Boba Fett Vs. Darth Vader: Who Would Win And Why?

Boba Fett was – and, as it turns out, still is – one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy. He was so good that even a prolific Force user such as Darth Vader hired him to do the dirty work for him. The question is, if the two ever fought against each other, who would win, and why?

Darth Vader would defeat Boba Fett in a fight almost every time. He is one of the most skilled Force users ever, and Fett couldn’t handle that kind of power. Still, Boba’s quick thinking and combat skills could surprise Vader, so the bounty hunter has a slim chance at winning.

In Star Wars Tales #11 comic from 2002, we saw that when the two faced off in a battle. Fett improvised and had the chance even to kill Vader but chose not to, knowing what repercussions it would have on his life. Let’s compare their skills, abilities, and powers to see who would eventually come out on top and why.

Boba Fett And His Powers

Boba Fett first appeared on the big screen in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Boba was one of the six bounty hunters that Darth Vader hired to capture the crew of the Millennium Falcon. Boba is inarguably the best in the group. In fact, he’s the best there is generally, being an identical clone of the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, Jango Fett.

Jango raised Boba as his son, and he did not disappoint. Boba overgrew his father’s legacy. There’s no job he couldn’t do, no matter how hard it is. He has the strength, the skill, and the brain to overcome obstacles, and that’s only the beginning of what makes him such a formidable opponent to anybody. Here’s everything you need to know about Boba.

Physical Attributes

Fett is a human from Kamino, having all the normal human physiological attributes, needs, and functions. However, he was created rather than born. Fett is one of the numerous clones of Jango Fett, a Mandalorian foundling known as the best bounty hunter in the galaxy.

The Empire took Jango’s genetic code and created an entire army of clones with Jango’s predisposition for being a great warrior. Boba was the only clone completely unaltered and raised by Jango as his son.

He was slightly more slender than Jango at their prime but just as strong. Fett is fast, durable, and most importantly, a brilliant strategist and overall a quick-thinker.

Boba Fett doesn’t use the Force and has no superhuman powers, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a formidable opponent, even to those who use the Force.

Fighting Skills

Boba Fett might not have superhuman powers, but his fighting skills are almost superhuman. He started training with his dad, Jango, from a very young age. It all started on Kamino, where Jango raised little Boba according to Mandalorian customs and culture. He could handle a blaster when he could barely walk.

Jango taught Boba hand-to-hand combat, melee battle, weaponry use, and even piloting and commanding a starship. However, he also taught Fett to remain calm, focused, and think during battle instead of just going at it.

Boba is an incredible martial artist, but we rarely see him engage in hand-to-hand combat. He usually keeps his distance and then fires away with a rifle, and he’s an incredible marksman. Also, Boba Fett’s armor is filled with all kinds of weapons and explosives.

Finally, Fett has no problem with the fight going airborne, either. The mercenary is a spectacular pilot, especially in his Slave I starship, equipped with everything a bounty hunter might ever need, including immobilization cages, weapons, cloaking devices, etc.

One can argue that Boba Fett’s fighting skills are his biggest, most dominant trait.

Equipment

One of the most recognizable things about Boba Fett is his worn-out Mandalorian armor painted green. The armor itself has many functions, from being blaster and lightsaber-proof to having weaponry embedded directly into the armor.

For instance, Boba’s wrist gauntlets have vibroblades, whipcords, lasers, and even mini flamethrowers. The knee pads also contain rocket darts, while the helmet has numerous functions, such as an in-helmet display within the T-shaped visor.

A Z-6 jetpack allows Boba to fly for short distances and attack the enemy from above, but the thing Boba loves the most is his strong EE-3 carbine rifle. Fett is extremely accurate with it, just as much as with blaster pistols or a cycler rifle, which Boba Fett used after he had lost his armor.

Finally, the Slave I starship has been in the Feet family since Jango. Even then, it was one of the best-equipped bounty hunting starships you could have, and since then, Boba improved it even more. 

It has cages with six immobilization straps to capture and incapacitate bounties that are needed alive, a masking device to allow tracking, extreme durability, agility, speed, and powerful weaponry.

Darth Vader And His Powers

Darth Vader was once known as Anakin Skywalker, a prominent young Jedi who was on the path of Light but turned to the Dark Side of the Force, ultimately becoming Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith. Anakin is Luke Skywalker’s father, almost dying at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi before being rescued and kept alive mechanically, turning Anakin almost into a robot.

Still, his use of the Force is unmatched, as Skywalker is extremely skilled with it, but there’s so much more to know about the Dark Lord that made him such a notorious entity across the galaxy.

Physical Attributes

Anakin was a normal human being from Tatooine, albeit the most sensitive to the Force ever. He had the highest count of midi-chlorians in his blood, more than even Master Yoda. Midi-chlorians are tiny sentient beings living in the cells of every being in the universe, which the Force speaks through. The higher the count, the greater the potential to use the Force.

Anakin was meant to be the Chosen One before being consumed with fear and selfishness to turn to the Dark side and become Darth Vader. After dueling with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin lost half of his body and sustained multiple horrible injuries, only to be saved and turned into an armored cyborg that we know as Vader.

Darth Vader is very strong physically, being half-human, half-robot, but what sets him apart still is his incredible ability to harness the Force, be it the Light or Dark side.

Fighting Skills

As a Jedi apprentice, Anakin was one of the best combatants ever in training. He easily outgrew his entire class and defeated them in battle with ease, even though he started training later and was relatively lazy when it came to practice.

His lightsaber skills were incredibly renowned, being one of the best swordsmen around. There’s no technique in close combat that Anakin couldn’t do – he held his own against some of the best swordsmen in the galaxy, including Count Dooku and his former master, Obi-Wan.

Skywalker was skilled in Form V and Form IV styles of fighting and their variants, and also Jar-Kai, a great, acrobatic style of combat that was very hard to do. His fluidity of motion was unique, but after he mastered the Force, turned to the Dark Side, and became Darth Vader, he became even more prolific in combat.

For instance, Vader could throw a lightsaber into the air and use the Force to guide it. When Han Solo tried shooting Vader with a blaster, he easily absorbed the blaster bolt’s energy using nothing but his hand. Hadn’t rage blinded him, Kenobi would never have beaten him in their duel.

I could talk about Darth Vader’s Force powers forever, but we’ll leave at the fact that he was as powerful as any Force user ever, if not even more. Vader is skilled in telekinesis, precognition, telepathy, and many other aspects and forms of using the Force.

Equipment

Interestingly, Skywalker rarely relied on the use of the Force when he had a lightsaber duel., despite being one of the most powerful Force users ever. Instead, he focused on the physical aspects of the fight, making him one of the greeted lightsaber wielders ever.

He rarely used any other weapons than his lightsaber or the Force. However, he did get a mighty armor after becoming Darth Vader, being turned into a semi-cyborg. His armor is probably the most recognizable piece of equipment in Star Wars history.

Vader also has an entire army of starships and combat ships and commanded one of the biggest armies in the galaxy. While his equipment arsenal might not be as diverse and colorful as Boba Fett’s, it’s certainly mighty.

Boba Fett Vs. Darth Vader: Who Wins?

In the end, Darth Vader would defeat Boba Fett in battle almost every time, especially if he chose to use the Force. Vader is too powerful for Boba Fett, who has no superhuman abilities and doesn’t use the Force.

Vader would crush him like a bug before Boba could raise his rifle. Anakin’s use of the Force was strong enough to stop a colossal AT-AT from stomping onto him. If he focuses, Vader could literally tear Boba Fett apart with a wave of his hand. Still, that doesn’t mean the bounty hunter would stand no chance whatsoever.

While they never faced off in battle canonically, there’s one fight in Star Wars Legends where Boba could’ve killed Vader using nothing but his wits and improvisation.

In Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire #4, Boba and Darth Vader fought over an object. Boba was holding it while trying to keep Vader at bay, but the Dark Lord easily deflected Fett’s shots as he got closer. Boba got cornered on a cliff leading to a fall in a lava pit, and right there, he used his wits and improvisation to outsmart Darth Vader.

He tumbled backward off the cliff, making Vader think he fell to his death. As the Dark Lord peered over the edge, we saw Fett hovering in the air with his jetpack, surprising Darth and shooting him in the face.

That wasn’t enough to kill him but enraged him as he started crushing Boba inside his armor with the Force. Therefore, Boba let go of the object they were fighting over, knowing that Vader would release his grip to save the object. 

In that split second where Vader released his grip on Fett and focused on catching the object, Fett knew he had a kill shot ready. However, he chose not to take it, as he knew what kind of repercussions killing Darth Vader would have – he’d have to live a life on the run.

Although the fight is non-canonical, it proves my point that Boba Fett can never be written off, regardless of who he fights. Sure, Darth Vader is by far more powerful and would crush him easily 99% of the time, but Boba always has a slight chance to use his brains and quick thinking to defeat even the mightiest opponents.