Review
Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld.Cad Bane’s story in Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld fleshed out his origins in tremendous fashion, but I still want more information on the notorious bounty hunter. Though he was introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars in 2009, Bane has remained a mystery for years. He only briefly appears to cause some mayhem in shows like Star Wars: The Bad Batch and The Book of Boba Fett, and the bulk of his character is dedicated to depicting him as one of the best bounty hunters in Star Wars.
The second half of Tales of the Underworld, however, focused exclusively on the person who would later become Cad Bane, the infamous bounty hunter. Taking place quite early in the Star Wars timeline, Tales of the Underworld charts Bane’s early life, from when he was a child named Colby to the time he murdered his best friend in cold blood. While it did provide a tremendous window into how Cad Bane came to become the most feared gunslinger in the galaxy, Tales of the Underworld didn’t cover everything, and I still want to see some parts of his story put into canon.
Tales Of The Underworld Explained A Lot About Cad Bane’s Origins
Cad Bane's Origin Story Explained His Love Of Credits, His Style, & His Willingness To Hunt Children
Tales of the Underworld revealed Cad Bane’s Star Wars origin story, and it gave some powerful and emotional explanations for many of the bounty hunter’s most famous traits. For example, Tales of the Underworld explained Bane’s love of credits by revealing that he grew up as a poor child on the streets of Duro. To Bane, credits meant freedom from a life of hardship. It also established that Bane had a mentor, Lazlo, whom he based his entire persona around. Bane even took Lazlo’s hat as his own, and he continued to wear it until his death in The Book of Boba Fett.
The second half of Tales of the Underworld is essentially a love letter to Cad Bane. It imbued his story with so much meaning and tragedy by introducing his best friend, Niro, his love, Arin, and the son he never knew, Isaac. It even explained his willingness to take on contracts against children by establishing all the negative emotions Bane had surrounding Isaac. Tales of the Underworld effectively turned Bane from a fairly stereotypical bounty hunter into one of the most sympathetic and nuanced antagonists in Star Wars history. It was a wonderful and surprisingly perfect piece of Bane’s story, but it wasn’t the entire picture.
Tales Of The Underworld Still Didn’t Show Some Major Parts Of Cad Bane’s Story
Tales Of The Underworld Didn't Explain Bane's Cybernetics Or His Relationship With Todo-360
There were, however, several parts of Cad Bane’s origin story that Tales of the Underworld didn’t explain. Tales of the Underworld didn’t explain any of Cad Bane’s unique tech and gadgets, like his breathing tubes, jet boots, or even his droid companion, Todo-360. By the end of the anthology, Bane was still a normal Duros without most of the tools that helped him become a famous bounty hunter. I feel like some explanation of why Bane felt the need to cybernetically augment his body and his obsession with being the best would have fit well with Tales of the Underworld‘s themes.
Perhaps more importantly, we didn’t get an explanation of some of Cad Bane’s most important relationships. Tales of the Underworld created a fantastic set of original characters who informs Bane’s entire life, but it didn’t explain the long-hinted-at relationship he had with Jango and Boba Fett. There was no mention of Bane training under Jango and therefore no reason for him to take Boba under his wing, and I still think there’s a great story to be told there. Lazlo does fill the mentor role Jango once did, but I’d still love to see Cad Bane grow into a mentor for Boba.
Star Wars Legends Already Explained The Things About Cad Bane That Tales Of The Underworld Left Out
Legends Offered An Explanation For Most Of Cad Bane's Technology
Luckily for Cad Bane fans like myself, the Star Wars Legends continuity has some of the answers Tales of the Underworld didn’t. In «Reputation,» a story written for Star Wars Insider #136, Cad Bane first started using his advanced technology after hunting down a man posing as a Jedi who used miniaturized jets in his boots and other nifty gadgets. «Reputation» explained that Bane knew the Clone Wars were coming, and he used the «Jedi’s» tech as an edge to earn a reputation as a bounty hunter ahead of the coming uptick in work a galactic war would bring.
Cad Bane’s «Reputation» story in Star Wars Insider #136 was written by Ari Marmell, and it also explained that Bane had the idea of incorporating breathing tubes into his arsenal after struggling to breathe in an explosion caused by the fake Jedi.
Even though it’s no longer considered canon, Legends provided such a great explanation for Cad Bane’s array of gadgets that it still works today. «Reputation» didn’t mention everything about Bane — Todo-360 doesn’t appear in the story — but his desire to earn a reputation explains why he would later employ some of his more memorable gadgets. Perhaps most impressively, Cad Bane’s obsession with earning a reputation works even better now: Tales of the Underworld showed how Bane threw away everything for his life of crime, and «Reputation» showed what lengths he would go to for the only thing he had left.
Cad Bane
In some ways, it’s actually good that Tales of the Underworld didn’t get into the reasoning behind Cad Bane’s obsession with technology and earning a reputation. «Reputation» is yet more proof that while Star Wars Legends isn’t canon, it can still fill in vital parts of this franchise we love in engaging and meaningful ways. It’s also proof that Star Wars hasn’t forgotten about the stories written before Disney, and that shows like Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld can find a way to bridge the gap between canon and Legends, even if I would still like to see «Reputation» made canon.
