In the wake of Solo: A Star Wars Story's bad performance, many Star Wars fans are reigniting an old debate: should the Disney-era Star Wars films move beyond the "nostalgia" that has fuelled recent entries and instead create something brand new? Many are hoping for a new type of film featuring original characters and concepts unlike those that we've seen in other Star Wars films. It's a big universe and while I've mostly enjoyed all four of the Disney-era films, I'm among those who are ready to see something fresh.
So allow me to introduce those of you unfamiliar with the current Disney canon to my favorite character, one who I think is tailor-made to appear in a fun and original Star Wars film unlike those you've seen before: Doctor Aphra.
In the last few years Disney has created their own new canon "expanded universe" consisting primarily of novels, comics, and TV series. Arguably in the top two or three most popular characters introduced into this new canon is Chelli Lona Aphra, who was created by writer Kieron Gillen as part of the Darth Vader comic series in 2015. Since becoming the Vader comic's breakout character, she has since received her own ongoing comic series, has appeared in the game Force Arena, and is getting her own action figure after winning a fan vote last year.
Often described by fans as a morally bankrupt hybrid of Han Solo and Indiana Jones, Doctor Aphra is an archaeologist who loves to explore ancient ruins and civilizations and plunder their treasures -- not to put in a museum, but to sell for big bucks and for the thrill of adventure. After blackmailing her university professor for her doctorate, Aphra has spent the last several years working her way through the galaxy's criminal underworld, selling her rare finds and making enemies.
We first meet her in the Darth Vader comic shortly after the destruction of the Death Star, when Vader has learned that he has a son and that Emperor Palpatine lied to him about what happened to his wife and unborn children. As a result, Vader decides to secretly go rogue and form a plan to turn his son to the dark side and destroy the Emperor. Vader recruits Aphra to help him with various tasks, such as reprogramming a pair of violent assassin droids, 0-0-0 ("Triple-Zero") and BT-1 ("Bee-Tee"), who are essentially homicidal versions of C-3PO and R2-D2 and become recurring characters in her story. Aphra is fully aware that Vader will eventually kill her to cover his tracks, but her lack of ambition and carefree lifestyle means she's not all that concerned about it.
Contrasted with Vader's stoic evil, Aphra is a more lighthearted and sarcastic character whose sense of humor and enthusiasm hide a broken and isolated young woman who has pushed away everyone who cared about her, including her friends, her estranged father, and her ex-girlfriend. By the culmination of the Vader comic, Aphra has rediscovered her interest in living and manages to trick Vader into thinking he has killed her, before going on the run in her own self-titled comic series.
In her ongoing series, Aphra has become more of an anti-hero character, sometimes helping the Rebel Alliance but usually looking out only for herself, while trying to determine whether she might be a good person after all. She's stolen a crystal with an ancient Jedi A.I., befriended Luke Skywalker and then sold him to a vampire witch, had a less-than-amicable run-in with Star Wars Rebels hero Hera Syndulla, and even started something of a romance with an Imperial officer.
Aphra and her adventures are the perfect basis for an original Star Wars film. It would essentially be Indiana Jones in space, starring a protagonist with questionable morals, with a lighter and more adventurous tone and theme. Without the need for massive space battles and lightsaber fights, the budget could be kept smaller to compensate for the risk of making a film about an original character. Her fun and charismatic personality are begging to be translated to the big screen, and making a movie about an openly gay character played by an Asian actress would do wonders for onscreen representation in blockbuster films (yeah, it'd get banned in China, but Star Wars isn't exactly obliterating the box office there anyway). Plus, her mere existence has long enraged the anti-diversity shitheads within the Star Wars fanbase, so getting her own movie might cause them to spontaneously combust.
If you'd like to check out Aphra's adventures, you can read Darth Vader #1-25 (2015-2016) by Kieron Gillen and then Doctor Aphra (2016-), which has run for 20 issues as of this month.
So what do you think? Are there other characters you'd like to see in the big screen films?
2019 update
In the year and a half since I originally made this thread there have been some further developments:
So allow me to introduce those of you unfamiliar with the current Disney canon to my favorite character, one who I think is tailor-made to appear in a fun and original Star Wars film unlike those you've seen before: Doctor Aphra.
In the last few years Disney has created their own new canon "expanded universe" consisting primarily of novels, comics, and TV series. Arguably in the top two or three most popular characters introduced into this new canon is Chelli Lona Aphra, who was created by writer Kieron Gillen as part of the Darth Vader comic series in 2015. Since becoming the Vader comic's breakout character, she has since received her own ongoing comic series, has appeared in the game Force Arena, and is getting her own action figure after winning a fan vote last year.
Often described by fans as a morally bankrupt hybrid of Han Solo and Indiana Jones, Doctor Aphra is an archaeologist who loves to explore ancient ruins and civilizations and plunder their treasures -- not to put in a museum, but to sell for big bucks and for the thrill of adventure. After blackmailing her university professor for her doctorate, Aphra has spent the last several years working her way through the galaxy's criminal underworld, selling her rare finds and making enemies.
We first meet her in the Darth Vader comic shortly after the destruction of the Death Star, when Vader has learned that he has a son and that Emperor Palpatine lied to him about what happened to his wife and unborn children. As a result, Vader decides to secretly go rogue and form a plan to turn his son to the dark side and destroy the Emperor. Vader recruits Aphra to help him with various tasks, such as reprogramming a pair of violent assassin droids, 0-0-0 ("Triple-Zero") and BT-1 ("Bee-Tee"), who are essentially homicidal versions of C-3PO and R2-D2 and become recurring characters in her story. Aphra is fully aware that Vader will eventually kill her to cover his tracks, but her lack of ambition and carefree lifestyle means she's not all that concerned about it.
Contrasted with Vader's stoic evil, Aphra is a more lighthearted and sarcastic character whose sense of humor and enthusiasm hide a broken and isolated young woman who has pushed away everyone who cared about her, including her friends, her estranged father, and her ex-girlfriend. By the culmination of the Vader comic, Aphra has rediscovered her interest in living and manages to trick Vader into thinking he has killed her, before going on the run in her own self-titled comic series.
In her ongoing series, Aphra has become more of an anti-hero character, sometimes helping the Rebel Alliance but usually looking out only for herself, while trying to determine whether she might be a good person after all. She's stolen a crystal with an ancient Jedi A.I., befriended Luke Skywalker and then sold him to a vampire witch, had a less-than-amicable run-in with Star Wars Rebels hero Hera Syndulla, and even started something of a romance with an Imperial officer.
Aphra and her adventures are the perfect basis for an original Star Wars film. It would essentially be Indiana Jones in space, starring a protagonist with questionable morals, with a lighter and more adventurous tone and theme. Without the need for massive space battles and lightsaber fights, the budget could be kept smaller to compensate for the risk of making a film about an original character. Her fun and charismatic personality are begging to be translated to the big screen, and making a movie about an openly gay character played by an Asian actress would do wonders for onscreen representation in blockbuster films (yeah, it'd get banned in China, but Star Wars isn't exactly obliterating the box office there anyway). Plus, her mere existence has long enraged the anti-diversity shitheads within the Star Wars fanbase, so getting her own movie might cause them to spontaneously combust.
If you'd like to check out Aphra's adventures, you can read Darth Vader #1-25 (2015-2016) by Kieron Gillen and then Doctor Aphra (2016-), which has run for 20 issues as of this month.
So what do you think? Are there other characters you'd like to see in the big screen films?
2019 update
In the year and a half since I originally made this thread there have been some further developments:
- Aphra's series ended earlier this month with issue 40, but is being relaunched next April with a new creative team.
- Various rumor sources are saying Aphra might be getting a Disney+ series, possibly animated instead of live action, but nobody knows for sure.
Last edited:
