{"id":496060,"date":"2026-03-26T08:21:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T08:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/496060\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T08:21:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T08:21:15","slug":"11-years-ago-the-best-modern-star-wars-character-made-their-first-appearance-and-they-still-need-their-own-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/496060\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Years Ago, the Best Modern Star Wars Character Made Their First Appearance (And They Still Need Their Own Movie)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Star Wars<\/a> galaxy has expanded at a tremendous rate under Disney, with countless new characters making their mark. Films, comics, novels, and TV shows have been set throughout the Star Wars timeline<\/a>; we\u2019ve had a new generation of Skywalkers and Solos, Jedi Masters of the High Republic Era<\/a>, and even a thrilling new Sith Lord known as the Stranger (whose story is sadly unlikely to ever be completed).<\/p>\n

Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, and the modern era has proved quite divisive \u2013 at least as far the internet is concerned. That said, even controversial characters like Daisy Ridley\u2019s Rey have undoubtedly left their mark; Ridley\u2019s return was announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023, and the reaction was electrifying. But Disney\u2019s best character, surprisingly, hasn\u2019t even appeared in a movie at all. What\u2019s more, she made her debut 11 years ago today.<\/p>\n

Doctor Aphra is Disney\u2019s Best Star Wars Character<\/p>\n

\"\"Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics<\/p>\n

Marvel relaunched their (still ongoing) range of Star Wars comics in January 2015, and they were a hit; Jason Aaron and John Cassady\u2019s Star Wars #1 was officially the best-selling comic of the decade. Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca\u2019s Darth Vader run took some pretty big swings, opening with Darth Vader heading to Tatooine for a meeting with Jabba the Hutt. That series really found its stride from #3, which released on March 25, 2025, and introduced the character of Dr. Chelli Aphra.<\/p>\n

All the best characters can be summed up quite quickly, and Dr. Aphra is no exception. She\u2019s basically a rogue Indiana Jones whose private life is a disaster. Both elements are equally important; Star Wars is tailor-made for rogue archaeologists given the sheer breadth of galactic history, while Aphra\u2019s chaotic love-life is the result of her own innate self-absorption. Aphra made her debut when she was recruited by Darth Vader himself, and she\u2019s since wandered from one crisis to the next.<\/p>\n

The Star Wars galaxy is one with a deep history, where secrets of both the light side and the dark have been lost in the mists of time. That provides fertile soil for Dr. Aphra, whose career largely involves finding long-lost trinkets that she can sell on the black market \u2013 and, occasionally, stumbling on esoteric Force cults whose powers could still change the fate of the galaxy today. Many of Aphra\u2019s assignments take her beyond Republic history, meaning she\u2019s a unique and fascinating lens into the galaxy before the Jedi Order itself.<\/p>\n

Doctor Aphra\u2019s Supporting Cast is a Real Stand-Out, Too<\/p>\n

\"\"image courtesy of marvel comics<\/p>\n

The best comic book characters are ones who exist in their own specific context, of course, not just surrounding themselves with bigger names. Dr. Aphra is no exception to this rule, because she has a stunning supporting cast in her comics. Her initial story positions her as a sort of weird mirror-image of Luke, seeking ancient secrets while accompanied by an astromech and a protocol droid; but Triple-Zero and Beetee-One are actually murderbots, programmed to revel in death and destruction. Aphra also frequently teams up with the Wookiee assassin and bounty hunter Black Krrsantan<\/a> (who appeared in live-action in The Book of Boba Fett).<\/p>\n

Aphra\u2019s love interests tend to go sideways, largely because she\u2019s far too self-interested to make a relationship work. There\u2019s a delightful rivalry-romance with Imperial military captain Magna Tolvan, while the love of her life is Sana Starros. Sana\u2019s own background is almost as messy as Aphra\u2019s, given she made her debut with the reveal she was Han Solo\u2019s ex-wife (it was, of course, a stunt they pulled on a mission together well before the original trilogy). But, because Star Wars is always really about redemption, the selfish Aphra gradually learns what it is to care.<\/p>\n

The great thing about Aphra is that she works either in her own books, or in team-ups. Writers have very much enjoyed putting her side-by-side with Luke Skywalker, whose idealism shines a light on her own self-absorption. Though she\u2019d never admit it, the farmboy left a lasting impact on Aphra, showing her there was another way to live and leaving a nagging desire for it. That, of course, is so very true to Luke\u2019s role as the Great Redeemer of Star Wars.<\/p>\n

The only real disappointment is that Star Wars still hasn\u2019t brought Doctor Aphra to live-action, whether on the big screen or the small. It\u2019s not exactly a hard-sell; a corrupt version of Indiana Jones, accompanied by slightly insane riffs on Artoo and Threepio, with a private life that\u2019s simply a mess? With Star Wars entering a new era after The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter, it\u2019s surely an idea whose time has come.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Leave a comment below and\u00a0join the conversation now in the\u00a0ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Star Wars galaxy has expanded at a tremendous rate under Disney, with countless new characters making their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[174719,96,2839,88885,95713,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-496060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-doctor-aphra","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-regular-feature","tag-star-wars-generic","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}