WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Marvel's Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker -- Allegiance #2, by Ethan Sacks, Luke Ross, VC's Clayton Cowles and Lee Loughridge, on sale now.
Kylo Ren's adoration of his grandfather, Darth Vader, has been one of the most polarizing topics in the new Star Wars movies. In The Force Awakens he come off as too much of a whiny fanboy, so The Last Jedi dialed it back to allow Kylo to chart a new road by killing the past. It wasn't just about destroying his helmet, which paid homage to Vader's physical look, but about evolving as a person on the inside.
He also let go by killing Snoke, leading him to become the new Supreme Leader of the First Order. Now, as Marvel's prelude to The Rise of Skywalker illustrates, he's fully moved away from the Sith's shadow and even surpassed dear ol' grandad as the galaxy's top tyrant.
Kylo's no longer wearing a helmet because he wants people to see him as the face of fear. Under his watch, Hux destroyed the ice planet Tah'nuhna in the Mid Rim, reminding us how Leia felt when Alderaan was blown up in A New Hope. It doesn't matter if you're neutral, Kylo wants everyone to bend a knee and kill rebels for him. This planetary genocide already puts him ahead of Vader because Vader was very much a lackey to Palpatine. Whereas Kylo's officially a planet destroyer and a boss calling the shots.
He answers to no one and is harnessing the Force, more specifically the Dark Side, in ways Vader never could. We saw this in his Force conversations with Rey, not to mention how he can freeze gun blasts and channel Force telekinesis in battle. The only time we've seen Vader cut loose like this was at the end of Rogue One, and even that felt like a retcon, tacked on to make him more intimidating. Kylo, however, is already scarier. He shows the guile of Palpatine, the unforgiving nature of Grand Moff Tarkin and the physical power of Anakin.
He'll spare no expense and definitely won't spare the rod as he urges Hux to track down every clue about the location of the Resistance, even if the trail's cold or the lead's bad. He even has no issue slaughtering his own men. You can see Vader's philosophies ramped up to the max here, with Kylo clearly coming off as an extremist. That's right, he's a Force terrorist. And he's not interesting in simply enslaving the galaxy. To him, unlimited power means being the last person to survive. That's why he wanted Rey to join him, so they could conquer everyone and rule as king and queen.
In Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker -- Allegiance #2, Kylo proves just how unhinged he is at the Fondor station. He has a general kneeling before him, and even though the independent region ignored rebels' transmissions, Kylo still believes they committed treason and beheads him. Here, he's killing for pleasure and not because duty requires it, as when he killed Lor San Tekka or even Han Solo for personal growth. This kill is a game to him and he's more of a sadist than a calculated leader.
Kylo thinks letting people live is a sign of weakness and he doesn't want his First Order to be lenient like the Empire or even Snoke during his reign. He knows that with his ruthless approach, word will spread that his army is an elite weapon and a movement way beyond Starkiller Base or the Death Star. Annihilation is his main doctrine, and as someone who killed his own master to seize power, Kylo's light miles ahead of Vader, becoming more twisted with every act of war. He's no longer a brat, and as he spreads this hate and suffering throughout the galaxy, feeding off it, it's no wander Palpatine might be gearing up to use this same anger to return to power come December.
Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker -- Allegiance #4 goes on sale Oct. 30.