Darth Maul Gets Star Wars Spotlight Thanks To Marvel
Since his first appearance in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace, Darth Sidious’s apprentice Darth Maul slowly rose among the fan-favorite characters in the franchise. Love him or hate him, Darth Maul is getting his own feature in comic book form. Marvel Comics announced that the Sith will be the featured character in the latest of its Black, White & Red comics, debuting on April 25th with the first issue of Darth Maul: Black, White & Red.
Darth Maul: Black, White & Red
Darth Maul will be the subject of a four-part comic series with Wolverine and Ghost Rider writer Benjamin Percy and interior artist Stefano Raffaele tackling the first issue. Marvel announced that each issue will have different creatives in charge and will explore a deep and complicated lore that any Sith fan will appreciate. This highly anticipated comic series isn’t the first time Maul has appeared as an inked character, however.
Other Maul Comics
In 2017, Marvel produced the miniseries Darth Maul. The comic focused on a storyline that predated the Sith’s appearance in The Phantom Menace. The character was also the subject of a standalone issue of the Age of the Republic event in 2019. Five years earlier, Dark Horse Comics released the four issue series Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir.
The latter comic series takes place in between seasons five and seven of The Clone Wars, a show that has a lot to do with Maul’s popularity.
The Original Sequel Trilogy Villain?
Star Wars fan lore tells of how George Lucas wanted Darth Maul to be the center of the dark side of the force in the sequel film trilogy, a move that was abandoned after the franchise was acquired by Disney. However, Lucas brought the character back in animated form. Darth Maul appears in the third season of The Clone Wars, and remains a recurring character in seasons four, five, and seven.
Darth Maul also made several appearances in the animated series Star Wars: Rebels that aired for 77 episodes over its four-season run from 2014-2018.
Marvel Will Help Darth Maul Grow
The upcoming Darth Maul comic will only add additional layers of complexity to a character that many fans are eager to learn more about. Maul’s popularity among followers of the Star Wars franchise eclipses many of the protagonists in the cinematic universe and is currently more popular than Boba Fett according to recent fan polling on Ranker.
This Won’t Be The Last Time We See Maul
With so much slated for future production in the Star Wars realm, don’t be too surprised if Darth Maul doesn’t appear yet again on the screen. In a cinematic universe that is ripe with sequels, prequels, side-stories, and resurrections, it’s certainly possible for a character as tough as he is popular to be commanding the attention of audiences yet again. But if history is any indicator, it seems likely that Maul’s feature in the Marvel comics won’t be the last time he’s seen by fans.
Source: Space
