Star Wars: Every Lightsaber Duel Ranked Worst To Best

This is actually a Mace Windu vs Palpatine duel, since back-up Council members Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin and Agen Kolar are all dispatched with relative ease and little input. But they're there, so they're included, even if their roles were lackluster at best.

The fight between Windu and the Dark Lord, though, is actually seriously cool once you get passed all the memes the fight generated. It's the first time in the saga Sidious is ever seen using a lightsaber, and it delivers right off the bat, with the duel full to bursting with intensity and hold-your-breath close-calls for the stern Jedi.

The fight also deserves a shout-out for ending with Anakin Skywalker officially turning to the Dark Side, as he chops off Windu's arm and allows Palpatine to throw him out the window with "unlimited power!"

It's shocking, it's dark, and if it wasn't for the jarring, out-of-place deaths of the three Jedi at the beginning, it would probably be slightly higher on the list.