Warning! Spoilers ahead for Darth Vader #2
Marvel Comics' latest Star Wars: Darth Vader series continues to be impressive and surprising despite only having two issues. In the first issue, Lord Vader is on the warpath, looking to punish those who made his son weak, as Luke has just refused to join him in Empire Strikes Back. He's also determined to find out exactly what happened to his late wife Padmé, and how his son even exists at all.
His search for answers takes him to Coruscant and the planet Vendaxa, and he has a shocking meeting from the past. However, the series promises to reveal even more twists and surprises, as Lord Vader will soon be returning to the very first planet seen in the prequel trilogy of Star Wars films. The planet that set the whole Skywalker Saga in motion. Read on for more.
In Darth Vader #2, from writer Greg Pak with artwork from Raffaele Ienco, Vader comes face to face with someone who looks exactly like his late wife Padmé Amidala. However, he discovers that it is in fact Sabé, the former queen's double, handmaid, and trusted friend. She seeks vengeance as well for what happend to Padmé, and had built a crew to help her uncover the truth. However, after an attack from the indigenous lifeforms of Vendaxa, Sabé finds herself without any allies aside from Lord Vader himself. Seeing that they have a common goal, they determine to work together, despite Sabé's distaste for the Empire. Vader had visited Coruscant to search Padmé apartment, and found that the security tapes from directly after Padmé's reported death were missing. It was Sabé who stole them, hoping for answers. Unfortunately, they were encrypted, so she hid them until she had the resources to unlock them herself. Thanks to Vader, she now does, so they embark to the planet where she hid them...
It's significant that Vader will be returning to Naboo in the next few issues of Darth Vader. Naboo is the home planet and final resting place of Padmé. Furthermore, it was also the home planet of Emperor Palpatine and was instrumental to his initial plans for taking over the galaxy. Much of the first episode (The Phantom Menace) takes place on this planet, and saw young Anakin Skywalker prove his heroics in a star fighter, helping to take down the Trade Federation's blockade over the planet (will Vader might pilot a Naboo star fighter again?).
It's more than likely that Sabé kept the recording at Padmé's tomb. Will this be the fist time Vader visits his wife's burial site? Most likely. Naboo was where the man he once was fell in love with Padmé, and where they were secretly married. He probably hasn't returned to Naboo since becoming Vader. What will this return to do Vader? How will he react? There's more than a few interesting narrative threads to pull, and fans should be pretty excited to see where Marvel's Darth Vader series goes next.
Star Wars: Darth Vader is in comic book stores now.