10 More Best Movie Twists You Genuinely Never Saw Coming
1. Darth Vader Is Luke's Father - The Empire Strikes Back
In terms of mega-budget movies, though, no twist is more iconic than Darth Vader (David Prowse) revealing himself to be Luke Skywalker's (Mark Hamill) father at the end of The Empire Strikes Back.
It was a perfect "what the actual f**k!?" revelation on which to conclude the downcast middle-chapter of the original Star Wars trilogy, leaving fans with plenty to think about ahead of Return of the Jedi's release, and damn-near ensuring they'd be back to see how it all played out.
Though parentage twists are decidedly more common nowadays, they've never been more Earth-shattering than in this movie, creating a devastating link between the hero and villain which went on to define the franchise for four decades.
It was one hell of a tricky twist to guess, that is unless you happened to read a 1978 newspaper interview with Prowse in which he inadvertantly spoiled it a whole two years before the movie came out.
Thankfully, this being the pre-Internet age, his slippery tongue didn't have quite the same reach.