Do we like them?

Do we like Darth Maul?

A character from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

Our score: 2 out of 10. Brilliant fighter, great design, terrible boss. We admire the moves and the comeback, but we wouldn't follow him anywhere. Backing him means backing revenge and crime.

Maul first appears in The Phantom Menace (1999). He's a Sith apprentice sent by his master, Darth Sidious, to hunt down the heroes. He says almost nothing, but the red-and-black face tattoos, the horns and the double-bladed lightsaber made him one of Star Wars' most memorable villains.

In the animated Clone Wars and Rebels he gets a second life as a bitter, scheming crime lord. The Solo film and the 2026 series Maul – Shadow Lord keep him in that role, rebuilding his criminal syndicate and looking for an apprentice. He's charismatic and clever, and his anger is easy to understand. But he uses it to manipulate people and start wars.

He scores low because nearly everything he does serves his obsession with revenge. The pain behind it makes him compelling and more interesting than most villains. It doesn't make him someone we'd back, and he treats allies as tools. Fans love him, but that's not the same as backing him.

His story takes a surprising turn: he doesn't die at the end of his first film. He survives a duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the Clone Wars series shows him coming back stronger and angrier, with a mechanical lower body, a new purpose and a thirst for revenge on those who wronged him.