One of Star Wars’ greatest movie posters of all time has a dark in-universe legacy that more people need to know about. The result of an incredibly dark vision during the earliest days of Darth Vader’s dark side path, the nightmare of Anakin Skywalker’s corruption was depicted in a truly terrifying way.
Released in 2017, Marvel Comics’ 25-issue Darth Vader series from Charles Soule remains one of the greatest canonical dark side tales of all time, revealing the Dark Lord’s first days on the dark side in the aftermath of Revenge of the Sith.
This included various Sith trials for Vader, building his fortress of Mustafar, and ultimately one of the darkest Force visions of all time, which just so happened to feature an incredibly dark twist inspired by one of Star Wars‘ greatest movie posters.
The Phantom Menace’s First Teaser Poster Is One Of Star Wars’ Best
One of the first pieces of promotion for the first Star Wars prequel movie, the teaser poster for The Phantom Menace is brilliantly simple while still communicating volumes thematically.
Featuring Jake Lloyd as young Anakin Skywalker for the first time, the boy is shown walking the sands of Tatooine while his shadow behind him is of Darth Vader, an incredible visual that perfectly foreshadowed his already known dark fate as a Sith Lord.
To this day, the Phantom Menace poster is widely considered to be one of Star Wars’ best. The poster was even re-created by Anakin Skywalker actor Hayden Christensen in honor of The Phantom Menace’s 25th anniversary last year during a photoshoot with Empire.
How Star Wars Turned This Poster Into An In-Universe Nightmare
18 years later, Darth Vader #25 honored the epic Star Wars poster when Vader used his fortress on Mustafar to amplify his dark side powers, hoping to bring back his deceased wife Padmé from the netherworld.
While he failed in his efforts, Darth Vader still experienced a dark vision through the cosmic Force. The vision begins with young Anakin confused by his own twisted shadow on Tatooine, a direct homage to The Phantom Menace poster. The Vader shadow then comes to life, lunging toward the boy as a dark nightmare, foreshadowing Skywalker’s dark turn even further.
Interestingly enough, this wasn’t the first time this Darth Vader series created a nightmarish intersection between the boy Anakin was and the monster Vader became.
A horrific example can be found in the previous Darth Vader #21 when the Dark Lord is aboard Padmé’s former royal Naboo starship. Clearly reflecting on his past, Vader envisions a disturbing version of his younger self bearing a flesh-like version of his dark mask:
Without a doubt, this is one of the more unsettling moments in the series that very much proves just how challenging Darth Vader’s first days as a Sith Lord truly were, forced to reconcile with his dark new fate and cybernetics, while also having lost everything he ever loved and cared about for the sake of power promised by Palpatine.
Combined with the dark homage to The Phantom Menace’s iconic teaser poster, it’s easy to see why 2017’s Darth Vader series is widely considered to be a must-read for all Star Wars fans.
- Died
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Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi
- Alliance
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Jedi, Sith
- Race
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Human
