Highlights

  • Boba Fett's reputation as a cool and enigmatic character in Star Wars is not supported by his limited and underwhelming appearances in the original trilogy.
  • Deathstroke in Batman: Arkham Origins was highly anticipated but ultimately underwhelming in terms of combat and his role in the game.
  • Deathstroke's appearance in Batman: Arkham Knight was also disappointing, with a lackluster boss fight and quick defeat, making him look unimpressive.

Star Wars’ Boba Fett has been one of the IP’s most undeniably cool characters since the bounty hunter appeared in the original trilogy, particularly his appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. His elusiveness and lack of dialogue, as well as the fact that his face is constantly obscured by a helmet, made him instantly enigmatic and intriguing. Boba’s aesthetic is also iconic and his role as a bounty hunter makes him a formidable adversary, even if his catalog of previous bounties is left to fans’ imaginations.

Indeed, despite how interesting Boba is, he is seemingly killed at the beginning of Return of the Jedi, making his appearances in the original trilogy as short as they were insignificant after all. Because of how quickly Boba is written out of Star Wars at that point, there’s no reason to believe he was ever as good of a fighter as fans may have believed, at least before he needed to go toe-to-toe with a Jedi. Therefore, while Boba’s reputation has preceded him exceedingly well, he and Batman: Arkham Origins’ Deathstroke share a history of being undeniably cool but not being able to back that mystique up in combat.

Boba didn’t actually die to the sarlacc in Return of the Jedi , but his survival wouldn’t be canonically written into the lore until much later via The Mandalorian .

RELATED: Arkham Origins Deserves Its Own Batman Trilogy Leading Up to Arkham Asylum

Deathstroke is Incredibly Cool, But Fails to Back Up His Seasoned Reputation

Deathstroke is Overhyped in Arkham Origins

Origins has a unique place amid its other Arkham contemporaries since it needed to do a lot of heavy lifting when debuting the origins of certain characters. That said, Origins also remains distinct due to the tapestry of lesser-known villains it ran with, including Lady Shiva and Copperhead, believed to be the daughter of a male Copperhead.

Deathstroke, on the other hand, was easily the most highly anticipated of any villain in the game and took quite a large portion of Origins’ pre-release marketing for himself. This included the stunning CG trailer of Batman and Deathstroke’s shipyard fight scene, which might even be more iconic and memorable than the game itself at this point.

Deathstroke appears in-game as one of the eight assassins who’ve taken it upon themselves to hunt Batman for a prize of $50 million, and while his World’s Greatest Assassin moniker makes him sound as intimidating as Boba Fett’s revered bounty hunter status, he too gets defeated fairly quickly. Deathstroke’s boss fight doesn’t last long and is relatively elementary with a pattern of counters to perform and once players have defeated him he isn’t seen until later during the riots at Blackgate, where he’s contently imprisoned.

Because Deathstroke’s boss fight occurs suddenly after players finally encounter Penguin in the Final Offer, it comes and goes so soon with Deathstroke’s part in the game done and dusted before players can truly relish it. It would’ve made less sense to give him a sprawling, city-wide questline, and it’s neat that he shows up out of the blue to ambush Batman, but he’s no match for the World’s Greatest Detective and his role ends up being underwhelming compared to how much the game’s marketing hyped him up.

Deathstroke’s Surprise Arkham Knight Appearance Has a Lackluster Payoff

Deathstroke is a Poor Cameo at Best in Arkham Knight

Then, that disappointing lack of Deathstroke was exacerbated further in Knight, where the Arkham franchise brought him back only to include his dialogue over Batman’s comms after the Arkham Knight was revealed as Jason Todd and subdued. Having unled militia forces in Gotham wouldn’t have made much sense, but Deathstroke randomly coming out of the woodwork was as alarming as it was exciting because it meant that both Deathstroke and fans might get the rematch they wanted since Origins. This was a much longer wait for Deathstroke than it was for fans, though, and what they are given is yet another tank battle while driving the Batmobile.

Deathstroke only leaps out from the tank once it is destroyed and Batman is able to anti-air and knock him out before the two get a chance to properly square off, which Deathstroke even remarks on. He can be spoken to at the GCPD lockup once players put him there, but how quickly he’s taken out and dealt with in the game is even more underwhelming than it was in Origins, making him look incredibly unimpressive as a result.

RELATED: Batman’s Latest Arkham Knight Skin is a Reminder of the Game’s Cosmetic Woes

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Can Give Deathstroke the Attention He Deserves

Deathstroke Could Be Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s Secret Weapon

Thankfully, what Origins’ post-credits sequence tried to tease may not be a complete waste in the Arkham universe. Here, ARGUS’ Amanda Waller slides Slade a confidential document of employment, undeniably hinting at a future role on a Task Force X squad.

This was an exciting tease back when Origins was released, but for a long time after it seemed that nothing would come of it. Moreover, Deathstroke does have a line in Knight where he mentions offers he received while at Blackgate.

Now that Rocksteady is developing a Suicide Squad game that will have new playable characters added after launch, it only makes sense to have Deathstroke come back with renewed vigor and a fully fledged place in the game’s story, as opposed to being an easy one-and-done villain who continuously gets defeated. This would even echo Boba Fett’s survival, having managed to emerge from the sarlacc and begin his life anew in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.