Warning! This submit accommodates SPOILERS for Star Wars: Shadow of Maul #4
When Star Wars followers take into consideration podracing, Anakin Skywalker and Sebulba are seemingly the primary racers to come back to thoughts (although actual ones additionally consider Ben Quadinaros). A particularly quick and harmful sport, podracing first debuted in The Phantom Menace with the Boonta Eve Basic on Tatooine, a race gained by Skywalker due to his quick reflexes. Nevertheless, Star Wars has simply revealed {that a} very shocking character additionally has some secret podracing expertise: Darth Maul.
In Marvel’s brand-new and canonical Shadow of Maul #4 by Benjamin Percy and Madibek Musbekov, set earlier than the occasions of Maul – Shadow Lord, it is revealed that the previous Sith Lord not solely has expertise with podracing, however technically owned a fairly unbelievable pod of his personal between the prequel and unique trilogies, proper as he was starting to rebuild his felony empire through the “Darkish Instances”.
Earlier than Shadow Lord, Maul Piloted His Personal Podracer On Janix
Marvel’s Shadow of Maul #4 takes readers to the Outer Rim world of Janix, the place a brutal podracing occasion referred to as the Star Gauntlet is underway earlier than the occasions of Maul’s latest Shadow Lord animated collection. That includes Captain Brander Lawson and his droid companion Two-Boots, the Janix detective step by step discovers {that a} a lot darker recreation is being performed behind the scenes.
The Star Guantlet’s deadliest racer is Tor Braxis, a notoriously violent competitor sponsored by crime boss Nico Deemis. Secondly, it is ultimately revealed that Braxis additionally accepted cash from rival crime lord Looti Vario to deliberately throw the race earlier than reaching the primary checkpoint. Thirdly, Braxis was additionally employed by Maul (who lately arrived on Janix) to steal 100 million credit from Janix’s largest on line casino, crashing into a number of racers and utilizing the ensuing chaos to secretly maneuver his pod beneath the ability.
Nevertheless, Maul naturally betrays and decapitates Braxis as soon as the racer served his objective. Claiming the fortune to fund his future operations on Janix, Maul additionally takes Braxis’ pod, escaping the scene in his very personal podracer earlier than Janix authorities arrive, leaving Lawson with no clue as to who this mysterious third social gathering was.
All issues thought-about, Maul’s brand-new pod is remarkably becoming for the previous Sith lord, a large black single-engine racer that appears extra like a lethal battering ram than anything.
Whereas it will have been enjoyable to see the car seem within the animated Shadow Lord collection and its numerous speeder chases, it was seemingly far too conspicuous for Maul and his brokers to make use of within the shadows and bowels of Janix. Even so, it is fairly cool that Darth Maul canonically had a secret podracer, nonetheless briefly.
Technically, Darth Maul Has Been A Secret Podracer For twenty-four Years
As shocking as this reveal could seem, longtime Star Wars avid gamers might acknowledge that Maul’s connection to podracing goes again a lot additional than this new comedian. Again in 2002’s Star Wars: Racer Revenge, Darth Maul was a secret unlockable racer with a customized pod impressed by his Sith Infiltrator seen in The Phantom Menace.
Though the basic recreation exists exterior the fashionable canon, it is fairly humorous that Star Wars has now canonized Maul’s podracing expertise greater than 20 years later within the new Shadow of Maul #4. It is also simply enjoyable, plain and easy. In spite of everything, the Star Wars franchise is at its finest when it finds new methods to flesh out acquainted characters with brand-new tales. To that finish, Darth Maul technically having his very personal podracer within the official Star Wars canon is precisely the sort of weird lore enlargement I like to see.
Shadow of Maul #4 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.

Launch Date
April 6, 2026
Community
Disney+
Administrators
Brad Rau


