Star Wars Confirms Even Prequel Yoda Couldn’t Take Darth Vader

Warning: contains spoilers to Star Wars #16!

Marvel’s Star Wars comic just confirmed that even the Yoda of the film franchise’s prequel years couldn’t have defeated Darth Vader. While Luke didn’t finish his training with Yoda, the issue makes it clear that the instruction he received on lightsaber combat (supplemented by his forgotten stormtrooper trainer) was woefully inadequate. And it doesn’t seem like this is a lesson the Jedi Master would’ve gotten to later, as Vader’s combat style is specifically something Yoda struggled with in his battle against Darth Sidious.

In Empire Strikes Back, Luke sought the fabled Yoda on Dagobah to continue the training that Obi-Wan Kenobi began. Although Yoda had his reservations about Luke’s character and attitude, he agreed to train him in the ways of the Force. But despite the warnings from Yoda and Ben Kenobi’s spirit that he was not ready, Luke left to intercept a trap that was being sprung for his friends Princess Leia, Han Solo, and others in Cloud City. Although the comics confirmed he had faced Darth Vader earlier on Bespin, Luke was defeated by Vader’s power and control of the Force, which left him without a hand and the startling knowledge that Vader is what remains of his father, Anakin. In the current ‘War of the Bounty Hunters’ event – set after Empire – Luke receives a transmission from Leia that she, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian have traveled to Jekara to save the imprisoned Han Solo.

In Star Wars #16 by Charles Soule, Ramon Rosanas, Rochelle Rosenberg, and VC’s Clayton Cowles, Luke recaps his battle with Darth Vader to his faithful companion R2-D2 while in hyperspace to Jekara. He compares Vader to the fury of a Tattooine sandstorm, stating that he didn’t just engage in a lightsaber duel like Yoda trained him for but also used the full fury of the Force. He tossed random machinery and debris at him while constantly attacking with his lightsaber, having Luke resort to constant defense instead of making any offensive moves. “Everything I tried, every move that Yoda taught me…Vader threw them back in my face and hit me twice as hard.”

Although Yoda had achieved great power and skill during his long life, he was not without limits, and it was those limits that allowed him and the Jedi Masters to be taken advantage of in the past. While the Jedi represented peace, honor, and nobility, their enemy the Sith returned through manipulation, lies, and treachery. When Yoda faced the formidable Darth Sidious, he was able to match the Dark Lord in a straight-forward duel, but started losing ground once Sidious began hurling debris in the Galactic Senate Chamber. It’s no surprise that Yoda didn’t train Luke to fight through Vader’s maelstrom approach, as he struggled even with a lesser barrage from Sidious. Given that Vader takes this tactic to the next level, using it instinctively and constantly rather than as a last resort like his master, it’s difficult to imagine Yoda being able to hold his own, even before the fall of the Jedi Order forced him into the harsh lifestyle of an exile.

Although Luke’s training will continue to the point where he’s able to face and defeat his father in Return of the Jedi, Luke remains shaken and traumatized from his recent battle with Vader in the comics. Unable to gain reassurance from Obi-Wan, Luke finds himself refusing to face Darth Vader again, knowing he can’t triumph with the tutelage he received from Yoda. While he was a ferocious warrior and a wise Jedi, Star Wars has dedicated a lot of time to the idea that many of Yoda‘s core beliefs were wrong, so it’s symbolically satisfying that both in philosophy and ability, he’s not the answer to defeating Darth Vader, even if his insight was a huge part of Luke’s journey to doing so.

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