The Star Wars franchise’s popularity is rivaled by very few. Since A New Hope came out in 1977, its characters have become cultural icons, and none have been more significant than Darth Vader, the franchise’s primary villain.
Darth Vader is immediately identifiable. His formidable all-black costume is made up of a curved helmet with a distinct face-covering, a long cloak, and almost cyborg-like electronic accents.
A YouTube video by Rocket Riley goes over the suit’s full history. The costume, as the video discusses, was the result of a lot of creative thinking and last-minute changes. It also changed a lot before even debuting onscreen, and has continued to be altered over time, as more Star Wars content has continued to come out.
Initial Conception/Episode IV: A New Hope
George Lucas’s first imagining of the character was far less… heavy and metallic than how we now imagine Darth Vader. He was robe-clad, covered in draping fabrics. Then, after a script read, Ralph McQuarrie, the movie’s concept artist, realized Vader would have to breathe in space, and created a mask/head covering.
The mask itself went through various iterations before obtaining the rounded yet aggressive features we all have come to know. The first sketches featured a much sharper snout and more narrowed eyes. George Lucas loved McQuarrie’s design and, with small tweaks, implemented it as a permanent fixture for the character.
The full suit was comprised of a motorcycle suit as the base, a robe over top, the belt holding it all together, and a dramatic cloak slung over his shoulders. The original mask was hand-sculpted and asymmetrical.
Details like the buttons on the belt and his chest plate are also essential to the costume, and do serve a purpose. Within the Star Wars story, the suit also functions as a life-support device for a burned and broken Anakin. It is, unfortunately, as the video discusses, a painful experience to wear, with needles puncturing Anakin’s skull, allowing him to control his robotic limbs.
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
A reportedly bigger budget for the franchise’s second movie allowed for an upgrade to the suit. The helmet was much glossier, and the lenses in his goggles changed from red to pure black. In addition, his upper-body armor was on full display with his robe tucked under instead of hanging over it.
YouTuber Rocket Riley noted even smaller changes, like the color of the buttons on Vader’s chest plate (the top right one changing from green to blue).
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
The interior of the helmet was finally shown in the third movie, when Luke Skywalker removed it from Vader’s face. The helmet was designed with a locking system to allow this to happen onscreen.
All three of the original movies, despite updates to the paint, used the asymmetrical helmet. Not much changed between Episode V and Episode VI, but the glossiness of the helmet in both movies, compared to Episode IV, really made Vader feel more menacing and robotic. The gloves also get noticeably less chunky and cartoonish over the course of the three movies. It seems the costumers were continuously working towards making the character as menacing as possible.
In Return of the Jedi, the glossiness had also extended aggressively to the chest plate and the boots.
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
The first two episodes followed Vader’s (Anakin Skywalker) background, and in Episode III, we finally see the suit for the “first” time, at least in the new trilogy. The helmet has been updated and is symmetrical, being perfected using computer graphics.
The original actor for Darth Vader was 6 feet and 6 inches tall, with the new actor (Hayden Christiansen) measuring 6 inches shorter. The suit was built specifically for him, with internal padding and lifts used in order to keep Vader at his original height.
There is also a clear internal shot of the helmet, showing Vader’s electronic display. The suit also utilizes more silver accents to make his chest plate stand out.
Rogue One/Kenobi
The sequels created a new hurdle: previous iterations of the suit were stiff and made it difficult for the actors to move around in. The script called for a suit in which Vader would be able to act out action sequences.
Vader’s suit for Kenobi was entirely rebuilt using flexible, modern fabric. It allowed him to fight in a menacing, aggressive way, which he had never done before.
Rocket Riley showed the lightsaber fights of the original trilogy at 5:57 in the video, where he pointed out the stiff, stunted action of the battles. Then, he juxtaposed a fight from Episode VI of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, where Vader has a full range of motion and is able to look like he is actually fighting.
In Rogue One, the designers had a different goal. They wanted Vader to look as 70s as possible, down to the asymmetrical helmet. They made him stiff again, with an exaggerated neck-piece, and brought back the red lenses in his helmet. His interior cloak was made out of a more structured fabric that allowed pleating, creating more detail on his torso.
Infinity Comics
This costume never appeared on screen, but the video did describe it in length. In one Star Wars Infinity comic, a series which covers non-canon “what if” hypotheticals, Vader turns to the light side. To show this, he is portrayed wearing a fully white suit.
He became “a symbol of hope” rather than “a symbol of fear.” Some people love this idea, and some people hate it.
Where He Stands Now…
Darth Vader’s costume upgrades have led to some seriously cool sequences, both visually and in terms of action. When Vader inevitably appears in live-action again, there has now been a flexible suit that allows him to both look as menacing as he always has while also letting him actually move.
One thing is for sure—every iteration has remained pretty loyal to the A New Hope version of Vader. Once designers found the sweet spot for his look, it became ingrained in the public memory as a representation of who he is. Darth Vader remains one of the most recognizable villains across pop culture, and his costume is the reason why.
The post Video Explores Darth Vader’s Costume History appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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