dark Vador has had its fair share of enemies, and that list is only growing as its spin-off comic explores the lesser-known adventures of the Sith warrior. The canon series published by Marvel and titled simply dark Vador takes place between The Empire Strikes Back And Return of the Jedibut its most recent plot connects directly to a crucial scene from Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
In the process, Star Wars is piecing together a piece of prequel history to give Darth Vader an exciting new enemy like we’ve never seen before.
You may not remember the Techno Union, but it played a small but important role in the prequels as one of the separatist groups was tricked into starting a galactic conflict by Palpatine. Leading the Techno Union was none other than Wat Drumaka, this guy:
One of Anakin Skywalker’s first acts as Darth Vader was to travel to Mustafar and eliminate the Separatist leaders – including Wat Tambor – who had served their purpose. Vader is basically fixing things for Palpatine, but it turns out he missed one. As the dark Vador from the recently revealed comics, Wat Tambor had a son, and that information came back to haunt Vader in surprising ways.
Wat Tambor II (first introduced in dark Vador #29 last year) doesn’t really matter. Almost as soon as he appeared in the pages of the comics, he was murdered by Vader – like father, like son. But it’s Wat’s grandson, Jul Tambor, who should play an important role in this chapter of Star Wars history.
Jul was first mentioned in dark Vador #28 in October 2022 and pictured in #29 a month later. But it’s in dark Vador #31 (via comics), released in February 2023, that we finally see Jul Tambor’s true potential as a sidekick to Vader.
Jul Tambor is many things, but perhaps the best term to describe him is space pirate. When Vader traveled to the Tambors’ home planet of Skako Minor on a mission to quell the rebellion against the Empire, he assassinated Wat II and took over the planet. Between: Jul Tambor.
Jul organizes a blockade that manages to regain control of Skako Minor. In response, Palpatine orders Vader to assassinate Jul, but Vader delegates the job and Jul manages to capture the would-be assassin. This is where things get interesting.
Jul uses his hostage as bait and manages to catch Vader off guard with a swarm of electric grenades that mess up his cybernetic suit. Jul cannot finish the job, but he escapes while a weakened Vader must be rescued.
Has Darth Vader finally met his match? Probably not. We know, of course, that Vader survives this time, only to sacrifice his own life in Return of the Jedi. It is therefore very unlikely that Jul Tambor will win in the end.
The best-case scenario for Jul is that he survives the fall of the Empire and manages to rebuild his life on Skako Minor. Maybe one day he’ll even show up in The Mandalorian or another Star Wars live story. Again, maybe at the time dark Vador #32 is coming in March, we’ll say goodbye to the Tambors once and for all.