How We Got Here: A backup story in Issue #50 shows how Vader set Trios to infiltrate the Rebellion and help him sabotage their new fleet.
- Interquel: As mentioned above, the comic takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.
- In-Series Nickname: Luke's childhood nickname of "Wormie" is made canon again as of Issue #6.
- It Has Been an Honor:
- In Issue #49, as the Imperials are about to destroy the building they're in as reprisal for helping the Mon Calamari mutiny, Urtya's butler droid tells him that it's been an honor to serve him.
- In Issue #55, with his ship about to be destroyed by the Executor, General Dodonna tells his crew how proud he is of them.
- It's Personal: When Solo and the Falcon arrive during the Hope Dies battle, Vader sets out in his fighter for payback for what happened during the Death Star battle in A New Hope.
- Jabba Table Manners: The Trope Namer himself can be seen in his usual capacity in Issue #4 — twice.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Let's just say you don't want to be interrogated by Boba Fett and leave it at that.
- Klingon Promotion:
- Though never actually intended or committed by the promotion recipients. Luke and Han find themselves given command rankings in the Rebel military, along with Leia (who officially was a political leader without military rank), in the aftermath of the losses in the Hope Dies arc.
- The story arc also conveniently addresses the nonappearances of both General Dodonna and General Draven, shown as important commanders in A New Hope and Rogue One respectively, in either The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi.
- Leave No Witnesses: In Issue #50, Vader kills all of Trios' attendants and guards who were present to hear his plan to have her infiltrate the Rebellion.
- Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: The Markona clan are a tribe of Proud Warrior Race Guys, and believe in settling personal disputes with duels.
- Let Me Get This Straight...: In Issue #63, this is how Meorti summarizes how insane the Rebels' latest plan is.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: In issue #4, Vader tells Jabba not to mention the bounty hunters the latter lent to the former.
- Loves the Sound of Screaming: Jabba's seal of business venture with the Empire is to invite Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers on a tour where Jabba's goons fire upon a wild Bantha herd. Jabba mentions how their dying screams are a soothing song and when he gets bored of that, he demands to be taken to the Sarlacc pit for the real entertainment.
- Marriage of Convenience: Turns out Sana and Han's marriage was actually a cover for Han to pull a heist. Sana still considers it legally binding and technically she is right.
- Mind over Matter: In the second issue, Vader telekinetically stops an AT-AT from stomping him, before he starts to tear it apart.
- Mirroring Factions: The Partisans' willingness to kill any Imperial collaborators in order to scare people out of working with the Empire is exactly the same as the Empire's usual tactics. This culminates in them being willing to destroy Shu-Torun to send a message, just like the Imperials did with Jedha and Alderaan. Leia calls them out on this, talking them down.
- The Mole: Queen Trios is actively sabotaging the Empire from within, and strikes up an alliance with the Rebels in Issue #43. Then Issue #49 reveals that she's been manipulating them on Vader's behalf the whole time.
- The Mutiny: The Mutiny on Mon Cala arc is, obviously, about the Rebels trying to get the Mon Calamari fleet to rise up against the Imperial occupation of their planet, which they do in Issue #48.
- Mythology Gag:
- In the old Expanded Universe, Leia became a Jedi after the events of Return of the Jedi, and eventually got her own lightsaber. When she briefly wields a lightsaber in the comic, she says "Always wanted to try one of these."
- In Issue #27, Yoda comes across a tribe of savage children. In The Hunger, a Galaxy of Fear novel from the old Expanded Universe, the protagonists come across a tribe of savage children on Dagobah for whom Yoda is The Dreaded.
- Sergeant Kreel wielding a green lightsaber is a reference to a concept art of Ralph McQuarrie where a Stormtrooper can be seen holding a lightsaber.
- Issue #68, which is set shortly before The Empire Strikes Back, opens with a slightly modified version of that movie's title crawl, to reflect that the Rebellion is still looking for a new base and hasn't found Hoth yet.
- Never My Fault: When Han blows his cover (see below), he blames the Imperials for not accepting his politeness.note
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Han blows a cover Leia had been trying to establish while she is flying a stolen shuttle, causing two TIE fighters to come after them. The irony is that if he had waited a few seconds more, the pilots would have cleared them!
- No One Could Survive That!: Han manages to fire the laser canon of an AT-AT at Vader at point blank range. Afterwards he assumes that they won't hear of Vader again. Luke doubts it, however.
- Noodle Incident: We never do find out the details of the mission that Clan Markona carried out for the Empire in exchange for ownership of Hubin. Thane Markona himself admits that it seemed to be just another mission to break into a secure location and steal some data; he doesn't remember what the data was or know what it was used for.
- Not So Above It All: Leia tells everyone who questions her that the plan to take down Shu-Torun isn't just about getting revenge against Queen Trios for betraying her, but her insistence on Tunga delivering a specific Ironic Echo to Trios and the look of vicious self-satisfaction on her face when he does so makes it clear that she is not beyond a little low pettiness.
- Oh, Crap!: The reaction of the main cast in Issue #1 once they realise the Imperial negotiator their cover identities are supposed to meet is actually Darth Vader. Justified, in that he comes insanely close to killing the lot of them over the next few issues.
- Orbital Bombardment: In Issue #66, Kanchar opens fire on the Shu-Torun royal retreat to kill the rebels who have taken it, not caring that Trios is there in an attempt to reclaim it. Vader later calls him out on how it seemed to be a bit much before killing him for failure.
- Out of the Inferno: As the Cymoon-1 base crumbles and burns around him, Darth Vader walks out of the flaming wreckage.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: The Arc Villain of Rebel Jail Eneb Ray has this attitude and he is trying to force Leia to also adopt it.
- Pun: In Issue #15 Obi-Wan Kenobi makes a play on the word Force when he monologues about his meals on Tatooine "Its a good thing I'm strong in the force or I wouldn't be able to force it down."
- Prophecy Twist: In The Phantom Menace, Anakin mentioned that he had a vision of himself freeing the slaves as a grown man. In this series, it's revealed that Anakin actually saw Luke, his future son, and simply assumed it was himself.
- Rank Up: In Issue #55, in response to the massive losses suffered by the Rebellion in the Hope Dies arc, Mon Mothma promotes Leia, Luke and Han to the ranks of General, Commander, and Colonel, respectfully.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Commander Kanchar doesn't buy into the usual "You Have Failed Me" mentality of most Imperial officers. He gives his subordinates three strikes before he punishes them (unless it's a particularly incompetent failure).
- Refuge in Audacity: Urtya is incredulous that Leia wants to continue negotiations in the middle of being attacked by stormtroopers.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: During The Scourging of Shu-Torun, the Partisans break from Leia's plan to simply cripple Shu-Torun's industrial base and intend to destroy the whole planet. In the end, however, Leia talks them down.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Ashes of Jedha shows that what's left of Saw Gerrera's Partisans are as ruthless and uncompromising as ever. They get even worse during the Scourging of Shu-Torun arc when they sabotage Leia's revenge plan so that rather than just economically crippling Shu-Torun, the whole planet will be destroyed. Leia is able to talk them down from this, and afterwards it's implied that they're going to seek a different path.
- Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Artoo pulls one off in Issue #36 to rescue Threepio from the Imperials.
- Rogue Agent: Eneb Ray, a former Rebel spy is the man behind the attack on Sunspot Prison, having decided that the Rebellion isn't going far enough to defeat the Empire and should just kill them all.
- Running Gag:
- C-3PO once again, gets dismantled.
- Han and Leia are hurling insults at each other...again....
- Obi-Wan Kenobi tries to persuade Black Krrsantan with the Force. But he is not the first Jedi that has to learn the hard way that some species are immune to mind tricks.
- Secret Test of Character: The entire "The Escape" arc turns out to have been Thane Markona testing the Rebels, to judge by their personalities if the Rebellion is worth joining.
- Shirtless Scene:
- Sergeant Kreel's outfit while undercover in Grakkus the Hutt's court is a Walking Shirtless Scene.
- Han gets one in Issue #57. Leia certainly enjoys it.
- Luke gets one in Issue #58 while sparring with Thane Markona.
- Shout-Out:
- The troubles with carrying nerfs on the Millennium Falcon probably took several cues from a scene about carrying a yak on an airplane.
- The scene where Boba Fett publicly tortures an alien in the Mos Eisley cantina, but finds no useful information from any of the bar patrons, is very similar to an early scene from Watchmen where Rorschach breaks a drunk guy's fingers in a fruitless attempt to find out who killed the Comedian. The giveaway is in the dialogue. note
- In Annual 1 the scene when Eneb Ray goes to infiltrate the Prison center on Coruscant has some references to the Mission: Impossible Film Series. At first the rebel spy is hanging on a flying transport similiar in visual appearance to the opening scene of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Then Eneb Ray climbs the prison tower using gloves that can overcome gravity like Ethan Hunt climbed the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The gloves also emit blue colors like in the referenced movie.
- Spirit Advisor: Obi-Wan keeps in touch with Luke after becoming one with the Force.
- Stellar Station: Sunspot Prison is a space station meant to serve as a maximum security detention for the most dangerous and notorious Imperial prisoners captured by the Rebels. Its extreme proximity to its sun serves as a way to mask its presence, as a line of defence by limiting the directions outsiders can approach it from, and as an extra security measure for keeping prisoners in — damage to its infrastructure risks harming both the shields that keep out the intense heat and sunlight and the complex's ability not to fall into the star. When a rogue Rebel agent takes over the prison in order to slaughter the prisoners inside, he simply deactivates its shields and lets most of the inmates roast alive in their cells.
- Stylistic Suck: The Cymoon-1 aliens, while not necessarily bad-looking, were deliberately made with the limitations that the aliens in the Original Trilogy had in terms of visual effects, according to Word of God.
- Tempting Fate:
- Han has a tendency to do this a lot. Not only in regards to just about everything related to Darth Vader but also when he tells Leia that nobody else knows about his little hideaway after escaping the Imperial fighter patrol. Cue a probe droid watching their arrival and beaming the information back to Sana.
- After overseeing the near destruction of the Rebel fleet, Vader assures the Emperor they are thoroughly defeated and "they are barely a Rebellion anymore."
- At the end of Issue #61, Leia assures Ackbar that the Imperials will never see the new mission she's come up with coming. Cue SCAR Squadron finding the plans she drew up while the group was hiding out on Hubin.
- In Issue #69, as Threepio and Chewbacca are having to double back to the planet they're supposed to blow up due to discovering it's inhabited, Threepio says that it's a good thing they didn't activate the homing beacon to lure the Empire into the planned trap... only for Chewie to admit that he did. Cue Star Destroyer entering the atmosphere.
- This Cannot Be!: Han continues to deny the existence of the Force, even as Vader holds the AT-AT he's piloting in place, and starts to tear it apart with nothing but a gesture.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Leia and Han's reactions to being sent on a mission alone together in Issue #68.
- The Unfettered: Trios is willing to do absolutely anything to keep Shu-Torun safe. Including acting as a Double Agent on Vader's behalf.
- Try to Fit That on a Business Card: The Mutiny on Mon Cala arc features Urtya, whose titles are Grand Admiral of the Mon Cala Mercantile Fleet, Regent of Mon Cala, Dual Protector of the Two People, and Warden of the King in exile. There's implied to be more, but he cuts Threepio off before he can get to them.
- Vehicular Turnabout: Han and Leia hijack an AT-AT to escape from the Cymoon weapons factory. They even attempt to kill Vader with it. Vader is not impressed.
- [Verb] This!: After being blinded by Boba Fett's flash-bang grenade and grazed in the shoulder during their confrontation in Kenobi's old hut, Luke repeats Kenobi's lesson about a Jedi feels the Force flowing through him and that he doesn't need to see to fight. Fett responds by saying "Feel This" and opening fire again.
- Villain Episode:
- Issue #21 follows a special strike team of veteran stormtroopers, called SCAR Squadron. Towards the end it's heavily implied that their new sergeant is the Gamemaster from Grakkus' arena.
- Issue #37 follows SCAR again, as they hunt down a rebel cell to prove their continued worth to Vader.
- Villain Respect: Subverted. When General Draven boasts to Vader that he and his commandos were the distraction to enable Leia's escape off the Executor:Vader: (snapping Draven's neck) My Congratulations.
- Villain Team-Up: In Issue #4, Vader has Jabba provide him with supplies in order to rebuild what the Empire lost after the destruction of the Death Star and the damage from the attack on Cymoon 1.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Tunga, a shapeshifting Clawdite, is recruited by the Rebellion to play a key part in their attempt to free King Lee-Char during the Mutiny on Mon Cala arc.
- Wham Episode: Issue #6. We find out that the woman in the mask and cloak pursuing Han is not a bounty hunter but Sana Solo, his wife. Oh, and Boba Fett tells Darth Vader of Luke's surname.
- Who Are You?: Vader asks Luke who he is after telling him he was a Jedi.
- Wretched Hive:
- Nar Shadda, the Smuggler's Moon, is established as being just as much this in the new canon as it was in Legends.
- Lanz Carpo, a planet owned by a single crime syndicate, where Imperial law is never enforced and the local law officials are all on the take.
- You Killed My Father: When Luke confronts Vader, this is the first thing he says. To which Vader replies "I've killed very many fathers. You'll have to be more specific."
2020 run
- All for Nothing:
- In Issue #9, the Pathfinders break into the Imperial Museum on Coruscant in order to retrieve an ancient droid that can re-encode the Rebellion's compromised communications in an unbreakable way. Needle sacrifices himself by staging a fake secondary theft so the others can get away, leading to his execution... and it turns out that the droid's memory is corrupted and unusable.
- The ancient talker droid refuses to give up its Trawak module, thinking the Rebels would deactivate him once he's finished, and so he forces the Rebels to work with him, using Lobot to keep his corrupted systems malfunctional, even though the toll is slowly killing Lobot. C-3PO manages to decipher the Trawak language from the talker's translated communications, allowing him to use the language himself without the talker's help, and deactivates him.
- Avenging the Villain: Commander Zahra, the Imperial officer spearheading the hunt of the scattered Rebel fleet, is obsessed with avenging the destruction of the Death Star and the death of her mentor, Grand Moff Tarkin.
- Big "NO!": Luke gives one in Issue #33, when a killdroid crushes his lightsaber.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Throughout the first arc, Luke has visions of a woman who turns out to be Verla, the last survivor of Master Barr's resistance group.
- Issue #6 sees Luke going up against the spirit of the Grand Inquisitor.
- In Issue #10, Evaan Verlaine returns from leading the Alderaanian refugees to help Starlight Squadron.
- Mart Mattin also joins Starlight Squadron, most likely through his connection with Wedge. Though the two don't interact in Rebels, they do in the Rebels magazine comics.
- When visiting Nar Shadda in Issue #13, Luke and Chewbacca meet with Sagwa, one of the Wookies that Chewie liberated during his and Han's heist on Kessel.
- Call-Back:
- When talking with Zahra about Tarkin, Vader references the time he had Tarkin hunt him.
- While heading to Nar Shadda to follow a lead on Boba Fett, Luke recalls his encounter with Grakkus there during the first run.
- With Crimson Dawn returning for War of the Bounty Hunters, there's repeated references to the events of Solo.
- While doing maintenance on the Millennium Falcon, Lando talks aloud to L3-37, whose code was uploaded to the ship's core in Solo.
- In Issue #19, Luke visits Mount Pasvaal, a Jedi compound previously featured in the Dark Lord of the Sith series. The nearby town of Am'balaar is still in ruins from Vader breaking its damn and flooding it to end his duel with Master Kirak Infil'a, and while searching the area Luke meets Colli, the now-adult son of the mechanic who worked on Kirak's ship.
- In Issue #20, while having a Vision Quest in the fungal network of Gazlan, Luke meets a mental imprint of Elzar Mann.
- While talking with Luke in Issue #28, Hera mentions that his talk of the Force makes him sound like Kanan.
- Call-Forward:
- During Luke's Vision Quest in Issue #20, the background briefly changes to look like Ahch-To.
- While Luke is undercover as an Imperial officer in Issue #28, a Rebel trooper tells him that he looks good in black, which he seems to take to heart.
- The Cameo:
- The Grand Inquisitor, Ninth Sister, and Second Sister make cameos in the first arc when Verla recalls the Inquisitors.
- Director Krennic appears during a flashback in Issue #7.
- A young Amilyn Holdo sends Leia a message in Issue #14.
- Continuity Cavalcade: In Issue #19, Luke goes on the search for any means of learning more about the Jedi, including visiting Ilum, Lothal, and Mount Pasvaal.
- Continuity Nod:
- In Issue #19, it's mentioned that the Rebellion is having trouble cutting deals with the galaxy's crime families for resources due to the war that just broke out among them.
- In Issue #29, the heroes plot to steal a Nihil ship from an auction.
- Continuity Snarl: Shara Bey and Kes Dameron directly interact with Luke, Leia, and co., despite Star Wars: Shattered Empire implying they hadn't interacted with each other until then.
- Cultural Posturing: As yet more evidence of the Empire's human supremacism, Issue #9 reveals that the Imperial Museum on Coruscant steals artifacts from other species, claiming that doing so is "protecting" cultures that can't protect themselves.
- Demanding Their Head: A flashback shows Grand Moff Tarkin ordering his protege Commander Zahra to bring him the head of a rebel leader. To her surprise, he's disappointed when she reports she successfully killed the target, as he literally wanted her to bring him the man's actual head.
- "Die Hard" on an X: Shara Bey spends several issues stranded aboard the Star Destroyer Tarkin's Will, hiding in damaged sections while undermining the Imperials the best that she can.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Verla directs Luke to the Jedi Temple on Tempes, which she mentions was an outpost back in the days of the High Republic, building up to the multimedia project of the same name.
- Fate Worse than Death: Ever since his death, the spirit of the Grand Inquisitor has been forced by Vader to guard an ancient Jedi temple on the planet Tempes as part of a trap for potential Jedi. The Grand Inquisitor specifically name-drops this trope in regards to his situation.
- Final Battle: Issue #24 features the final confrontation between Leia and Zahra.
- Genius Loci: In Issue #20, Luke visits the planet Gazian, the entire surface of which is covered in a forest of giant mushrooms. This network is alive and strongly connected to the Force, containing imprints of the minds of everyone who has ever entered it.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: Issue #10 sees the formation of Starlight Squadron, which is composed of not only Wedge and Shara, but also Evaan Verlaine (called upon from leading the Alderaanian refugees by Leia), Mart Mattin (an old friend of Wedge back in Phoenix Squadron), and L'ulo L'ampar (Shara's longtime friend), as well as newcomer Freyta Smyth.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In Issue #23, Kes's infiltration team stay behind on the Tarkin's Will while he and Shara escape, and blow the reactor core to cripple the ship. Cornered by stormtroopers and unable to escape, they detonate the explosives anyway, giving their lives to win the battle.
- Human Popsicle: This run of the series is set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, so naturally Han is stuck in carbonite during this period. Leia also briefly ends in the same situation in Issue #3.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Leia's not happy with having to risk Lobot's life to get the encoded language out of the Talky, but knows that she has to if the Rebellion is going to safely restore their secure communications.
- Interquel: As noted above, this run is set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
- It's Personal: Name-dropped by an Imperial officer to describe Zahra's obsession with defeating Leia, whom she blames for the death of her mentor Tarkin.
- Literal-Minded: When Tarkin told Zahra to bring him a terrorist's head, he wasn't using a figure of speech, he actually wanted the head as proof of death.
- Lost Colony: When the protagonists end up sent to No-Space by a Nihil path engine, they stumble on the Kezarat Colony, founded by a fuel convoy that got similarly stuck there centuries prior and set up a habitation when they realized they couldn't escape the place.
- MacGuffin: Starting in Issue #29, the heroes go looking for a fuel convoy that's been lost since disappearing into hyperspace back during the High Republic.
- Moral Myopia: Shara notes with disgusted anger that the Imperials aboard the Tarkin's Will are all furious at the personal losses they suffered when the Death Star exploded, but don't even acknowledge the deaths from when Alderaan and Jedha were destroyed.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: In Issue #15, Luke has a Force vision of Vader capturing Han, alluding to Vader's arrival at the Auction of Evil for Han's carbonite slab happening simultaneously to Luke's mission.
- Mythology Gag:
- Luke obtains a yellow lightsaber he uses throughout the series before building his green one. Older action figures featured him wielding a yellow blade instead or a blue or green saber.
- The captain of the Son-tuul Pride ship in Issue #16 is based on Jabba the Hutt's deleted appearance in A New Hope, where he was depicted as a human (said deleted scene was brought back for the 1997 Special Editions onwards, but with the human actor digitally replaced with the slug-like alien he is best known as today).
- Oh, Crap!: Luke in Issue #16, when he realizes that Vader is waiting for him at the Crimson Dawn auction.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Zahra holds this view about Leia.
- Operation: [Blank]: Operation Starlight, the Rebellion's attempt to reestablish secure communications channels and reunite their fleet post-Hoth.
- Spanner in the Works: Zahra's battle strategy in Issue #23 nearly succeeds in crushing the Rebel fleet, until Kes's team of infiltrators blows up the Star Destroyer's power core, crippling the ship and causing it to crash on the planet below.
- Weaponized Exhaust: In Issue #23, Zahra dives the Tarkin's Will into a planet's atmosphere as part of a gambit against the attacking Rebel fleet, and doesn't pull up until the ship is in the right position so that the exhaust from its engines incinerates the entire Rebel encampment that was hiding on the surface.
- Wrecked Weapon: Luke's yellow lightsaber is a damaged lightsaber pike where he only has one end of the double-bladed weapon. In Star Wars issue #33, the lightsaber gets damage forcing him to find another one.
- We Need a Distraction: In Issue #9, in order to keep the museum curator busy while the other Pathfinders break into his private collection, Needle makes a scene over an artifact stolen from his people, eventually blatantly trying to steal it in protest. This turns into a Heroic Sacrifice, as he's summarily executed for the theft.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Lando chews out Leia for risking killing Lobot to secure the Rebellion's communications.
