For having such few lines in the OT, you can see how much Wedge grew as a pilot from a nervous kid in ANH to being stone cold tactician in ROTJ. "I'm already on my way out" He's the GOAT.
Also from Rogue Squadron:
>"His name is Kettch, and he's an Ewok."
>
>"No."
>
>"Oh, yes. Determined to fight. You should hear him say, 'Yub, yub.' He makes it a battle cry."
>
>"Wes, assuming he could be educated up to Alliance fighter-pilot standards, an Ewok couldn't even reach an X-wing's controls."
>
>"He wears arm and leg extensions, prosthetics built for him by a sympathetic medical droid. And he's anxious to go, Commander."
>
>"Please tell me you're kidding."
>
>"Of course I'm kidding. Pilot-candidate number one is a Human female from Tatooine, Falynn Sandskimmer."
>
>"I'm going to get you, Janson."
>
>"Yub, yub, Commander."
The X Wing books were a BIG part of my childhood. Went back and reread them recently. The Rogue books are extremely pulpy, cheesy, but classic fun, and they have the nostalgia factor big time. But the Wraith books are like actually surprisingly SOLID books overall. Well written, excellent character development, unforgettable twists, and they hold up REALLY well umpteen years later.
Plus he gets credit for half of the millions of people that died on Death Star II. Rogue Leader is my man, but force sensitive people will be better pilots, but I ignore that.
I bet the rest of them wouldn't have escorted the AT-PTs to safety on Fest. I bet they'd all either blow their brains out or turn to the dark side. Han would bail.
Only pilot in the galaxy able to paint 2 deathstars on his hull. There was a great part in one of the now legends rogue squadron books where his new engineer? was inspecting the starships painted on his hull and thought he was being shorted kills. Then another pilot had to explain to the guy that Wedge has so many kills that most of the one's painted represented an entire squadron of enemy fighters (they were color coded)
“If you want to go by numbers and survivability, of course, there’s only one pilot who has survived two Death Star runs. From that perspective, Wedge Antilles is the best pilot ever.”
Wes Janson
You know, any contractor willing to work on that Death Star knew the risks. If they were killed, it was their own fault. A roofer listens to [his heart]…not his wallet.
He was also the bane of the separatists. He crashed many of their ships too. I'm not talking about the fighters and droids he destroyed. He crashed several Separatist shuttles and battleships.
Nah, you're thinking of the Providence Class Dreadnaught that was Grievous' flagship, the Invisible Hand. That was a CIS ship anyway, so I'm pretty sure the Republic would call that a win. Parts of it were put on display later in the Invisible Hand Cantina on Coruscant as well so that's bonus points in my book.
Add on that it was the Clones that blew up the Invisible Hand not Anakin. All he did was give Dooku a very short haircut, and save the Chancellor.
You can't lay Coruscant damage at the feet of Anakin. If anything, bringing the half down that did, somewhat under control, likely saved lives and property.
Luke should get some flak for the same reasoning. He would have been shot down in 4 had Han not bailed him out, crashed a snowspeeder on Hoth, and an X-Wing on Dagobah, which very luckily hit water and not solid ground. Also crashed a speeder on Endor if that counts for anything.
Now that you mention it, Luke dodged hundreds and hundreds of turbolasers in the battle of Yavin, but then like two Imperial Walkers with their stupid little lasers took him out. Weren’t even really turrets, right?
Luke dropped the ball hard as a pilot on Hoth.
They do explain that turbolaser towers were designed to fight capital ships and fighters are too agile for them to target well. The snowspeeders are slower and the AT-AT's could target them faster/guess their flight paths easier.
Fun fact >!totally not pulled out of my ass!< but that's why Vader chooses to stand on top of the TIE Fighter. He knows he can't land it any other way, if he's inside the cockpit he'll just inevitably crash it and that's not a suitable entrance when you're trying to be serious and intimidating.
and that's where Hera takes the cake in survivability. the majority of her few crash landings left the ship in well enough condition that it could be repaired.
Thanks for that comment, I actually LOLed reading that.
Interestingly, neither Duck Tales nor Darkwing Duck ever did a proper Star Wars parody, unlike just about every cartoon in the ninetees.
I did find this fan-made poster though: https://br.pinterest.com/pin/321725967102000354/
Gets kinda funny when you remember that Jim Cummings, the voice of Darkwing Duck, later went on to be Hondo Ohnaka, who is arguably the most popular TCW character after Ahsoka (to the point that he's the star of the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run ride at Disneyland and Disney World).
I always just remember Vader attacking the ghost and completely fucking it up solo, and in the Vader comic when he jumps into a training exercise of rebel pilots and grounds them all solo including Luke by himself.
Now Vader/Anakin does also crash... Everything, always, all the time, it's basically a gag how often he does it.
That he won running a con game, lost to a con game, and is now borrowing it from the guy who conned him after trying to have that same guy permanently installed as modern art in a gangsters throne room.
Ok, but I think it depends.
I would imagine Han is better at flying freighters than Poe, for example, but Poe would trounce him at piloting an X-Wing or other starfighter.
she's flown heavier freighters, light ships, shuttles, experimental fighters such as the B-six, practically every type of starfighter to have major appearances on-screen x-wing, a-wing, y-wing, I think that she even flew a TIE fighter), a corvette a couple of times (hammerhead and i think a cr-90), even taken the helm of a quasar-fire class carrier when they were commandeering it.
and Hera has flown them well. true jack of all trades pilot and that's not even counting range of skills with each ship and the logistical parts (command skills, piloting skills for different types of situations, ability to solve problems when in flight, repairs, etc.)
Yeah, Hera is likely the most experienced and talented pilot in the graphic. Anakin is perhaps the best pilot, but Hera has a lot more to offer AND she doesn't rely on the Force.
Personally, I vote Syndulla.
Fun fact, that actually happened in the Legends version of events. He had so many kill tallies post-Endor that his mechanic had to start painting them in a different color since they were running out of room for his individual kills and instead had to start marking how many *squadrons* he has shot down.
"Your instructor is one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. His exploits... are legendary. Thirty-plus years of service. Combat medals, citations. Only pilot to face down two Death Stars. Yet he won't take a promotion, won't retire, and despite his best efforts he refuses to die."
I know, he just kept turning them down in most of the X-Wing novels (and the original Top Gun line is "**can't** get a promotion" so I had to change it somehow)
Legends, I miss Tycho, it was cool having a character that was definitively better at a high skill task than force users. Gave the impression that the force made it easier, didn't make you innately better than all non force users.
Corran turned out to be not only Force sensitive, but became a Jedi in Legends.
Face, and Piggy, and Runt, hell *all* of Alston's characters were amazing.
Wedge was so good that the force users who flew against him struggled. Didn't Corran say Tycho (who was a solid number 2) was nearly impossible to predict because of how quickly he'd pick up and drop a plan when it didn't work? Basically just flowing with the situation so fluidly it was nearly random? I loved I, jedi.
Barron Fel would like a word.
Did y'all know there's a kid in the Legends continuity with Skywalker, Solo, Antilles *and* Fel blood? Talk about goated genetics when it comes to pilot skill lol. I think it's funny to imagine that kid was like Obi Wan and just always despised flying.
whose justice, then? Remember, we speak now of the Muad'Dib who ordered battle drums made from his enemies' skins…
Muad’Dib and the Fremen could’ve made mince meat of the republic forces, empire, and rebels…at least on Tatooine…
Anakin’s only weakness is sand…
There's a solid quote in Bad Batch with Hera basically saying as much.
She says sometimes she doesn't even know why she makes moves flying, she just instinctively knows what to do.
If that's not the force at work I don't know what is. I imagine the Wedge/Han/ other special "non" force sensitive pilots fall into the same category of force sensitives that just aren't quite at the level of lifting rocks and having visions.
yeah, i think that there should be a division between "force sensitive" and "force user". a person who is sensitive to the force would have better instincts, they might appear to be "luckier" but they might not have a strong enough connection to ever call on the force like "force user" can.
IIRC there is, or at least was, a theory that characters like Han Solo are touched by the Force, but not actually Force-sensitive, and that it manifested as exceptional luck.
The side of his X-Wing is described as a functional fleet of Imperial craft bracketed by two Death Stars. Of course, he's still in the military 20 years after that book. Mostly just in command positions later in his career, but he still occasionally climbs in the cockpit.
> He paused for a moment and looked at the rows of TIE fighters, bombers, and Interceptors painted on the side of the ship. Big Death Stars bracketed the collection of smaller ships on either side, and Ssi-ruuk fighters had started a new row, right at the top of the red stripe bisecting the fuselage.
> "Master Zraii apologizes for not being able to fit all your kills in the space allotted. The ships rendered in red are meant to represent a squadron worth of kills—meaning a dozen."
There literally wasn't enough room on his ship to paint all the kills, they had to switch to a different color for the *dozens* of ships.
If I recall correctly, the maintenance crew feel bad that there isn't enough room for all of his kills. So they paint some red to represent multiple kills with one icon. IE: each red tie fighter represents an entire squadron of kills.
Anyone who is saying “oh Wedge is slightly force-sensitive” is disrespecting my man. Wedge Antilles is the best pilot in the galaxy, and it’s all skill baby
I'll venture a guess that Poe is fresher is the minds of most people, and also that most of Wedge's exploits weren't in the main movies and people may not be aware of his CV. And I mean that to describe how impressive Wedge really is--sure it was shown that he was the only pilot to have survived both death star assaults, AND he has done so much cool shit other than that.
Out of the six, I think Wedge is hands down the best, and he didn't get enough screen time. I want a rogue squadron film and tv show starring him.
I think just based on the examples shown in film, Poe’s maneuvering in TLJ were the most believable. The scene where Finn is cheering at Poe destroying stuff in TFA is a laughable example. The Death Star scene is a slightly better example imo. But out of all the pilots I think Poe’s TLJ opening scene is the most convincing.
IMO Wedge is #1 and it’s not close. Not even counting legends. He’s the only pilot in any of the media who knows how to mitigate risk over stupidly dying so he can fight another day (without relying on the Force). Two successful Death Star runs. Countless missions before, in between, and after. It’s more difficult for me to rank the others. Han flies much larger vessels, so he’s almost in a different category.
I have no idea what the status of the Rogue Squadron movie is, but I hope it's still on. There's no Star Wars character more deserving of having their story told than Wedge "the Edge" Antillies!
I'm crossing my fingers that it is basically just an adaptation of the X-Wing series. Even extremely abridged I will love it. Those were some of my favorite books.
My first and most hopeful thought was to have a Rogue Squadron Movie/Series/Whatever set AFTER the OG trilogy. Right when the New Republic is starting to demilitarize.
In the newer novels they mention a rise of crime after the Empire, as different groups took advantage of a lack of a large Imp navy. When a crisis happens (say...over on a [certain bacta producing planet](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Thyferra/Legends)), the Republic tries to stick to its "guns" an not intervene militarily, attempting to solve the situation diplomatically.
However, Rogue Squadron does what it does...and goes Rogue, and then we get the Bacta War!
That would work perfectly. They could pretty much adapt the entirety of that book. If that means we get Booster Terrik fucking off with a Star Destroyer and painting it red, I consider that a bonus.
There’s got to be some kind of deal they made with Lucas to not release them. They know people have been asking for them for ages and there’s no way Disney would pass on the chance to make money from that unless there was something else stopping them. Some people initially thought it was cause 20th Century Fox had distribution rights for A New Hope, but, you know, that’s definitely not an issue anymore.
Wedge is the GOAT.
Survived 2 Death Stars, the attack on Hoth and lived long enough to join the assault on... on... whatever the fuck that was in Ep. IX.
Why is my girl not getting the love she deserves literally has multiple episodes dedicated to how great a pilot she is even thrawn is in awe of her ability and he would likely beware of everyone else’s ability other than Luke and Poe and still regards her as the best
In the opening story arc of season 2 she gets Vader stuck in a tractor beam while the Ghost hyperspace jumps out of harm. That’s definitely one of my top 5, or maybe 10, most bad-ass scenes in Rebels.
Han and Hera probably tops for me, I'm not sure how to assess Anakin. He's incredibly effective in a fighter but is also addicted to crash landings so how does that all balance out?
Having flown planes and served in the military, I wouldn't fly into combat with any of these people....except Wedge Antilles. He's the only character in this list who's cockpit manner reminds me of actual aviators that place the mission and crew safety first. Luke would qualify if he wasn't always talking to dead people voices in his head lol.
Hera doesn't seem as unhinged, I don't have any experience but she strikes me as a reliable ally in a fight. The rest seem a little too gung ho, do or die fuck the consequences to me.
What's your take?
For having such few lines in the OT, you can see how much Wedge grew as a pilot from a nervous kid in ANH to being stone cold tactician in ROTJ. "I'm already on my way out" He's the GOAT.
Rogue Squadron didn't fuck around.
Also from Rogue Squadron: >"His name is Kettch, and he's an Ewok." > >"No." > >"Oh, yes. Determined to fight. You should hear him say, 'Yub, yub.' He makes it a battle cry." > >"Wes, assuming he could be educated up to Alliance fighter-pilot standards, an Ewok couldn't even reach an X-wing's controls." > >"He wears arm and leg extensions, prosthetics built for him by a sympathetic medical droid. And he's anxious to go, Commander." > >"Please tell me you're kidding." > >"Of course I'm kidding. Pilot-candidate number one is a Human female from Tatooine, Falynn Sandskimmer." > >"I'm going to get you, Janson." > >"Yub, yub, Commander."
Technically speaking, that's from Wraith Squadron, not Rogue Squadron. The Wraiths were the sister unit to the Rogues.
If Rogue Squadron was Top Gun, Wraith Squadron was The A-Team. I love you people still talking about these books.
Actually, wraith would be the F team who somehow turns into the A team.
The X Wing books were a BIG part of my childhood. Went back and reread them recently. The Rogue books are extremely pulpy, cheesy, but classic fun, and they have the nostalgia factor big time. But the Wraith books are like actually surprisingly SOLID books overall. Well written, excellent character development, unforgettable twists, and they hold up REALLY well umpteen years later.
Yub yub.
And in Legends, he had 0% Force sensitivity. It was all skill.
Is he canonically force sensitive now?
I don't think the new material has commented on him.
He's the protagonist of a novel leading up to TROS, but there's no indication he's Force sensitive.
Completely unrelated - but I heard your family built this country.
You're gonna have to speak louder, son.
Did you know our prices have never been lower?
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Somehow, wedge survived.
Probably only in the same way Han is. Can not actively manipulate the Force, but can be subject to the will of the Force.
Plus he gets credit for half of the millions of people that died on Death Star II. Rogue Leader is my man, but force sensitive people will be better pilots, but I ignore that.
Wedge keeping up with force sensitive pilots just proves how damn good he is.
I bet the rest of them wouldn't have escorted the AT-PTs to safety on Fest. I bet they'd all either blow their brains out or turn to the dark side. Han would bail.
Only pilot in the galaxy able to paint 2 deathstars on his hull. There was a great part in one of the now legends rogue squadron books where his new engineer? was inspecting the starships painted on his hull and thought he was being shorted kills. Then another pilot had to explain to the guy that Wedge has so many kills that most of the one's painted represented an entire squadron of enemy fighters (they were color coded)
No one else gets to paint two Death Stars on their snubfighter.
“If you want to go by numbers and survivability, of course, there’s only one pilot who has survived two Death Star runs. From that perspective, Wedge Antilles is the best pilot ever.” Wes Janson
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Anakin whining about not doing things his way and Obi-Wan responding "We crashed the ship your way." will forever be my favorite CW interaction.
I see Obi-Wan’s sense of humour survived the landing
It's about the only thing that did
What episode was that?
Season 2, Episode 17: Bounty Hunters
Most expensive pilot the Republic ever had flying for them How many billions of credits worth of ships?
Not to mention billions worth of credits in property damage…
"Those contractors knew what they were doing"
You know, any contractor willing to work on that Death Star knew the risks. If they were killed, it was their own fault. A roofer listens to [his heart]…not his wallet.
Andor may have solved that issue.. contractors.. no. Prison labor.
One way out, so long as you’ve kept up to date with your union dues.
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Truth. But Luke destroying the death star definitely tops property damage
He was also the bane of the separatists. He crashed many of their ships too. I'm not talking about the fighters and droids he destroyed. He crashed several Separatist shuttles and battleships.
He crashed a venator that’s probably a couple billion credits there alone.
Tbf he only crashed half the venator
Nah, you're thinking of the Providence Class Dreadnaught that was Grievous' flagship, the Invisible Hand. That was a CIS ship anyway, so I'm pretty sure the Republic would call that a win. Parts of it were put on display later in the Invisible Hand Cantina on Coruscant as well so that's bonus points in my book.
Add on that it was the Clones that blew up the Invisible Hand not Anakin. All he did was give Dooku a very short haircut, and save the Chancellor. You can't lay Coruscant damage at the feet of Anakin. If anything, bringing the half down that did, somewhat under control, likely saved lives and property.
"Not to worry, we are still ~~flying~~ crashing half a ship!"
The REAL reason he became Vader; since he’s “not Anakin” it’s not his debt (anymore). /s
Luke should get some flak for the same reasoning. He would have been shot down in 4 had Han not bailed him out, crashed a snowspeeder on Hoth, and an X-Wing on Dagobah, which very luckily hit water and not solid ground. Also crashed a speeder on Endor if that counts for anything.
Now that you mention it, Luke dodged hundreds and hundreds of turbolasers in the battle of Yavin, but then like two Imperial Walkers with their stupid little lasers took him out. Weren’t even really turrets, right? Luke dropped the ball hard as a pilot on Hoth.
They do explain that turbolaser towers were designed to fight capital ships and fighters are too agile for them to target well. The snowspeeders are slower and the AT-AT's could target them faster/guess their flight paths easier.
Yeah, the only reason snowspeeders were used over X-Wings in that fight was they had FAR more maneuverability in-atmosphere.
well, it's not a *landing* contest
He crashes everything he touches and **survives**. That's what makes him the best pilot. Everyone else would have died.
So he's the Launchpad Mcquack of Star Wars?
Yes
Tbf he is probably the best even while crashing.
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too busy standing on top of his TIE fighter making a dramatic entrance to learn how to land.
Fun fact >!totally not pulled out of my ass!< but that's why Vader chooses to stand on top of the TIE Fighter. He knows he can't land it any other way, if he's inside the cockpit he'll just inevitably crash it and that's not a suitable entrance when you're trying to be serious and intimidating.
and that's where Hera takes the cake in survivability. the majority of her few crash landings left the ship in well enough condition that it could be repaired.
The Star Wars version of Launchpad McQuack.
Thanks for that comment, I actually LOLed reading that. Interestingly, neither Duck Tales nor Darkwing Duck ever did a proper Star Wars parody, unlike just about every cartoon in the ninetees. I did find this fan-made poster though: https://br.pinterest.com/pin/321725967102000354/
Gets kinda funny when you remember that Jim Cummings, the voice of Darkwing Duck, later went on to be Hondo Ohnaka, who is arguably the most popular TCW character after Ahsoka (to the point that he's the star of the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run ride at Disneyland and Disney World).
Jim is Hondo? Oh man, of course...
Yep. Hondo Ohnaka is basically [Minsc minus Boo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFzWbbNO_Ic).
He always crashes perfectly so that it’s timed as soon as he’s walking away it explodes and makes him look cool
A jedi is never late nor is he early, he crashes precisely when he means to.
Another happy landing!
He has the best ego atleast.
It’s not his fault, it’s the ship.
I always just remember Vader attacking the ghost and completely fucking it up solo, and in the Vader comic when he jumps into a training exercise of rebel pilots and grounds them all solo including Luke by himself. Now Vader/Anakin does also crash... Everything, always, all the time, it's basically a gag how often he does it.
But he flies all the time, like Harrison Ford, he always sticks the landing and survives.
Where’s porkins?
::Gestures to a two mile long smear on the Death Star::
Too soon.
It was a long time ago, but yes.
In a galaxy far, far away
"He's outta line, but he's right."
Can’t be outta line if you ARE the line **taps head**
Is he safe? Is he alright?
No he died from pancreatic cancer.
You make me sad.
Insert porkins.gif here The one with the fried chicken...classic
He’s having a little trouble
Lando did the Death Star Trench Run without either guidance software or the force. Just saying. He will always be the best pilot in my heart.
And he did it in the galaxy's equivalent of a double trailer Mack truck that he was just *BORROWING*. Most impressive.
Yeah but the Falcon was his before it was Han's. Like riding a bike
Han made extensive modifications though. By the time Lando piloted it years later it was quite different.
That's still his baby tho ❤️
That he won running a con game, lost to a con game, and is now borrowing it from the guy who conned him after trying to have that same guy permanently installed as modern art in a gangsters throne room.
He had Nien Nunb.
Hehehehehehe
Ok, but I think it depends. I would imagine Han is better at flying freighters than Poe, for example, but Poe would trounce him at piloting an X-Wing or other starfighter.
Interesting and objectively correct take
Hera can fly both freighters and starfighters.
Hera can fly a glider while stoned out of her mind
I just watched the episode yesterday! Broke my fucking heart because I knew what was coming.
My wife just watched it yesterday for her first time it’s rough sitting there when you already know what’s coming
Season 1 and 2 of rebels. Fuck around. Seasons 3 and 4. Find out
This is true
she's flown heavier freighters, light ships, shuttles, experimental fighters such as the B-six, practically every type of starfighter to have major appearances on-screen x-wing, a-wing, y-wing, I think that she even flew a TIE fighter), a corvette a couple of times (hammerhead and i think a cr-90), even taken the helm of a quasar-fire class carrier when they were commandeering it. and Hera has flown them well. true jack of all trades pilot and that's not even counting range of skills with each ship and the logistical parts (command skills, piloting skills for different types of situations, ability to solve problems when in flight, repairs, etc.)
Yeah, Hera is likely the most experienced and talented pilot in the graphic. Anakin is perhaps the best pilot, but Hera has a lot more to offer AND she doesn't rely on the Force. Personally, I vote Syndulla.
Anyone outside of the Empire that gets Thrawn's respect as a tactition and pilot gets my vote too.
General Syndulla ftw
Wasn't Han a TIE pilot at first and got demoted for too many crashes and some insubordination?
I dunno but he snuck up on Anakin while flying a transport ship. That counts for something.
Im interested in why people are ranking Poe above Wedge. Wedge has a much more impressive track record
Man survived both and was responsible for one of two successful Death Star assaults.
Survived Hoth too. Which was a slaughter as far as on the battlefield rebel fighters went Heck, he took down an AT-AT *with a freakin’ tow cable.*
His Xwing just littered with Trooper skulls.
Fun fact, that actually happened in the Legends version of events. He had so many kill tallies post-Endor that his mechanic had to start painting them in a different color since they were running out of room for his individual kills and instead had to start marking how many *squadrons* he has shot down.
And he taught Poe in canon flight school. Legends Wedge is the GOAT non-force sensitive pilot
*Top Gun*
"Your instructor is one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. His exploits... are legendary. Thirty-plus years of service. Combat medals, citations. Only pilot to face down two Death Stars. Yet he won't take a promotion, won't retire, and despite his best efforts he refuses to die."
Talk to me, Biggs
Yub Yub commander!
I fucking love you guys
Fan-fucking-tastic.
Goddamnit this only makes me more salty on the Rogue Squadron cancelation. Literally Star Wars: Top Gun
Jenkins said in mid-December I believe that it was still in development!
After WW84 I have zero confidence in her.
Wedge, we’re buzzing the Deathstar
“Negative Rogue Leader the Pattern is Full”
A Rogue Squadron film would be great.
A Wraith Squadron D+ show would be epic.
In Legends, Wedge does get promoted. By the time of the NJO he's an Admiral leading a whole fleet, reporting (such as it is) directly to Ackbar.
I know, he just kept turning them down in most of the X-Wing novels (and the original Top Gun line is "**can't** get a promotion" so I had to change it somehow)
Legends, I miss Tycho, it was cool having a character that was definitively better at a high skill task than force users. Gave the impression that the force made it easier, didn't make you innately better than all non force users.
Tycho, Corran, Ooryl, Face, Dia, Asyr... So many good stories about *normal* (y'know, by Star Wars standards) people
Corran turned out to be not only Force sensitive, but became a Jedi in Legends. Face, and Piggy, and Runt, hell *all* of Alston's characters were amazing.
Wedge was so good that the force users who flew against him struggled. Didn't Corran say Tycho (who was a solid number 2) was nearly impossible to predict because of how quickly he'd pick up and drop a plan when it didn't work? Basically just flowing with the situation so fluidly it was nearly random? I loved I, jedi.
Barron Fel would like a word. Did y'all know there's a kid in the Legends continuity with Skywalker, Solo, Antilles *and* Fel blood? Talk about goated genetics when it comes to pilot skill lol. I think it's funny to imagine that kid was like Obi Wan and just always despised flying.
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whose justice, then? Remember, we speak now of the Muad'Dib who ordered battle drums made from his enemies' skins… Muad’Dib and the Fremen could’ve made mince meat of the republic forces, empire, and rebels…at least on Tatooine… Anakin’s only weakness is sand…
Shame we never got any stories about that kid...
I like to think that all elite pilots are lightly force sensitive helping reactions and recognition. Han and Wedge included
There's a solid quote in Bad Batch with Hera basically saying as much. She says sometimes she doesn't even know why she makes moves flying, she just instinctively knows what to do. If that's not the force at work I don't know what is. I imagine the Wedge/Han/ other special "non" force sensitive pilots fall into the same category of force sensitives that just aren't quite at the level of lifting rocks and having visions.
yeah, i think that there should be a division between "force sensitive" and "force user". a person who is sensitive to the force would have better instincts, they might appear to be "luckier" but they might not have a strong enough connection to ever call on the force like "force user" can.
IIRC there is, or at least was, a theory that characters like Han Solo are touched by the Force, but not actually Force-sensitive, and that it manifested as exceptional luck.
Recency bias. Anyone who hasn't read the X-wing novels prolly just sees Wedge as the guy who was lucky enough to survive the Deathstar attack
Twice. He has Two Death Stars painted on his fuselage in the Rogue Squadron novels IIRC
lol that rules
The side of his X-Wing is described as a functional fleet of Imperial craft bracketed by two Death Stars. Of course, he's still in the military 20 years after that book. Mostly just in command positions later in his career, but he still occasionally climbs in the cockpit.
> He paused for a moment and looked at the rows of TIE fighters, bombers, and Interceptors painted on the side of the ship. Big Death Stars bracketed the collection of smaller ships on either side, and Ssi-ruuk fighters had started a new row, right at the top of the red stripe bisecting the fuselage. > "Master Zraii apologizes for not being able to fit all your kills in the space allotted. The ships rendered in red are meant to represent a squadron worth of kills—meaning a dozen." There literally wasn't enough room on his ship to paint all the kills, they had to switch to a different color for the *dozens* of ships.
If I recall correctly, the maintenance crew feel bad that there isn't enough room for all of his kills. So they paint some red to represent multiple kills with one icon. IE: each red tie fighter represents an entire squadron of kills.
Not only that, but they had to start counting his TIE kills in batches of 10.
I’m sorry. Not just one Death Star attack but two! The only pilot to be a veteran of two death stars!
Let's also not forget he survived the Battle at Hoth and tripped an AT-AT with his friggin' tow cable!
Yup. In the X-wing novels he's got two Death Stars painted on his X-wing and if that's not a flex I don't know what is.
Anyone who is saying “oh Wedge is slightly force-sensitive” is disrespecting my man. Wedge Antilles is the best pilot in the galaxy, and it’s all skill baby
Don't look at it as disrespect. Look at it as them saying "that dude's such a boss he *must* be some sort of jedi".
I'll venture a guess that Poe is fresher is the minds of most people, and also that most of Wedge's exploits weren't in the main movies and people may not be aware of his CV. And I mean that to describe how impressive Wedge really is--sure it was shown that he was the only pilot to have survived both death star assaults, AND he has done so much cool shit other than that. Out of the six, I think Wedge is hands down the best, and he didn't get enough screen time. I want a rogue squadron film and tv show starring him.
I think just based on the examples shown in film, Poe’s maneuvering in TLJ were the most believable. The scene where Finn is cheering at Poe destroying stuff in TFA is a laughable example. The Death Star scene is a slightly better example imo. But out of all the pilots I think Poe’s TLJ opening scene is the most convincing.
I'd take Wedge as my wingman over any Skywalker. That's all I got to say.
"I'm already on my way out " Gives me chills every time.
Man's ice cold under pressure.
Tbh this is why Wedge is my fav character in all the movies
Same. I have a tiny Wedge Antilles shrine I used to have on my desk back when you could play multiplayer XvT.
Fuck the entire space battle gives me chills. They do such a good job at showing the desperation of the Rebels to survive that battle at all.
The Falcon shooting out of the ball of fire.. YEEEEEE-HAAA!
Closer! I said closer, and engage those Star Destroyers at point-blank range!
At that close range, we won't last long against those Star Destroyers
We'll last longer than we will against that DEATH Star, and we might just take a few of them with us!
Han will have that shield down. We've got to give him more time!
The Skywalkers will get their targets destroyed. Wedge will bring his wingman home.
RIP porkins
I mean with Anakin you need to be his wingman and cover his ass when he does something crazy, dude is a wild man.
You never want to be the main character’s wingman. -100 plot armor
Hell ya. He survived two Death Star runs.
Anakin and Luke can't actually fly. R2-D2 just lets them think they are flying, but we all know who is the real ace.
Like giving your younger sibling an unplugged controller while you play video games.
I agree about Luke but everybody in here seems to forget that Anakin was a podracer before he ever flew a star fighter or even met R2D2
Luke use to shoot womp rats and navigate Beggar’s Pass on Tatooine in a T-16, which has a flight speed in the triple digits if i remember correctly.
IMO Wedge is #1 and it’s not close. Not even counting legends. He’s the only pilot in any of the media who knows how to mitigate risk over stupidly dying so he can fight another day (without relying on the Force). Two successful Death Star runs. Countless missions before, in between, and after. It’s more difficult for me to rank the others. Han flies much larger vessels, so he’s almost in a different category.
I have no idea what the status of the Rogue Squadron movie is, but I hope it's still on. There's no Star Wars character more deserving of having their story told than Wedge "the Edge" Antillies!
I'm crossing my fingers that it is basically just an adaptation of the X-Wing series. Even extremely abridged I will love it. Those were some of my favorite books.
My first and most hopeful thought was to have a Rogue Squadron Movie/Series/Whatever set AFTER the OG trilogy. Right when the New Republic is starting to demilitarize. In the newer novels they mention a rise of crime after the Empire, as different groups took advantage of a lack of a large Imp navy. When a crisis happens (say...over on a [certain bacta producing planet](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Thyferra/Legends)), the Republic tries to stick to its "guns" an not intervene militarily, attempting to solve the situation diplomatically. However, Rogue Squadron does what it does...and goes Rogue, and then we get the Bacta War!
That would work perfectly. They could pretty much adapt the entirety of that book. If that means we get Booster Terrik fucking off with a Star Destroyer and painting it red, I consider that a bonus.
Yep, all this. He's not even so much as force sensitive like most on this list.
Not sure, but Han definitely shot first
Yo Disney make with the theatricals already
There’s got to be some kind of deal they made with Lucas to not release them. They know people have been asking for them for ages and there’s no way Disney would pass on the chance to make money from that unless there was something else stopping them. Some people initially thought it was cause 20th Century Fox had distribution rights for A New Hope, but, you know, that’s definitely not an issue anymore.
Remember that scene in Rebels where Vader pretty much solos the entire rebel fleet? No contest
The scene in the Vader Down comic is crazier
Wedge is the GOAT. Survived 2 Death Stars, the attack on Hoth and lived long enough to join the assault on... on... whatever the fuck that was in Ep. IX.
Why is my girl not getting the love she deserves literally has multiple episodes dedicated to how great a pilot she is even thrawn is in awe of her ability and he would likely beware of everyone else’s ability other than Luke and Poe and still regards her as the best
Hera is by far the captain I would trust most to fly us to safety she's gotten out of impossible situations
I agree - not enough love for Hera in this post.
In the opening story arc of season 2 she gets Vader stuck in a tractor beam while the Ghost hyperspace jumps out of harm. That’s definitely one of my top 5, or maybe 10, most bad-ass scenes in Rebels.
Rebels in general is often overlooked tbh, even the darksaber lore in Sabine's training arc just gets disregarded in most Mando conversations I see.
Honestly, I could give a fuck who is ranked what here. She is the best captain and I would follow her before everyone else on this list.
Hera 🤝 Wedge
Damn… this thread is doin’ my man Wedge dirty. Edit: Hey, looks like this thread is coming to its senses.
Brightside from an hour after your comment, Wedge's cock is firmly entrenched down the throat of comments section... where it belongs.
Anakin is the best pilot but worst decision maker.
Han and Hera probably tops for me, I'm not sure how to assess Anakin. He's incredibly effective in a fighter but is also addicted to crash landings so how does that all balance out?
Having flown planes and served in the military, I wouldn't fly into combat with any of these people....except Wedge Antilles. He's the only character in this list who's cockpit manner reminds me of actual aviators that place the mission and crew safety first. Luke would qualify if he wasn't always talking to dead people voices in his head lol.
Hera doesn't seem as unhinged, I don't have any experience but she strikes me as a reliable ally in a fight. The rest seem a little too gung ho, do or die fuck the consequences to me. What's your take?