DARTH VADER vs GANDALF

**DARTH VADER vs GANDALF** is the second installment of Super Power Beat Down, released on April 27th, 2012. It features a Star Wars character, the sith lord Darth Vader versus a Tolkien's legendarium character, the wizard Gandalf the Grey.

## Cast

* David Baxter as **Darth Vader**
	+ John-Charles Cordery as **Darth Vader** (voice only)
	+ Bryan Morton as **Anakin Skywalker**
* Carl Adams as **Gandalf the Grey**
	+ Hunter Davis as **Gandalf** (voice only)
* Maxwell Glick as **Hobbit**

## The Debate

The debate is held between Damian Beurer from comicbooknerd.com , defending Vader's victory, and Andy Liegl from comicattack.net, defending Gandalf's.

### Andy Liegl's Arguments for Gandalf

* Can easily beat Vader by popping his helmet, since the sith lord's already dying.
* Gandalf's 2000 years old and with that, has a greater level of experience, knowledge and intelligence, and one of the wisest of the Istari.
* He's known to unite an entire land of people to fight a common foe.
* Can cast spells such as blinding flashes of light, fire and a similar to Vader's force push.
* Has fought a Balrog for almost 12 days straight.

### Damien Beurer's Arguments for Vader

* Gandalf is old and tired, making him easy for Vader to beat.
* Has got a galaxy of Stormtroopers as his army.
* Vader was responsible for most of the slaughter of the Jedi Order, which included small children, so he's merciless.
* Lightsabers can cut through almost everything.
* Has an armada of starships.
* Has the Force as his ally, and while Gandalf needs a staff to concentrate his magic, Vader doesn't need anything to use the Force.

## Beat Down Recap

A TIE Fighter is shown arriving in Middle-Earth, while Gandalf and a hobbit (probably representing Frodo Baggins) are walking within the Shire. The wizard notices Darth Vader coming in their direction, and seeing him as a menace, Gandalf tells the hobbit to stay behind him.

Vader introduces himself and reveals the reason of his visit: He's there for the One Ring. Gandalf tells him he's not going to get it, and the Sith Lord strikes with force lightning, although the wizard is able to briefly block the attack with magic, as he tells the hobbit to run.

And the hobbit runs and hides, as Vader goes after him, only to face Gandalf once again. After a short fight, the wizard summons a power with his sword, and assumes the young form of his enemy, when still known as Anakin Skywalker.

The Dark Lord calls his opponent a fool, for not knowing the power of the Dark Side, and is answered with a statement that the ring is more powerful than even it, and it would destroy any good left inside Vader, also calling him Anakin.

Darth Vader whips out his lightsaber, and his young form does the same, the two combat for a while, until Vader's hand is cut off. Gandalf them assumes his original form again and with magic, appears to have defeated the opponent. When the wizard prepares the final attack to knock down the sith lord, Vader uses the force to attrack the lightsaber back to his hand, and with that movement, cuts Gandalf in half, defeating his adversary as the hobbit screams, shocked.

The hobbit leaves his hideout, and Vader tells the Hobbit to give him the One Ring. Submitted by the Force to the Dark Lord's will, the halfling has no choice, and ends up giving the object to the Sith Lord.

## Trivia

### General

* This is the first Super Power Beat Down to actually have a combat between two participants, as the previous episode was actually a race.
	+ Because of this reason, this episode is by many fans considered the first real Super Power Beat Down.

### Continuity

* This battle marks Darth Vader's first appearance in the series.

### References

* The scene where Gandalf and Frodo are introduced seems to be based upon a scene from the film *The Fellowship of the Ring*, the first movie for The Lord of the Rings franchise.
	+ Also, when Frodo hides at the forest in a later scene, could be a reference to where he, and the hobbits Sam, Merry and Pippin hide from the Black Knights in the same movie.
* Most of Gandalf and Vader's lines seem to be taken off directly or based upon their lines at their respective movies, such as "You shall not pass!" and "You don't know the power of the Dark Side."
* The hobbit in the video has a similar role as and probably represents Frodo Baggins.

### Debatable Flaws

* As stated by many, Gandalf is a Mayar, and a Istari, sent by Eru, Middle-Earth's god-like being and creator, to eradicate corruption and darkness, in which the old man is just one of his forms, so he wouldn't have died even after being cut in a half.
* During a few scenes, Vader is shown to use force lightning, an ability he's not capable of doing because of his prosthetic arms.

## References

1. ↑ http://lotr.wikia.com/Gandalf
2. ↑ http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:Can\_Darth\_Vader\_use\_force\_lightning