Revenge of the Fifth

2010fan holiday / catchphraseclassic

Published September 25, 2026 · Version 4.0.1

Revenge of the Fifth is the unofficial Star Wars fan holiday held on May 5th, the day after May the 4th, dedicated to the villains and the goofier corners of the franchise. The name puns on 2005's Revenge of the Sith, and what started as a throwaway forum comment in 2010 grew into a recognized companion observance that fans still mark each May.

star warsannual tradition memesvillain memespun memesfandom discourse memes

Overview

Fans use Revenge of the Fifth to lean into the Sith side of Star Wars and to celebrate pieces of the franchise that get mocked or written off, like the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special and the two Ewok Adventure TV movies from the mid-1980s3. The tone is intentionally tongue-in-cheek: posts, memes, and merch pair Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, or Emperor Palpatine with jokes about villains 'getting even' the day after fans trade 'May the 4th be with you' wishes1.

Since May 5th also lands on Cinco de Mayo, a large share of the day's memes mash the two holidays together, mostly by Photoshopping sombreros, tacos, and margaritas onto Sith Lords or Stormtroopers2. That crossover is now the format most likely to hit feeds on May 5th, running alongside straightforward Sith villain tributes and clips from the franchise's more embarrassing footnotes.

Origin & Background

Platform
Heroscapers forum (2010 coinage) / RevengeOfThe5th.net (2012 formalization)
Date
2010

The earliest recorded use of 'Revenge of the Fifth' is a May 5, 2010 post on the Heroscapers tabletop forum, where a user named Obsidian replied to a 'Happy Star Wars Day' thread with, 'Does that mean that today is Revenge of the 5th!'2 The pun follows the same logic as May the 4th: 'fifth' is close enough to 'Sith' to work as a rhyme, tying the day to 2005's Revenge of the Sith.

The joke jumped from message board reply to organized fan event in 2012, when Victor Medina and Eric Shirley launched RevengeOfThe5th.net1. Medina told Inverse the idea came from a joke his nephew told him and was framed as a 'tongue-in-cheek companion to Star Wars Day' for 'everything that's not necessarily canon or part of the original trilogy'1.

How It Spread

After RevengeOfThe5th.net went live, fan blogs and Star Wars communities picked up the date as a genuine second-day observance. Cinco de Mayo mashups became a running Reddit trend: a May 5, 2015 r/StarWars post about a Darth Vader shirt themed for both holidays cleared 4,400 upvotes2. Every year, fans re-open the same calendar argument. On May 7, 2014, r/StarWars user SchlitzTheCat asked whether 'Revenge of the 6th' would rhyme better with 'Sith,' a nitpick that still resurfaces on the subreddit.

Beyond memes, the day became a hook for creator content spotlighting the franchise's oddballs. Fan compilations digging into the Star Wars Holiday Special and the Ewok Adventure TV films, long the punchlines of the fandom, still make the rounds on YouTube each May34. Urban Dictionary entries have taken the phrase in unrelated directions, defining it as slang for a Cinco de Mayo hangover5.

How to Use This Meme

Typical Revenge of the Fifth posts drop on May 5th and lean on Sith and villain imagery, campy deep cuts, or Cinco de Mayo crossovers. A common convention is to pair a Sith Lord with a taco, sombrero, or margarita joke, or to spotlight ridiculed corners of the fandom like the Holiday Special or Ewok Adventures1. Some fans also argue the 'correct' date should be the 6th, since 'sixth' is a closer rhyme for 'Sith,' and that debate itself often gets reposted as part of the day.

Frequently Asked Questions