Star Wars had many interesting characters when it first started out. Some of them remained, while others disappeared. One such character was known as Starkiller. Some may wonder whether Starkiller Canon is still in Star Wars.
Starkiller was a powerful character that was shown to be Dark Vader’s sith in the original Star Wars. However, after Disney’s acquisition of the series, this character was excluded, along with many others.
Keep reading below to find out why this happened.
Is Starkiller Canon in Star Wars?
Sure, Starkiller was once a Star Wars character, but he’s no longer included. Sam Witwer’s portrayal of Starkiller, a secret apprentice of Darth Vader, in the Legends story The Force Unleashed was a huge hit with fans. sMany of the original Star Wars Legends’ stories had a profound impact on how fans viewed the first six movies.
Earth, an extraterrestrial invasion, and parasites all got a mention. The new Disney era has meant that Legends has been decanonized, effectively erasing it from continuity. According to George Lucas, who wrote the Star Wars films, that’s how they should have been taken all along.
Why Was Starkiller Removed From Star Wars?
Starkiller was removed because Galen Marek, aka Starkiller, was an extremely powerful fictional figure. Since the Force Unleashed games defied so much canon mythology, it’s fair to say that they exist in their own reality. At least, they did before Disney bought the franchise and relegated all the EU stories to the Legends subgenre.
The Rebellion’s foundation and growth were guaranteed, though Starkiller played a role in bolstering its position. He simply accelerated the process as part of a larger scheme to expose any conspirators plotting against the Emperor.
Apart from that, Starkiller was an extremely uninteresting protagonist. Feeling torn between good and evil, angry, and on edge. By the time we get to see what else he’s capable of, he’s dead and replaced by a clone who is even less interesting.
His presence only served to further complicate matters and was merely a vehicle for playing a powerful force user who could yank a star destroyer out of the sky and fight on equal footing with Vader and the Emperor. Then, after the second game, they abruptly cut him loose, leaving his future in doubt.
Should Starkiller Be Re-Added to Star Wars?
Starkiller actor Sam Witwer has expressed interest in returning to the series in a live-action role, so bringing back the character from the original video games could be a huge win for him. Especially in the Disney+ era, the options for bringing Starkiller back are practically endless. Like Reva, the Grand Inquisitor, Starkiller might make a comeback as the antagonistic counterpart to a heroic Jedi.
They’re cropping up more frequently in current storylines, especially as the era between Episode III and Episode IV gets more attention. This could be helpful for the writers because it would allow them to use a well-established character who is already well-liked by the audience as the story’s antagonist without having to alter his backstory too drastically.
There have been rumors for a while now that a live-action Inquisitor show might be under production, and if it really is, then Starkiller is the character that could be ideal for leading the series. The character has a preexisting base of fans who continue to petition Lucasfilm and Disney to include him in the new canon.
How Powerful Was Starkiller?
If Galen Marek, or Starkiller, as Vader called him, had become a Sith apprentice, he could have become one of the strongest followers of the dark side in the Star Wars canon. When Darth Vader was on Kashyyyk, trying to crush the Wookie rebellion and wipe out any remaining Jedi after Order 66, he took Galen away.
Former Jedi Knight Kento Marek hid his family on the planet of the Wookies to avoid being killed during the purge. Once Vader found him, there was no hope. After killing Kento, the Sith Lord searches his house and finds his force-sensitive son.
Young Galen disables Vader, snatching his lightsaber, and aiming it squarely at Dark Vader. When Darth Vader saw Galen’s potential, he secretly took him to Kamino to train him to be a Sith warrior and an assassin who could help him wipe out the remaining Jedi.
Vader was the one who educated him. Vader may not have been a true Sith due to the rule of two, but he had studied under the best and had learned much from Sith Lords like Tenebrous and Plagueis, Palpatine’s master and master before him. If they were able to trick their masters, he would have been able to do so, too.
Vader considered taking Starkiller on as his own Sith apprentice because of how strong he was. Vader devised a plan to enlist the help of Starkiller in an attempt to eliminate the Emperor, well aware of the fact that the young man has the ability to carry out this task. Vader had been secretly training Galen in the hopes that he would one day become a fully fledged Sith apprentice.
But how strong was he, really?
Starkiller squared off against three Jedi, and won every time. He shot one dead, threw another out a window into outer space, and watched another one fall to his death on Felucia’s giant Sarlaac.
He had the ability to pluck Star Destroyers out of orbit and smash a TIE Fighter in a matter of seconds by using force to manipulate the massive objects.
He was able to put an end to one of the largest and most dangerous animals in all of Star Wars, the enormous Gorog, and in doing so, he was able to annihilate one of Cato Nemoidia’s hanging cities.
These are just some of the events that show us how strong Starkiller really was.
Conclusion
So, although Starkiller had a great storyline in the original Star Wars, it can not be said whether it would be best to continue to include him or to remove him from the series altogether. In any case, he remains a fan favorite in the Star Wars fanbase.
