Poe is an X-wing fighter pilot for the Resistance who inadvertently brings the renegade stormtrooper Finn and the Jakku scavenger Rey into battle against the First Order.

Isaac's performance and the character have received positive reviews, with Poe's characterization being compared to that of Han Solo in the original Star Wars film trilogy.

During development of The Force Awakens, the character that would become Poe Dameron was referred to as "John Doe" and was envisioned as a black man in his 30s or 40s.

[6] The Force Awakens received praise for casting women and people of color, including the Guatemalan-born Oscar Isaac.

[7][8][9] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that "giving starring roles to a black man, a white woman and a Latino is ... quietly history making".

[10] A television spot on Univision that featured Poe was targeted at Spanish-speaking viewers, and included an introduction by Isaac in Spanish.

[14][15] The son of Rebel Alliance fighters, he is a commander in the Resistance's Starfighter Corps and "one of Leia Organa's most-trusted operatives" who is headstrong and "can fly anything".

"[18] Katy Waldman wrote for Slate, "This is Poe Dameron, star pilot, heartthrob, wiseass, ace leather jacket–bestower, Finn's OTP.

[Leia], with tough love, wants to push Poe to be more than the badass pilot, to temper his heroic impulses with wisdom and clarity.

He is sent by General Leia Organa to the planet Jakku to retrieve part of a map that shows the location of her brother, Luke Skywalker.

Poe concocts a plan with Finn and the mechanic Rose Tico to disable the tracking device, but keeps the operation a secret from Holdo.

[24] The film's director, Rian Johnson, realized the dialogue of the two characters was interchangeable, which resulted in what he called a "flat" storyline.

Zorii takes the group to the droid-smith Babu Frik, who hacks into C-3PO's memory and extracts a translation of the dagger's inscriptions, which provides instructions for locating a Sith wayfinder.

After a series of adventures, Rey departs for Exegol using a wayfinder from Ren's TIE fighter, while Poe and the others return to the Resistance base, where they find that Leia has died.

In the special, Poe celebrates Life Day with Finn, Max Rebo and Chewbacca's family, unaware that Rey is traveling through time.

[29][30] Poe is first mentioned in the young adult novel Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure (2015) by Cecil Castellucci and Jason Fry, set between The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983).

[34] The Shattered Empire series features Poe's parents, members of the Rebel Alliance: his mother is Shara Bey, an A-wing pilot who adventures with Leia, and his father is Kes Dameron, part of a special ground force known as the Pathfinders who are led by Han Solo.

[18][31][35] A Marvel comic book series titled Star Wars: Poe Dameron, written by Charles Soule and illustrated by Phil Noto, was published between April 2016 and September 2018.

[36][37] The beginning of the series takes place shortly before The Force Awakens,[38] eventually crossing over with that film's events and going past those of The Last Jedi.

Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "Oscar Isaac is a primary asset as Poe Dameron ... Like Ford's Han Solo in the original three, he's the guy you want on your team, the one who doesn't take any guff".

[53] Robbie Collin of The Telegraph called Poe "a dashing, dry-humoured swashbuckler—in short, he's like Han Solo was 40 years ago".

[54] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter described the "hotshot" pilot as "a man very much in the Solo mold",[55] and Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote that Poe "suggests a next-generation Han".

[58] Brian Hiatt of Rolling Stone wrote that Poe's "loose, jazzy dialogue was the first, highly welcome clue that these new films would be more human in tone than George Lucas' prequels.

[36] Some critics believed that the revelation in The Rise of Skywalker that Poe spent time as a spice smuggler in his youth did not fit with what audiences already knew about the character from his film, television, novel, and comics appearances.

[60][61] Both Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair and Scott Mendelson of Forbes noted the chemistry between Poe and Finn (John Boyega),[62][63] with Brian Truitt of USA Today calling the relationship a "bromance".