Atha Prime

For other uses, see Atha Prime.

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"I assume these creatures are your perversion… Atha Prime."
"You should have left as intended. My quarrel is not with you."
"Then why an army of monsters, have you grown?"

―Yoda and Atha Prime^[1]

Atha Prime was a humanoid scientist, interested in growing creatures.^[1] He wore armor and wielded a staff.^[1] By 32 BBY,^[2] Atha Prime came into conflict with Jedi Knights of the Jedi Order such as Yoda and Vetna Mooncrest.^[1]

Biography[]

"Jedi… This is a concern. What do they suspect?"
"Nothing, I believe."
"Pray you are correct. It's a dangerous business. Killing Jedi."

―Atha Prime and Blue-Tark^[1]

HesReal-JediKnights2 — Atha Prime stands before Grand Master Yoda of the Jedi Order.

At some point prior to 32 BBY, Atha Prime became the sole resident of the remote moon Veeros, building his own private palace on the moon which he used as a base to conduct a variety of bioengineering experiments. These included his bio-field operation, a massive agricultural program that produced fields of bioengineered crops; these would become one of Atha Prime's more "renowned" public experiments. Secretly, however, in the lower levels of his palace, Atha Prime had created an army of bio-engineered creatures known as "Xerexi" which he grew out of vats.^[1]

By 32 BBY, the Jedi Order had caught wind of a nefarious experiment being conducted on Veeros and thus Grand Master Yoda and Jedi Knight Vetna Mooncrest were dispatched to confront Prime. While Prime initially had his droid majordomo Blue-Tark greet and distract the Jedi with his grand bio-fields, Yoda and Vetna quickly discovered the Xerexi vats, which prompted Prime to unleash the creatures upon them while he watched from a vantage point. When Yoda noticed Prime spectating, he used the the Force to catch up to him, Prime fought the elderly Jedi, managing to pin him to the ground before Yoda used his lightsaber to damage Prime's helmet, prompting the bio-engineer to bash Yoda against a wall and retreat aboard his starship. Afterwards, Yoda contacted Mace Windu and several other Jedi to exterminate the remaining Xerexi on Veeros, unaware that Atha Prime had dozens more stored aboard his ship when he fled.^[1]

Skills and abilities[]

"The thing about scalpels, Master Jedi, the deepest cut leaves the biggest scar."

―Atha Prime to Yoda^[1]

Atha Prime was a skilled scientist, able to design and breed the Xerexi. Despite being a scientist Prime was also a remarkable fighter, wielding his club with incredible speed and power, able to quickly defeat a legendary fighter like Grand Master Yoda to the lengths of impaling the Grand Master.^[1]

Behind the scenes[]

"While developing the series, Marc discovered this deep cut—the antagonist from Kenner’s unrealized The Epic Continues toy line. We saw the original design and were immediately sold. What a cool character to bring into canon and what a perfect book to do it in!"

―Mark Paniccia on how Atha Prime became canon^[3]

Atha Prime first appeared in the current Star Wars canon in a vision in the first issue of the 2025 comic series Star Wars: Jedi Knights. The issue was written by Marc Guggenheim, illustrated by Madibek Musabekov, and published by Marvel Comics^[4] on March 5, 2025.^[5] Atha Prime's entrance into canon was revealed at New York Comic Con 2024.^[6]

Within the Star Wars Legends continuity, Atha Prime originated from the unproduced The Epic Continues project, an original toyline planned by Kenner to keep producing Star Wars action figures after the release of the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, the last installment of the Star Wars original trilogy. With no more films on the horizon back then, Kenner developed a story where Prime would become the galaxy's biggest threat following Emperor Palpatine's death. The character would proceed to engage not only Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and the Alliance to Restore the Republic, but also a surviving Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin and his surviving Imperial forces following the Battle of Endor.^[7] Kenner based their concept art for Atha Prime on rejected concept art for the Emperor's Royal Guard.^[8] Kenner's proposal was ultimately rejected by Lucasfilm though, who while grateful for their efforts, did not feel comfortable starting an Expanded Universe set after Return of the Jedi back then.^[7]

Commenting to ComicBook.com on how they chose to canonize Atha Prime, Marvel senior editor Mark Paniccia stated that while developing the Jedi Knights series, Guggenheim discovered Prime's existence and the unrealized project he originated from, so when both saw Prime's original design, they felt "immediately sold" and deemed Prime a "cool character" to bring into canon with their comic book series as the "perfect book" to do it.^[3] Mark Paniccia shared a panels Atha Prime confronting^[9] and battling from Jedi Knights 2^[10] on December 11^[9] and December 18, 2024.^[10]