Warning: SPOILERS for Darth Vader #25
Anakin Skywalker may have betrayed the Jedi by killing younglings, but the Star Wars movies never showed his greatest revenge: entering the Force itself so he could murder every one of his former Jedi Masters... even after their deaths.
To some, this new, canonical story revealed in the Darth Vader comic will be an even more disgraceful level of betrayal and hatred, and a formative moment in the true creation of Darth Vader (and death of the Anakin who was). But to those who thought that Jedi like Mace Windu, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto, Ki-Adi-Mundi and more deserved a better death than to be ambushed by Clone Troopers executing Order 66? Well... this form of death may actually be a lot WORSE.
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For the Star Wars fans who failed to keep up on the comic books, and therefore missed the story of Darth Vader finally conquering death as he always hoped, the idea of him literally "entering the Force" at all will be a bit confusing. But it's not a case of flowery language: Anakin manages to tear the wall between the living and the dead, and stepped through. What he found... was a gathering of old friends, less than happy to see him.
Officially, Anakin has come all of this way to find a way to bring Padmé back from the dead (as Emperor Palpatine used to tempt him during Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith). But as he makes his way through the wasteland of memories that the Force has created for him, the massive, black structure he has been heading toward transforms before his eyes. In keeping with the Force narration that "the truths that we cling to depend on your point of view," the Sith structure twists into the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. With the Jedi Council leading a collection of dead Masters standing in his way.
To emphasize the fact that Padmé is literally all Anakin has left, seeing the faces of the Jedi he used to call master, friend, even "brother" doesn't faze him at all. Instead, he draws two blades out of the blackness of the Force, and begins to slay them, one by one. it's bad news for anyone particularly fond of the assembled Jedi, considering how harshly they are dispatched... but we suppose it's an honor that he leaves Yoda for last.
It's worth pointing out that at this point in the Star Wars timeline, Luke Skywalker has yet to emerge and begin his formal Jedi training... which also means that Yoda is not yet dead. That casts a bit of mystery on this scene, suggesting that it's a case of the Force conjuring the Jedi to oppose Anakin than their real, tangible Force Ghosts. However, given that both Yoda and Qui-Gon Jinn learned to cross the line between life and death, it's plausible that Yoda was aware of the fight, even if his defeat could only damage his living form a limited amount.
The Force works in mysterious ways, after all, using this sojourn of Anakin's to show him that the Emperor created him in Shmi Skywalker's womb... while also suggesting a connection between Vader and Kylo Ren, repeating the latter's famous words decades before he speaks them in The Last Jedi. Hopefully this scene will be revisited in the future, but even if it isn't, there's nothing better than seeing Darth Vader's spirit form carving his way through his Jedi Masters - confirming once and for all that the "Chosen One" moniker was well-deserved.
Darth Vader #25 is available now from Marvel Comics.