Darth Maul vs Darth Vader: Epic Duel Coming to Star Wars Canon in Maul: Shadow Lord

For the first time in Star Wars canon, it looks like Darth Maul and Darth Vader will finally have a chance to fight in Maul: Shadow Lord. Darth Maul and Darth Vader come from two very distinct parts of the Star Wars timeline, but there were several years when they overlapped. Still, despite both being active from the end of the Republic until partway through the Galactic Civil War, two of Star Wars' most iconic villains never actually met in canon.

Maul and Vader did fight in the now non-canon Star Wars Legends continuity, but that fight has gone entirely disregarded ever since Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012. In canon, the closest the two ever got to meeting one another was during Star Wars Rebels, when Maul led Ezra Bridger into an ancient Sith temple while seeking a holocron. Now, however, Star Wars may finally be ready to bring both powerful dark side users together.

Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord Is Setting Up Maul Vs. Vader

The first trailer for Maul: Shadow Lord set the stage for the upcoming animated Star Wars show. The series will follow Maul reforming and controlling his Shadow Collective and taking the Underworld by storm. In the trailer, one of Darth Vader's Inquisitors, Marrok, tells Maul that Emperor Palpatine "wants him dead," presumably due to his criminal syndicate and his past with the Sith.

It's clear from the trailer alone that Maul will be going up against both the Inquisitors and the Empire as a whole in Maul: Shadow Lord, which perfectly sets the stage for him to finally fight Darth Vader. Maul will almost certainly defeat or elude the Inquisitors sent after him, and if Palpatine truly has his sights set on Maul, he may well send Vader to finish the job. Vader is, after all, the leader of the Inquisitorius and Palpatine's attack dog.

We Know That Maul Loses Everything To The Empire

Maul's broader Star Wars story makes the idea that he'll fight Vader in Maul: Shadow Lord even more likely. We know that by the time of Star Wars Rebels, which takes place just a few years before the original Star Wars, Maul has lost everything to the Empire. By the time Ezra finds him in about 3 BBY, he's left alone, wandering on the brink of madness, while searching for the Sith holocron.

Maul certainly isn't the leader of the Shadow Collective or in any position of power by the time of Star Wars Rebels, so someone must have removed him from the throne of the Underworld. Maul: Shadow Lord will have to eventually show Maul meeting complete defeat, and Darth Vader is the perfect person to give him that defeat. No ordinary Inquisitor would be good enough to ruin Maul, and Palpatine himself would simply kill him. Only Vader could keep Maul alive and destroy his criminal empire.

As previously mentioned, Maul and Darth Vader did fight in Star Wars Legends, but it was wildly different from the fight Maul: Shadow Lord is laying the groundwork for. In Legends, Maul was resurrected by a group of dark side adepts who thought that Darth Vader was unworthy of being Palpatine's apprentice due to his past life as a Jedi. Vader was then lured to Kalakar Six in a plot to have Maul kill and usurp him.

The duel on Kalakar Six was brutal, but its end was predetermined. After a lengthy battle and a heated argument about who was the true impostor and the nature of the Sith, Vader eventually defeated Maul by stabbing himself with his own lightsaber, as Maul was situated directly behind him. Though it is legends, the duel is a stunning comic full of action, drama, and tension, and it should be a great inspiration for Maul: Shadow Lord.