Cad Bane Sets Up Boba Fett’s Cut Clone Wars Story 28 Years Later

Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Book of Boba Fett episode 6

Cad Bane returns to the Star Wars franchise in The Book of Boba Fett, and his return perfectly sets up a cut story from Star Wars: The Clone Wars 28 years later. The ruthless Duros bounty hunter Cad Bane menaced the Clone Troopers and Jedi throughout The Clone Wars, and an unaired storyline would have delved into both his relationship with the late Jango Fett and him training Jango’s son, Boba Fett. The story would have concluded with a duel between Bane and Fett, which The Book of Boba Fett can now recreate.

Cad Bane was the galaxy’s second-best bounty hunter during Jango Fett’s lifetime, becoming the galaxy’s most formidable mercenary upon Fett’s death on Geonosis. Bane felt he owed the late Fett favors, as revealed in The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark, which would have likely been a contributing factor in his mentoring Boba Fett in the unaired The Clone Wars storyline. Boba Fett, however, was not as unscrupulous as the Duros bounty hunter, leading the two to become adversaries by the end of the arc, as shown in a partially-animated clip from the story arc.

The Clone Wars storyline would have had Fett and Bane in a standoff, in which both bounty hunters fire at each other simultaneously. Fett’s beskar helmet would have protected him from Bane’s powerful blaster bolt (giving the helmet its signature dent) while Bane would miraculously survive a blaster bolt to the head. Cad Bane’s return in The Book of Boba Fett establishes this unaired moment, while his positioning as Boba Fett’s enemy once again sets the pair up for a rematch 28 years later in-universe – giving viewers the prospect of a live-action recreation of the cut The Clone Wars scene.

Cad Bane may not have been as formidable as Jango Fett, but the Star Wars franchise has repeatedly shown him to be a lethal marksman who hasn’t truly lost a standoff yet. Bane has proven to be a quicker draw than the elite super soldier Hunter in Star Wars: The Bad Batch and he similarly outfought both the highly-skilled Cobb Vanth and his deputy, Scott, at the same time in The Book of Boba Fett. While Boba Fett blasted Bane in the cut The Clone Wars storyline, a rematch with a clearer winner would be a wonderful way to conclude Fett’s spinoff series.

Bane might have respected Jango Fett to a degree, but his near-loss to Boba Fett during The Clone Wars surely created a loose end for both characters. Moreover, Bane remains a brutal mercenary while Fett has grown past the life of a bounty hunter and now rules Tatooine as a crime lord with a sense of honor, differentiating him from the Hutts and the Pykes. The 28 years between The Clone Wars and The Book of Boba Fett have only made Bane and Fett even more opposed.

Cad Bane’s blaster wound was indirectly referenced in The Bad Batch through a portion of his head being cybernetic. This confirms that, while unaired, Bane and Fett’s standoff in The Clone Wars did canonically occur, and it will most likely be referenced in The Book of Boba Fett’s season finale. After 28 years Boba Fett and Cad Bane should have their long-awaited rematch in The Book of Boba Fett, this time with a definitive winner.

New episodes of The Book of Boba Fett air Wednesdays on Disney+.

About The Author

David Miller
(631 Articles Published)

David Miller is a staff writer for Screen Rant, indie comic writer, and life-long lover of all things Star Wars, Marvel, and DC. He was born and raised in New York and has a degree in English from Rider University. He relates to Peter Parker maybe a little too much.

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