Villain of the Day- Oct 20th

"You have failed me for the last time"

Darth Vader

If there is one thing that most people know about me, apart from loving to talk about movies, it's that I am an incurable nerd. So you all knew that it was only a matter of time before we started talking about Star Wars. After all, Lord of the Rings was not that long ago, how could we not get around to one of the most iconic movie sagas, with some of the most iconic characters of all time? For starters, we are going to talk about one of the most identifiable, badass villains to have ever been written. Darth Vader, before he was written in the prequels as a whiny pipsqueak that hit on women twice his age, was one of the biggest badasses, not only in sci-fi but in film in general. He had one of the most awesome entrances ever in New Hope, where he just walks in and looks at a bunch of dead bodies like it's another day at the office, and then just keeps walking. In Empire, he became way more pimp than he already was, being able to strangle disloyal minions via skype and scare the living piss out of the rest of them just by walking past. Darth Vader has become such an icon in pop culture, that you don't even need to see Star Wars in order to know who he is, or even how badass he is. Just the image of him standing with his lightsaber drawn is enough to know that this guy is not to be fucked with. Not to mention that one of the greatest twists of all time is one that involved him, leading to again, another iconic movie moment. Everything about this character is classic, from his appearance, to his voice, to that always memorable music that accompanied his first appearance in Empire. If you haven't seen any of these classic movies, I would definitely tell you to give them a look. Even if you don't enjoy them yourself, you can at least see why they had the impact that they did, and why we all love characters like Darth Vader.

"Strike me down with all of your hatred, and you journey towards the dark side will be complete!"
Darth Vader to the Emperor "What is they bidding, my master?"

The Emperor

Even though he is the main antagonist for the whole series, the Emperor, while cool in his own right, is always pushed to the side when talking about villains. I think it has to do with the fact that Darth Vader was so fucking boss that nobody, not even his own boss, could top him. But no matter, like I said, the Emperor really had a lot of build up throughout Hope and Empire. They always talked about him like "Yeah, Vader might be bad, but at least we don't have the Emperor watching us", but then in Return of the Jedi, Vader informs them that the Emperor is coming to oversee the final preparations for the second Death Star, and you can tell the officer he is informing is just shitting himself. And yet, when we finally see him, after all that build up, he has the appearance of a frail old man. Doesn't really sound all that impressive, but then you see him do things like shoot lightning bolts out of his finger tips. And then you remember that this is after all  the only guy that Vader has to answer to, so he must have some kind of badass rap sheet if he is going to be the one person that the biggest badass in existence has to take orders from. Suddenly, he doesn't look so frail. Actually, for all their faults, I would say that the Emperor was one of the things that the prequels got right for the most part. He's depicted as this mysterious figure who is pulling everybody's strings whether they know it or not. And just in general, that's a good trait for a villain to have.