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This Star Wars article contains spoilers for Skeleton Crew.
We already knew Jude Law’s shifty Star Wars character would go by many names on Skeleton Crew. In an interview for Den of Geek magazine, he even teased he couldn’t tell us “which of his names are real” and which his pirate rogue has simply made up to further his agenda. In episode 3, he introduces himself as Jod Na Nawood to the kids, but we quickly learn from another pirate (played by Alfred Molina) that he’s also the disgraced Captain Silvo, who was stripped of command by the other pirates in the first episode. Yet, that’s not the biggest reveal of all when it comes to the character’s identity.
When Jod takes Wim, Neel, Fern, and KB to see Kh’ymm, the owl lady voiced by Alia Shawkat calls him Crimson Jack and warns the kids that they shouldn’t trust him. While it’s fairly obvious that Jod isn’t to be trusted, there’s more to the Crimson Jack name than you might think. In fact, longtime Star Wars fans who grew up reading the classic Marvel comics in the late 1970s have heard this name before.
Yes, Crimson Jack also happens to be the name of a pirate from the old Legends continuity. Notably, the character made his debut in Star Wars #7 by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin, the first Marvel issue with an original story, as the first six issues in the series adapted A New Hope into comic book form. That means that Crimson Jack was one of the first Expanded Universe characters in Star Wars history, even predating those introduced in Alan Dean Foster’s Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, the first EU novel ever published, by a few months. In other words, that’s a big Star Wars name Law is carrying on his shoulders.
Regardless of whether Law is actually meant to be the real Crimson Jack, or it’s a name he stole off the actual red bearded pirate we know from the comics, or it’s a reimagining of the pirate master, the reveal does setup some interesting possibilities for the character’s story. After all, in the comics, Crimson Jack was one of the first rivals Han Solo and Chewbacca encountered after the Battle of Yavin. Jack and his band of pirate scum even stole the reward the duo received for saving the Rebellion’s skin in A New Hope, a prize Han and Chewie had intended to use to pay off Jabba the Hutt.
Later, in Star Wars #11-15 by Archie Goodwin and Carmine Infantino, Crimson Jack also kidnapped Princess Leia and Han and Chewie went on a mission to rescue her. It was during this second encounter that Han managed to kill Crimson Jack in a duel in space.
Crimson Jack’s death is no longer canon, of course. Interestingly enough, a red bearded Crimson Jack that looks a lot closer to the original Legends character has already made it into current Star Wars canon, but in a completely different era. Marvel’s Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy miniseries by Ethan Sacks and Will Sliney, which was created as tie-in story for Disney’s shuttered Star Wars hotel, brought Crimson Jack to the Sequel Trilogy era. Once again a villain, he shows up on the Halcyon to collect a bounty from the First Order.
It doesn’t currently seem like that Crimson Jack is the same one Law is playing in Skeleton Crew. Law isn’t a redhead and isn’t dressed in ridiculous armor like his comic book counterpart. And how canon can one really consider a thinly-veiled comic book commercial for a hotel anyway? Either way, Law’s Crimson Jack exists a lot closer to when the character originally appeared in those old comics. Skeleton Crew takes place almost a decade after A New Hope, meaning it’s possible Law’s Crimson Jack has had a few of his own run-ins with Han and Chewie along the way. Perhaps we’ll hear about one or two of those times on Skeleton Crew? Or maybe it’s all just a lie…
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is streaming now on Disney+.
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