In a franchise that’s widely loved like Star Wars, there are bound to be strong feelings about various aspects of the galaxy far, far away. Without even getting into the Legends vs. Disney Canon debate, there are countless unpopular opinions about Star Wars that deserve more attention. Playing off that idea, Star Wars Stuff posted to Twitter on April 6, asking fans for their hot takes on unpopular Star Wars opinions. While responses varied, a common theme was the discussion of the best film. Attack of the Clones got some unwarranted love, but the movie that came up most often was Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which unearthed a years-old debate about a hilarious aspect of Darth Vader’s character in the movie.
The discussion about Rogue One was bolstered by James Gunn, best known for directing Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. He tweeted, “I don’t know why Rogue One is trending, but I’m glad it is, as it’s the most underrated Star Wars anything.” Some fans might have disagreed, but the consensus seemed to be that Rogue One has quietly established itself as one of the best Star Wars movies. And, even for the fans that disagreed with that, most of them could get behind the argument that the film is underrated.
Of course, any time that Rogue One comes up, there’s bound to be discussions about the terrifying Darth Vader. His hallway scene at the end of the film might be the best bit of cinema in all of Star Wars, with the Sith Lord unleashing his Force potential and butchering the Rebels that dared to resist his power. That, however, wasn’t the Vader scene that got all the attention this time around.
The scene that everyone was talking about was when Vader summoned Director Krennic to his castle on Mustafar. After some groveling, Krennic tried to bolster his position and asked if Vader would put in a good word for him with the Emperor, which didn’t please the Sith Lord. Suddenly, Krennic couldn’t breathe as an invisible hand pinched his trachea like a vice. After letting him collapse, Vader released the groveling Imperial with the words, “Be careful not to choke on your aspirations, director.”
There’s almost no doubt that Vader’s line was an intentional pun. In fact, it was actually a double pun — Krennic’s metaphorical choking vs. his literal choking and Krennic’s political ambitions vs. his physical aspirations (ability to breathe). That meant the question wasn’t whether Vader instantly became the king of “Dad Jokes” but if the quip was in-line with his character.
When Rogue One came out, some fans immediately thought that the line was forced, but that’s wholly unfair. For starters, Anakin had quite the sense of humor in the prequels, as evidenced by his banter with Obi-Wan. Vader himself also had a clever (if not sadistic) sense of humor throughout the Original Trilogy. With all that in mind, it’s clear Vader enjoyed basking in the pain and misfortune of anyone that opposed him, doubted his power or failed him in any way, and his puns and quick remarks, including the moment in Rogue One, were just a natural byproduct of that twisted mentality.