Darth Vader Killed Hitler In Everyone’s Favorite Star Wars Movie
Over the course of various Star Wars films, Darth Vader has fought some very intimidating foes. After all, he fought his old master, his own son, and even Emperor Palpatine, arguably the most powerful Force user in the galaxy. However, nothing compares to the time he secretly killed Adolf Hitler himself in The Empire Strikes Back…or, more precisely, he killed the man famous for repeatedly playing Hitler in movies like Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.
How The Imperial Navy Rewards Incompetence
In order to discuss the time that Darth Vader killed the man who would play Hitler, we need to review exactly who he played in a galaxy far, far away. Near the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back, Michael Sheard played Admiral Ozzel, the Imperial Navy leader who gets on Vader’s bad side by dropping the fleet out of lightspeed too close to Hoth.
This ruined Vader’s plans to catch the Rebels by surprise and arguably played a major role in heroes like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia Organa making a successful escape from Imperial clutches.
Long-Distance Force Choke
We then see that Vader’s preferred method for dealing with the failure of his subordinates is to kill them and then give someone else a surprise promotion. Ozzel is first on the chopping block, and Darth Vader uses the Force to choke the life out of the man who would later play Hitler. This leads to Captain Piett getting a promotion on the spot, and Piett is noticeably nervous about failing the Sith Lord for the rest of the movie.
Steven Speilberg Owed Him One
As we noted, Darth Vader killed an actor, Micheal Sheard, who would go on to play Adolf Hitler in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. The actor was originally going to play a different role in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but bad weather kept his scene from getting filmed. Director Steven Spielberg promised to make it up to the actor, which is why Sheard was later cast as Hitler for the brief scene in The Last Crusade when Indiana Jones encounters the Nazi leader.
Famous For The Role Before Empire Strikes Back
While none of the other appearances were as high-profile as Spielberg’s blockbuster film, one of the wildest things about Sheard is that he had already played Hitler three times before that movie and one time since. In fact, he played this historical monster in two movies that came out before The Empire Strikes Back: Rogue Male in 1976 and The Tomorrow People in 1978.
That means that when Darth Vader used the Force to kill Sheard’s character, the actor was already famous for playing Hitler, which strangely became his most prominent role in Hollywood.
What Darth Vader And The Ninja Turtles Have In Common
All of this may boil down to some fun film trivia, but the more we write about it, the more we’re convinced there should be a Star Wars comic where Darth Vader fights Adolf Hitler (preferably rocking the mech suit from Wolfenstein 3D). In the world of comics, we’ve already seen the Ninja Turtles travel back in time and scare the Nazi leader into shooting himself. Now, it’s time for Vader to demonstrate that “turtle power” is insignificant next to the power of The Force.
