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Boba Fett is a pure, unmodified clone of Jango Fett, the best bounty hunter in the galaxy of his time. This is a reputation that Boba Fett appears to have eventually attained as well. He also has a reputation as a Mandalorian warrior.

That said, we constantly observe in the Clone Wars TV series that although Boba Fett, growing up, is skilled enough to meet job requirements at the level bare essentials, he's always being played out at the end and pushed around.

During the Empire era, we can see him in Jabba's employ. The only time we see him in action, he 1) employed some ingenuity (we can't say if it's a moment of genius or a quality he always had) in tracking down the Millenium Falcon 2) took over the frozen Han Solo from Darth Vader, then successfully got it onto his ship, albeit with Imperial help to slow down his pursuers, and finally 3) when he finally got into a fight, he got thrown into a Sarlacc pit.

From what I know of him alone, I'm not sure it's that impressive a resume. He demonstrated some skills, but always fails at the end no matter how close he gets. Is there anything in Disney canon only I don't know/haven't mentioned that is proof of him deserving his reputation as the best bounty hunter in the galaxy?

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  • This seems opinion-based. Subjectively, one could consider Boba Fett the best bounty hunter of his time solely because he is an unaltered clone of the guy who was the best bounty hunter of his time, even if Boba had never done any bounty hunting.
    – Null ♦
    Commented Mar 2, 2016 at 18:21
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    Well, Boba is, maybe, into his early teens during the events of the Clone Wars series. Why is the fact that he gets pushed around, despite his skills, by far more experienced bounty hunters, Jedi, and others all that surprising?
    – Ellesedil
    Commented Mar 2, 2016 at 18:54
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    Why would anyone think bounty hunting would be genetically inheritable?
    – Oldcat
    Commented Mar 2, 2016 at 22:11
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    Maybe all the other bounty hunters suck even worse. As they say "In the land of the blind the one eye'd man is king."
    – Erik
    Commented Mar 2, 2016 at 23:29
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    @vaxquis iirc the fleshing out of Boba Fett's worth as a top bounty hunter came from Legends. Disney shredded his resume, so...
    – thegreatjedi
    Commented Mar 4, 2016 at 11:58

1 Answer 1

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Darth Vader clearly respects Boba Fett's skills, and doesn't react with his typical rage when Fett questions his actions:

Fett: He's no good to me dead.

Vader: He will not be permanently damaged.

[...]

Fett: What if he doesn't survive? He's worth a lot to me.

Vader: The Empire will compensate you, if he dies. Put him in.

Contrast this to Vader's threatening response to Lando when Lando questions his actions:

Vader: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.

Considering that Vader was willing to hire Fett, is willing to put up with Fett questioning his decisions, and is willing to compensate Fett if he kills Fett's bounty, not to mention that Fett clearly isn't afraid of Vader, we can assume that Vader respects him and his skills. Respect doesn't come easily from Vader, so the obvious conclusion is that Fett is everything that Legends made him out to be.

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    Vader might have some additional insight into Boba's skills considering that Anakin has been present and victim of his handywork when Boba was still a child. There's definitely some interaction between the two, which was mostly one-sided in Boba's favor, during the Clone Wars TV series.
    – Ellesedil
    Commented Mar 2, 2016 at 18:56
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    @SJuan76 If Boba Fett is often employed by the Empire, it stands to reason that he's good at his job
    – user45623
    Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 2:18
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    There's also the "No disintegrations" exchange, as discussed scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/13951/…
    – Erics
    Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 13:34
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    Also keep in mind it seems Leia/Han/Luke/Chewie seem to know who he was, they refer to him by name here - while its possible they picked up his name somewhere, keep in mind Han basically had never interacted with him after Cloud City prior to this and still seems to quickly recognize his name when Chewie points it out. This suggests the name was well known.
    – enderland
    Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 13:52
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    @SJuan76 Darth Vader casually slays his own high-ranking officials; if he isn’t concerned about losing their services, it’s quite impressive indeed that is concerned about losing Boba Fett’s services.
    – KRyan
    Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 14:44

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