Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Book of Boba Fett
Cad Bane and Boba Fett battle in The Book of Boba Fett’s first season finale, proving that Bane was a better bounty hunter than Fett. Bane was second only to Jango Fett during the latter’s lifetime, and while Boba Fett is typically seen as the galaxy’s greatest bounty hunter, Bane trained him during the Clone Wars, knowing his shortcomings. Boba Fett might be more renowned than Cad Bane, but he fell short of besting Bane as a gunslinger in The Book of Boba Fett.
Introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Cad Bane was a lethal marksman and tactician, taking on Jedi and Clone Troopers alike and killing many throughout the war. Canon sources describe Bane as being the galaxy’s second-best bounty hunter during Jango Fett’s lifetime, but his The Clone Wars appearances suggest that he was only Jango Fett’s inferior by a slim margin. In an unaired The Clone Wars story arc, Cad Bane trains a young Boba Fett as a bounty hunter, though their partnership ends with a duel between the two mercenaries.
The unreleased duel between Boba Fett and Cad Bane ends with the two blasting each other in the head simultaneously, which Bane inexplicably survives and Boba Fett’s helmet receiving its iconic dent. The two aren’t shown interacting during the original trilogy era, but their rematch in The Book of Boba Fett proves that Bane has a faster draw, and the older bounty hunter reveals that he’s bested Boba Fett on previous missions. Fett overpowers and kills Bane, but uses his Tusken Raider training to do so, not his bounty hunter gear or skills. This shows that, as a bounty hunter alone, Bane has the upper hand.
The Legends version of Boba Fett was far more formidable than Cad Bane and would have certainly bested him as both a combatant and a mercenary, but Fett’s canon counterpart lacks the same history and feats. Based on his appearances in the films and canon non-movie material, Boba Fett doesn’t quite surpass Cad Bane’s proven skills, and The Book of Boba Fett shows that Fett would have been killed by Bane if not for his blaster-proof beskar armor. In addition to being a quicker draw than Fett, Cad Bane is also willing to use underhand means, unlike Boba Fett, who seeks to be an honorable mercenary.
In their unreleased The Clone Wars story arc, Cad Bane chides Boba Fett for helping others, claiming that it’ll leave him broke or dead and implying that their conflict began when Fett refused to share Cad Bane’s cruelty. In The Book of Boba Fett, Bane kept Fett off-balance, bringing up the Tusken Raider massacre and taunting Fett so that he’d become emotional and make mistakes in their fight. Cad Bane also implies that Boba Fett isn’t as formidable as Jango Fett due to the older Fett’s ruthlessness.
Little is known about the canon version of Jango Fett, other than the broad strokes of his Legends-era backstory being part of the canon timeline. With this in mind, canon’s Jango Fett likely balanced ruthlessness with a sense of honor, possibly explaining his superiority to both Cad Bane and Boba Fett. The canon version of Boba Fett is frequently shown to be conflicted over doing what’s right and what’s profitable before the events of The Book of Boba Fett, while Cad Bane is shown to be both a more callous killer and a faster draw with a blaster, making him the better bounty hunter.
All episodes of The Book of Boba Fett are available to stream on Disney+
