Dengar — Star Wars The Black Series #74
The Black Series Dengar — Red Line #74, 2018. The Empire Strikes Back bandaged bounty hunter with backpack, blaster pistol and blaster rifle. The final ESB bounty hunter in the numbered Red Line. Collector guide.
Overview
Red Line #74 is Dengar — the heavily-bandaged human bounty hunter who stands in the Cloud City briefing alongside Boba Fett, Bossk, IG-88, 4-LOM, and Zuckuss when Vader contracts the group to find the Millennium Falcon. Dengar is the most human-looking of the ESB bounty hunters and arguably the most visually ambiguous — the bandaging suggests catastrophic injury rather than alien anatomy, a history of violence worn on the body. Three accessories: backpack, blaster pistol, and blaster rifle. One release only. 19 joints. MSRP $19.99.
The Character and ESB Context
Dengar’s expanded materials background is more developed than his two-second screen presence in ESB suggests: a former swoop racer whose catastrophic accident led to Imperial cybernetic reconstruction, the bandaging covering both the original injuries and the subsequent modifications. The specific quality of the design — human figure wrapped in medical dressings, survival gear over a damaged body — reads as someone who has been destroyed and rebuilt and is still working.
His canonical partner in Legends and some canon materials is Boba Fett, with whom he has a recurring professional relationship. In the ESB briefing, he stands in the line as the human-scale presence between the more dramatically alien designs of Bossk and 4-LOM — the bounty hunter who looks like he might have been someone ordinary before the work changed him.
Accessories: Three in Detail
Backpack — the specific survival equipment pack visible on Dengar’s back throughout ESB, suggesting extended operation in hostile environments rather than quick urban jobs. Blaster pistol — sidearm. Blaster rifle — primary weapon. The three-accessory loadout is one of the more complete in the Red Line bounty hunter sequence, reflecting the specific over-equipped visual of a man who carries everything he needs because he operates in places where resupply isn’t available.
19-point articulation via the standard Red Line scheme.
Completing the ESB Bounty Hunter Briefing
Dengar at #74 is the last ESB bounty hunter to reach the numbered Red Line sequence — the sixth and final member of the Cloud City briefing ensemble in the main numbered line. With Bossk (P2-10), IG-88 (P2-15), and 4-LOM (#67) already in the sequence, Dengar at #74 completes the human-scale bounty hunter contingent. Zuckuss is available via the 2020 4-LOM & Zuckuss two-pack.
The complete six-hunter briefing display — all six bounty hunters from the Cloud City scene on a single shelf — is one of the Black Series’ most satisfying ensemble achievements, and Dengar is the final piece in the numbered sequence.
The ESB Briefing as Complete Display
All six bounty hunters in the Black Series: Boba Fett (multiple releases), Bossk (P2-10), IG-88 (P2-15), Dengar (#74), 4-LOM (#67), and Zuckuss (via 2020 two-pack). The six figures together create one of the franchise’s most iconic ensemble scenes — a moment that lasts ninety seconds on screen and has generated decades of collector investment and EU expansion.
Secondary Market
Above-retail secondary market prices — the ESB bounty hunter demand is sustained, and the three-accessory loadout and unique character status maintain collector interest. No production variants documented.
Verdict
The only Black Series Dengar. Buy for ESB bounty hunter briefing completion, the three-accessory loadout, or Red Line sequence completion.
Dengar’s Expanded Materials
The Expanded Universe and Legends materials gave Dengar substantially more biography than his two-second ESB appearance — the swoop racing accident, the Imperial reconstruction, the specific partnership with Boba Fett across multiple Legends bounty hunter stories, and an arc that eventually includes a wife and a more settled life. None of this is canonical under the current framework, but the depth of EU treatment reflects how much collector interest the briefing scene generated for all six hunters.
The bandaging that defines Dengar’s visual design functions as biography written on the body: this is a man who has been destroyed and rebuilt, who carries visible evidence of past catastrophe, who is still functional and still dangerous. The three-accessory loadout — backpack, pistol, rifle — reinforces the survival-equipment reading: this is someone who goes to places where preparation is survival.
The Briefing Scene’s Ninety-Second Legacy
The ESB bounty hunter briefing is perhaps the most generative ninety seconds in the franchise for expanded media. Six visual designs, zero backstory, one commission. The Legends novels, comics, and games spent three decades filling in the gaps — who these people are, where they came from, what happened after. Dengar as a character exists primarily because of that creative expansion, and his figure in the Black Series exists because decades of reader and collector investment made his presence in the line commercially viable.
The complete briefing display, with Dengar at #74 filling the last numbered slot, represents the culmination of that investment in physical form.
Dengar at #74 is the Red Line’s final numbered ESB bounty hunter — 4-LOM arrived at #67, and Dengar closes the main-line numbered sequence of the briefing ensemble seven numbers later. The backpack is the accessory most likely to be separated on loose secondary market figures; verify all three accessories (backpack, pistol, rifle) before purchase. No production variants documented.
The ESB bounty hunter briefing display, complete with Dengar at #74, is the Red Line sequence’s most satisfying ensemble achievement. Six figures, six distinct designs, one scene. Bossk’s reptilian green, IG-88’s droid frame, 4-LOM’s insectoid head, Boba Fett’s Mandalorian armour, Zuckuss’s alien face, and Dengar’s bandaged human form — the visual variety of the complete ensemble is one of the franchise’s finest pieces of character design, and having all six on a shelf is the reward for tracking them across the line’s full numbered history.
Dengar’s three accessories make him one of the Red Line’s most complete bounty hunter releases on pure accessory count — only Jaina Solo (#56) exceeds this at five accessories among the 2017-2018 Red Line figures. The backpack, pistol, and rifle together create the over-prepared, everything-you-need-in-hostile-territory visual that defines the character’s operational style.
Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Red Line. Related: 4-LOM P3-67 | Bossk P2-10 | IG-88 P2-15 | Bounty Hunters faction.