Darth Maul

We always hoped that Darth Maul was more than just a pretty face. He was introduced way back in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, where he looked cool and was great at fighting but barely had lines, displayed little personality, and (seemingly) died at the end. He's appeared since in various tie-in stories and animated episodes, but now he's getting a spotlight like never before in a new Marvel comic --- and Marvel has provided a first look at issue #1.

Darth Maul makes his return in February in a five-issue Marvel series that hopes to bring new dimensions to a character who was, in the eyes of many fans, under-served by the Star Wars movies. Maul appeared only in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, in which he had few lines, and was cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi before falling to his apparent death at the end of the film.

With all they hype and hoopla surrounding Star Wars: The Force Awakens, many companies have dived in head-first into the uncharted waters of what lies in the future. Some however are still relishing in the past, and Sideshow Collectibles' upcoming Darth Maul figure only serves to show that not everyone has forgotten about the one good thing to come from The Phantom Menace. It's actually surprising that it took this long for Maul to get the sixth-scale recognition he's deserved, given just how many different figures Sideshow and Hot Toys have created under the Star Wars banner to this point. Still, good things to those who wait and all that jazz. Though he was killed off near the end of The Phantom Menace, Maul was resurrected, given new legs (twice) and has since appeared in the animated series that still count as canon in the Star Wars Universe. Much has been made about whether or not Darth Maul actually counts as a Sith. Since he was killed before his training under Sidious was complete, a case could be made that he's just a Force-positive player in the world like so many others who never had the proper training to master their skills. Whatever side of that debate you fall on, Sideshow's Maul figure comes from a time when it seemed that he would be an unstoppable force of evil on the side of the Sith for years to come. You know, until Obi-Wan gave him that 50% discount on life. Whoops.

For some, the only good part of the Star Wars prequel trilogy was the introduction of Darth Maul. A truly fearsome looking Sith, Maul had a sick dual lightsaber and a scowl made all the more imposing by his skin pigmentation. Despite only appearing in The Phantom Menace, the character achieved tremendous popularity, in part due to how under-utilized he was in the only film he ever appeared in. While not quite attaining Boba Fett levels of fandom, Darth Maul was the character from the prequel everyone wanted to be. Like Boba Fett, Maul, too, was resurrected posthumously in order to better serve the fandom in the expanded universe. If you'd been watching The Clone Wars animated series, you'd know that Darth Maul was brought back during this trying time during the prequel timeline. Along with a branded bunch of Mandalorian warriors and his brother, Savage Opress, Maul returned late in the series to wreak more havoc on the Jedi forces and the Clone Army they commanded. Now the most feared foe returns once more in Disney Infinity 3.0's base game, Twilight of the Republic.

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