Through Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars fans are getting one of the best on-screen looks at Darth Vader's strength and brilliance as he proves himself one of the franchise's most powerful villains. The saga has also produced the likes of the Emperor, Thrawn, and Maul to showcase its skill at crafting complex, genius villains who can get the job done. But not all Star Wars villains are that competent.
Some may be plain dumb, whereas others may be too emotional or too cocky to complete the job at hand; either way, there have been many incompetent baddies over the years, with most, unsurprisingly, not surviving too long.
General Armitage Hux
When it comes to incompetent live-action Star Wars villains, Armitage Hux will be one of the first names on fans' minds, and with good reason. Even if he shows competence in The Force Awakens, he is ridiculous in the other two films.
Hux has some hilarious moments and was smart enough to betray the First Order, and long before that got others to kill people like his father in order to ascend the ranks, but he was found out pretty easily. He is shown to be a bit of a joke and a weasel consistently, he was unable to get stuff done himself, and he was even shunned by other powerful ranking First Order officers and leaders in the final year prior to The Rise Of Skywalker.
General Grievous
It may be harsh to consider General Grievous an incompetent villain, given how he killed multiple Jedi and did not lose every single battle he led during the Clone Wars. But, given his position of power, incompetent seems the right word.
Grievous was frequently bested, even from positions that seemed hard to lose. He was outsmarted at most turns by the likes of Obi-Wan and other Jedi and was made to look pretty weak on occasions, like when a group of Gungans bested him. Grievous was the leader of the largest army in the Galaxy at the time and rarely showcased his deservedness for the position.
Moralo Eval
Moralo Eval was a central villain in Obi-Wan's disguised arc in which he posed as Rako Hardeen and was the creator of the Box, for which he deserves credit. Other than that, though, the Phindian is all ego.
Not only is he endlessly aggravating, referring to himself in the third person and seemingly believing himself above most others, he just was not the most competent individual. It seems like any intelligent bounty hunter would have figured out his Box even without Obi-Wan, and the fact Bane was given the lead on the Chancellor's kidnapping says a lot about others' opinions on Eval, who showed zero capabilities worthy of being considered a ruthless criminal.
Ziro The Hutt
There may be no Star Wars villain as absurdly annoying as Ziro the Hutt, who pretty much sums up the weaker side of The Clone Wars that is, rightfully, more for children than more mature fans.
Ziro was outsmarted, double-crossed, and killed by Sy Snootles, who was using him to get dirt on the Hutts, and that just sums up his incompetence. He failed in everything he attempted to do in The Clone Wars, and where Jabba was shown to be strong and fearful, Ziro was a bit of a joke.
Toro Calican
For as fantastic as The Mandalorian is, not every episode is a work of art, and Toro Calican is arguably the weakest aspect of one of the show's weakest episodes, 'The Gunslinger.' He is also ridiculously incompetent.
That is not entirely his fault. Part of the story is that he is an amateur bounty hunter looking to break his way into the Guild, so it is no surprise he is wildly incapable of getting stuff done. Nevertheless, he was pretty much useless, as proven by his quick death at the hands of Din when he dared to try and kidnap Grogu.
Governor Arihnda Pryce
Arihnda Pryce was pretty much the secondary villain for two seasons of Rebels under the incredibly intelligent Thrawn and, unlike many other failed antagonists, was a genuinely great character. She was strong and totally hatable. That does not mean she was not incompetent, though.
Another typically arrogant Imperial, Pryce, was always so sure she could and would best the Ghost crew and the rebels but never did. Her incompetency does not end with her inability to take down the rebels, though. While she managed to kill Kanan Jarrus, in doing so, she destroyed the Imperial fuel depot, which, in turn, ended Thrawn's TIE Defender initiative, with all resources moving to Project Stardust AKA the Death Star.
Stormtroopers
The original and quintessential incompetent Star Wars villains are the stormtroopers, both Imperial and First Order, who consistently prove themselves to be unthreatening lest they be in big numbers.
There are some elite troopers that are better equipped to deal with any sort of enemy, but the typical stormtroopers are famously incapable of hitting their targets with precision and are just mindless drones most of the time. For the most part, they are not independent in action or thought and are easily fooled and dealt with.
Battle Droids
Battle droids are the machine versions of the stormtroopers in pretty much every way from their uniformity to their stupidity to their hive-mind way of life. They are also hugely incompetent and not threatening outside of large numbers.
Unlike stormtroopers, battle droids are consistently hilarious, as seen in The Clone Wars where they are standout characters at times. Still, that does not make them any less competent. Stupid and incapable of thinking for themselves, they often do not know what to do outside of listening to orders, and even then, they often fail. The CIS used sheer numbers to overwhelm opponents with the battle droids, and outside of that, it took some great tactics and strategy to win with these bumbling units.
Admiral Kassius Konstantine
It is impressive how so many people like Konstantine manage to use politics to get into high-ranking positions, especially when they are as incompetent and so entirely arrogant as he was.
Rebels had a good few incompetent villains to juxtapose the likes of Thrawn, the Grand Inquisitor, and Vader, but Konstantine was one of the absolute worst. The severity of Konstantine's incompetency cannot be overstated. In search of personal glory, he ignored Thrawn's orders, undermined him, and allowed the rebellion members to escape in the Battle of Atollon, preventing Thrawn from wiping out the rebellion there and then. His character can be summed up by his quote, "I will not be denied the glory of this kill." He is not even the dumbest Imperial Officer, but his high-ranking and unfathomably large ego makes his blunders more problematic.
Nute Gunray
Nute Gunray may have been Viceroy of the Trade Federation, but any influence he had - or thought he had - was a total facade. He was nothing but a pawn the entire way through the war, and even then, he was not a useful one.
Gunray's entire rise to Viceroy was puppeteered by Darth Sidious, and from there on in, he was basically there to do what he was told by both Sidious and Dooku throughout the Clone Wars. He had his own goals and ambitions of course, but these actually ended up showing him to be even less competent since he failed in achieving any of them, such as his obsession with and failed attempts to have Padmé killed.