'''Darth Vader''' (occasionally referred to as '''Lord Vader''' or simply '''Vader''') is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' universe, and has a principal role in ''Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'', ''Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back'', ''Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi'', and ''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith''.
Vader is one of the most iconic villains in movie history and was ranked third on American Film Institute's top 50 villains of all time list.
[http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/handv.aspx AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains''", American Film Institute, last accessed October 20, 2005.] In ''A New Hope'' and ''The Empire Strikes Back'', Vader is depicted as the epitome of pure evil — a mass murderer and war criminal who holds an entire galaxy under the sway of an evil empire, and, on a more personal scale, the apparent murderer of Luke Skywalker's father, Anakin. A Dark Lord of the Sith, Vader serves at Emperor Palpatine's right hand, using the dark side of the Force to mercilessly pursue the Jedi and the Rebel Alliance to the ends of the galaxy.
In the ''Star Wars'' movies
Original trilogy
In the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy (consisting of ''A New Hope'', ''The Empire Strikes Back'', and ''Return of the Jedi''), Darth Vader is the primary antagonist: a dark, ruthless figure out to capture, torture, or kill the protagonists to prevent them from thwarting the Empire.
thumb|left|175px|In ''A New Hope'', Vader leads a unit of Stormtroopers in a boarding action on the Tantive IV
=''A New Hope''
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Darth Vader is introduced in ''Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'' as a dark figure on a mission to retrieve the stolen plans of the Death Star and locate the hidden base of the Rebel Alliance. He boards the ''Tantive IV'', capturing Princess Leia and bringing her to the Death Star. Aboard the Death Star Admiral Motti ridicules Vader's "sad devotion" to the Force religion, and Vader responds by nearly choking the officer to death using The Force to prove his power.
An elderly Obi-Wan Kenobi, along with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, attempts to rescue Leia during their escape from the Death Star. Vader stops Obi-Wan on his way out and engages him in a lightsaber duel. As Obi-Wan sees that if he escapes with Luke and company it would be too late, he sacrifices himself by leaving himself open to Vader's attack and then becomes a spirit in the Force in order to guide Luke.
By putting a homing beacon on Han's ship, the ''Millennium Falcon'', Vader traces Luke, Han, and Leia to the rebel base at Yavin IV. During the Rebel attack
