Warning: SPOILERS for Darth Vader #42Throughout the Star Wars Galaxy, there are few beings as feared as Darth Vader. With his unparalleled power and mastery of the Dark Side, there is little that the former Anakin Skywalker cannot accomplish. Even so, Vader can’t do absolutely everything on his own, and now he has his own answer to Chewbacca to help him out.
Darth Vader #42 by Greg Pak, Adam Gorham, Federico Blee, and Joe Caramagna introduces the titular Sith Lord, and his readers, to the Machine Augmented Rebel Corps (aka the M.A.R. Corps) as the cyborg insurgents assault Imperial forces on Zee-Nine City Seven. After the Empire’s garrison crumbles, Lord Vader himself intervenes and faces off against the Corps.
The Machine Augmented Rebels – including their huge, shaggy, Wookie-like Gigoran member – prove themselves as worthy warriors against the Force’s corrupted Chosen One until Vader manages to overtake their machine forms using Imperial Droid brains. And with their resistance proving to ultimately be futile, the M.A.R. Corps are reborn as Darth Vader’s unwilling servants.
Darth Vader Enslaves the M.A.R. Corps
Vader Is Replacing His Death Troopers with Rebel Cyborgs
This is hardly the first time that Darth Vader has employed specialized forces to pursue his own dark agenda. From infamous bounty hunters to fan-favorite Inquisitors, and even to beloved Legends characters such as his apprentice Starkiller, Vader is more than willing to use others so long as it increases his personal power, and the M.A.R. Corps are no different, except in one crucial way. Despite their sentient resistance, their machine programming ultimately puts them totally in Vader’s control, overriding the free will that has often gotten in the way of Darth Vader’s manipulation of his living weapons. Combining total obedience with reactive, instinctual combat skills that droids can’t match, the M.A.R. Corps could truly be Vader’s ace in the hole.
Zee-Nine City Seven’s own Lieutenant Pryde describes these cyborgs to Vader as the deadliest soldiers he’s ever seen, with their performance against Vader backing that statement up. Under the thrall of a Dark Lord of the Sith, there’s no telling what they can accomplish. However, what’s particularly interesting about the M.A.R. Corps is that they each have different skills and capabilities. This has often been the Rebellion’s major advantage over the Empire’s identical forces – there have been many cases where Chewbacca’s strength, R2-D2’s tech or even C-3PO’s skills as a translator have been the one way out of a jam. Now, Vader has his own Wookiee-esque enforcer, a bulletproof warrior, a bionic hand-to-hand expert, and a killer who uses prehensile spider-legs.
The M.A.R. Corps Could Be Vader’s Ultimate Weapon
Vader’s New Elite Are Less Predictable Than Stormtroopers
With his own private war against Emperor Palpatine heating up, as well as Darth Vader’s potential recruitment to the Schism Imperial, there’s never been a better time for the Sith to have his own unique soldiers that the Empire can’t co-opt. While Darth Vader‘s total control of the M.A.R. Corps shows his evil, it will also be fascinating to see him leading such a ragtag group in upcoming Star Wars stories, especially since the Rebels no longer have a monopoly on a towering member who can tear the arms off anyone who gets in their way.
Darth Vader #42 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
Darth Vader #42 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.
