He didn't socialize. He rarely spoke. None of his bounties ever saw his face. Thus Boba Fett encouraged fearful speculation about his past, which sprang up in the absence of facts.

Some said he was Jaster Mereel, a journeyman protector from Concord Dawn who'd been exiled for killing a fellow officer. Others pegged him as an adult during the Clone Wars, fighting as one of the supercommandos on the planet Mandalore.

The true facts, buried beneath a mountain of falsehoods, are that Boba Fett was an unaltered clone of his "father" Jango Fett. Unlike other clones, Boba did not undergo the gene tampering that would lead to docility and growth acceleration. Jango Fett accepted Boba in addition to payment for services he rendered to the Kaminoans, and he raised Boba as his own son. Taun We, aide to the Kaminoan Prime Minister, cared for Boba while Jango hunted bounties off planet.

Ten years after his birth in a clone incubator, Boba Fett met Obi-Wan Kenobi when the Jedi came to Kamino. Possessing Jango Fett's natural instincts, he instantly knew Kenobi was trouble. The Fetts fled Kamino after a skirmish with the nosy Jedi, then eluded him in the asteroid ring of Geonosis.

But more Jedi invaded Geonosis' execution arena. Jango Fett died in single combat with Jedi Master Mace Windu, and Boba left Geonosis in his father's ship, amid the confusion of battle between Republic forces and Count Dooku's army.

The Clone Wars erupted. The Jedi Order died. Palpatine assumed the throne and authority of Emperor, and Boba Fett became what he'd been bred and trained for. He possessed Jango's reflexes, Jango's ship, Slave I, and a set of Mandalorian armor that had once belonged to Jaster Mereel, his father's mentor. Boba Fett seemed predestined to become the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy.

On several early missions he paired with D'harhan, a cyborg with a laser cannon in place of a head. It soon became obvious Boba Fett wasn't the only one operating with a suit of Mandalorian armor. Fenn Shysa and Tobbi Dala, supercommandos from Mandalore, patrolled their planet's space and seldom interfered with Fett's hunts. Jodo Kast, by contrast, competed with Fett for bounties and wore his Mandalorian armor partly to cash in on Fett's reputation.

Fett first met Han Solo while on assignment for Jabba the Hutt; the young Corellian's win in Jubilar's bare-knuckled Free-For-All left an impression on Fett that echoed for years.

Approximately four years before the Battle of Yavin, Fett caught up with Han Solo again, this time as a predator hunting prey. Teroenza, high priest of Ylesia, had hired Fett to capture Solo as revenge for embarrassment the Corellian had caused him. On Nar Shaddaa, Fett nabbed his target, only to have Lando Calrissian turn the tables, free Solo, and send Fett off in Slave I under the influence of obedience drugs. Though Jabba eventually talked Fett out of the Solo bounty, Fett's hatred for Calrissian remained. 

Later, while hunting Bria Tharen aboard a passenger liner, Fett had another bounty spoiled by Calrissian's interference. Only a substantial cash payoff convinced him to leave without retaliating.

Boba Fett took jobs from everyone, including the Empire. Shortly before Yavin, Darth Vader hired Fett to go after Imperial deserter Abal Karda. It didn't take Fett long to discover that Vader's true target was the cask Karda was carrying, containing the decapitated-but still living-head of an lcarii soothsayer. On Maryx Minor, Fett and Vader fought one-on-one for the cask, with Vader emerging the victor by only the slimmest of margins.

Weeks before Yavin, Boba Fett claimed a bounty on High Priest Teroenza, killing him in his Ylesian sanctuary just as the priest prepared to kill Han Solo and Bria Tharen. The rescue meant nothing to Fett-'Just business," he said-and indeed a short time later he found himself in direct competition with Solo in a treasure hunt for the Yavin Vassilika. But Fett was contacted and hired by Jabba the Hutt to aide Han Solo in finding the Vassilika.  After that affair, Fett remained in Jabba's employ. He accompanied Jabba and several other bounty hunters to Mos EisIey's Docking Bay 94 to provide silent muscle as the Hutt threatened Solo and his Wookiee copilot.

Jabba soon posted a tremendous bounty on Solo's head, but Fett had other concerns. Several months after Yavin he accepted a job from the arachnid middleman Kud'ar Mub'at to join the Bounty Hunters' Guild and destroy it from within. As planned, after a guild mission against the Shell Hutts of Circumtore-in which Fett's old comrade D'harhan lost his life- the guild split along age lines and tore itself apart. Fett later learned that Prince Xizor had orchestrated the entire affair, with the blessing of the Emperor.

About six months after Yavin, Fett killed the notorious criminal Dr. Evazan, who was experimenting with the reanimation of dead bodies on the planet Necropolis. While there he crossed paths with two children-Zak and lash Arranda-and their Shi'ido guardian. A few months later he found himself hunting the trio on behalf of Darth Vader. Fett tracked them to Dagobah, where he ran afoul of a band of shipwrecked cannibals, and he left without collecting the Arranda bounty.

Following the Rebel Alliance's evacuation from Yavin 4, Fett ran into Han Solo and Rebel hero Luke Skywalker on several occasions. First, on a watery moon in the Panna system, Fett unsuccessfully tried to capture Skywalker for Vader. Later, Fett crossed paths with the same group of Rebels while hunting an Imperial spy on ice-covered Ota. Once again, his prey eluded his grasp.

Fett suffered another setback when he was hired by Imperial General Mohc to kill Rebel agent Kyle Katarn. He tracked Katarn to Coruscant but botched the kill, and Katarn went on to destroy Mohcs Dark Trooper Project. To restore his reputation, Boba Fett wiped out an entire Imperial garrison on Vryssa in order to nab a bounty who'd hidden there for protection. The destruction of the garrison, accomplished without any backup, is considered the most spectacular feat of Fett's career.

Not long before the Battle of Hoth, Boba Fett and several other hunters captured Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, imprisoning them on Ord Mantell. Fett tried to negotiate two bounties-one from Jabba and one from Vader-but his captives escaped. He got a second chance when Vader hired him to find the Millennium Falcon following its escape from Hoth. Fett beat his fellow hunters to the bounty, and flew away from Cloud City with a carbonite slab containing the hibernating form of Han Solo. Two lG-88 units attacked the Slave I as soon as Fett arrived at Tatooine, forcing him to divert to Gall for repairs. After many months, and many attempts by competitors to steal Solo's slab, Fett delivered his cargo to Jabba's palace and received a payoff of a quarter million credits.

During Luke Skywalker's rescue of Solo above the Great Pit of Carkoon, Boba Fett fell into the maw of the Sarlacc. After days of agony he blasted out, barely alive. Fellow hunter Dengar discovered him lying in the sand and saved his life. In return, Fett allowed Dengar to accompany him on a search to untangle a labyrinthine conspiracy orchestrated by wealthy industrialist Kuat of Kuat. For the mission Fett stole the freighter Hound's Tooth from his rival Bossk, leaving Slave I behind on Tatooine. Slave I fell into Alliance hands and rusted in an impound lot on Grakouine.

The galaxy at large thought Boba Fett was a half-digested morsel in the Sarlacc's belly, and he used that to his advantage, flying around in the less recognizable Slave II and accepting jobs from only the most discerning clients. When Jodo Kast threatened to blow his cover by encouraging people to believe that he was Boba Fett, Fett ambushed Kast and killed him. Dengar continued to work with Fett, often providing the necessary public face for his silent partner. Those in the business knew how to get in touch with Fett. Others, including Han Solo, had no inkling of his survival.

Eventually Fett bought back Slave I, keeping it in a parking orbit above Nar Shaddaa. After the grotesque attacks of the reborn Emperor, Boba Fett decided to take a new Hutt bounty on his old nemesis Han Solo. Fett and Dengar surprised Solo on the Smugglers' Moon and chased him to the Emperor's throne-world of Byss, where Slave II smashed into the planetary shield.

That was the end of Slave II and the termination of the partnership with Dengar. A loner once again, Boba Fett reactivated Slave I and took several jobs for Gorga the Hutt. The influx of cash allowed Fett to set up another ambush for Han Solo. He nearly captured Solo in the darkened undercity of Nar Shaddaa, but Chewbacca tore off his helmet and sent him rocketing into a durasteel girder. Fett recovered and lay in wait near a gas cloud, firing on the Millennium Falcon when it emerged. In response, he received a circuit-melting blast from the Falcon's new "lightning gun." Slave I was then replaced by Slave Ill.  

Word of Solo's victories over Fett spread far and wide. To erase the stain of failure, Fett accepted a job to kill the insane Imperial overseers of the dungeon ship Azgoghk-which he accomplished for only one hundred credits. But he soon needed many thousands of credits, after replacing Slave Ill with Slave lV and undergoing surgery to prosthetically replace his right leg, weakened years before in his encounter with the Sarlacc.

Fortunately, fifteen years after Endor, Fett apprehended the Devaronian war criminal known as the "Butcher of Montellian Serat" and earned a staggering bounty of five million credits. His finances bolstered, he moved to secure his pride. On Jubilar, Fett faced off with Han Solo for a final showdown, but both combatants ultimately decided to drop their long-standing feud and go their separate ways. Boba Fett continued to work the bounty hunting trade as recently as twenty years after Endor. Still flying Slave IV, he took a job for Nolaa Tarkona of the Diversity Alliance to find shipping merchant Bornan Thul. Fett eventually found Thul, discovering what he'd been hiding-the coordinates of a plague storehouse-and then transmitting that data to Tarkona. The Diversity Alliance crumbled in battle with the New Republic, and Fett went on to other jobs for other clients. Since the Yuuzhan Vong invasion Fett hasn't been seen, but not even his most hopeful enemies are willing to count him among the dead.