Stormtrooper (Star Wars)
Stormtroopers are fictional soldiers in the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. Introduced in the original Star Wars film trilogy, the Stormtroopers are the shock troops/space marines of the autocratic Galactic Empire. Their predecessors, the clone troopers of the Galactic Republic, were used by Emperor Palpatine to take over the government and exterminate the Jedi. After the fall of the Empire, as depicted in the original trilogy, Stormtroopers remained in service to Imperial remnants, such as the First Order.
The order of battle of the Stormtrooper Corps is unspecified in the Star Wars universe. Accompanying the Imperial Navy, Stormtroopers are able to be deployed swiftly and respond to states of civil unrest or insurrection, act as a planetary garrison, and police areas within the Galactic Empire. They are shown in collective groups of varying organizational sizes ranging from squads to legions and, for some, their armour and training are modified for special operations and environments.
Development
In early drafts of the original Star Wars film as well as designs by conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie, stormtroopers wield lightsabers and handheld shields as common weapons, as opposed to the former being mainly limited to the Jedi and Sith factions. While outlining his franchise in 1977, George Lucas said there were numerous female stormtroopers in some units, but few were stationed on the Death Star.Performers
While stormtrooper performers like Michael Leader, David Field, Laurie Goode, Peter Diamond, Stephen Bayley, Bill Weston, Chris Bunn, and Alan Flyng and voice actors like Terry McGovern, Scott Beach, Colin Michael Kitchens, Jerry Walter and Morgan Upton have generally been uncredited in the film series, there have been a few exceptions.In Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the clone troopers, which serve as the basis of what would initially become the Empire's stormtrooper force, were computer-generated images and voiced by Temuera Morrison, who played the bounty hunter Jango Fett, the template of the clone army. The child clone troopers were played by Daniel Logan, who also played Jango's clone son Boba Fett, and the clone troopers as young men were played by Bodie Taylor, who was cast for his resemblance to a younger Morrison. In Revenge of the Sith, Morrison also played Commander Cody, the only named clone trooper who is seen unmasked in the prequel trilogy.
In The Force Awakens, John Boyega stars as Finn, the former Stormtrooper FN-2187 who defects from the First Order and joins the Resistance, and Gwendoline Christie portrays Captain Phasma, commander of the First Order's stormtroopers. Daniel Craig has a small uncredited role as a stormtrooper whom Rey compels using the Jedi mind trick to let her escape from captivity, and director J. J. Abrams also cast Alias and Lost composer Michael Giacchino as FN-3181, and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich as FN-9330. A riot control stormtrooper who calls Finn a traitor during the battle on Takodana, portrayed by stunt performer Liang Yang and voiced by sound editor David Acord, is identified as FN-2199 "Nines" in the anthology book Star Wars: Before the Awakening by Greg Rucka. The trooper, armed with a "Z6 baton" and dubbed "TR-8R" by fans, quickly inspired multiple memes and fan art. Actor/director Kevin Smith also voiced a stormtrooper in the Takodana sequence.
In Star Wars Rebels, different voice actors have provided the voices of the stormtroopers, including David Acord, Dee Bradley Baker, Steven Blum, Clancy Brown, Robin Atkin Downes, Greg Ellis, Dave Fennoy, Dave Filoni, Tom Kane, Andrew Kishino, Phil LaMarr, Liam O'Brien, Freddie Prinze, Jr., André Sogliuzzo, Stephen Stanton, Greg Weisman, Gary Anthony Williams, and Matthew Wood.
In Ralph Breaks the Internet, the stormtroopers in the "Oh My Disney" website are voiced by Jesse Averna, Kevin Deters, Jeremy Milton, and Rich Moore.
Jason Sudeikis and Adam Pally play scout troopers in "Chapter 8: Redemption", the 2019 first-season finale episode of The Mandalorian.
Background
Skywalker saga
Introduced in Star Wars, the Imperial stormtroopers serve as the army of the Galactic Empire, establishing the Imperial authority and putting down any revolts.In the prequel film Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, the first clone troopers are cloned from bounty hunter Jango Fett, to be the Army of the Republic in the Clone Wars. In Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Chancellor Palpatine orders them to slay their Jedi generals in the Great Jedi Purge. After the change in regimes from the Galactic Republic to the Galactic Empire, the clone troopers who had served the Republic became the first generation of stormtroopers, enforcing the Emperor's will as military units, and law enforcement, policing the Emperor's ever increasingly oppressive laws.
The Imperial Stormtrooper Corps swell in size in The Bad Batch after Palpatine almost completely replaces the clones with recruits and conscripts of the Empire, though the replacement of clones with natural beings lowered the effectiveness of the Empire's soldiers. With the Empire firmly stabilized and an Imperial Army and Navy established, the stormtroopers are integrated into Palpatine's personal army and stationed on Imperial bases and cruisers, as well as on the Death Star.
As established in The Force Awakens, after Palpatine's death, stormtroopers continue to serve under the factions that broke apart from the Empire. With redesigned armor, they eventually serve under the leadership of the First Order. In the First Order, an undisclosed number of stormtroopers are abducted as young children, given serial numbers for names and mentally conditioned for loyal service. Stormtrooper FN-2187, later known as Finn, plans his escape when his resistance to this conditioning puts him in line to be reprogrammed. Additionally, Rey's goggles were based on scavenged stormtrooper lenses.
Other appearances
The streaming series The Mandalorian, which is set after the fall of the Empire, portrays stormtroopers as freelance mercenaries in the service of Moff Gideon, a former officer of the Imperial Security Bureau.Star Wars Legends media such as games and comics feature a number of specialized stormtrooper units. The Marvel-produced comics of the late 1970s and early 1980s featured Shadow Troopers. Other specialists have included commandos and troopers equipped to work in the vacuum of outer space, such as the zero gravity Spacetroopers depicted engaging in extra vehicular battle in the 1991 novel Star Wars: Heir to the Empire, and its 1995 Dark Horse Comics adaptation.
A distinct variant known as "Shadowtroopers" appear in Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, wearing black armour that incorporates a lightsaber-resistant mineral called cortosis. As a project of the Dark Jedi named Desann aligned with a Remnant of the Empire, the Shadowtroopers themselves had been immersed in a Force nexus on Ruusan, temporarily empowering them with Force sensitivity. This armour has a green synthetic gem set into the breastplate which sustained the otherwise temporary effect of their Force empowerment and combines with their abilities to render them near-invisible, with only a faint area of blue discoloration giving them away. In conjunction with their Force-granted telekinesis, reflexes, and agility, the Shadowtroopers are armed and trained in the use of mass-produced red lightsabers. Their combination of abilities allow them to lie in wait and ambush the enemy, representing formidable opponents even for trained Jedi, most often the game's Jedi protagonist, Kyle Katarn. Shadow stormtroopers appear in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and wear exactly the same type of Phase III armor as normal stormtroopers but not white in color, but rather a mixture of silver, grey and red detailing. These troopers also possess the invisible feature and use this tactic to ambush their enemies, but only if stormtrooper officers call out for support.
In Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, Speedo-clad and stormtrooper-helmet-wearing "Beach Troopers" appear relaxing at the beach. In Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, they also wear life jackets.
Stormtroopers made their canonical debut in the Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 1 episode "War–Mantle", which was released on July 30, 2021.
Description
According to Star Wars lore, Imperial stormtroopers are men and women who have been recruited at a young age to serve as expendable foot soldiers of the Empire, gradually replacing clone troopers as their accelerated aging forces them to retire. These recruits are trained at Imperial Academies spread out across the galaxy where they undergo intense conditioning that instills fierce loyalty, strict discipline and ruthless efficiency while removing any sense of individualism or empathy. As the backbone of the Imperial Army, stormtroopers are dreaded for their brutality, carrying out atrocities in the name of Emperor Palpatine, and their fanaticism, engaging the enemy with no regard to casualties. Inevitably, some use their position for personal gain against a civilian population too terrified to resist. However, inconsistencies in academy standards led to stormtroopers of varying combat skill and ability compared to the superior clone troopers, which, among other things, can be seen in the stormtroopers' mainly variable, sometimes even weak, ability to hit the target in firefights. They are especially inept at hitting main characters in the movies. After subduing any remaining Separatist holdouts left over from the Clone Wars, stormtroopers primarily serve as an internal security and peacekeeping force until the Galactic Civil War where they start to engage the Rebel Alliance in large-scale battles.Unable to conscript noventillions of soldiers to fill its stormtrooper ranks, yet unwilling to switch back to using rapidly produced clone troopers, First Order stormtroopers are bred, trained and indoctrinated from birth, raised their entire lives for no other purpose. First Order soldiers and crews have constantly trained for combat in war games and simulations, making them much more effective one-on-one than the endless waves of stormtrooper conscripts fielded by the Galactic Empire. First Order stormtroopers are regularly put through mental indoctrination and propaganda programs, to make sure that they remain fanatically loyal and never hesitate or question orders. Being taken from their families at birth, these soldiers are not even given individual names for themselves but merely serial numbers, such as "FN-2187".