Um. I dunno if I’d use the word “idolize”. It is a fictional character in a fictional universe. Drawing such dubious connection between real world things to a romanticized foil for the heroes is… dubious.
In general I loved all of the 80s villains - Skeletor, Megatron, Soundwave, Cobra Commander, The Baroness, Storm Shadow, Mumra, Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, Venger and Tiamat (I mean come on! Look at her!) Etc etc. Partly probably because they tended to code them in colors of blues and purples and darker colors (a hold over from comics.), which were my favorite colors. They were always more visually interesting, and my brain reacts to bright colors and visually interesting things. The villains on Batman The Animated Series were all way more interesting that Batman. Especially Mark Hammil’s Joker. (Ok, that was early 90s, but still)
At any rate, just because I enjoy a character who is a villain, or a “bad guy”, doesn’t mean I want them to be something in real life. I don’t want psycho murders, power crazed narcissists, madmen seeking power for power sake, authoritarian dictators, or hired mercenaries who follow money and glory to be real world things. They are meant to be fantasies. An obstacle for the hero to overcome. A foil.
The character in the films was supposed to be a mystery - an unknown danger that threatened the heroes. And he was for ESB. And he was for a little bit in RotJ, until the above mentioned debacle.
The character didn’t stay in the movies. He lived on in the minds of the people who played with the toys, read the Marvel comics, and read through the same ESB story book over and over. Pouring over the pictures. Leafing through the movie tie in magazine your cousin lets you look at, but you don’t have. Etc. etc.
From there, new creators brought him back in comics and books and I honestly don’t know all of the back story there (not that it matters, as most of it was ret-conned). And even though the rumors were always that he some how survived, but actually brought back in the flesh - by the original actor for the person he was cloned from. Fantastic. Both a wish fulfillment and a worry that they won’t do a good job.
I have no idea if the new show will be good or not. It looks like he is an anti-hero. Maybe a Breaking Bad sort of thing where you end up rooting for someone, even though they are not a hero by any means. Or maybe it is an example of a story with a lot of grey. People rarely can be accurately sorted and labeled. At any rate, I doubt the story will be wholly unique, as it will sit on the shoulders of all the Star Wars lore and myths before it, as well as past media. Probably more space western like The Mandalorian, but maybe they will take it a new direction.
Guess we will find out.
