WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Star Wars #1, from Charles Soule, Jesús Saiz, Arif Prianto and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Throughout the history of Star Wars, Luke Skywalker has been viewed as a true blue hero: incorruptible and unwavering in the face of adversity. No matter how many times Darth Vader or Emperor Palpatine tempt him, he's stayed resolute. It's only in Star Wars: The Last Jedi that he seemed to lose his heroic edge as a hermit on Ahch-To, but ultimately, Luke still had good intentions as he warned Rey against the lure of evil.
However, Marvel's Star Wars relaunch -- which is set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi -- reveals a key moment in Luke's life where he walks the path of the Dark Side, albeit briefly and inadvertently.
The book deals with Luke's experiences following losing his hand to Vader. Princess Leia Organa, Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca rescue him in the Millennium Falcon, and as they plot a way to get back Han Solo from Boba Fett, they realize they need to regroup with the Rebels and plan a reprisal strike. But as they light-speed jump, they're intercepted by TIE Fighters, getting caught in a blockade with Rebel cruisers and Vader's fleet. With the Falcon trying to cut a path for Rebel ships to escape, Luke, recovering after his droid stump has been put on, decides to man the gun below deck and it's here he has his trip with the Dark Side.
With several Imperial fighters surrounding the Falcon, Luke's struggling to shoot them down. It's not because he's a bad shot or has one hand, but because he keeps getting flashbacks of what Vader revealed. Memories of Vader telling him he's his dad coincide with Obi-Wan Kenobi's talk about Vader killing Anakin, as well as the flashback of his father amputating his hand. Luke is breaking down mentally and, with his dad's lightsaber lost too, he feels rudderless. As the visions pierce his mind, Luke pounds his control deck, only for the TIE fighters to all blow up.
The Falcon's crew is in shock as they've never seen anything like this before, ascribing it to a hack or bombs on board, maybe even malfunctioning equipment. Little do they know, Luke gave in to fear and anger, all paths to the Dark Side, and using his rage and frustration, he unwittingly harnessed the Force to blow the ships up. They all eventually get to a rendezvous point and as the rebels confer, Luke goes into a solitary chamber where he tries to contact Yoda on Dagobah after the incident.
However, there's no feedback and, unlike Rey in The Rise of Skywalker who accepted this communication just wasn't happening, Luke screams, shattering the glass behind him. Now, we've never seen him use the Force this way until The Last Jedi, and even then he wasn't a pseudo-weapon like this. His antrum also feels similar to Kylo Ren/Ben Solo's antics in the sequel trilogy.
Still, Luke isn't fully evil, he's just immature and not coping well given the circumstances. We saw some of this with Rey, too, when she didn't totally grasp what the Force was and let her emotions take over in training. It also occurred in the last film when she blew up a ship using Force lightning. In Luke's case, his meltdown is a bit more sympathetic because he feels betrayed by Obi-Wan and Yoda withholding the truth, and he starts wondering if he's really cut out for the Jedi Order. Knowing how he'd forsake the sect in Rian Johnson's film, it appears this is a key moment in his journey, influencing what he really thinks balance means with the mystical life-force and how someone should be prepared to embrace it, if at all.
Star Wars #2 releases January 29.