Introduced in the 2015–2017 Chuck Wendig novel trilogy Aftermath, he is a former slave who has used the Mandalorian armor of Boba Fett to bring order to Tatooine "Freetown" Mos Pelgo in the five years after the events of the 1983 film Return of the Jedi.

He is portrayed by Timothy Olyphant, who reprised the role in spin-off series The Book of Boba Fett, where Cobb faces off against the Pyke Syndicate and their representative, Cad Bane.

[4][5] Cobb is voiced by Marc Thompson in the audiobook for the Aftermath trilogy, and played by Timothy Olyphant in the second season of The Mandalorian and its spin-off series The Book of Boba Fett.

On Tatooine, various mining syndicates take advantage of the decreased Imperial presence and vacuum left by the death of Jabba the Hutt to take control over several settlements from which they demand tribute; Cobb Vanth, a former slave-turned-lawman, decides to take a stand against them.

After examining the wreckage of Jabba's barge, recovered from a Sarlacc recently eaten by a krayt dragon, the pair come across some Mandalorian armor, both pulling blasters upon the other in seeking to acquire it, with Cobb shooting Adwin.

He first appears in the sixth episode, titled "Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger", where he faces a new threat to Mos Pelgo (renamed Freetown), namely the Pyke Syndicate, who are trying to conquer Tatooine.

Cobb is revealed to have survived in the mid-credits scene of "Chapter 7: In the Name of Honor", where he is seen recovering in Fett's bacta tank while the mod artist who saved Fennec Shand's life after she was similarly wounded prepares to apply cybernetic enhancements to him.

[14][15][16] Olyphant's performance as Vanth in the second season of The Mandalorian earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.