It seems that, in the Star Wars universe, going Dark Side has its perks.
A new infographic put together by sunglasses retailer Shade Station figured out how much Darth Vader's iconic mask and suit would cost in real life, and the final figure is staggering: $18.3 million.
To start with, that beat-up helmet of Vader's that we see in Star Wars: The Force Awakens is worth $600,000 on its own. That's because the helmet needs augmented reality that gives Vader night vision, advanced targeting and navigation capabilities. There is also the voice synthesizer to consider: that's another $1,000 on top of the helmet's base price.
Vader's prosthetic arms and legs also don't come cheap. Good high-end prosthetics mean that Vader would pay around $70,000 for each leg and $40,000 for the left arm. More importantly, though, keeping those prosthetics in tip-top shape would run the Empire around $5.4 million. It's also likely that the Empire's health insurance company doesn't cover that: that means that Vader has some serious out-of-pocket costs.
That thing keeping Vader breathing, too, is no simple mechanical object: the suit probably has a heart and lung machine built into it, to make sure that the Emperor's right-hand man stays alive. That alone would set the Emperor back around $45,000.
The most expensive part of Vader's outfit, though, is the suit itself. Imperial space cockpits aren't pressurized (which is why pilots wear suits). So, Darth's suit is airtight and sturdy enough to handle the stresses of space travel. That puts it somewhere close to a NASA spacesuit, which means that it would cost around $12 million to create. Of course, that doesn't even include the dry cleaning bill or repairs when Vader accidentally rips a hole in one of his gloves while trying to force-choke a minion.
That makes Vader's outfit a lot more luxurious than anything the Rebels could ever afford, meaning that the Dark Side has a lot of money and resources. However, we already knew that, didn't we? Why else would they continue building Death Star bases, only to have them blown up over and over at the hands of the Rebellion or Resistance?
