pop culture

The History of Cad Bane, the Galaxy's Most Infamous Bounty Hunter

Lucasfilm Ltd.

Published Feb 4, 2022

With just a two-syllable name and an iconic fedora, Cad Bane has made quite the mark on the Star Wars galaxy.

Our fedora-wearing friend first came onto the scene back in Star Wars: The Clone Wars: he's got an instantly recognizable get-up and bright blue skin, always sporting his dual breathing tubes, fedora, and signature brown leather jacket. That's also probably the most amount of times that I've used the word "fedora" over the course of three sentences.

Bane hails from the planet Duro, part of the galaxy's Core Worlds. It's actually a fairly awful planet—an extremely polluted jungle with multiple shipyards, which makes sense why Bane traded it in for a new life on the road as a bounty hunter.

He got his first start in the bounty hunting world by initially training with Jango Fett, though he also had early ties with Darth Maul and Aurra Sing. Once Fett died on Geonosis, it gave Bane the opening to take the top spot on the bounty hunter leaderboard. Once that was established, more doors opened for him, going on to work for Jabba the Hutt and Darth Sidious.

Lucasfilm Ltd.

Bane ended up taking an important mission from Darth Sidious, which was to acquire the Holocron from Coruscant's famous Jedi Temple. Though a large ask, Bane made quick work of the challenge with Cato Parasitti by his side, another bounty hunter, who helped him out with the task. Though Bane was able to secure the Holocron and escape, Anakin Skywalker was later sent after him which resulted in a massive fight.

Throughout his career, Bane has been a part of countless other situations like that, and though some have left him fighting with the most powerful of Jedi, he's usually been able to hold his own against them. His main weapons of choice are dual LL-30 pistols, though he has also been known to use a handy-dandy flamethrower and another blaster, the GALAAR-15 carbine. Bane has other gadgets that he'll use from time to time, including his boots that act as mini-jet packs, enabling him to fly through the air. With what could technically be considered a weapon, his iconic breathing tubes were put in place to protect him from being Force-choked, a wise move by Bane.

Though we had only seen Bane in animated form thus far in The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch, he made his first live-action appearance in Episode 6 of The Book of Boba Fett, and what an entrance that was.

Though his presence was only short-lived, it was just enough to cause quite the stir among fans who are trying to predict just how he'll fit into the show's finale. But given how massive of a fan favorite he has become over the years, I could definitely see him getting a spin-off series of his own, which could track his earlier years in the bounty hunting business.