Star Wars: Dark Droids is turning Star Wars’ most beloved and iconic characters into horrifying killers. But one Rebel ally has surprised everyone by turning evil for the first time.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: Dark Droids #1, available now.
Marvel’s ongoing Star Wars line continues to delight with a series of tales set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The “Qi’ra Trilogy,” in particular, has stood out, as fans loved the intrigue and excitement of Crimson Reign and Hidden Empire.
That team’s now back with Star Wars: Dark Droids, a horror story that writer Charles Soule cites as taking inspiration from franchises like Frankenstein and Evil Dead. For the first time, Star Wars’ greatest threats are the droids who exist everywhere in the universe.
Dark Droid’s biggest surprise, though, isn’t just the evil droids. It’s that Rebel Alliance mainstay C-3P0 has been possessed as well, turning him into the Rebel’s gravest threat.
C-3P0 threatens the safety of the Rebel Alliance
C-3P0’s chilling reveal is just the icing on the cake, though. Dark Droids kicks off with a full-on massacre of a Star Destroyer’s crew. It’s the result of a droid consciousness that is able to possess other droids and replicate itself.
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The mysterious consciousness slowly takes over droid after droid, killing the unassuming Imperials who work on the Star Destroyer. Eventually, it possesses a series of unassuming mouse droids and jettisons itself into space.
It’s not shown how, exactly, but eventually, it possesses C-3P0, who is stationed among the most important figures of the Rebel Alliance. Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar are unassumingly making plans for missions as C-3P0 watches on, thinking to himself that he’s hungry.
It makes a true first for C-3P0. The character has been portrayed as an ally of the Rebels since his first appearance in 1977’s Star Wars and has never been portrayed as having a chance of being anything but an ally. The closest fans have gotten to an evil C-3P0 to date was a red-eyed, Sith incantation-reciting version in The Rise of Skywalker, but even that was just the droid reacting to some bad translation.
C-3P0’s turn is just the beginning, too. With droids everywhere, it may be the darkest chapter in the franchise to date. With the event touching every currently running Stat Wars book, there promises to be horror everywhere in the galaxy.
Dark Droids continues in Star Wars #37, on sale August 9.
