Here we go! Today I will be discussing some of the most BAMF’in’ characters in the Star Wars Universe. LET’S DO THIS THING
Darth Maul
Again following the badass villain mantra of less is more, this smooth operator only speaks a smattering of sentences, but his presence, his weaponry and his judicious application of make up make for one unforgettable foe.
Weapon of Choice- The double-bladed lightsaber. This guy pretty much invented the double-sword in the eyes of popular culture. From future Jedi tales such as Knights of the Old Republic to classic playstation games like Chrono Cross, everyone took some notes from the Darth Maul playbook and saw how cool it is to fight with a staff made of two blades.
Heck, in Star Wars: Battlefront Darth Maul is a nigh unstoppable foe because of his signature weapon. The guy fells enemy troops as easily as blades of grass, and he does it all the time grumbling like a madman.
BAMF Moment- The first time he popped that double-bladed bad boy out, we as an audience were stunned. After being both bored and stupefied by the ridiculous idiocy that is Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, when Maul popped the double blades we knew that we were, at least for the moment, in for a treat.
Ultimate Fate- After chomping Ben Kenobi’s master Qui-gon Jinn like a butterscotch candy, Darth Maul eventually finds himself at the receiving end of the swish of a lightsaber. The guy’s cut clean in half, and plummets down a seemingly endless corridor. Hard to retcon him as being alive, I’ll tell ya that much.
Boba Fett
He's got a backpack, with jets. Cause he's Boba the Fett.
The Fett man is one of the coolest cats ever to grace the silver screen. He speaks only a handful of lines between the two movies, and yet he is permanently implanted in the halls of coolness.
Weapon of Choice- Jetpack, flamethrower, cool ass blaster, wrist rocket launcher- this guy’s got it all.
BAMF Moment- This guy doesn’t even need any particular moment of doing anything cool to define how cool he is; He’s just that smooth.
Ultimate Fate- Through some accidental blaster shots and a few stray swings of a stick, a blind Han Solo accidentally knocks Boba Fett off of Jabba’s sand cruiser into the disgusting Sarlac pit. “How could the Fett man go down like some common cow?” You ask, reeling back in horror. Well rest assured, dear reader, as it is accepted canon that Boba Fett used his backpack to blast himself out of that sand-dwelling beast, which is how he appears in a crapton of the novels in the Star Wars Expanded Universe series.
The Apprentice
Actual gameplay footage.
Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. I have to say that I, personally, am insanely excited about this guy starring in the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Nick and I both had previously discussed the direction of possible future Star Wars stories, and we came to the same conclusion that these developers have: Sith always come in twos, the master and the apprentice. Sooooo,
where the heck was Vader’s apprentice? Running around in secret, that’s where.
Weapon of Choice- Reverse lightsaber. The Apprentice runs around with his lightsaber held behind him, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. You can talk all you want about lightsaber fighting styles, and why it’s a more advantageous combat technique compared to other stances. Do you want to know the real reason for the reverse lightsaber style? Straight from the mouth of one the game developers at Comic-Con, The Apprentice holds his lightsaber in a reverse style so you, the player, get to see that lightsaber all the time. He was originally developed using a traditional lightsaber-in-front stance, but you lose sight of the blade that way. With the reverse style, you always remember that first and foremost, you are a badass with a lightsaber.
BAMF moment- The first trailer for Star Wars: Force Unleashed shows The Apprentice standing outside, watching a Star Destroyer coming his way. With a wave of his hand and a clench of his jaw, he pulls that fat space ship to the ground using only the force, crashing the bajeezus out of it.
Ultimate Fate- Who knows? The Force Unleashed hasn’t come out yet. Maybe he falls at the hands of a Jedi. Maybe he goes into hiding, waiting for episode VII to strike again. I guess we’ll just have to play the game and find out.
Darth Vader
What more can be said about Darth Vader that hasn’t already been said. Ominous music theme? Check. Badass voice by the legendary James Earl Jones? Check. Greatest movie villain of all time? Check. The man is a legend. From the first time you see him you know that he is the stuff of legends. Spooky, black-clad legends.
Weapon of Choice- The Red Lightsaber. Vader was the first to sport this truly pimp-tacular weapon. All other Star Wars villains are just being copycats with their red lightsabers; they all want to be the next Vader (literally in The Apprentice’s case.)
BAMF moment- Vader chokes an underling. Over and over we see Vader tossing the force choke in the direction of the non-believers and the displeasers. My personal favorite is when an imperial officer decides to take the burden of apologizing to Darth for the imperial troops failing again. The next thing we see of the guy is his dead body being dragged off, and Darth Vader booming the words “Apology accepted.”
Ultimate Fate- After dueling his son to near death twice, lopping off ol’ Luke’s hand and running around the galaxy kicking ass, Vader finally has a change of heart in the end. Luke decides to forgo the way of the Sith, and chooses peace over revenge. Seeing this, Vader follows suit to save his son, and is mortally wounded in the process. After a few final words Darth Vader, bereft of his mask and his hate, passes on. Luke gives him a true Jedi funeral, cremating him as he watches on from the spiritual nether, along with the spirits of deceased Jedi masters Yoda and Ben Kenobi.
Mace Windu
The beret is considered canon.
Mace Windu is credited as being the most powerful of the Jedi, at least at the time of the clone wars saga. His wisdom and strength shine through whenever he’s forced to wield his lightsaber in defense. And the fact that he’s played by King BAMF Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t exactly hurt.
Weapon of choice- Purple lightsaber. The purple lightsaber was groundbreaking in that thanks to it, all other Star Wars related stories felt that they had the official ok to make lightsabers colored something other than red, green, or blue. So why the purple blade? Some would spout interesting stupid ideas that Mace was actually a balance between Sith and Jedi, as Red + Blue = Purple. I don’t know why the character Mace Windu believed in the purple lightsaber, but I do know that actor Samuel L. Jackson picked the color so he’d be able to easily distinguish himself out from a big crowd of Jedi in any of the fight scenes in the prequels.
BAMF moment- Mace Windu locks eyes with Jango Fett and, with a leap, a deflection of a flurry of blaster shots and a few swings of the lightsaber, lops that Boba Fett wannabe’s head clean off. Booyah.
Ultimate fate- Mace Windu’s final scene in Revenge of the Sith has him dueling Emperor Palpatine. At the end of the fight, Anakin Skywalker lops off Mace’s hand and the emperor chucks him out of the building with some force lightning. Dead? Hardly. In the next article during Star Wars week I will reveal the true fate of Mace Windu, so tune in and find out!
-Alex L.
