Boba Fett is undoubtedly one of the best Star Wars bounty hunters, but Marvel isn’t making his job any easier with the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover. However, one Boba’s problems in the previews for the event actually creates a plot hole in popular TV series The Mandalorian.
War of the Bounty Hunters is an upcoming crossover of Marvel's Star Wars comics that will center around Boba Fett’s journey after The Empire Strikes Back as he brings Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt, but what should be a simple delivery job turns out to be his greatest challenge yet. The bounty on Solo’s head makes him a valuable piece of cargo - one that other bounty hunters would love to get their hands on. However, the previews for Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha #1 by Charles Soule and Steve McNiven show that hungry mercenaries are the least of Boba’s worries. The carbonite casing around Solo is unstable, forcing Boba to stop for aid from an old friend, but in his line of work, even the slightest delay could spell serious trouble. Not only that, but the instability of the carbonite raises questions about the bounty hunting practices seen in The Mandalorian.
Set a few years after Return of the Jedi, The Mandalorian TV series follows bounty hunter Din Djarin. Before Baby Yoda melted his beskar heart, Djarin was a fearsome mercenary with an impeccable track record, and the first episode of the series showed that his preferred method of transporting his targets was to encase them in carbonite. While this initially seemed like a cool callback to The Empire Strikes Back, Boba Fett’s troubles with carbonite in the comics now call the efficacy of that method into question. In fact, when Boba stops on the Smuggler’s Moon for assistance, his friend, Doc, says point-blank, “Carbonite matrix is unstable…whose bright idea was this?”
Evidently, freezing organic matter in carbonite is inconsistent at best, which raises the question of why it’s so commonplace in The Mandalorian. Boba even makes it clear that it wasn’t his idea to have Han Solo frozen in carbonite in the first place, showing that its universally seen as a bad idea. However, it's important to note that War of the Bounty Hunters takes place well before the events of The Mandalorian. It’s therefore possible that carbonite technology is significantly improved over the next few years, making it more viable for future bounty hunters like Din Djarin. Who knows - maybe Boba’s journey with the frozen Han Solo is actually what winds up popularizing the practice.
It will be interesting to see whether the faultiness of carbonite remains a problem for Boba Fett throughout the entire series or if it gets cleared up quickly with Doc’s help. Either way, the events of this series indirectly influencing the methods depicted in The Mandalorian would be awesome to see.