Did you know the Mandalorians Were First Mentioned In This Forgotten Star Wars Comic

The Mandalorian and Grogu hits theaters this week as the first Star Wars film in 7 years and fans are gearing up for the big screen return of a galaxy far, far away. The film follows the continuing journey of Din Djarin and Grogu after three seasons of Star Wars adventures on Disney+. Ever since Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones — or, more specifically, The Clone Wars animated series — the Mandalorian race has been one of the more popular aspects of the Star Wars universe and the Disney+ show has only furthered that sentiment among fans.

However, Mandalore and the Mandalorian people have much more humble beginnings, which can be found in Marvel's Star Wars #68. This was the first time the planet and its inhabitants were ever named directly, featuring a story with a cover that had everyone assuming they were about to read an adventure starring Boba Fett. It wasn't long before they realized that they were mistaken, as a new Mandalorian entered the ever-expanding cast of Star Wars characters with information that wildly contradicts what fans have come to understand about the Clone Wars.

Fenn Shysa Introduces Mandalore While Painting A Very Different Picture Of the Clone Wars

After Princess Leia Organa and C-3PO travel to the planet Mandalore to track down bounty hunter Dengar in their desperate search for Han Solo, the pair come across a group of slavers herding people along. Before long, the slavers are attacked by a group of Mandalorian soldiers — led by a man who Leia assumes is the notorious Boba Fett — and taken out when Leia decides to fight alongside the Mandalorian, much to her own surprise. The soldier reveals himself to be Fenn Shysa, who invites Leia back to the Mandalorians' base. This reveal was a big deal for Star Wars, introducing a whole new element to the series' lore by bringing Mandalore into the conversation.

During her visit, Shysa explains to Leia that he and his soldiers are attempting to end the Empire's influence on Mandalore in the aftermath of the Clone Wars. He tells Leia that the Empire forced Mandalore to fight in the Clone Wars for them, and that he went into battle led by Boba Fett. In a series of extremely contradictory statements, Shysa mentions having met Leia during a briefing before a Clone Wars battle. Although this comic preceded Return of the Jedi — and, of course, the Prequel Trilogy — the well-known Star Wars lore hadn't been completely established, resulting in writer David Michelinie taking liberties with the material and coming up with his own backstory for the Mandalorians. That said, the Clone Wars were already explained in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope as a series of battles that saw Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker fighting alongside one another before Luke was born, so the Leia comments contradicted what was established in a movie that had already been released. Not necessarily because Luke and Leia are twins — that information wasn't known until Return of the Jedi — but mainly due to the simple fact that Leia's age didn't line up with Shysa's timeline.

Eventually, these inconsistencies were retconned in a Star Wars Insider article titled The History of the Mandalorians. In the article, it's claimed that Shysa was merely confused when relaying the information he did. The picture of Princess Leia Shysa specifically described was changed to a photograph of Padmé Amidala, with Shysa apparently just conflating the two when recalling the story. Still, this doesn't explain why he'd even be aware of Leia at that point in Star Wars history — but the expanded universe was very much a grab bag of quality, where some stories held up a lot better than others. Finally, Shysa mentioning that he had participated in the Clone Wars on the side of the "Empire" was explained away by suggesting the Mandalorians were sent into battle by Darth Sidious, meaning that his claim in the comic could still hold up in some form.

Star Wars #68 Focuses On Leia's Search For Han Solo Following The Empire Strikes Back

Marvel's original Star Wars comic run came at a fascinating time for fans of the franchise. Issues came out while the Original Trilogy was still hitting theaters, with issue #1 releasing before A New Hope even hit theaters. This particular story from Star Wars #68 takes place in the time between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, released a year before the latter. This allowed the series to fill in the gaps between films, which was a treat for Star Wars fans who grew up with the original releases.

Because Star Wars #68 took place prior to Return of the Jedi, a stretch of issues covered the core group as they searched for Han Solo. Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 took their X-Wing to search, Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca took the Millennium Falcon, and, of course, Leia Organa and C-3PO took her Y-Wing, which led her to Mandalore for the first time in the franchise's history. There, they found that the bounty hunter Dengar — who may or may not have had some information on Han's whereabouts — had been taken prisoner by Fenn Shysa and his group of Mandalorian soldiers as collateral for one of their own who had been taken prisoner. In the end, the issue wraps up with a cliffhanger as Leia and C-3PO are surrounded by Empirial Stormtroopers after putting too much trust in Dengar, who they freed in exchange for information on Han.

Marvel's Star Wars comic books could get very strange in this era, but Star Wars #68 was a fairly straightforward story. It offers fans a compelling look into how many now-established pieces of the Star Wars lore were treated during the franchise's early days. When this comic was being developed, it was impossible to know how important Mandalore and its people would become in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian and Grogu is a testament to just how far the Mandalorians have come in the years since they were first name-dropped here in Star Wars #6, being the first film in over half a decade trusted with carrying the Star Wars name back to theaters. It all started with a simple story featuring now-dated information, and the introduction of the long-forgotten Mandalorian leader Fenn Shysa.