James Earl Jones has officially Obi-Wan Kenobi, Vader has made some unforgettable live-action appearances over those years.
Some of those appearances, like when he effortlessly defeated Luke in lightsaber combat in Return of the Jedi.
Return Of The Jedi
After the first couple of Star Wars movies had introduced Vader as the fearsome overlord of the Empire, Return of the Jedi revealed that he was just the lapdog of an even more evil, even more powerful Sith Lord, Emperor Palpatine. Luke Skywalker appeals to his father’s soft side in Return of the Jedi. Since learning that Vader is his father, a once-promising Jedi padawan, Luke has refused to accept that Vader is pure evil and believes there’s still good in him. When he sees the Emperor torturing Luke with Force lightning, Vader snaps out of the spell that Palpatine has had him under for years and goes back to the light side. He picks up the Emperor and tosses him to his death, costing him his own life.
This is Vader’s least badass appearance in the Star Wars canon because, for once, he’s actually sweet and sincere. Before he dies, he asks to look at his son with his own eyes and removes his helmet to reveal the fragile human being underneath it.
Revenge Of The Sith
After the first two prequel movies tragically introduced fans to the good-natured but rageful Jedi apprentice that was destined to become Darth Vader, Revenge of the Sith. When Anakin finds Mace Windu in a heated duel with Darth Sidious, he has to make a choice between sticking with the Jedi and allying with the Sith. He chooses to save the latter and sends the former falling to his death.
Anakin goes full-tilt evil as soon as he’s embraced the dark side, but not everything he does is badass. Massacring the Separatist leaders in one fell swoop is pretty badass, but there’s nothing badass about killing a room full of children or losing hopelessly to Obi-Wan in lightsaber combat.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Vader pursues a personal vendetta against the titular Jedi fugitive in the Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries. After being left for dead on Mustafar, Vader was determined to track down his former master for a rematch. When he has Obi-Wan cornered in the third episode of the series, he casually tortures villagers to death to lure him out of hiding, then sets a fire and literally wipes the floor with him. During their long-awaited rematch in the finale episode, Obi-Wan manages to defeat Vader yet again, but not before Vader puts up a heck of a fight.
After Obi-Wan defeated him with the “high ground” the last time they fought, Vader uses the Force to give himself the high ground in the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale by literally burying Obi-Wan under a pile of rubble. Before Obi-Wan determined that his friend was gone, Vader got something off his chest: “You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker; I did.” This vulnerability – and the glimpse at the man behind the mask – prevented Vader’s role in Obi-Wan Kenobi from being too badass, because it maintained his prequel-era role as a tragic figure.
Rogue One
Vader’s role in Rogue One is a glorified cameo appearance, but he manages to steal the whole movie with that cameo appearance. Not only does he use his classic Force-choking technique on Director Krennic; he punctuates it with a deadpan one-liner: “Be careful not to choke on your ambitions.” The crowning achievement of Vader’s role in Rogue One is, of course, the hallway massacre.
At the end of the movie, as the Rebel troops are frantically ing the hard drive containing the Death Star plans to one another, the dark hallway is illuminated by the ominous red glow of Vader’s lightsaber. The Sith Lord effortlessly slaughters every Rebel troop in the room. They barely manage to get the hard drive through a crack in the door to their fellow Rebels before being slashed down. This scene alone makes Rogue One a truly badass Vader outing.
Star Wars (1977)
Vader instantly became one of the most iconic villains in movie history with his debut in the original Star Wars film. After his Stormtroopers have cleared out the Rebel troops waiting for him on Tantive IV, Vader boards the ship and steps over their corpses on his way to capture Princess Leia. The combination of David Prowse’s intimidating physique and James Earl Jones’ booming voice made Vader a sinister yet mesmerizing on-screen presence.
From Force-choking iral Motti to striking down Ben Kenobi, Vader commanded the audience’s fear and attention whenever he was on-screen in his first live-action appearance.
The Empire Strikes Back
After the original Star Wars movie introduced Vader as a faceless embodiment of oppressive evil, The Empire Strikes Back humanized him with a glimpse at the man under the mask and the revelation that he’s Luke Skywalker’s long-lost biological father. But the surprisingly dark sequel still found plenty of opportunities to show off how badass Vader is.
He Force-chokes iral Ozzel through a video chat, he tortures Han Solo for information, and in his climactic showdown with Luke, he effortlessly defeats the young Force prodigy with one hand behind his back. Empire showed audiences that Vader is a vulnerable human being, but also showed him in his badass prime.
