Summary
- The Scourge, an ancient enemy of the Sith, has been unleashed on the Star Wars galaxy, posing a threat to both Sith and Jedi.
- The Scourge is a technological copy of the dark side of the Force, corrupting machinery such as droids and cyborgs and enslaving them to its hive-mind.
- In the comic event, Star Wars: Dark Droids, readers will witness the spread of the Scourge and its horrifying impact on iconic droids, potentially leading to the corruption of Darth Vader himself.
Warning! This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: Dark Droids When considering the ancient enemy of the Sith in the Star Wars universe, one would reasonably think of the Jedi, as their struggle stretches back thousands of years before even the prequel era. However, another enemy has reared its ugly head, one that is a danger to both the Sith and the Jedi alike, and it was just officially unleashed on the galaxy far, far away.
The enemy in question is known as the Scourge, and while little is known about it at this time, it can be accurately concluded that it’s an ancient enemy of the Sith based on a few established factors. Firstly, the Scourge was locked away inside a Sith prison known as the Fermata Cage, and was recently freed when the cage was opened by Lady Qi’ra during Star Wars: Hidden Empire. Secondly, the very nature of the Scourge is almost a technological copy of the dark side of the Force, making it a literal mockery of the most important aspects of the dark side: corruption. The Scourge es through machinery (both droids and cyborgs) and corrupts their systems, adding them to its ever-growing hive-mind. Like the dark side, the Scourge twists the ‘minds’ of its victims, pushing them into lives of violence and death for the sake of power and galactic domination. Now, after many months of setups and teases within Star Wars canon, fans can finally see the horrors of the Scourge in action.
Star Wars’ Scourge Is Fueling A Droid Revolution (& It’s Horrifying)
Shared at the San Diego Comic-Con 2023 Lucasfilm Publishing (then re-shared by StarWars.com), readers got a first-look at the event: Star Wars: Dark Droids. Dark Droids will chronicle the spread of the Scourge following its release from the Fermata Cage shown in Hidden Empire. In the pages offered, fans can see an Imperial Security Droid (seemingly of the same model as K-2SO from Rogue One) finding the disc containing the Scourge, and becoming infected - seemingly the first droid to become infected. The next page simply shows iconic droids throughout the franchise (including Triple-Zero and Beetee, Chopper, and Clone Wars-era Battle Droids), which highlights how droids have helped or otherwise contributed to human/alien existence. The final page shows an Imperial Astromech Droid that’s already been infected by the Scourge rerouting reactor waste into the ventilation system, which could kill practically everyone on the ship it’s on. Then, when a few Imperials try to stop it, another Scourge-infected droid electrocutes them, seemingly to death.
Star Wars All But Confirms Darth Vader’s Scourge Infection
This preview is the first time Star Wars fans have seen the Scourge in action, which doesn’t bode well for the galaxy considering the starting point of this sentient infection. It’s been established that Darth Vader himself is the Scourge’s prime target. If it can corrupt his systems, and potentially his mind, then the Scourge hive-mind will have access to the Force through one of, if not the strongest Force in the galaxy. And this preview shows the Scourge infiltrating the Empire like it’s nothing, which means it may accomplish its dark mission sooner than the galaxy may be prepared for.
Whether Darth Vader will succumb to the Scourge or not remains to be seen. However, what is confirmed in this Comic-Con preview is that this ancient enemy of the Sith has officially been unleashed on the Star Wars galaxy, and the result is already horrifying.
Star Wars: Dark Droids #1 by Marvel Comics is available August 2, 2023.
Source: StarWars.com
