11 Terrible Early Drafts That Almost Ruined Iconic Villains

7. Darth Vader €“- A New Hope

Long before George Lucas had decided on a title for his first Star Wars movie, or settled on an overall plot for the first installment of the space opera, he had already envisaged his most enduring villain. In the 1975 second draft of the film, still under the title Adventures of The Starkiller: Episode I The Star Wars, the black robed Sith Lord was introduced in his first recognisable iteration (he had been in an earlier draft, but was similar only real in name.)

In a number of key scenes, we would have seen Vader's legendary evil, including a crucial invasion scene that saw him take on and dispatch streams of Rebel soldiers without mercy or a second thought. One story board included the soon-to-be legend ripping the arm of an opponent, and it was obvious that the seeds of the character were already sown in Lucas' mind.

So how would this draft of the character have ruined Star Wars?

Well, the major problem with this early version of the scourge of the galaxy is that the script had Vader perish in the ultimate dogfight, that bore a lot of resemblance to the finale of the final film. He was shot down in his TIE fighter, and along with him would have gone the single most enduring legacy of all of the Star Wars films - though the rest of the characters are iconic, none can match Vader for star appeal, and without him, we wouldn't have seen the two superior sequels.

But then on the plus side, we might have never had to endure the Prequel trilogy.

And speaking of Star Wars...