When Marvel Comics took on the duty of creating canonized Star Wars stories in 2015, one of their biggest tasks was telling the story of our favorite heroes between films. What happened to Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, C-3PO, and R2-D2 after A New Hope? How did we get to the icy tundra of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back? And just how much of the Force had Luke gotten into before his fateful crash-landing in the swamps of Dagobah?
The Marvel series Star Wars, started by Jason Aaron and John Cassaday in January 2015, tackles these questions in fourteen books over the past four years. Along the way, Luke Skywalker's path to becoming a Jedi has begun to take shape. Here we break down ten steps he took after his first into a larger world...
10 Fight With Boba Fett On Tatooine
In the initial series story arc, Luke makes his way back to Tatooine in search of clues. What he finds is a lot more trouble than he bargained for.
While searching the ruins of Obi-Wan Kenobi's hut with R2-D2, the duo finds a mysterious box inscribed "For Luke." Before they're able to open it, Luke is blinded by a flashbang thrown by bounty hunter Boba Fett. The attack stuns Skywalker, but the Jedi-to-be is confident. "A Jedi doesn't need eyes." He slashes his lightsaber blindly until he and R2 are able to knock Fett unconscious. Back at his ship, Luke's eyesight returns. Within the box, he finds "The Journals of Ben Kenobi."
9 Discovering Ben's Journals
Upon discovering the journals of his mentor, Luke is initially disappointed. "I don't see where this book tells me anything about fighting with a lightsaber or using the Force." To his chagrin, the pages of this book will over time inform his journey and give him much of the wisdom he so desperately seeks.
8 Grakkus The Hutt
On the hunt for Jedi knowledge, Luke arrives at the "Smuggler's Moon" of Nar Shaddaa, home of Jedi-obsessed crime lord Grakkus the Hutt. After displaying his force abilities, Luke is taken prisoner by Grakkus. In his obsession with the Jedi, Grakkus has amassed a great collection of Jedi artifacts and is determined to have Luke open his prized possession: a Jedi Holocron.
With no real experience in the Jedi ways, Luke is still able to open the Holocron. And after regarding our hero as "the last Jedi," Grakkus decides to add Luke to his collection...
7 Training With The Gamemaster
Luke is forced to train with Grakkus' Gamemaster. Culling young Skywalker, the Gamemaster informs him that the Jedi Temple on Coruscant has been erased like all the rest of the Jedi Temples. But if he lives long enough, he will be given access to all of Grakkus' collection.
Luke is eventually thrown into Grakkus' fighting arena to "die like a Jedi Knight." Facing up against Kongo, a monstrous Roggwart, Luke does everything he can to connect with the Force. And when all seems lost, the giant monster's shock collar is initiated amid a flurry of Imperial raiders. The Gamemaster reveals himself to be Sergeant Kreel, an Imperial spy, and Luke is able to narrowly escape in the mayhem.
6 The Jedi Temple On Vrogas Vas
After learning of the Jedi Temple on Vrogas Vas from Grakkus' Jedi Holocron, Luke crash-lands on the planet. While stranded, Luke wanders into the Temple ruins, driven by the call of the Force. Amidst the shadows and ash, he has a vision...
He sees what look to be the forms of his mentor Obi-Wan, and someone else... his father, Anakin Skywalker. Though never having truly seen his father, he recognizes him through the power of the force. Unbeknownst to Luke, his father is actually already on the planet...
5 Reading Yoda's Secret War Story
After escaping the near-clutches of Darth Vader and his SCAR Squadron, Luke is left stranded once again, this time by his faithful companion R2-D2. With R2 gone, Luke is left to read one of Ben's journal entries, this time about Master Yoda.
Before The Phantom Menace, Yoda senses a disturbance in the Force, jetting off to an ancient planet. Once there, he attempts to help the last of a race of giant stone creatures. While reading this crazy Force-story, Luke gets so impatient about its ending that he sets off and ventures to the planet himself. Upon his arrival, he discovers exactly what he's constantly jumping up and running from. Patience, humility, and understanding. Instead of running off before you get to the ending, maybe next time, finish your read, young Skywalker.
4 Run-in On Ktath'atn
One of the greatest character additions to the canon from Marvel has undoubtedly been Doctor Aphra. A rogue scientist, criminal and smuggler, Aphra has colluded with Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker alike, toeing the line of morality with the balance of a trapeze artist.
That's why her convincing Luke to travel with her to Ktath'atn to unlock a Jedi spirit inside an AI called "the Eternal Rur" is just mouthwatering stuff. Unfortunately for Luke, he gets played like a fiddle left and right. But that's part of the reason we love him. Once on Ktath'atn, Luke is able to overcome the call of the Eternal Rur, dismissing its false claim as a Jedi intelligence, and releasing the mind control power of the planet's Queen.
3 Discoveries On Jedha
At this point, fans of Star Wars should be well aware of the importance of Jedha. The former Jedi haven was ground zero for the Empire's first test of the Death Star, as seen in Rogue One. But to Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance, the specific sacrifices made by Jyn Erso and her rogue rebels were, for the most part, a mystery. That is, until their trek to the Ashes of Jedha.
On a mission to intercept shipments of kyber crystals made by the newly appointed Queen Trios of Shu-Torun, Luke and his friends try to gain the support of Saw Gerrera's surviving Partisans. While there, Luke discovers the direct connection he has to Rogue One's Erso and company and their untimely deaths. At this raw stage in his Jedi path, the pain and anger he should be denying begin to weigh on him. When faced with a compatriot's succumbing to the madness of the dark side, Luke ultimately learns a great lesson: of how the dark side can twist the mind with great lust of power.
2 Shu-Torun
After enlisting the help of the Partisans on Jedha, the rebels set their sights on revenge against Queen Trios. The royal of Shu-Torun had feigned allegiance to the rebellion before double-crossing them for Darth Vader.
As a result, Leia Organa forms a plan to take down Shu-Torun. But quickly the rebels find out they won't be able to enact their attack safely. With the help of R2-D2 as always, Luke is able to make good on Leia's original plan, and send the planet into crisis mode. As the volatile volcanic activity of Shu-Torun rages, Luke is able to expertly course a path to safety through the planet core, and on to possible new base planets...
1 Meeting Warba On Sergia
On the hunt for a new rebel base planet, Luke finds himself in the deserts of Sergia. Veritably alone and wandering, he attempts to give in to the will of the Force. In doing so, he finds Warba Calip: a mysterious Force-sensitive. Claiming to have grown up on Jedha near the Temple of the Kyber, Warba expresses the words of the Guardians of the Whills.
"The Force is all around us. The energy between things. Tension. Balance. Some can use the Force. For others, it is enough just to feel it." Sounding very much like Chirrut Imwe, Warba gives Luke this bit of knowledge before repeating the Guardian mantra. "I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me." Luke follows, using it to free his mind and connect with the Force. Until he moves a lightsaber with his mind, that may be as close as he gets to becoming a Jedi.
Marvel's Star Wars relaunches January 1, 2020.