Has Darth Maul been Irreversibly Butchered?

First of all, I am not some Darth Maul hater. It is true... that I'm no fan of the silent assassin archetype, but it certainly suited Maul when that was his defining trope. When I was eight, my dear mother bought me the Dark-horse publication Darth maul from a Brighton charity shop. It was one of the very first comics I ever owned. Ten years later and reading it again, I would honestly be lying if I said his character wasn't genuinely terrifying. It's only a shame, that I can't say the same about him now.

Maul has finally adopted the 'not so scary villain' trope. His goals can be as grandiose as Sidious', but the way he'd go about his plans makes one wonder what he'd actually do if he ever won. Instead of putting the heroes through a Death Course, it'll merely be an obstacle course strewn with riddles. It is true that the Maul might possess an impressive array of powers, but he'll end up using it with all the effectiveness of Misapplied Phlebotinum.

👆 Wrecking Grievous was bad enough but Maul as well, mm ****ing disgraceful.

Maul and Grievous needed to be the genuinely shit scary blokes whilst Dooku was the moustache twirling old-school villain. Instead you have two incompetent moustache twirling villains who lose to Eeth Koth and get beaten by a blind man 🙁

I prefer the old Maul, as in TCW, but I also enjoy the idea of injecting humour into his character. Especially at his age and in his position, he really has nothing to lose. So it makes a lot of Maul to stop being so serious and starting having fun, and it melds perfectly with his sadistic personality. And on a more general note its just refreshing to see them try something new.

How threatening he is as a character is a separate issue I think, I don't think there is any reason why he can't be threatening and amusing at the same time. And considering we've only seen him in one episode and one clip its awfully early to cast a judgement. Personally I think it would be remiss if Ezra's relationship with Maul and his path down the dark side did not gain some serious meat, and in that respect Maul could make for a very threatening villain. But at the same time I'm not fully convinced of the show's ability to execute that effectively. Twilight of the Apprentice for example was great, but fell short of its lofty potential.

There is also the added issue of the main cast being coated in plot armour, unlike in TCW, where he could establish himself as a real threat by say killing Duchess Satine, Pre Viszla and in general ****ing over Mandalore, he's got a loss less wiggle room here to be an effective antagonist. But again, turning Ezra to the dark side is the ideal way to redress that problem, as he needn't deny but nonetheless would be profoundly affected.

Regardless either way Maul will remain entertaining as a character, and as long as he's given a good death I won't have much complaint.

Maul's definitely fallen from his glory days in the TPM.

His depiction in TCW was good. He butchered Satine in front of Obi-Wan. He intimidated multiple gangs into following him. He murdered Vizsla e.t.c e.t.c

It's Rebels that's butchering Maul. But to be fair it's only been the 1 episode so far so will give them the benefit of the doubt and see where it goes before I send death threats to Filoni.

But I am genuinely scared Maul will die to Kanan or perhaps even Ezra.

Yes, pretty much. He's lost what was originally cool and become a very stock Sith villain. It's clear they didn't have any interesting plans for his personality so they just made him kind of generically evil.

Exaggerations. Patience.

Originally posted by DarthAnt66
Maul's definitely fallen from his glory days in the TPM.

👆

Originally posted by Nephthys
Yes, pretty much. He's lost what was originally cool and become a very stock Sith villain. It's clear they didn't have any interesting plans for his personality so they just made him kind of generically evil.

It is almost as if the Maul arc in TCW, could've easily been handed over to Asajj Ventress and further developed her character. Instead of cashing in on the sole cow TPM produced and having Ventress disappear behind a Tano/Offee storyline only for her to get off'd in that braincell killing Golden novel.

It's not like Maul was all that interesting to begin with.

Originally posted by NTJack0
It's not like Maul was all that interesting to begin with.

Originally posted by AncientPower
It is almost as if the Maul arc in TCW, could've easily been handed over to Asajj Ventress and further developed her character. Instead of cashing in on the sole cow TPM produced and having Ventress disappear behind a Tano/Offee storyline only for her to get off'd in that braincell killing Golden novel.

TPM Maul was his best incarnation imo.

Tbh I think Ventress will make her appearance in Rebels. And I don't think Maul's intro was bad, he seemed like a different character.

Also, nothing surpasses REX's appearance on the show.

Ventress is dead, lol.

lmao

Originally posted by Petrus
Tbh I think Ventress will make her appearance in Rebels. And I don't think Maul's intro was bad, he seemed like a different character.

Also, nothing surpasses REX's appearance on the show.

I don't even know why Rex is in the show to begin with tbh other than fan service, I feel like he's just there.

Probably because we never find out his fate. mmm