Darth Vader 25 is the twenty-fifth and final issue of the canon comic book series Star Wars: Darth Vader (2017). It was written by Charles Soule, illustrated by Giuseppe Camuncoli, and published on December 19, 2018 by Marvel Comics.
FORTRESS VADER: FINALE! The FORTRESS is complete. The door will be opened. VADER finds everything he has ever desired. THE DARK LORD gets everything he deserves.
At Fortress Vader on Mustafar, Darth Vader experiences an out of body experience as he walks through the door created by the mediation chamber. His spirit enters a spiritual wasteland where he encounters Force visions of his pregnant mother Shmi Skywalker Lars and Darth Sidious, who is implied to have manipulated Anakin's conception through the Force.
Vader then experiences a flashback of a childhood dream when he was still known as Anakin Skywalker. In that dream, Skywalker was haunted by a shadow of Darth Vader who tried to grab him. Anakin woke up from the nightmare. Shmi reassured him that it was only a dream. While traveling through the spirit plane, Vader sees doorways into key moments of his past including podracing, building C-3PO, meeting Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Senator Palpatine, undergoing Jedi training, his romance with Padmé, training Ahsoka Tano as his Padawan, and one vision of his future duel with her on Malachor. Then voice tells him that the truths that they cling to depends on his point of view.
Approaching a vision of the Jedi Temple, Vader is confronted by visions of numerous Jedi including Eeth Koth, Saesee Tiin, Yaddle, Jocasta Nu, Yarael Poof, Shaak Ti, Quinlan Vos, Plo Koon, Mace Windu, Depa Billaba, Ferren Barr, Adi Gallia, Kirak Infil'a, and Yoda. Vader fights and kills these Jedi with two lightsabers. Entering the Temple, he finds his former Master Kenobi fighting Darth Sidious on top of a Sith shrine. Sidious kills Kenobi but Vader kills the Sith Lord with Force lightning.
Lord Vader approaches a vision of Padmé on a balcony. Appearing as Anakin Skywalker, Vader asks his wife to come with him, telling her that he can save them both. Padmé asks if he is an angel, telling him that they are the most beautiful creatures in the universe. When he reiterates that they have to go, she tells him that he doesn't know her since Skywalker is dead. Padmé falls off the balcony to her death and her body is torn apart by dark side energy. Vader screams in rage and grief while surveying the bodies lying outside his fortress.
Just then, Vader experiences a vision of an approaching figure which turns out to be his son Luke Skywalker. Vader is hit by a blast of Force energy and awakens at the base of the mound. He uses the Force to retrieve his lightsaber from the cybernetic arm, and then plunges his lightsaber into the mound, triggering a blast of dark side lighting that rages across the landscape.
Later Lord Vader informs the Emperor that he has survived his test on Mustafar. This pleases Palpatine since the Emperor had been on the verge of seeking a new Sith apprentice. The Emperor is pleased that his apprentice has learned something from his challenging search for knowledge on Mustafar. He tells Lord Vader that the galaxy is built on lies and that finding truth is elusive. The Emperor requests that Vader returns, claiming that the Empire has much need for him.
Vader promises to return. When the Emperor asks Lord Vader if he has found the truth he was looking for on Mustafar, Vader switches of the holoprojector before saying yes. He stands amidst piles of bodies of Imperials, Mustafarians and lava fleas outside his fortress on the bleak landscape of Mustafar.
One of the scenes in Darth Vader 25 takes inspiration from the teaser poster of the film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.
- UPC 759606086665; December 19, 2018; Marvel Comics
- Star Wars: Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith Vol. 4 — Fortress Vader
- Star Wars: Darth Vader - Dark Lord of the Sith Vol. 2
- Star Wars: Darth Vader by Charles Soule Omnibus