Original trilogy

Solo is first introduced in Star Wars (1977). He and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca accept a charter to transport Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi from Tatooine to Alderaan on their ship, the Millennium Falcon. Before they depart, Solo is cornered by the bounty hunter Greedo, who threatens him. Solo shoots and kills Greedo, then boards his ship with his passengers. They are attacked by Imperial stormtroopers, but elude them by accelerating to light speed. When they arrive at their destination, they discover that Alderaan has been obliterated by the Death Star, the Empire's colossal battle station. The Falcon is captured and brought aboard the Death Star, but Solo and his companions avoid detection and infiltrate the station. When they discover that Princess Leia is being held captive, Luke convinces Solo and Chewbacca to help him rescue her by promising Solo a large reward. After delivering Luke and Leia to the Rebel Alliance, Solo collects his payment and prepares to leave. Luke asks him to aid the Rebels in their assault on the Death Star, but Solo refuses. He returns unexpectedly during the battle, saving Luke's life and allowing him to destroy the Death Star. Afterwards, Leia presents Solo and Luke with medals for their heroism.

Solo makes his second film appearance in The Empire Strikes Back (1980). He is still with the Rebel Alliance, serving at the headquarters on the ice planet Hoth. He intends to leave to pay off his debt to Jabba the Hutt, but delays his departure when Luke goes missing. Solo rides alone into freezing temperatures and finds Luke nearly dead from exposure. He builds a shelter and they survive until they are rescued. Later, Solo and Chewbacca destroy an Imperial probe droid, but not before the Empire is alerted to the location of the Rebel base. Solo, Chewbacca and Leia escape in the Millennium Falcon and fly into an asteroid field. While repairing the ship, Solo and Leia share a kiss. The group then seeks aid from Solo's friend Lando Calrissian in Cloud City. Lando betrays them to the Empire, and Vader tortures Solo as part of his plan to trap Luke. Vader freezes Solo in carbonite and gives him to the bounty hunter Boba Fett, who plans to deliver him to Jabba. Before Solo is put into carbonite hibernation, Leia confesses her love for him.

In Return of the Jedi (1983), Solo is still imprisoned in carbonite. A year has elapsed, and the frozen Solo is a decoration in Jabba's palace on Tatooine. Leia enters the palace in disguise and liberates Solo from his hibernation, but Jabba captures them both. When Luke arrives to bargain for Solo's life, he too is imprisoned. Jabba tries to execute Solo, Luke and Chewbacca by feeding them to a Sarlacc, but they escape with the help of Leia and Lando. Returning to the Rebel fleet, the companions discover that the Empire is building a second Death Star, which is orbiting the forest moon of Endor. Solo, now a general in the Rebel Alliance, leads a strike team to disable the shield surrounding the battle station. After enlisting a tribe of Ewoks in a battle against Imperial forces, the Rebels remove the shield, which allows Lando and his team to destroy the Death Star. Solo then reunites with his friends on Endor to celebrate the fall of the Empire.

Sequel trilogy

In The Force Awakens (2015), set approximately thirty years after Return of the Jedi, Solo has returned to his smuggling career. He and Chewbacca reclaim the Millennium Falcon—which they had lost—after the scavenger Rey and the renegade stormtrooper Finn use it to escape from Jakku. When Solo learns that Rey is looking for Luke, who disappeared years before, he takes them to his friend Maz Kanata, hoping she can deliver the droid BB-8 to the Resistance. While Solo, Finn and Rey are in Maz's castle, the First Order arrives and captures Rey. At the Resistance base, Solo reunites with Leia. It is revealed that their son, Ben Solo, was brought to the dark side by Supreme Leader Snoke. Ben trained as a Jedi under Luke, but left his training and became Kylo Ren, an agent of the First Order. Leia asks Solo to bring him home, convinced there is still good in him. Solo, Chewbacca and Finn land on the First Order's planet-converted superweapon, Starkiller Base, intending to disable its shield and rescue Rey. Solo finds his son, and pleads with him to abandon the dark side. Ren at first seems receptive to his father's request, but then ignites his lightsaber and kills him. In The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Ren experiences a vision of Solo, who once again urges him to renounce the dark side. After a brief conversation, Ren throws away his lightsaber and once again becomes Ben Solo.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

The 2018 standalone film Solo: A Star Wars Story depicts a 19-year-old Han living as an orphan on the planet Corellia. He and his lover, Qi'ra, flee the White Worms criminal gang and attempt to leave Corellia on an outgoing transport, but Qi'ra is apprehended before she can board. Han vows to return for her and joins the Imperial Navy as a flight cadet. He is given the surname "Solo" by the recruiting officer, due to his lack of a family.

Three years later, Solo has been expelled from the Imperial Flight Academy for insubordination and now serves in the Imperial Army. While fighting on Mimban, he encounters a gang of criminals posing as Imperial soldiers. He wants to join them, but their leader Tobias Beckett gets him arrested for desertion and thrown into a pit to be eaten by a Wookiee named Chewbacca. Able to understand Chewbacca's language, Solo joins forces with him and the two escape. In need of additional crew members, Beckett brings Solo and Chewbacca aboard his ship. The crew tries to steal a shipment of coaxium—a valuable hyperspace fuel—but the mission fails. Solo and Chewbacca then accompany Beckett to a meeting with his overseer Dryden Vos, the leader of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate. There, Solo reunites with Qi'ra, who is Vos's lieutenant. Solo suggests a plan to steal coaxium from the mines on the planet Kessel; Vos approves, but insists that Qi'ra accompany the crew.

Qi'ra leads them to Lando Calrissian, an accomplished smuggler who she hopes will lend them his ship, the Millennium Falcon. Solo challenges Lando to a game of sabacc, with the ship as the wager. Lando cheats to win, but agrees to join the mission in exchange for a share of the profits. The heist succeeds, partly due to Solo's piloting skills during the dangerous Kessel Run. Before the crew returns to Vos, they are intercepted by a group of pirates led by Enfys Nest. After a series of schemes and betrayals, Vos and his guards lie dead and Beckett has fled with the coaxium and taken Chewbacca as a hostage. Solo pursues Beckett and kills him, then gives the coaxium to Nest and her crew, who are sympathetic to the Rebel Alliance. Solo declines Nest's offer to join the Rebellion, instead returning to Lando's sabacc table for another wager. Solo prevents Lando from cheating this time, and wins ownership of the Falcon. Solo and Chewbacca then depart for Tatooine, where a crime lord is assembling a crew for a heist.

Comics

Solo is a main character in the 2015 Star Wars comic series. Issue #6 introduces Sana Starros as his wife, although later it is revealed that she married him as part of a plan to swindle a crime lord.^[22][23] Star Wars: Han Solo (2016) is a five-issue mini-series set between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, which focuses on Solo participating in a race.^[24] The comic adaptation of Solo: A Star Wars Story reveals that Solo knew his father worked in the shipyards of Corellia.^[25] Han Solo – Imperial Cadet (2018) depicts Solo's rebellious days in the Imperial forces, while Han Solo & Chewbacca (2022) follows the smugglers as they do a job for Jabba, who sends Greedo to accompany them.^[26]

Other appearances

In the Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), Solo joins Chewbacca and his family on Kashyyyk for the Wookiee holiday Life Day. The television program includes an animated segment, in which Solo is voiced by Ford. The character also appears in the episode "Tracker Trouble" (2017) of the animated web series Forces of Destiny.^[35]