Sorry, Comic-Con. Mark Hamill was not in San Diego dressed as ‘Orange Vader’

July 23, 2018 10:28 AM PT

No, Mark Hamill was not at Comic-Con 2018 dressed as “Orange Vader” in San Diego this past weekend, but he had good fun letting everyone think he was. And fans had great fun following along.

After sending fans into a frenzy during several days of tweeted clues and wink-wink social media suggestions about how he might be undercover at the massive San Diego pop culture event, the “Star Wars” actor and voice of the Joker in several popular animated Batman TV shows seemed to confirm on Sunday that he really was here.

Sharing photos San Diegans jumped on as proof, the politically outspoken actor implied that he had combined his disdain for President Donald Trump with his character Luke Skywalker’s disdain for Darth Vader in one snarky cosplay: Orange Vader. Yahoo was just one of many sites that bit on Hamill’s Twitter posts, posting a story with the headline, “Mark Hamill turns to the orange side for Trump-mocking Comic-Con costume.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune was sorry to confirm Monday morning — indisputably — that Orange Vader was not Mark Hamill after all.

Ever the good sport, Hamill shared our report as only he could soon after it was published on Monday.

Here’s the backstory.

Union-Tribune photographer K. C. Alfred has photographed the cosplayer in question, and it’s actually James Cherry of Redlands, California. Alfred photographed him in the same costume in 2017.

(For the record, Cherry goes by “Darth Trump” not Orange Vader.)

Hamill — a former resident of San Diego who now has a street named after him here — has been seen at Comic-Con many times before for various projects. So as he tweeted updates about his undercover adventure, it seemed plausible that he, of all people, would know his way around the San Diego Convention Center and how to keep a low profile.

Stars have definitely gone under cover before, including last year when Lupita Nyong’o danced her way through the exhibit hall dressed as the pink ranger from “Power Rangers.”

So there’s still a chance that Hamill was at Comic-Con this weekend, but it wasn't as this golfing Trump/Darth Vader. The shenanigans began on Thursday when he acknowledged there was an unsubstantiated rumor that he was undercover at Comic-Con. He both denied it and left the door open to the possibility in the same tweet.

He followed up later in the afternoon in an attempt to clarify his earlier statement, saying he actually was there and showing the masks — including two of himself — that fans should be looking for.

Was it true? Did anyone actually find him?

On Friday he tweeted a photo of himself in a “disguise” that he said he wore to Comic-Con’s “Brooklyn 99” panel. He could have very well taken the photo at home, but he did say he was “having LOADS of fun at #SDCC...”

One of the stars of “Brookyln 99,” believed him at least. Terry Crews seemed excited by the possibility that Hamill was in the crowd during his panel.

Hamill kept going. On Saturday, he suggested he might be here dressed as a stormtrooper.

But Operation Hamill Watch was already in full swing. People started tweeting “disguises” and cosplays to him asking if it was him and he retweeted these two by saying “#Busted” and “#BustedAgain.”

The guessing game went on and on, as you can see on his Twitter page: Twitter.com/HamillHimself.

Fans really thought they found him when he sent the confirming tweet quoting a memorable line by “Han Solo” (Harrison Ford) from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

Many people even started to celebrate that they saw Hamill in person throughout the weekend and applauded his efforts to successfully go undercover.

Sorry to break it to you, Comic-Con fans. Sorry to play the role of spoilsports, Mark.

Although we’re not totally unconvinced that you weren’t in attendance in a different costume.

There were lots of storm troopers there, and some of them were short.