25 most heroic Star Wars moments of all-time, ranked

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TOKYO, JAPAN – NOVEMBER 28: Star Wars character R2-D2 is seen before the ‘Star Wars Kabuki’ performance that was produced to promote the upcoming release of ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ at Meguro Persimmon Hall on November 28, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan. **EDITORIAL USE ONLY** (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images) /

20. The trash compactor

Movie: Episode IV – A New Hope

Characters involved: R2-D2, C-3PO, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa, Chewbacca

R2-D2 and C-3PO don’t often get the credit they deserve. The droids have been involved in numerous heroic moments throughout the franchise. One of the most memorable came in A New Hope when they saved the lives of their new friends.

Han Solo and Chewbacca accompanied Luke on a mission to rescue Leia after she was taken prisoner onboard the Death Star. They eventually rescued her, but had to run from various stormtroopers.

To hide from them, the group jumped into a trash compactor, but then it suddenly turned on. If the compactor stayed on, Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie would have been crushed to death. To make matters worse, a creature lived in the compactor and tried to drag Luke deep below the surface.

While they are on the rescue mission, R2 and C-3PO were left in the hangar control center. They too had to hide from stormtroopers which caused C-3PO to leave behind his comlink behind. Without being about to communicate with the group, the droid thought that his friends were killed. Thankfully, R2 was able to turn off the compactor just in time to save everyone.

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