SPECULATION: Episode VII Black X-Wing… a Stealth Fighter?

Stealth X-wing - Darthloch - Deviantart.net

With the release of multiple aerial shots of the Star Wars: Episode 7 location set at Greenham Common, one of the more tantalizing images has certainly been that of what appears to be a black X-wing. Is it possible, though, that we’ve already seen a predecessor to this new starfighter?

 

Filming for Episode 7 at the former RAF base at Greenham Common seems to center around a group of bunker-like shelters that were once used to house cruise missiles, now apparently doubling as underground starfighter hangars. Photos taken this past week from an aerial drone showed some fascinating details, including a full-sized Millennium Falcon exterior (well, half of the Falcon, anyway!) and what looks like the blue and white X-wing previously shown in JJ Abrams’ “Force for Change” update video this past July.

 

Sharp-eyed fans also noticed a black X-wing that appears to have orange or red markings on its wings.

 

black-x-wing on set

 

The more I thought about it, the more I’d realized that this black X-wing looked mighty familiar. It’s one of the new Episode 7 style X-wings, of course, but the black paint job reminded me of something.   Then I realized, it was the Dark Horse Star Wars series from the past couple of years that I was thinking of. One of the early storylines in that series had the Rebels assembling a “stealth squadron” that flew black/dark grey X-wings.

 

Stealth X-wing - Dark Horse comics

 

In addition to the image of the dark-colored X-wing from the Dark Horse comic itself, I was also able to find photos of an excellent repaint job on a pair of Fantasy Flight miniatures, inspired by the Dark Horse “stealth squadron” design, courtesy of Fantasy Flight forum member WizzBif:

 

Stealth Squadron X-wings - miniature repaint

 

Though this fan-made interpretation of the Stealth Squadron X-wings from the Dark Horse comics was done more than six months ago, it certainly does bear some resemblance to the black X-wing from the new Episode 7 set photos.

 

A similar concept also found its way into the New Jedi Order novels in the form of the StealthX, an X-wing variant that featured a matte black finish flecked with white, designed primarily for use by Jedi pilots (as any use of the comm system would defeat the starfighter’s stealth features.)

 

StealthX

 

Might JJ and company have borrowed the stealth-fighter concept from the Dark Horse series and the New Jedi Order novels (bearing in mind, of course, that neither is canon), and that’s what we’re seeing in these Greenham Common photos?

 

There’s also a second possibility.

 

About a month ago, Latino Review reported on the recently released photos of new Episode 7 stormtrooper helmets.   Included in this report was mention of stormtroopers with black and chrome armor, which LR went on to say is rumored to contain an individual cloaking device that renders the wearer invisible.

 

(Note: NOT an actual representation of an Episode 7 helmet - merely a well-done costume piece by eFx Collectibles.)
(Note: NOT an actual representation of an Episode 7 helmet – merely a well-done costume piece by eFx Collectibles.)

 

Hurling grains of salt hither and yon in the interest of covering my own backside, let’s just suppose for the sake of argument that this rumor is true, and we will see black and chrome armored “stealthtroopers” in Episode 7. Look again at the black X-wing photo.

 

Black… with chrome trim on the engine pods, the wingtip cannons, and possibly the canopy.

 

Could there be a connection between this X-wing and the rumored black-and-chrome stormtroopers? Might this fighter be flown by one of these “stealth troopers”? Or could the chrome-trimmed black coloration perhaps be a key part of the cloaking technology itself, with the Republic having used it on X-wings, and the Empire having applied it to their stormtrooper armor?

 

Regardless of whether or not any of these bits of speculation end up coming close to the mark, at the very least we have an incredibly sharp-looking X-wing variant to look forward to seeing in action in Episode 7!

 

+ posts

51 thoughts on “SPECULATION: Episode VII Black X-Wing… a Stealth Fighter?

  • September 16, 2014 at 8:33 pm
    Permalink

    Cloaking device: new studies revealed that black color is less distuingishable from black background. This advantage will totally changethe odds of war

    • September 16, 2014 at 9:03 pm
      Permalink

      I think it’s moreso that a Jedi could pilot one at radio silence using the Force to navigate. Anybody else, as mentioned in the article, would need to use their comm equipment, which would defeat the purpose of having a black-painted starfighter, so there would be no point.

      That being said, you’re right in that it seems like an awfully obvious “discovery”. 🙂

    • September 16, 2014 at 11:17 pm
      Permalink

      Those same studies also revealed though that black starfighters against black backgrounds also have higher odds of other starfighters colliding with them.

      The study therefore concluded that either you should only paint it black if a) the fighter must be able to approach it’s target unnoticed b) if your starfighters are cheaper than your enemies starfighters and you have access to more pilots c) your pilots are exceptionally skilled at situational awareness d) it’s just gotta look cool at an air/space show

    • September 17, 2014 at 3:09 am
      Permalink

      black spaceship against the black backdrop of space does not look very good, artistically. But don’t let this fact get in the way of Disney’s plan to please every fanboy on Earth.

    • September 19, 2014 at 3:51 am
      Permalink

      Oh could it be as per deleted cannon these are Jedi Stelth X-wing fighters equipped with cloaking deviceblackso the cloakingis more efficient causing them to disappear from censors and visual targeting….Hmm kill the cannon rape it for your own needs when it suits you! kind of like using Mara Jades name to further your shows…..if your killing the cannon create your own!dont pick and choose what you feel worked and what did not… Miller so far has given us crap I mean Kenobi was a decent story but remove ben add any cowboy the story still works..

  • September 16, 2014 at 8:55 pm
    Permalink

    You know what i always found curious was the line Captain Needa says in Empire about the Millennium Falcon being to small to have a cloaking device. To me it implied that there were ships out there that could cloak if they wanted to they were just bigger then the Falcon. An X wing is smaller… but 30+ years have passed… so not quite sure where I was going with that just an observation I guess. As long as it makes sense to the story they are telling than its cool with me.

    • September 16, 2014 at 11:10 pm
      Permalink

      There were cloaking ships in the Clone Wars cartoon.

      • September 17, 2014 at 12:23 am
        Permalink

        Sadly I have only seen several eps of the Clone Wars and must have missed it. My bad. Still I think it might be cool to have stealth X-wings or ships with cloaking devices.

  • September 16, 2014 at 9:29 pm
    Permalink

    Really hope some of the troopers are black and chrome – thought the leaked helmet looked cool but imagine how good it would`ve looked in black;you could even have chrome stormtroopers with a black lining.

    • September 17, 2014 at 3:38 am
      Permalink

      Like Cylons!

  • September 16, 2014 at 9:53 pm
    Permalink

    No ship that small has a cloaking device!

  • September 16, 2014 at 9:56 pm
    Permalink

    Well, if stormtroopers pilot the x-wings, that means they are republic soldiers, not empire…

    • September 16, 2014 at 11:11 pm
      Permalink

      Agreed, with Solo leading them as we saw in leaked clothes.
      But, fighting who?

  • September 16, 2014 at 10:06 pm
    Permalink

    No ship in Star Wars has a cloaking device !! If they had to be bigger than the Falcon then why haven’t the Star Destroyers got them, then they would never have been detected approaching Hoth !?

    • September 16, 2014 at 11:25 pm
      Permalink

      No ship in Star Wars has a cloaking device … yet.

      Why didn’t Star Destroyers have it in EP V? Could be hundreds of reasons. Maybe it was still experimental at the time.

    • September 16, 2014 at 11:35 pm
      Permalink

      Actually, in The Clone Wars there is a ship with cloaking device. It appears in the second season, episode 16: “Cat and Mouse”.

    • September 16, 2014 at 11:38 pm
      Permalink

      The republic had a cloak-capable ship during the clone wars, Anakin used it to take apart the flagship of famous separatist Admiral Trench. Rumour has it that Darth Mauls ship also had a cloak…

    • September 17, 2014 at 12:51 am
      Permalink

      Ships in the Clone Wars cartoon had cloaking devices.

      • September 17, 2014 at 6:53 am
        Permalink

        for a reason it is a “cartoon” don’t take everything serious on the clone wars.

      • September 17, 2014 at 6:58 pm
        Permalink

        But didn’t Obi-Wan make himself ‘invisible’ to others in A New Hope using the force.

  • September 16, 2014 at 10:24 pm
    Permalink

    Cloaked/Stealth Troopers that can only be detected using the Force. So basically only Force-users would be able to effectively combat them.

  • September 16, 2014 at 11:08 pm
    Permalink

    It’s John Begoya’s xwing obviously. You guys are noobs

    • September 16, 2014 at 11:27 pm
      Permalink

      Obvi ;)=

      • September 17, 2014 at 11:04 am
        Permalink

        Obvi wan kenobi?
        ;p

  • September 16, 2014 at 11:15 pm
    Permalink

    First thing that came to mind upon seeing the black Xwing was the ‘Rogue 2’ paint scheme snowspeeder from the Star Wars Action Fleet collection.

  • September 16, 2014 at 11:27 pm
    Permalink

    So I take it that no one has noticed that black x-wing has five points on its wings like Luke Skywalker’s?

  • September 16, 2014 at 11:35 pm
    Permalink

    hmm I hope its the Stealth-X

  • September 17, 2014 at 12:14 am
    Permalink

    I have said it many times & I will say it again: “I think this will be the best star wars movie yet!!! (& that opens up for even greater adventures in ep.8/9)

    All leaks so far looks so cool & incredible I just can’t wait 🙂 & this black x-wing is just the icing on the cake,…

    • September 17, 2014 at 12:30 am
      Permalink

      When people ask me what my favorite movie is I first tell them that it is impossible to just pick one. However if i have to pick just one “The Empire Strikes Back” is usually the answer I give. Empire is a tough episode to dethrone from being the best, but if any episode stands a chance of becoming the best of the saga i have high hope Ep VII will do it simply because of all the nostalgic elements it has going for it plus all the new elements and characters. Though Ep VIII and IX may just surprise us in the end.

      • September 17, 2014 at 5:11 am
        Permalink

        Or maybe VIII or IX. Just like IV helped make V the great film that it is, maybe VII will elevate the others.

        • September 17, 2014 at 5:35 am
          Permalink

          @SKYWATER

          You are welcome to like it, I guess, especially if you are into more of the same.

    • September 17, 2014 at 11:19 am
      Permalink

      I have said too.
      Kasdan, ships, early OT concepts, old fashioned clothes, real and beautiful locations,….
      I’m really really excited

  • September 17, 2014 at 1:30 am
    Permalink

    Since I’m only into the SW films, and not the novels, comics, videogames, toys, etc. these days, I didn’t know anything about these stealthy, black X-wings. Sounds like a good idea to me, though.

    Nice find, Dekka. Keep ’em coming!

  • September 17, 2014 at 1:34 am
    Permalink

    PLZ no stealth… this is Star WARS not TREK. haha. I know there’s that rumor with stealth storm troopers… I’d be down with that but cloaked ships would make these epic space battles sorta weird to watch.

    • September 17, 2014 at 3:11 am
      Permalink

      next, JJ Abrams is going to introduce time travel, which we’ve all feared.

      • September 17, 2014 at 7:02 am
        Permalink

        HAH! Thankfully I think not. Mayybe flashbacks but I’d almost hate that more.

  • September 17, 2014 at 1:51 am
    Permalink

    Nice guess. They are using elements from the EU after all even though the history is obsolete.

    • September 17, 2014 at 7:57 pm
      Permalink

      Dave Filoni and others have said on a number of occasions that the EU is still fertile ground for ideas and designs – something like a stealth X wing would be a perfect example of a good idea that sprang up from the EU – hopefully there are many more to come.

  • September 17, 2014 at 2:54 am
    Permalink

    “No ship that small has a cloaking device!”

  • September 17, 2014 at 3:26 am
    Permalink

    X-wings like the OT, costumes like the OT, plotline (rumored to be) like the OT.

    They should call this movie Star Wars IV: The Special Edition.

    • September 17, 2014 at 6:01 pm
      Permalink

      episode V had x-wings like OT, costumes like ot, plotline like ot, but that’s called a sequel, plus ep VII has leaked no concept art of a death star so it’s not the same movie. Maybe they’re just trying to make a REAL star wars sequel.

      • September 17, 2014 at 6:34 pm
        Permalink

        Anon 18:01, I completely agree. IMHO, it would be a mistake for them to go overboard reinventing the wheel in Episode 7 just for the sake of novelty. Star Wars has a very distinctive look about it, which I think Lucas often tended to get away from in the PT. Maintaining the look of the OT films isn’t “catering to fanboys” or whatever the objection du jour may be – it’s just how you make a solid sequel to an established film or film series.

        The new style X-wings still resemble the X-wings from 30 years ago, only with some minor changes. If you look at our own world as it appeared 30 years ago compared to how it looks today, things don’t look radically different. We have some new technology, and styles have changed slightly. But we’re not suddenly flying around in hovercars and jetpacks the way some assumed that we would be by now.

        As a Star Wars sequel, Episode 7 does need to look like the OT. We’ll see plenty of new stuff, I’m sure, as well as plenty of new variations on familiar technology. But I agree with you that designing everything to look different just for the sake of making it look new and different from the OT would make little sense.

        • September 18, 2014 at 10:30 am
          Permalink

          Yeah.

          There are a lot of things that can look very different over the decades, like car designs, phones, video games, TV sets and computers. However, I don’t want Star Wars to reflect this radical change with the new films.

          So many of us love that classic OT look. While we’re open to spiritual successors with various technological designs and functions, we want the overall look to remain the same.

          What Lucas did with the Prequels’s overall look was bold but alienating.

  • September 17, 2014 at 11:55 am
    Permalink

    it’s Adam Driver’s… Hence the photo of him in an X-wing outfit.

  • September 17, 2014 at 4:39 pm
    Permalink

    Shouldn’t the question be: Why is there a need for a stealth fighter in the story line? *queue plot twist*

    • September 17, 2014 at 6:07 pm
      Permalink

      chase/dogfight sequence with against a stealth fighter? maybe a little gimmicky but could be cool. Bad##s character who could show up at any time or place without detection or warning? Me Like. ditto,
      *cue plot twist*

      **queue is a like a line at a cashier’s desk- cue is a signal of entry as in a stage-cue**

  • September 17, 2014 at 7:08 pm
    Permalink

    Maybe the black troopers fly black xwings and some how shield themselves from being detected by Jedi / Sith or having the force used against them…. Ysalimir style!

  • September 17, 2014 at 7:10 pm
    Permalink

    JJ said he wanted to return to the OT – I take it he meant in style, look, atmosphere, characterization and storyline. Brilliant! That’s what the majority of fans/moviegoers want. And from what we’ve seen so far, that’s what he seems to be doing.

  • September 19, 2014 at 10:49 pm
    Permalink

    The black X-Wing has about as much significance as the gold R2 unit in ROTS. It’s purely background stuff.

  • September 24, 2014 at 3:33 am
    Permalink

    I am pretty sure the black xwing is Luke’s fighter.

    1. Take a look at the markings on the wing. Clearly denoting it as “red 5″. Luke’s ship had 5 red marks on it in OT.

    2. It has a unique paint scheme denoting it as some sort of major character’s ship. it is amongst a lot of other “regular” xwings with what looks like a common paint scheme (blue squadron?)

    3. It is with the millennium falcon… Highly probable that is is a “hero/good guy ship”. Falcon is Han ship…xwing is Luke’s ship.

Comments are closed.

LATEST POSTS ON MOVIE NEWS NET