Last Jedi Comic Reveals Ackbar’s Final Words

The newest comic for Star Wars: The Last Jedi reveals, among other things, Admiral Ackbar's final words. And it's a strong send-off for the fan-favorite rebellion/resistance officer. The character may best be known for his meme-ified "It's a trap!" line from Return of the Jedi, but love for him is not just ironic. He's long-since become a major, beloved figure in Star Wars novels, comics, and other aspects of the expanded universe.

Ackbar's distinctive voice, appearance, and noble leadership made a triumphant return with cameos in J.J. Abrams' The Force Awakens and Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi. But unfortunately, the admiral met his end at the hands of a surprise attack on the bridge of the Resistance cruiser by Kylo Ren and the First Order. Even more unfortunately, his death happened off-screen, resulting in a mere mention with a single throwaway line. The decidedly unceremonious discarding of a popular character was one of many criticisms leveled at the endlessly polarizing Last Jedi. But now, thanks to the new comics, Ackbar fans can get the closure they desired.

As revealed in Marvel's Star Wars: The Last Jedi #2, Ackbar notices the torpedo attack headed his way and salutes his fellow Resistance members one last time. "Torpedoes inbound! ... It's been an honor serving with you all," Ackbar says, before an explosion kills him instantly along with most of the Resistance's senior leadership. That's save for, of course, General Leia Organa, who floated back to the ship with the aid of the Force in one of the movie's most controversial moments. The comic also reveals Leia's internal monologue before invoking the Force while floating through space, but you can check out a screenshot of Ackbar's final words below.

The scene in question focused almost entirely on Leia, despite the torpedoes destroying the bridge of the Resistance cruiser and killing Admiral Ackbar, among many others. He has no lines whatsoever in The Last Jedi, and it would've required recasting due to the passing of Ackbar voice actor Erik Bauersfield in 2016. Ackbar's off-screen death is a clear, decisive change from the former Star Wars canon, now known as "Legends", in which he dies of old age in the novel The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force.

But regardless of the circumstances, Ackbar's death was met with some criticism for the way Johnson handled the death of who'd become a popular character through his appearances in other media since his memorable debut in Return of the Jedi. There's also been push-back to that particular backlash; how celebrated (or mourned) did a character like Ackbar deserve to be in the end? But the good news for Ackbar's biggest fans is that they get a more proper conclusion to his arc in the comics.

Even so, that may not be enough for those same fans to make up for how the movie handled Ackbar's death. He even got a shout-out when The Last Jedi got the "How It Should Have Ended" treatment, taking a sudden bathroom break during the bridge attack and assuming control of the Resistance, "because seniority." That certainly would've been far less controversial.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi #2 is now available.