R2-Q2, an R2-series astromech droid produced by Industrial Automaton, was affiliated with the 501st Legion of the Galactic Empire. During the Galactic Civil War, it participated in the boarding of the Tantive IV with the mission to locate Rebel intelligence agents. Many years later, R2-Q2 became a member of the Resistance.
Industrial Automaton manufactured R2-Q2, an R2 series astromech droid. This astromech droid served the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War, which was a conflict between the Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic. In the year 0 BBY, it was assigned to the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer named Devastator. At that time, the starship pursued the rebel CR90 corvette called Tantive IV from the Scarif system to the Tatoo system following the Battle of Scarif.
After the Star Destroyer rendered the corvette inoperable, R2-Q2 joined the team that boarded the rebel vessel. The team suspected that the ship was carrying the plans for the Death Star superweapon, which had been pilfered from Scarif. R2-Q2's assignment was to uncover proof of the ship's connection to the Rebellion. It proceeded down a corridor of the corvette along with R4-M9, a fellow Imperial astromech, and several Imperial stormtroopers who were guarding captured rebel fighters. Although the Tantive IV crew was apprehended as rebels, the Empire was unsuccessful in its attempt to recover the Death Star plans.
By 34 ABY, R2-Q2 was no longer in the service of the Empire, which had collapsed in 5 ABY. Instead, it was a member of the Resistance, a group that succeeded the Rebel Alliance and opposed the First Order, a successor state to the Empire. R2-Q2 was stationed at the Resistance base located on the planet D'Qar. Following the Resistance's triumph at the Battle of Starkiller Base, R2-Q2 was present in the crowd that watched the Millennium Falcon, a YT-1300 light freighter, as it departed to locate the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Not long after the Falcon's departure, the base on D'Qar was evacuated and subsequently destroyed.
R2-Q2 made its debut in the 1977 original trilogy motion picture, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. The seventy-ninth edition of Star Wars: Build Your Own R2-D2, published by De Agostini in August of 2018, incorrectly stated that R2-Q2 was the astromech droid belonging to Biggs Darklighter during the Battle of Yavin.