In a HuffPost article recalling some of the biggest “Star Wars” rumors to hit the stands, the publication quoted a 1980 article from Starlog that claimed, “And more than once, we’ve heard that it turns out that Vader is really Luke’s father! Of course, we’ve also heard, from reliable sources, that Ben Kenobi is really Luke’s father, and, from still other sources, that Ben killed Luke’s father.” Some other rumors that were prevalent were about the death of Han Solo, Han Solo becoming a Jedi, a love triangle between the three leads, and the Millenium Falcon slipping into a black hole and going back in time, all of which seemed completely unbelievable.
With all of these rumors flying about without any way of corroborating the information, there was no telling what was real and what was fake. However, after watching the evil Darth Vader and the hopeful Luke Skywalker on screen, there’s little wonder as to why the fans refused to believe the rumor that Vader was his father. Even the wording of the publication seemed to discount it, along with some other rumors that never materialized.
If a rumor like this was to happen today, it would be like fans reading a tweet full of Marvel Cinematic Universe rumors that culminated in Thanos (Josh Brolin) being rumored to be Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) father. Of course, that isn’t even close to true, and if someone put it out in the world, it would immediately be dismissed as complete and utter ridiculousness. Back in 1980, the fans more than likely had the same reaction. Even one of the actors involved in the twist didn’t believe it at first.