Has Darth Maul been Irreversibly Butchered?

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Ziggystardust
http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/4/48954/3086354-tpm+maul.jpg

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.

chingchangwalla
thumb up Wrecking Grievous was bad enough but Maul as well, mm ****ing disgraceful.

chingchangwalla
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 sad

Beniboybling
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.

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

Darth Thor
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.

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.

quanchi112
Exaggerations. Patience.

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

thumb up

ares834
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.

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.

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

quanchi112
Originally posted by NTJack0
It's not like Maul was all that interesting to begin with. How dare you.

Beniboybling
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. Nahhhh

Syndicate
TPM Maul was his best incarnation imo.

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.

Beniboybling
Ventress is dead, lol.

Trocity
lmao

Zenwolf
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.

Beniboybling
Probably because we never find out his fate. mmm

Zenwolf
Originally posted by Beniboybling
Probably because we never find his fate. mmm

So he has to appear in Rebels? Could have done something else ya know. Not saying I don't like him, it's just...he's there.

NewGuy01
Originally posted by Darth Thor
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.

thumb up

Also, Petrus, Ventress died in the canon like, May of last year.

quanchi112
Ventress was nothing special.

Petrus
Originally posted by NewGuy01
thumb up

Also, Petrus, Ventress died in the canon like, May of last year.

What? When did she die in TCW?

quanchi112
Originally posted by Petrus
What? When did she die in TCW? She died in a canon book, sport.

Petrus
Ohmaigawd. sad


Ah well, shows how much I cared about her character tbh. I never read anything on her that transpired after TCW .

Nephthys
Quinlan Vos redeemed her with his magic dick, beat the shit out of Dooku and then she jumped in front of him when Dooku tried to cheat-shot him with lightning.

Petrus
Originally posted by Nephthys
Quinlan Vos redeemed her with his magic dick, beat the shit out of Dooku and then she jumped in front of him when Dooku tried to cheat-shot him with lightning.

That's actually kind of sad.

NewGuy01
It wasn't sad, it was cringey.

Petrus
Originally posted by NewGuy01
It wasn't sad, it was cringey.

y

Trocity
It was a poorly developed relationship, and the book itself was garbage tbh. Easily one of the worst Star Wars novels ever written.

Petrus
Good thing I didn't read it then.

Darth Thor
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.


Nah that Story Arc of Maul building an army and then having Palpatine himself get involved to take him out wouldn't have worked at all with Ventress.

Also I feel there was always that hope of redemption for Ventress, which simply didn't exist with Maul.

Beniboybling
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