When you hear about characters such as Boba Fett and Darth Vader, you probably consider them top-tier Star Wars characters. What if they're actually just fine, and extremely overrated?
Brace yourself, as there are some hot takes ahead as we break down the five most overrated characters in the Star Wars franchise!
1. Boba Fett
Boba Fett has an interesting out-of-universe Star Wars history. He first appeared as an animated character in the infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, then went on to appear in the final two movies of the Original Trilogy. He also appeared in the prequels, in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and got his own show, The Book of Boba Fett, in 2021.
In-universe, Boba Fett is just okay. Like Darth Vader, he is often brought back in comics as a display of unmatched, ruthless male power. The Book of Boba Fett did some great things for his character, but you barely hear anyone talking about that these days. When you think Boba Fett, you think about the helmeted bounty hunter who falls to his alleged death on Tatooine. It may have been iconic at the time, but he just keeps showing up without anything new to add to the lore.
2. Mara Jade
Mara Jade is quite an intriguing character with a fascinating backstory ... until she marries Luke Skywalker in the post-Return of the Jedi era of books. Her role in Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire trilogy is well-crafted and memorable. In many ways, her story should have ended there.
The character is an unfortunate product of the time in which she was written -- an era when women in fiction often take a backseat to their typically male romantic partners. The further you go into her story, the less agency and intrigue she has. These days, she is often used as more of an object when people make lists of "female characters" in Legends to prove they exist.
3. Starkiller
A character in The Force Unleashed video games and novelizations, Starkiller might be best known as the Force user powerful enough to pull an entire Star Destroyer out of the sky. That was absolutely a cool moment in a first play through of the original game, but the fact that you might not know much else about him says a lot about how overrated he actually is.
Now that we have dozens of Star Wars stories about Inquisitors and other dark side Force users, the idea of a secret Darth Vader apprentice isn't nearly as revolutionary as it used to be. Starkiller is honored in Star Wars canon in two ways -- Starkiller Base and Galen Erso, who shares Galen "Starkiller" Marek's first name -- and that's plenty of that.
4. Revan
If you don't know much about Revan, all you really need to know is that they originated as a Legends-era video game character back when it was called the Expanded Universe, and have since become a bit of a trope in the online Star Wars fandom space. Everyone wants to know when Revan will get more canonized stories. Why? Because Revan is powerful, both as a Sith and a Jedi, depending on where you land in their story.
I'm a huge fan of the Knights of the Old Republic games. They tell a decent story overall. Revan, though, isn't nearly as interesting as some fans might lead you to believe. It's fun to play the character in the games, and the self-titled Revan novel isn't too bad either. They're a character best left in Legends; that's more than enough.
5. Darth Vader
Darth Vader is admittedly one of the most iconic villains in pop culture, and there's nothing fundamentally wrong with him as a character. His return to the light at the end of the original Star Wars trilogy is a classic story of redemption, love, and forgiveness. Just because he's a classic Star Wars character doesn't mean his original story isn't important or memorable.
He has long since become an overhyped, overused character, however. His most recent comic book series -- not his first, and most likely not his last -- quickly plunged into a messy string of narratives focused solely on his dark side abilities and his power over, well, everyone and everything. It's boring. Haven't we had enough? We're even getting a novel focused on Vader later this year. It will never end.
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