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Who Are the Bounty Hunters in The Empire Strikes Back? All Six and Their Figures

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After the Battle of Hoth, Darth Vader calls six bounty hunters to his Super Star Destroyer, the Executor, and hires them to find the Millennium Falcon. They’re only on screen for a moment, but Kenner made figures of all six between 1979 and 1982, and Boba Fett, Bossk, IG-88, Dengar, 4-LOM and Zuckuss have had new figures ever since, right up to The Black Series today.

This page covers who each of them is, what became of them, and their main figures. The vintage Kenner figures in the photos are from my own collection.

Bossk’s Bounty is compensated for any purchases made through any eBay links that may appear below.

Who are the six bounty hunters in The Empire Strikes Back?

The six bounty hunters Vader hires on the Executor are:

  • Boba Fett, the bounty hunter in Mandalorian armour who finds the Falcon and takes Han Solo to Jabba
  • Bossk, a Trandoshan who hunts Wookiees
  • IG-88, an assassin droid
  • Dengar, a human bounty hunter from Corellia
  • 4-LOM, a protocol droid who turned to crime
  • Zuckuss, a Gand tracker who often works with 4-LOM

Only Boba Fett collects the bounty. He tracks the Falcon to Cloud City on Bespin, where Vader freezes Han Solo in carbonite, and Fett takes him to Jabba the Hutt.

Boba Fett

Vintage Kenner Boba Fett Action Figure VC09 Boba Fett (Empire Strikes Back card)

Boba Fett is a clone of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett, who raised him as his son. After Jango was killed at the start of the Clone Wars, Boba took on his father’s armour, his ship, Slave I, and his trade, and became one of the most feared bounty hunters in the galaxy.

He’s the one who finds Han Solo, by following the Falcon to Bespin. In Return of the Jedi he falls into the sarlacc pit during Solo’s rescue, but he survives. He lives for a time with the Tusken Raiders, gets his armour back from Din Djarin in The Mandalorian, and takes Jabba’s old throne as daimyo of Mos Espa in The Book of Boba Fett.

Boba Fett figures

Kenner and Hasbro have made 77 Boba Fett action figures so far, and they’re all on my page of every Boba Fett action figure, with the year and original price of each.

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Bossk

Vintage Kenner Bossk Bounty Hunter Action Figure Black Series Bossk

Bossk is a Trandoshan, a reptilian species with a long hatred of Wookiees, and he’s known for hunting them, which gives him a particular grudge against Chewbacca and Han Solo. In The Clone Wars he helped teach the young Boba Fett the trade, and the two later worked together in Fett’s gang of bounty hunters.

After Bespin, Bossk turns up in Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi. He falls out with Fett during the War of the Bounty Hunters comics, and he’s still hunting in the New Republic era.

Every one of his figures, including the variants, is on my every Bossk action figure page. These are the main ones.

Bossk figures

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IG-88

Vintage Kenner IG-88 Bounty Hunter Action Figure Black Series IG-88

IG-88 is an assassin droid. He was built in secret by Holowan Laboratories as one of five identical droids, and he turned on his makers the moment he was switched on, killing everyone in the lab. He took up bounty hunting because it let him keep killing and get paid for it.

He couldn’t track the Falcon himself, so he followed Boba Fett, his biggest rival, to Bespin, where Fett destroyed him. He was later rebuilt, and decades later he met Bazine Netal to talk about where the Falcon was. IG-11 in The Mandalorian is an IG-series assassin droid like him.

IG-88 figures

  • Kenner: IG-88 (Bounty Hunter) (1980)
  • Power of the Force: IG-88 didn’t get a carded figure, but he came with Boba Fett in the Boba Fett vs IG-88 2-pack (1996, Shadows of the Empire)
  • Black Series: #15 IG-88 (2015), the Archive IG-88 (2019), and IG-88 (The Empire Strikes Back), announced for 2027
  • Retro Collection: the Dengar and IG-88 2-pack
  • LEGO: 75167 Bounty Hunter Speeder Bike Battle Pack (2017)

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Dengar

Vintage Kenner Dengar Action Figure Dengar VC01

Dengar is a human bounty hunter from Corellia. He raced swoop bikes as a boy and fought as a gladiator, and he took up bounty hunting in the early days of the Clone Wars, when he worked alongside Boba Fett, Bossk and Asajj Ventress.

He loses Vader’s bounty to Fett, but he’s back with Bossk and Fett in Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi, and he kept hunting long after the Empire fell.

Dengar figures

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4-LOM

Vintage Kenner 4-LOM Action Figure VC10 4-LOM

4-LOM is a protocol droid who rewrote his own programming after a glitch, turned to theft and then became a bounty hunter. He usually works with Zuckuss, backing up Zuckuss’s tracking with his own analysis.

After Bespin, the pair go after Fett themselves to find out where Han Solo is. On Nar Shaddaa, Fett turns Slave I’s cannons on them and 4-LOM is blown in half, but he’s later rebuilt, and he’s working with Zuckuss again in the New Republic era.

4-LOM figures

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Zuckuss

Vintage Kenner Zuckuss Action Figure VCP02 Zuckuss

Zuckuss is a Gand findsman, one of his species’ traditional trackers, and he’s Force-sensitive. Gand breathe ammonia, so away from home he wears a respirator, and he and 4-LOM fly a ship called the Mist Hunter.

Like 4-LOM, he misses out on Vader’s bounty, survives the fight with Fett on Nar Shaddaa, and is still working with 4-LOM in the New Republic era.

Zuckuss figures

  • Kenner: Zuckuss (1982)
  • Power of the Force: Zuckuss (1998), on a Freeze Frame card
  • The Vintage Collection: VCP02 Zuckuss in the Bounty Hunters 2-pack with 4-LOM from Star Wars Celebration V (2010)
  • Black Series: Zuckuss (2018, a Disney Store exclusive in the US after Toys R Us closed), and the 2-pack with 4-LOM for the film’s 40th anniversary (2020, Amazon)
  • Retro Collection: the 4-LOM and Zuckuss 2-pack

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The bounty hunter figure sets

Retro Collection Boba Fett and Bossk bounty hunter 2-pack

The six have often been sold in pairs:

Frequently asked questions

Which bounty hunters were in The Empire Strikes Back?

Six: Boba Fett, Bossk, IG-88, Dengar, 4-LOM and Zuckuss. Darth Vader hires them all aboard the Executor after the Battle of Hoth.

Which bounty hunter found Han Solo?

Boba Fett. He followed the Millennium Falcon to Cloud City on Bespin, and after Vader froze Han Solo in carbonite, Fett took him to Jabba the Hutt.

Why did Darth Vader hire bounty hunters?

To find the Millennium Falcon after the Rebels escaped from Hoth. He wanted its crew taken alive.

Which of the bounty hunters are in Return of the Jedi?

Boba Fett, Bossk and Dengar are all in Jabba’s palace.

When were the vintage Kenner bounty hunter figures released?

Boba Fett came first, in 1979. Bossk, IG-88 and Dengar followed in 1980, and 4-LOM and Zuckuss in 1982.