--- title: Here's How Much Darth Vader's Suit Cost description: It's almost as much as a Death Star canonical: https://time.com/4294289/darth-vader-suit-cost/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-14T19:49:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:17.101Z og:title: Here's How Much Darth Vader's Suit Cost og:description: It's almost as much as a Death Star og:url: https://time.com/4294289/darth-vader-suit-cost/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89657b9bad200feb/69888f2e524fc00789df7965/darth-vader.jpg?branch=production&width=1161&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1161 og:image:height: 653 og:image:alt: darth-vader og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Much Darth Vader's Suit Cost twitter:description: It's almost as much as a Death Star twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89657b9bad200feb/69888f2e524fc00789df7965/darth-vader.jpg?branch=production&width=1161&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Much Darth Vader's Suit Cost > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=3859aa9a-1c63-4a3c-b81c-2781d615f6cf&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Original 'Star Wars' Trilogy Returning to Theaters [Watch (HLS stream): Original 'Star Wars' Trilogy Returning to Theaters](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fva51fI1.m3u8) (1:02)  _Published 2016-04-13. The original Star Wars trilogy is skywalking back into theaters._ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 14, 2016 7:49 PM UTC  Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. Lucasfilm Ltd. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 14, 2016 7:49 PM UTC If you really want to impress your fellow _Star Wars_ fans at the next Comic Con, all you need to do is come up with $18.3 million. That’s how much it would cost to make an exact replica of Darth Vader’s suit, according to the calculations of [_Shade Station_](http://www.shadestation.co.uk/Darth-Vader)_._ The site, a sunglasses purveyor, has analyzed the costs of Darth Vader’s outfit, including special features like a voice modifier, breathing apparatus, prosthetic limbs, and augmented reality filter, and, of course, the base suit, and come up with a price tag. It’s a hefty one, too: $18.3 million. As the base suit alone would cost $12 million dollars—according to _Shade Station_ anyway—it is supposed to mirror a NASA space suit. While there are a lot of [fan theories ](http://www.theforce.net/swtc/injuries.html)about the extent of Darth Vader’s injuries, it’s clear that he can’t live without his armor. It was a good investment for Emperor Palpatine to make sure that Vader could continue hunting down Jedi knights for years to come. As for making your own Vader suit, if you start saving now (perhaps by selling some of your [_Star Wars_ collectibles](http://time.com/4188070/star-wars-the-force-awakens-toys-700-million-2015/)?) you may be able to wear a fully operational suit to the opening of the next installment of the [_Star Wars_ franchise](http://time.com/4284743/rogue-one-star-wars-trailer-teaser/). \[H/T [Mashable](http://mashable.com/2016/04/14/darth-vader-suit-cost/?utm%5Fcid=mash-com-fb-main-link#Dl5BGJYNDuqK)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4294289/darth-vader-suit-cost/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4294289/darth-vader-suit-cost/"},"headline":"Here's How Much Darth Vader's Suit Cost","datePublished":"2016-04-14T19:49:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:42:17.101Z","description":"It's almost as much as a Death Star","url":"https://time.com/4294289/darth-vader-suit-cost/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Star Wars","darth vader"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89657b9bad200feb/69888f2e524fc00789df7965/darth-vader.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89657b9bad200feb/69888f2e524fc00789df7965/darth-vader.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"darth-vader","caption":"Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back.","creditText":"Lucasfilm Ltd.","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4294289/darth-vader-suit-cost/","name":"Here's How Much Darth Vader's Suit Cost"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Original 'Star Wars' Trilogy Returning to Theaters","description":"The original Star Wars trilogy is skywalking back into theaters.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Fva51fI1/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-13T16:41:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fva51fI1.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4294289/darth-vader-suit-cost/","duration":"PT1M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4294289/darth-vader-suit-cost/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```