10 Best Scenes When Evil Movie Characters Turned Good

2. Darth Vader - Star Wars: Episode VI - Return Of The Jedi

severus snape death
Lucasfilm

Darth Vader's (David Prowse) face turn may well be the most popular and celebrated in modern movie history, given how expertly it was built up and executed over the course of the original Star Wars trilogy.

Vader's villainy of course speaks for itself: the guy was a ruthless, murderous servant of the Empire, having killed Obi-Wan (Alec Guinness), almost killing Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and even slicing his own son Luke's (Mark Hamill) hand off.

But in Return of the Jedi, Vader finally decides he's had enough of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and throws him down a reactor chute to his death, becoming mortally wounded himself in the process.

It's the classic redemption death in cinema, giving Vader the opportunity to vanquish evil, save his son, and die peacefully afterwards.

It was also brilliantly parodied in Toy Story 3.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.