If May 4 belongs to the heroes of the Rebellion, May 5 quietly slips in right after with a very different mood. “Revenge of the Fifth” is what fans call it, an unofficial, internet-born extension of Star Wars Day tied to Star Wars. Unlike May the Fourth Be With You, which has been fully embraced by studios, brands and streaming platforms, May 5 stays firmly in fan territory, built more by memes and group chats than marketing teams.
Before all of that, there is another date that quietly sits in the background of the saga. On May 25, 1977, Star Wars first premiered at the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. It was not a fan holiday then, just a film release, but it ended up becoming the moment the whole galaxy far, far away officially landed on Earth. Fans sometimes joke that May 25 is the “original May the Force be with you moment” before any of these internet traditions even existed.
Origins and the Great Debate
“Revenge of the Fifth” comes from Revenge of the Sith, the 2005 prequel film that charts the fall of the Jedi and the rise of the Empire. Fans took that darker tone and flipped it into something playful. May 4 is for the light side, May 5 is for the dark side.
Of course, being the internet, there is always a debate. Some fans insist it should be “Revenge of the Sixth” instead, arguing that it sounds closer to Sith. That argument comes back every year like clockwork, usually somewhere between memes and edits of Darth Vader looking dramatically into the distance.
Happy Revenge of the Fifth!
byu/DarthNihilus1246 inStarWars
How fans actually celebrate it
There are no official events or studio-backed campaigns here. Everything is fan-driven and a bit loose in the best way.
Most of it lives online. Villain appreciation posts flood timelines, with Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine and Kylo Ren getting their moment in the spotlight. Others dig deeper into lore, talking Sith philosophy, the Rule of Two and all the darker corners of the Force that do not always get attention on May 4.
Some fans go for watch parties, usually rewatching the prequel trilogy or villain-heavy arcs. Others get creative with edits, rewrites or challenges like turning iconic heroic quotes into something more Sith-coded and sarcastic.
A tradition that was never planned
What makes Revenge of the Fifth interesting is that nobody actually decided it should exist. It just happened. Like a lot of modern fan culture, it grew out of jokes, shared references and the kind of online energy that turns random ideas into yearly rituals.
It is not official, not organised and definitely not necessary. But it fits. Because in a franchise like Star Wars, the story has always been as much about the dark side as the light, and fans seem perfectly happy giving both their own day in the spotlight.
