Warning! This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: Darth Vader – Black, White, & Red #4 Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker are two of the most powerful Force-users in the Star Wars galaxy, yet somehow, both of them were beaten by the same iconic alien at two different points in their respective histories – and that alien was none other than the Wampa.
In Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker and the rest of his Rebel allies are on Hoth, planning the next stage of their assault on the Empire following the destruction of the Death Star. However, Luke seemed to underestimate the hostility of this world, as he was caught off guard by a local inhabitant, a Wampa. Wampas are yeti-like creatures native to Hoth, and when one saw Luke in their territory, they knocked him unconscious and took Luke back to their cave, seemingly to eat him. While Luke was able to slice the creature’s arm off with his lightsaber and make his escape, his initial capture still counts as a loss – though he’s not the only Skywalker to experience this defeat.
Darth Vader Was Defeated By Wampas, Just Like Luke Skywalker
In the Star Wars: Darth Vader – Black, White, & Red #4 story titled “Return To Hoth” by Frank Tieri and Danny Earls, Darth Vader returns to Hoth following the events of Episode V to gather abandoned droids that may have had vital intel on the Rebel Alliance. When he landed, however, Darth Vader’s simple mission took an unexpected turn for the worse, as he was almost immediately attacked by a Wampa. While Vader was able to slice that Wampa’s arm off just as his son had done (albeit without first being captured), he was quickly taken off guard by a second and a third Wampa that attacked him. In the chaos, Vader had his chest plate damaged, which impacted his breathing. Slowly suffocating, Darth Vader retreated from the rampaging Wampas, until he was backed into a corner where he was forced to stand his ground and fight. In the end, Vader slaughtered the beasts, but he passed out in the cold snow immediately afterward. If it wasn’t for his Imperial security detail, Vader would have died right then and there, all because of the Wampas.
Both Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker had run-ins with Wampas during their respective missions on Hoth, and both times, the Skywalkers were beaten by the creatures. Sure, both of them came out on top in the end, but only after suffering major losses that would have resulted in their deaths without the aid of someone else. In Luke’s case, after leaving the Wampa’s cave, he would have frozen to death in the icy tundra of Hoth if Han Solo didn’t rescue him. Vader would have suffered the same fate if his Stormtroopers didn’t find him unconscious in the snow from a lack of oxygen.
Even before the two Skywalkers were on the brink of death as a result of fighting Wampas, they both also effectively lost during the fights themselves. Luke was captured and only survived long enough to escape the Wampa’s cave because the creature simply didn’t kill him when it could have. As for Vader, he literally couldn’t breathe while battling the Wampas, which meant that even if he did kill them all (which he did), he’d be dead soon after, which only didn’t happen because of the aforementioned help he received. So, despite their immense strength in the Force and skills with the lightsaber, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker were both beaten by the same iconic alien, the Wampa.
Star Wars: Darth Vader – Black, White, & Red #4 by Marvel Comics is available now.