Many Star Wars fans thought that they recognized Rothgar Deng in The Rise of Skywalker, but Star Wars Adventures #13 and 14 confirmed his identity.
Warning: The following contains spoilers from Star Wars Adventures #13 and 14, on sale now from IDW Publishing.
From domineering, Force-wielding Sith and deadly bounty hunters to monstrous creatures and cute Baby Yodas, there’s no question that the Star Wars galaxy has something for everyone. There are even a number of film sub-genres in the Sci-Fi franchise. For instance, A New Hope was a rescue mission, The Phantom Menace was a political drama, and Solo was a heist film. So, almost anyone can find something of interest in Star Wars. Recently, though, the gun-slinging space-western genre has attracted the most attention from fans.
Boba Fett, Din Djarin, and Cad Bane found themselves in the spotlight, as the three bounty hunters squared off in The Book of Boba Fett. However, Disney+ isn’t the only place where fans can find those, and other, legendary bounty hunters. In fact, an obscure Star Wars comic just confirmed that a legendary bounty hunter made a hidden cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker under the alias of Rothgar Deng.
Just like on Disney+’s small screen, bounty hunters have been a hot commodity in Star Wars comics. Marvel just finished an extended crossover event between multiple different books, called The War of the Bounty Hunters. It told the story of Han Solo’s long and arduous journey from Cloud City to Jabba’s palace. The crossover directly led to another crossover called Crimson Reign. That series, which is still ongoing, has been detailing the fall of the reemergent Crimson Dawn Crime Syndicate.
Rothgar Deng’s identity, however, wasn’t addressed in The War of the Bounty Hunters or Crimson Reign. That happened in the Star Wars Adventures series, from IDW publishing. Since they are geared toward a younger audience, IDW Star Wars comics don’t always get the same attention as the Marvel books, but they’re certainly a lot of fun and worth reading. Fans who have been keeping up with the series found Issue #13 and 14 of particular note.
In the story titled “Repair Stop” (by George Mann, Butch Mapa, Charlie Kirchoff, and Johanna Nattalie), Rey was transporting a black-market smuggler, named Moebin Faltus, to aid the Resistance when they were grounded on the planet of Choss. While there, a bounty hunter named Keif Varris captured Faltus. Of course, Rey was able to foil the bounty hunter’s efforts, but how she did so confirmed to Star Wars fans that Rothgar Deng was actually an alias.
To free Faltus, Rey engaged in a bit of fake flattery. She called Farris one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy and put him above the ranks of Rothgar Deng, Boba Fett, and Black Krrsantan. But, when Farris started musing about his status, he replaced the name Rothgar Deng with the name Dengar. Based on the similarity of the names, some Star Wars fans have long assumed that Rothgar Deng was, in fact, Dengar, but this mention confirmed it.
Dengar was one of the most prolific bounty hunters in all of Star Wars. Like Boba Fett, he was introduced in The Empire Strikes Back as one of Vader’s top choices to hunt down Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon. Fett found Solo first, but that wasn’t Dengar’s only appearance in the franchise. He actually worked with a young Boba and Asajj Ventress in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. During the reign of the Empire, he regularly found employment with the Hutts and worked with other notable hunters like Bossk, Valance, and Jas Emari. Ferris’ confirming that Dengar was Rothgar Deng, however, means that apparently, an aging Dengar underwent significant cybernetic enhancements sometime after the fall of the Empire in order to sustain his bounty-hunting skills. A cameo in The Rise of Skywalker proved that his cybernetic life must have been working out since he was still going strong by the end of the sequel trilogy.
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