WARNING: Spoilers for The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett below.
After making his live-action return in The Mandalorian Season 2, the iconic Star Wars bounty hunter Boba Fett is now headlining his own spinoff series, The Book of Boba Fett, which is finally giving the character more to do than quietly stand around before getting unceremoniously knocked into the Sarlacc Pit and left for dead.
However, with Boba Fett’s return comes questions about his mysterious origin. Namely, where did he get that badass armor? Fortunately, both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett have provided answers to the long journey of Boba’s armor, so let’s start with the easy question of where he got it in the first place: his dad.
In Star Wars: The Attack of the Clones, the bounty hunter Jango Fett is introduced as the template for a new army of clone soldiers to be used by the Republic in its ongoing war with the separatist droid armies. Also introduced is Jango’s son, Boba, who is an unmodified clone of his father. In the film’s climactic ending, Jango is beheaded by Jedi Master Mace Windu, and young Boba is seen holding his father’s helmet, which closely resembles the one he’s seen wearing in the original Star Wars trilogy. That’s because it’s one and the same.
In The Mandalorian Season 2 episode, “The Tragedy,” Boba Fett reveals that his armor belonged to his father who is confirmed to be a Mandalorian foundling. Prior to Boba’s return in The Mandalorian, Jango Fett was accused of stealing the armor and not being a true Mandalorian. However, Boba shot down that accusation through coding in the armor’s gauntlet.
As for how Boba Fett regained his armor following the events of Return of the Jedi, that story was also revealed in both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. In the Season 2 premiere, Boba Fett’s armor appears for the first time, only it’s not the bounty hunter under the helmet. Instead, it’s worn by Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) who acquired the armor from a pack of Jawas.
In exchange for helping Cobb Vanth defeat a Krayt dragon, Mando takes possession of the armor so it can be used by a real Mandalorian. (At this point in the story, Mando is unaware of its original owner.) However, from the distance, Boba witnesses Mando acquiring the armor and follows him to the planet Tython with the help of Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). After the three of them are attacked by Stormtroopers attempting to capture Baby Yoda, Boba enters Mando’s ship during the fray and comes out wearing his iconic armor, which he then uses to wreck a whole lot of Imperial scum.
With his armor secured — and neatly buffed and polished — Boba Fett returned to Tatooine where he murdered Bib Fortuna and began his takeover of Jabba the Hutt’s empire, kicking off the events of his spinoff.
The Book of Boba Fett is currently streaming on Disney+.
