View source for Darth Vader Clone

{{trope}}
[[File:golbez dark vader clone 6279.png|link=Final Fantasy 4|frame|Comes with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkx3KcO7TCs his own Imperial March] and [[Cool Helmet]]; similarities only grow bigger as the game progresses.<ref>{{spoiler|[[Luke, I Am Your Father|The protagonist is his brother]], [[In Space|they fight in space]], and [[Heel Face Turn|he regrets his wrongs deeds in the end, fighting the BigBad]].}}</ref>]]

The '''Darth Vader Clone''', a character archetype originating in sci-fi begun by the popularity of the character Darth Vader from ''[[Star Wars]]''.

Archetype includes the following:

* Wears a life support mask or a similar mask.
* Wears [[Black Knight|Dark]] [[Tin Tyrant|Armor]], often including a kabuto-like [[Cool Helmet]]
* The Character may have a [[Luke, I Am Your Father]] moment
* May have been a [[Fallen Hero]]
* Is sometimes an [[Archnemesis Dad]]
* Is sometimes [[The Dragon]] instead of the [[Big Bad]].
* May also have complex motivations that make him/her more of an [[Anti-Villain]], although still somewhat dark.
* [[Evil Sounds Deep|Speaks in a really deep voice.]]

[[Fountain of Expies|Not surprisingly]], many characters of this type are found in ''[[Star Wars]]'' canon itself. See also [[May the Farce Be with You]] and [[Vader Breath]]

{{examples}}

== Anime & Manga ==
* Iron Mask from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam F91]]'', combining Darth Vader Clone and it's Japanese equivalent, the [[Char Clone]].

== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Star Wars Legacy]]'': Cade refuses to let his childhood love Azlyn die, even though she asks him to, accepting her fate and the will of the Force. When all other option fail, he gets her to people who put her in a Vader-esque life support armor. After waking up, she was really pissed at him. Fortunately for her, she managed to avoid slipping to Dark Side and managed to get the scary black suit replaced with something much more elegant.
* Galaxy of Fear: Clones has a literal clone of Darth Vader
* [[Micronauts]]' own Baron Karza, in both the toy and the [[Marvel Comics|comic]].
* [[Marvel Star Wars|Lumiya]] was trained by the man himself and is practically a [[Distaff Counterpart]].
* There's also Dirk Raider from ''[[Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!]]''. Not only is he similar in appearance to Darth Vader (although his helmet is more similar to Boba Fett), he even has a similar backstory to Vader's [[Start of Darkness]] in [[Revenge of the Sith]]. A notable difference, however, is that Dirk Raider's more of a [[Card-Carrying Villain]] instead of a complex character.

== Films ==
* The original Darth Vader from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' films is the [[Trope Namer]].
** Darth Maul is obviously an Expy of Darth Vader in a [[The Dragon]] sort of way. Count Dooku is also an Expy of Darth Vader, but he's actually got more in common with The Emperor. General Grievous is a bit closer to Vader; Darth Vader has trouble breathing, Grevious has a cough, and they're both cyborgs.
*** [[Word of God]] says the three were used for [[Foreshadowing]], each one being an element of Vader: Maul as [[The Dragon]] who enforces the Emperor's will, Dooku as a fallen Jedi, and Grievous as a cyborg with breathing problems.
* Darth Vader's own appearance is often thought to be inspired by the [[Film Serial]] character The Lighting from ''The Fighting Devil Dogs.''
* Dark Helmet from ''[[Spaceballs]]''.
* Zurg from ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' (Toy Story 2, especially.)
* Lord Graal is a pretty blatant one from ''The Humanoid.''
* The Doctor {{spoiler|AKA Cobra Commander}} is this in ''[[G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra]]''. The sequel will (apparently) have him closer to his original cartoon incarnation.
* ''[[Tron: Legacy]]'' has the masked, black-clad bad guy Rinzler who {{spoiler|actually is former good guy Tron, who returns to the light side and tries to kill his evil master at the end}}.

==  Literature ==
* [[Margaret Weis]] is a huge fan of the Vader character, so it's no surprise she borrowed his general aesthetic for several of the [[Evil Overlord|Dragon Highlords]] from the ''[[Dragonlance]] Chronicles'', which she co-wrote. The closest to Vader in terms of both appearance and character, though, is not a Highlord at all, but rather the undead knight Lord Soth. The direction of [[Villain Protagonist|Raistlin's]] story arc also paralells Vader's in some ways, though the two characters aren't very alike in terms of personality, appearance, or abilities.
* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] has a lot of books taking place after Vader's death, and a number of villains who call back to him, even if they'd never met him. Kueller of ''[[The New Rebellion]]'' is one of the most notable ones, though he also has callbacks to the Emperor. There's even a point where Luke, fighting him, decides to have an [[Obi-Wan Moment]] and let himself get killed so he can guide his sister - but his sister  {{spoiler|interrupts by [[Just Shoot Him|just shooting Kueller]]}}.
* The Horned King in ''[[Chronicles of Prydain|The Book of Three]]''.


== Live Action ==
* Wolzard from ''[[Mahou Sentai Magiranger]]''. Heavily-armored, deep-voiced, sword-wielding black-magician dragon to the [[Eldritch Abomination]] N.Ma - and  {{spoiler|secretly the team's brainwashed missing father.}} His [[Power Rangers Mystic Force|Mystic Force]] counterpart Koragg also counts, although  {{spoiler|he's only the Red Ranger's dad.}}
* Before either of them was Chouryou/Iron Face Xiang Lao from ''[[Gosei Sentai Dairanger]]''. [[Fallen Hero]] and father of  {{spoiler|Ryou, the series' Red Ranger}}. He is ''by far'' the most blatant. His boss amongst the villains is a ripoff of the Emperor when in human guise,  {{spoiler|he dies saving his son from said boss's [[Electric Torture]], and the spirits of his friends appear to forgive him when he passes.}}

== Video Games ==
* A non-canon example is in ''[[The Force Unleashed]]'''s {{spoiler|dark side ending, which has Galen Marek in a similar situation to Darth Vader by being made a cyborg.}}
* Darth Malak from ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' is possibly the most obvious Darth Vader expy.
* Dark Madder from ''[[Warp Force]]''.
* Kabal from the ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' series.
* Grahf '''[[Evil Is Hammy|THE SEEKER OF POWER]]''' of [[Xenogears]] was specifically designed to resemble Darth Vader.
* Golbez from ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' is a more fantasy-themed version, complete with a {{spoiler|[[Luke, I Am Your Father|Cecil I Am Your Brother]]}} moment. He wears black armor, is a [[Badass Baritone]] when he's voiced, has a rather ominous and rather badass theme whenever he is nearby, used to be good but was corrupted and brainwashed by Zemus, and once he comes to his senses he helps the heroes destroy him.
** As two more Shout Outs, in ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' he has an attack called "Cosmic Ray", which fires blasts of electricity from his hands in a manner heavily resembling Force Lightning (ironically, the original Darth Vader never actually learned this attack and in fact was killed by it), and he calls the CPU boss from ''IV'' to fire lasers, the CPU greatly resembling the Death Star as a large black metal [[Attack Drone]].
* Gabranth in ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' is [[The Dragon]] to [[The Emperor]], Vayne, is revealed to be Basch's [[Evil Twin]] and is a [[Fallen Hero]] who is pretty much single-handedly responsible for the fall of Dalmasca and the Empire's reign in the region. Clad in dark silver armor with a black cape and having a metallic echo to his voice due to his helmet, Gabranth is actually a broken man who feels he has nothing to live for except his servitude to Vayne, his home and family having been taken from him or given up. By the end of the game he helps the heroes defeat Vayne, but is mortally wounded for his heroism and dies soon after.
* King K. Rool behaves this way in ''[[Donkey Kong 64]]''.
* Darth Malgus in ''[[Star Wars: The Old Republic]].'' Also, most Sith Warrior PCs can give it a decent go, especially with some of the late game helmets like [http://quietube2.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klN9Tt1GM3s&feature=player_embedded this].
* The bosses of the 1987 ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Licensed Game]] for the Famicom are a long line of Darth Vader knockoffs, such as Scorpion Vader and Wampa Vader, who drop their masks and cloaks soon into the [[Boss Battle]]. The actual Darth Vader is defeated before the assault on the Death Star.
* The Darkshine Knight from [[Seiken Densetsu 3]] qualifies. He wears bulky [[Black Knight|dark armor]], is a formidable swordsman and is [[The Dragon|second in command]] to the [[Big Bad]].  {{spoiler|Later he is revealed to be working for the [[Bigger Bad|Dragon Emperor]], which actually makes him third in command. Oh, and he's also Duran's (one of the protagonists) father}}
* In the arcade game ''Xain D'Sleena'' (also known as ''Solar Warrior''), one finds on the top of a temple located in the planet (named ''Cleedos Soa''/Jupiter <ref>despite being a [[Artistic License Astronomy|desert world]] with even a [[Shout-Out]] to Dune</ref> respectively) a flying head that looks [[Expy|suspiciously similar]] to Darth Vader's helmet and that must be destroyed in order to follow on the level. If one skips the planet, [[Recurring Boss|it will appear in space]] chasing your ship from behind. Worse, [[Sheathe Your Sword|it cannot be killed since your ship just fires to the front]], so you must just dodge its bullets until it retires.
* Arguably, Xemnas from the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series in terms of appearance and backstory. He wears a black cloak, wields "ethereal blades" that resemble red lightsabers, and {{spoiler|his past incarnation Terra is a ''very'' blatant Anakin Skywalker Clone with a similar [[Fallen Hero]] backstory}}.
* Epsilon from ''[[Mega Man X Command Mission]]''.
* The Gamecube game [[Custom Robo]] has Sergei, who not only possessed a baritone voice (well, it's implied due to the eight-bit speech sounds being deep), a face mask obscuring all but his right eye, being a high-executive to the Z-Syndicate, and [[The Dragon]] to Oboru, but is also the older brother of Marcei. Likewise, he also pulls a [[Heel Face Turn]] late into the game.
* The [[Big Bad|Magic Emperor]] in ''[[Lunar: The Silver Star|Lunar the Silver Star]]'', being a [[Fallen Hero]] on a [[Knight Templar]] quest to return the world to [[A God Am I|divine rule]], and clad in black armor and robes with an enclosing helmet that makes his voice [[Evil Sounds Deep|sound much deeper]] than it does otherwise.


== Western Animation ==
* Dark Laser from ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]''. Some TV guide misprints even refer to him as Vader.
* Dark Vegan from ''[[Johnny Test]]'' - though he's probably more of an [[Expy]] of the aforementioned [[Spaceballs|Dark Helmet]].
* Duck Vader from ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]''
* Baron Ryang from the [[Trapped in TV Land]] episode of ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''
* Darph Bobo from ''[[Tripping the Rift]]''
* ''[[Loonatics Unleashed]]'': Slyth Vester, a combination of the cat Sylvester and Darth Vader!
* Jack Thompson in ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]]''

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[[Category:Fountain of Expies]]
[[Category:Shout-Outs Index]]
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