Considering there have been nine films in the Skywalker Saga and a whole host of other adventures in film and TV form, there are a lot of bad guys littered throughout the Star Wars franchise. There are a few who have gone down in history as some of the most iconic of all time, and a few who ended up as nothing more than a cheap opportunity to get kids to buy toys.
We’ve compared five of the best to five of the worst, limiting ourselves only to those who appeared in the Skywalker Saga.
WORST: Darth Maul
We need to make something very clear here. Darth Maul is one of the coolest looking bad guys of all time, and he had a potential that was almost indescribable. For some reason, George Lucas ruined his own creation. He revealed the double-ended lightsaber in the trailer for The Phantom Menace, he gave Maul about five minutes of screen time (and the pod race twenty) and then he killed him before we learned anything.
Luckily, he was resurrected in The Clone Wars so we got to explore his brilliance a lot more, but in terms of his presence in the Skywalker Saga, he was unfortunately forced to become one of the worst villains when he really should have been one of the best.
BEST: Jabba The Hutt
Who’d have thought that one of the best bad guys in film history would be a massive blob of fat, skin, and slime who looks like a huge slug? Well, Jabba The Hutt, in all his slow-moving glory comes in at number five here. He appeared at the pod race back in episode I, ended up owning the frozen form of Han Solo, and was ultimately choked to death by a princess. Can you think of a better story arc?
WORST: Jango Fett
Pointless. Utterly pointless. This was one of George Lucas’ lowest, most derivative moments. In an attempt to link the prequel trilogy to the original films, he decided that Boba Fett (a character of minimal relevance, at best) would be the son of Jango Fett, the guy on which all of the Clone Troopers were based. It’s total madness, and the presence of Jango Fett is lifeless, boring and unnecessary. His beheading is very satisfying, but we certainly didn’t need to see an unmasked, child version of Boba wandering around.
BEST: Kylo Ren
No matter what you might think about the sequel trilogy, it is impossible to deny that Kylo Ren is a brilliant bad guy. He embodies the confusing position somewhere between a desire for total power and a hug from his mother, all the while looking ridiculously cool (except when he pointlessly takes his shirt off and runs around like an angry child) and having one of the best lightsabers in the franchise.
His redemption arc and then immediate death after sharing a pointless kiss with a girl it wasn’t even remotely suggested he should be in love with didn’t do him justice, but up until then, he was probably the highlight of Disney’s version of Star Wars.
WORST: Boba Fett
Boba Fett takes on a distinctly Darth Maul-esque position on this list. Obviously, he looks very cool. We’d all like a little statue of him in the corner of the room. But think about it: for how long was he on screen? He didn’t do anything; he barely spoke, and then he died a totally unceremonious death. He wasn’t really a character more than he was a Mandalorian ornament. There was obviously a lot of potential there which has been explored in other media, but in terms of film appearances, Boba Fett might be the most overrated Star Wars character.
BEST: Count Dooku
Listing a prequel-only villain as one of the best bad guys in the history of Star Wars might be a bold move, but think about Count Dooku for a second. First of all, he is played by Christopher Lee, so the effortless oozing of charisma and darkness is already there. Secondly, he is one of the only prequel characters who is fleshed out and given a backstory and a detailed existence.
Finally, he provides us with two of the best fights in the history of the franchise: the absolute insanity of his battle against Yoda in episode II, and his (almost) domination of Anakin and Obi-Wan in episode III.
WORST: Supreme Leader Snoke
Supreme Leader Snoke could have gone in so many different directions. It seems that JJ Abrams had a big plan to turn him into a huge figure of pure power who was overseeing the new rise of the dark side. All of a sudden, Rian Johnson had turned this on its head and allowed him to be killed halfway through episode VIII. The (very clever) reveal that he was nothing more than a clone created by the true power, Emperor Palpatine, meant he was nothing more than a pawn in his game. This meant he intentionally became one of the worst and most pointless villains in the franchise.
BEST: Darth Vader
One of, if not the, most famous faces in cinematic history is Darth Vader. Even those who haven’t seen Star Wars know the sound of his breathing and could pick his terrifying helmet out of a crowd.
We might not need to have seen his childhood back in The Phantom Menace, but to see the way his influence and legacy have remained impactful even after his death as Kylo Ren worships his grandfather’s helmet was particularly powerful.
WORST: General Grievous
If there is ever an example of something created exclusively to make toys, it was General Grievous. Lucas must have figured out how much fans like it when something new happens with a lightsaber, so he gave Grievous four of them and turned him into a ridiculously cool looking robot who could transform into a variety of shapes (perfect for a toy). Despite this, he had no character or particular relevance, and for some reason, had a persistent cough. All of his presence in the prequels could have been used to flesh out Darth Maul, but no...
BEST: Emperor Palpatine
The undisputed king of Star Wars and the only character at the heart of the entire storyline was Emperor Palpatine. He was running the show behind the scenes in the prequels, putting on a fake niceness while he obliterated the Jedi. He was the face of the Empire and the personification of evil during the original trilogy. Finally, the was lurking beneath the surface controlling every movement of the First Order during the sequels, even if his granddaughter eventually defeated him. He was a true icon with the most incredible display of unlimited power that Star Wars ever gave us. The Skywalker Saga was truly Palpatine Saga.