Boba Fett's Ship Might Finally Have A New Name

"It's been a long road," the "Star Wars" theme song tells us, "getting from there to here." There's wisdom to the sentiment. Just shy of 45 years after fans were introduced to the franchise's far, far away galaxy, the world has changed dramatically. What once was deemed acceptable is now frowned upon. Take, for example, brothers and sisters doing kisses to each other. We pretty much save that for HBO now.

And Boba Fett, the fan favorite bounty hunter with the intense calm of a man who needs a specific reminder that disintegrating people is not work-appropriate behavior, appears to have also received a reconsideration through a contemporary lens. This ruthless killer for hire, this career confiscator of liberties, whose skills could be bought by the highest bidder in a universe with a name that's 50% "Wars," is finally going to get a more thoughtful name for his ride.

At least that's been the scuttlebutt among "Star Wars" fans ever since a new Lego kit featuring Fett's iconic ship hit shelves without the name "Slave I" attached to it. Speculation hit social media hard, purporting that the moniker would be absent from all future Boba Fett merchandise. Now, thanks to a series of comics being released by Marvel Comics, it appears that the rumors have been confirmed, and that the modified patrol and attack craft is being rechristened with a familiar new name.

The development comes courtesy of a variant cover for the ongoing Marvel Comics series "War of the Bounty Hunters." One of the covers features Boba Fett's ship blueprints and labels the craft "Firespray."

Longtime devotees of the nefarious bounty hunter and the man from whom he was cloned will know that Boba Fett's ship, passed down to him by his father, is a heavily modified version of a Firespray-31-class ship, affectionately shortened and referred to as a "Firespray interceptor" in some of the extended universe works. Originally used to guard a prison moon, the Fetts' favorite ride was acquired by Jango under legally objectionable circumstances.

The use of the name "Firespray" to refer to the feared starcraft might just be the comics calling out the model of the former "Slave I," but it seems like there's more going on. Other variant covers for the series see the bounty hunter Bossk's ship labeled "The Hound's Tooth," Dengar's called out by name as "The Punishing One," and IG-88's ship with the downright familial name "IG-2000." The dawning of a new era in "Star Wars" may have begun — an era where Boba Fett has to get new personalized license plates.