Warning! Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: Darth Vader #18!
The awesome moment near the end of Star Wars: The Last Jedi when Luke Skywalker uses Force projection to fool Kylo Ren in epic fashion actually happened long before in some capacity - by a non-Force-sensitive Imperial officer no less. Of course, Luke learned the technique from the sacred Jedi texts that recorded how the power originated from the Fallanassi order, but the similarity between both events is impossible to ignore.
The Empire's Chief Regional Auditor Cygnus Anton performs Luke Skywalker's amazing feat without the Force in Star Wars: Darth Vader #18 by writer Greg Pak, artist Leonard Kirk, colorist Alex Sinclair, and letterer Joe Caramagna. Transpiring after The Empire Strikes Back, Cygnus Anton arrives on Calior in the Outer Rim to "formally reclaim" land from the indigenous people there. But he foolishly comes with Crimson Dawn guards, which prompts an attack by a vigilante group known as the Revengers that has waged war against the organization. Chaos ensues, and Cygnus Anton is ostensibly about to be murdered when his body suddenly takes the form of a blue-tinted holo-projection, revealing that he was never there in the first place. As the real Anton says from the safety of an Imperial vessel, "You think I'd be foolish enough to touch the ground of this forsaken planet in person?"
Anton doesn't disclose what technology he used to make his holo-projection look so realistic, but it is effective enough to trick both readers and the ambushing Revengers. Anton apparently takes his ruse to a whole other level because when the Imperial officer reveals he was never really there, he's on the ground under a towering Revenger, creating the impression that his assailant somehow has knocked him off his feet when that isn't possible. Regardless of how well he has put on his facade, the technology begins to fail at this moment, possibly because the Crimson Dawn killer touched his holo-image.
Kylo Ren learns of The Last Jedi in a similar manner. Unbeknownst to Kylo, Luke uses a non-corporeal Force projection from Ahch-To to create the allusion that he is standing between the vast army of the First Order and the defeated Resistance base on the mineral planet of Crait. Luke is able to deceive Kylo for so long in part because the debris from the absurd amount of fire power that his nephew consecutively unleashes upon him masks that the turbolasers are actually going through their target and that Luke is not deflecting them effortlessly with the Force, which Kylo is led to assume, much to his disbelief. It's only when Kylo confronts Luke in a lightsaber duel that he realizes the truth when his blade es through his uncle.
Of course, Luke Skywalker's employment of the Force serves a much greater purpose than Anton's deception from the comics. Anton may successfully fool the oncoming Revengers, but it doesn't deter their onslaught by any means. He just manages to convey the Empire's plans to the people of Calior without risking his life. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker's non-corporeal Force projection acts as a diversion that gives the Resistance enough time to escape unscathed. However, the effort puts so much strain on the old Jedi that he dies soon afterwards. Could Luke Skywalker's death have been prevented if he used the same technology that the Empire did? It's possible, since Star Wars: The Last Jedi transpires decades after the ambush on Calior. The Rise of Skywalker would have been much different if he survived, that's for sure.
