Ask anyone who the greatest villain of all time is and they’re likely to name Darth Vader almost immediately. Everything that makes him a great villain has been copied over and over again by writers for the last 40 years: come close to topping Vader as the best. And no villain becomes great without a few unforgettable moments. So, here are Darth Vader’s 10 Greatest Moments, Ranked.
10. Boarding Tantive IV
Darth Vader is such an iconic villain that all he has to do is board a ship to give moviegoers an unforgettable moment. At the beginning of he’s definitely the bad guy and he definitely poses a threat.
9. Hiring bounty hunters to find the Millennium Falcon
Halfway through Fett and a handful of other beloved bounty hunters to search the galaxy for the Millennium Falcon. According to the prequels, Fett knew the maneuver Han used to evade detection, because Obi-Wan used the same manuever to avoid his father Jango back in the day.
8. Getting advised by the Emperor
The first hint we got that there was someone even more evil than Darth Vader above him on the chain of command who’d been pulling the strings the entire time came in they’ve simply ripped off this scene to far less effect.
7. Force-choking iral Motti
In an early scene in A New Hope, Darth Vader establishes himself as a formidable force to be reckoned with when iral Motti tries to question him. Vader chokes him with the Force, proving that he is not the kind of guy whose leadership you question. Whatever he says, goes.
Vader tells Motti, “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” which is easily one of the most memorable quotes in the entire saga. Any scene involving a bunch of Imperial officers tends to be boring and forgettable, because they’re narrow-minded bureaucrats and therefore not interesting to watch, but this one is iconic.
6. Looking at Luke with his own eyes
Very few movies manage to make you sad when the villain dies, but when it comes down to it in the third movie, he achieves redemption, sacrificing himself to save Luke’s life. As Luke s Vader’s side, with his dying breath, his father tells him, “Just for once, let me look on you with my own eyes.” He removes his mask and, as he es away, gazes upon his heroic son.
5. Slaughtering a hallway full of Rebel troops
There’s no arguing that Darth Vader is the best thing in the movie. His final moments, as he boards the Rebel command ship and emerges from a cloud of red mist to decimate a platoon of Rebel troops, are instantly memorable. Tantive IV barely gets away with the Death Star plans.
4. Killing Obi-Wan
No one is advocating the death of Obi-Wan, but in of the plot and character development, he had to wear a head-to-toe robotic black suit to breathe. When Anakin had the upper hand this time as Darth Vader, he didn’t show the same mercy.
3. Becoming Darth Vader
At the end of his lightsaber duel with Obi-Wan on Mustafar, Anakin has no arms or legs, and his insides are being eaten up by lava.
So, Palpatine gets him on board his ship, where his medical droids put Anakin in a special suit that will keep him alive and well. Palpatine addresses Anakin as Darth Vader, and the most evil man in the galaxy, the most powerful Sith Lord that ever lived, is born.
2. Throwing the Emperor down a reactor core shaft
During the final battle sequence of being controlled by a smarter, even more evil guy the whole time: Emperor Palpatine. From the beginning, Luke could see the good in Vader. He knew the promising young Jedi he used to be was still in there somewhere. The heroic Anakin came back when the Emperor was torturing Luke with Force lightning and he couldn’t bear to see his son in such agony. So, he picked up the Emperor and threw him down a reactor core shaft, achieving redemption.
1. Telling Luke he’s his father
Towards the end of The Empire Strikes Back, in what is perhaps maybe there is hope for his redemption after all.
