Early on during the production of Episode III, there was heated online debate over the appearance of the fully costumed Darth Vader in the final installment of the Star Wars saga. The primary bone of contention had to do with who would perform under the mask. When word reached the Internet that it would Hayden Christensen, there was an uproar from those who thought it would be impossible.

People complained about heights and sizes, and typed vehemently that the disparity would be glaringly obvious.

What these people overlooked was that the classic Vader images that had been so indelibly emblazoned in their minds was always the result of an ensemble performance. Depending on where you looked or what you watched, you could be seeing a number of people beneath the helmet.

What brings this up now is our brand new Kessel Mines article about Darth Vader's performer for character appearances and publicity stills. It's a great article by Pete Vilmur, and it sheds light on a number of things that took me by surprise. It mentions the famous Factors poster of Vader holding his lightsaber while standing against a heavily airbrushed background. It was one of my favorite posters as a kid. You may remember it as the back cover of Random House's Star Wars Storybook from 1978.

I would never have guessed that the Darth Vader standing on the back of that book was different from the Darth Vader in the movie.

Oh sure, you're thinking, it's not a fair comparison because these Vaders were about the same height. The main online argument against Hayden was that he was too short to play Vader.

But this overlooks the fact that by that same reckoning, stunt double Bob Anderson would be too short to play Vader. Yet play him he did in all the best duels - the ones in Empire and Jedi. When I was gathering photos for the Photoreceptor series for Hyperspace, I was surprised to find scores of pictures of Bob Anderson in armor that were never published, because they show his feet. Look through your old storybooks - the pictures of Vader dueling Luke never show Vader's feet! Why? Because Bob Anderson is wearing platform shoes!

For years, those photos were restricted from publication to not spoil the illusion. But Photorecepter got to run several of them:

Double Duel
A Swing and a Miss
Dark Lord Double

Even after Hayden proved his mettle playing the part, some people still wouldn't accept it was him under the helmet, despite the documented evidence on the DVD and in the Making Episode III video series. In fact, I heard of some people who thought the Vader seen walking down the Star Destroyer's central bridge platform was computer-generated, since they were so eager to believe that Christensen could not pull it off.

There is no CG Vader in that scene. It is Hayden walking.

Vader has always been an ensemble performance, from Dave Prowse's commanding presence to Bob Anderson's great swordwork to James Earl Jones' stentorian tones. No one person should ever take credit for it.

Regarding the Revenge of the Sith merchandise that appeared everywhere around the world last year, I've got a not-so-surprising secret for you: that's not always Hayden under the helmet on the side of a Burger King cup or on a box of crackers. Likewise, it wasn't Dave Prowse decorating the side of Pepsi displays back in 1997. Or even 1977, as this great Kessel Mines proves.

Not that it really matters. Because in the end, it's all Vader.