Since the release of A New Hope in 1977, we’ve seen plenty of awesome ships on screen, on book covers, and in comic book panels. Who can forget the first time they laid eyes on an X-wing as it prepared to attack the Death Star? Or the Millennium Falcon, as it made its escape from Tatooine? You can’t possibly forget the cry of a TIE fighter once you’ve heard it. We love so many of these ships that we’ve decided to list our favorites in no kind of particular order. We’re not ranking them. We just want to appreciate one of the best aspects of Star Wars. Oh, and we’re looking at both Legends and new canon ships. Because continuity doesn’t really matter in this case. That said, we’ll warn you now that you won’t see the Death Star or Starkiller Base on this list. One’s a space station and the other is an ice planet. Not the same thing. That’s not to say they’re not the coolest things ever, though! Stream your Star Wars favorites on Disney+ with a FREE TRIAL, on us! Now, if you don’t have the time to read through this entire list, that’s fine. We’ve got you covered on that, too. Check out the top 10 coolest Star Wars spaceships in this handy five-minute video:
X-wing
First Appearance: A New Hope Since the starship battles in A New Hope were modeled after real-world dogfights, X-wings fit the role of the quick, darting fighter planes that fought in them. Their maneuverability and the split wings that match the X in their name make them one of the coolest starship designs in Star Wars, utilized by the heroes of both the Original Trilogy and The Force Awakens. Poe Dameron’s black-and-orange T-70 is the evolution of the classic T-65, with the same sharp ferocity. The X-wing is the ship of heroes, and it looks the part.
TIE Fighter
First Appearance: A New Hope Few can forget the cry of a TIE fighter, as it zooms over their heads or right at them at dangerous speeds. Although it is absolutely the Empire’s most expendable starship, it is also its most iconic. The original TIE fighters from A New Hope were white in color, while the ones in Empire and Jedi were a bit grayer, with blue-ish hues. The signature shriek of the fighter was created by combining an elephant’s scream with the sound of a car driving on a wet road.
Millennium Falcon
First Appearance: A New Hope Build your own LEGO Millennium Falcon right here! The Falcon spans much of the film saga, and if you delve into the Expanded Universe, it has quite the history of names, paint jobs, and owners. Most famously, Lando Calrissian lost the ship to Han Solo in a card game. And while you’ll sometimes wonder why so many people cherish this “garbage” ship, as Rey so eloquently puts it in The Force Awakens, the Falcon always has some surprises left in her sweetheart, including secret storage compartments underneath the floor panels and twin AG-2G quad laser cannons that more than make up for the ship’s very moody hyperdrive.
Super Star Destroyer
First Appearance: The Empire Strikes Back You absolutely remember Darth Vader’s flagship, Executor, from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The ship that hunted Luke Skywalker and the Rebellion was the same one that later crashed into the Death Star II’s surface during the Battle of Endor. It’s quite poetic that it’s a Rebel A-wing—one of the fleet’s smaller fighters—that ultimately deals the killing blow. Still, the Super Star Destroyer (or Executor-class Star Dreadnought) is a sight to behold, as it overshadows the Star Destroyers that once loomed over our heads in the opening scene of A New Hope. Surprisingly, the Executor had a pretty short lifespan of almost four years before its ultimate destruction. Another Super Star Destroyer, Ravager, became the Empire’s prized possession in the novel Aftermath before it was also destroyed in the Battle of Jakku. It’s the same fallen Star Destroyer we see in The Force Awakens! Nearly every starship from the Original Trilogy is iconic, and that’s certainly true for the Y-wing, a favorite of Original Trilogy fans and collectors. Often used as bombers, Y-wings were in service during the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War. Not quite as maneuverable as X-wings, Y-wings could nevertheless dodge with the best, while carrying two crew members and heavy ordinance. Their distinctive tuning fork shape instantly evokes the war against the Empire.
B-wing
First appearance: Return of the Jedi The next step up from the Y-wing when it comes to heavy-ordinance starfighters is the B-wing. What it sacrifices in maneuverability it makes up for in firepower, being a formidable deterrent against capital ships when partnered with other starfighters. The B-wing’s precarious-looking upright spike design was introduced in Return of the Jedi and joined the ranks of instantly recognizable Original Trilogy ships. Rebels expanded on its history when Hera Syndulla found a reclusive engineer working on a prototype. She convinced him that she was the right pilot for the precarious prototype, which eventually led to this ship becoming a key asset for the Rebellion.
Snoke’s Supremacy Flagship
First appearance: The Last Jedi With Supreme Leader Snoke’s desire to out-Empire the Empire came an intimidating starship: the Supremacy made its debut in The Last Jedi and became one of the largest vessels ever put in a Star Wars movie. Its winglike shape sets it apart from the Star Destroyer dagger shape, while the black paint and narrow profile create a similar aura of menace. According to canon lore, the flagship contained R&D labs and factories to build smaller vehicles and weapons as well as docking bays for the fleet and living quarters for troops. The Supremacy’s finest moment might have been its destruction when Admiral Holdo’s hyperspace jump created a visually striking rip through the flagship. For the first few years of its popularity, we didn’t even see the Slave I in battle, and we wouldn’t see what this ship could really do on screen until Attack of the Clones. Like its bounty hunter pilot, the ship is outfitted with several weapons, including laser cannons, seismic charges, and projectile launchers. Make no mistake about it, though, this ship is most famous for being Boba Fett‘s chosen mode of transportation. And its unique design also helps it stand out.
The Ghost
First appearance: Rebels Rebels is the story of a found family, so the team’s ship, The Ghost, needs to feel like home. Decorated with paintings by resident artist Sabine Wren and posters hung by Ezra Bridger and Zeb, the Ghost’s living quarters captures the lived-in feeling of classic Star Wars. The Ghost is also war machine and Jedi training center: Kanan Jarrus teaches Ezra while standing dangerously and thrillingly on top of the ship. Hera Syndulla shows off her piloting skills at the helm, a storied career which leads to the ship’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in Rogue One. Technically, the Ghost is a modified Corellian VCX-100 light freighter, and sports a one-pilot shuttle called the Phantom (later replaced by the Phantom II), which can dock with the freighter’s top.
Jedi Starfighter
First Appearance: Attack of the Clones The next in the roster of heroes’ ships is the Aethersprite-class light interceptor, more commonly known as the Jedi starfighter and popularized by Anakin and Obi-Wan in the Prequels. With their bright colors and talkative astromech droids, these ships contributed to the characters of the Jedi and looked pretty cool while they were doing it, especially twisting around in the beautiful Battle of Coruscant at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith. Like the Jedi, the Aethersprites are agile and quick—and didn’t fare very well in Order 66. While the TIE fighter is the iconic Imperial ship, with its screeching noise, the Lambda-class shuttles were iconic Imperial vessels in their own right. In weird contrast to the Mon Calamari cruisers used by the Rebellion, the Lambdas have an organic symmetry to them, like a spiny underwater fish. The Sentinel-class shuttle is very similar in shape but was developed slightly earlier, and this is the ship you’re more likely to see on Star Wars Rebels than in the movies. Both the Empire and Darth Vader use the Lambda shuttles to travel between Imperial capital ships and the Death Star.
N-1 Naboo Starfighter
First Appearance: The Phantom Menace Like the Sequel Trilogy, the Prequels brought more color to the starfighters of the galaxy, enabled by more advanced technology and symbolic of a galaxy that hadn’t yet fallen into the Dark Times. The bright yellow, needle-tipped Naboo fighters serve the same role as the X-Wings in the Original Trilogy, as the front line fighters of the Naboo forces. They were used by the local Naboo Royal Security Forces but were more than capable of taking out a Trade Federation droid control ship.
Kylo Ren’s Upsilon-class Command Shuttle
First Appearance: The Force Awakens We don’t actually see Kylo Ren’s command shuttle in much of the action in The Force Awakens, even though it comes equipped with twin laser cannons. But when it does come down for a landing, like a hawk descending on its prey, it is one of the coolest sights in the entire film. Its foldable wings put the Upsilon-class shuttle in the same family as the Lambda, which is higher up on this list. The winning characteristic of the ship is just how menacing it looks. It basically personifies Kylo Ren’s vicious brand of evil. While the Ebon Hawk shares some of its flattened UFO shape with the Millennium Falcon, its role as the literal flagship of the Knights of the Old Republic games matches the Falcon in another key way too: the ship becomes almost like a character in its own right. Both Darth Revan and the Jedi Exile used this ship on their journeys across the galaxy. The player spends hours there getting to know the crew and preparing for the war either for or against the Sith. Formerly the weapon of a crime lord, Ebon Hawk is put through its paces too, with turret guns powerful enough to tear apart Sith starfighters.
Scimitar Sith Infiltrator
First Appearance: The Phantom Menace Darth Maul’s starship didn’t get a lot of screen time, but its black paint and folded wings give it the attitude of a swooping bird of prey, adding to the Sith Lord’s fearsome appearance in The Phantom Menace. The Scimitar got some more screen time in the Star Wars comics, where it was recently the site of one of Lando Calrissian’s adventurous heists. Something else we never see in the film is the ship’s stealth capabilities, which might have allowed it to get in and out of the blockade over Naboo. The curved wings are reminiscent of later TIE fighters.
Interdictor Star Destroyer
First Appearance: Rebels The Interdictor Star Destroyer was the next step in Imperial technology on Star Wars Rebels. While packing the punch of a Star Destroyer, it can also force ships out of hyperspace using its gravity well generators. The Interdictor changed the way the Rebel fleet had to think about their movements. Although it’s still basically impossible to detect where exactly a ship is from hyperspace, with Interdictors in use in a blockade, the Imperials didn’t have to—they could just tug out any ship that approached them, and then bring the Star Destroyer’s armament into play. In Legends, the Interdictor was its own class of Star Destroyer. Things seem to be progressing slightly differently—or at least at a different rate—in the new canon, with experimental gravity well projectors affixed to an existing Star Destroyer in Rebels. Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress both use these elegant ships on their solo journeys across the galaxy. Dooku’s solar sailer makes for a colorful, unexpected visual in the Prequels, as it unfurls its reflective sail. These ships had to be small, because of the way they operated. Solar sailers used lasers and tachyon streams pushing against the sail to propel themselves. Also because of this, the sails had to be enormous in order to enable the vessel to go into hyperspace, making this kind of ship rare and difficult to produce. Their unique look sets them apart from anything else ever seen in Star Wars, though, and gives Ventress and Dooku a lot of style points.
The Fireball
First appearance: Resistance While the Fireball may not be the most reliable starfighter in the galaxy, it does deserve a place on the list for being one of the most unique. In Star Wars Resistance, pilot Kazuda Xiono is tasked with fixing this starship up for the local races. It’s a puttering, ungainly ship with a bright yellow paint scheme, often seen trailing a cloud of smoke from the latest mechanical issue. Both the ship and Resistance have their flaws, but the Fireball and the other ships in the show seem born right from that part of George Lucas’ brain that liked race cars. It’s like a first car Kaz fixed up all by himself: not the most beautiful or reliable of ships, but full of character.
Clawcraft
First Appearance: Specter of the Past Speaking of unique, one of the most unusual-looking starfighters in Star Wars doesn’t appear in the movies at all. The Chiss Clawcraft that appeared in the Expanded Universe looked like it sounded—swept-forward struts gave it the appearance of clawed hands partially closed, all stemming from a spherical cockpit. These ships aren’t completely alien, though. The symmetrical design lacking aerodynamic wings looks similar to the TIE fighter, but perhaps more wild, suitable for a militaristic alien culture. Chiss pilots—and the human Jagged Fel, who was born and raised in Chiss space—were critical during the Yuuzhan Vong wars that played out in The New Jedi Order book series, and could hold their own against either X-Wings or the Yuuzhan Vong’s living ships. Speaking of living ships, some of the fastest ships in the galaxy came from a living planet. The New Jedi Order series was full of all kinds of biological weirdness, starting with the Yuuzhan Vong’s bioengineered technology. The living planet Zonama Sekot is like an inverse reflection of these villains, and so it has its own living weapons—ones that can be sculpted into ships that create a psychic connection to their pilots. Obi-Wan and Anakin got to know Zonama Sekot during the Prequel era as well, before the planet disappeared for decades, taking its technology with it.
Outrider
First Appearance: Shadows of the Empire Corellian smuggler Dash Rendar is clearly supposed to be a stand-in for Han Solo while he’s still frozen in carbonite in the Shadows of the Empire multimedia event from the 90s. And the Outrider does the same for the Millennium Falcon, down to the familiar cockpit design. The ship was designed by Doug Chiang, who later worked on designs for the Prequels and The Force Awakens. While the Outrider is very similar to the Falcon, it stands out for being an iconic ship for one specific story, something that doesn’t happen often in Star Wars, which has often put our favorite Corellian freighter at the center of its adventures. The Outrider was later edited into a shot of the special edition of A New Hope.
Sun Crusher
First Appearance: Jedi Search While it’s not much larger than a starship, the Sun Crusher is one of the most devastating superweapons ever created, capable of turning a star into a supernova and destroying entire star systems. And it’s nearly invincible due to Quantum-crystalline armor, which could repel any laser blasts and withstand any collision. This little ship ripped through the bridge of a Star Destroyer and even withstood a super laser blast from a prototype Death Star! Good thing the Empire never quite got a chance to use this ship against the Rebellion… Outbound Flight wasn’t as much one ship as it was a combination of six Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers connected by a central fuselage. While the design is cool enough, the ship’s purpose is even more captivating: to venture into the Unknown Regions of the galaxy and search for extragalactic life. Yes, this was basically Star Wars‘ own version of the Starship Enterprise, even if it was ultimately fated for a doomed expedition. This ship makes appearances or is mentioned in much of writer Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars work.
Hammerhead-class Cruiser
First Appearance: Knights of the Old Republic (Game) The Knights of the Old Republic series is responsible for many of the best ships in Star Wars. This Hammerhead-class Republic cruiser is the second of three on this list. Both the Endar Spire and Harbinger are key ships in the games, tied to the ongoing war between the Republic and the Sith. Few who have played the games can forget running through the hallways of a doomed Endar Spire, as it gave in to the Sith assault. Or the approaching Harbinger, the ship piloted by Darth Sion, a Sith hell-bent on hunting you down once and for all. Our all-time favorite Hammerhead moment is when a bunch of them team up to take down the Star Forge at the end of the first game. So good. This ship made its first new canon appearance in Star Wars Rebels episode “A Princess in Lothal.”
The Ravager
First Appearance: Knights of the Old Republic II
