Introduced in the original 1977 Star Wars, depicted in hundreds of hours of content, and ubiquitous in merchandise, stormtroopers are inarguably iconic. Over the course of the long-running franchise, often within moments of each other, the presentation of the blaster-toting henchmen varies wildly between threatening and comical as well as between faceless fodder and sympathetic main character.
It is a common gag in the Star Wars fandom to point out the inability of stormtroopers to hit a target with their blasters, often opening fire on targets who then easily outmaneuver them and cut them down. This contrasts hilariously with the way characters refer to them, Ben Kenobi famously comments on their precision in A New Hope.
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The stormtroopers began as the infantry force under the empire in the original trilogy, presented as a uniform army of one-dimensional minions invading planets, attacking rebel bases, and being soundly defeated by the primitive Ewoks. In their first appearance, they overwhelm a group of rebel soldiers, taking many prisoners along with Princess Leia. Each one that falls in this opening battle is quickly replaced fourfold, the door explodes and the army seems to encroach like a flood. This stands out as the high point of their effectiveness in the original trilogy, as they spend most of the films being quickly dispatched by the main cast, both comical in their inadequacy and literally faceless.
The prequel trilogy establishes their origin as clones of Jango Fett who originally served the Republic honorably, turned against the Jedi by the machinations of Chancellor Palpatine. These clone troopers are often presented as more competent than their later iterations, no longer relegated to the role of henchmen, they mow down droids, then defeat the Jedi with sheer numbers. Perhaps more bizarrely, some clone troopers began to graduate from faceless infantry to full characters.
Released in 2008, The Clone Wars animated film introduced Captain Rex, a clone trooper who leads a legion of his fellows into battle valiantly. Rex became a fan favorite, a novel addition to the overall franchise which fans seemed to respond to well, so his appearance in the follow-up series of the same name was inevitable. Throughout that series, on through Star Wars: Rebels, and in various spin-off material, fans have experienced the near entirety of Rex's journey. He is also slated to appear in the Bad Batch series which is currently ongoing. Rex demonstrated the ability of the franchise to hone in on a single cog in a massive machine and turn him into a beloved character, a luxury not afforded to most movie henchmen.
The apotheosis of the characterization of stormtroopers came in 2015 when The Force Awakens introduced Finn. The first trailer for The Force Awakens featured a single stormtrooper removing his bloodied helmet, juxtaposed against lines of infantry filmed from behind. Audiences gasped aloud in theaters at Finn's introduction, and his controversial storyline throughout the ensuing trilogy changed the way stormtroopers are perceived. Finn, a stormtrooper who defies his orders, betrays his upbringing, and becomes a hero of the resistance is a brilliant subversion of the preexisting narrative. The concept would have been wholly alien to audiences who had only seen the original trilogy, but over the years, the franchise has slowly given this faceless army a few beloved faces.
Finn and Rex are standouts, but their presentation does not invalidate the more comical portrayal of the iconic henchmen. The stormtroopers defeated by Ewoks in Return of the Jedi and Finn's redemption arc in the new trilogy represent the absolute opposite points on the spectrum. Even after Finn's introduction, the franchise continues to play the stormtroopers and their tropes for laughs. The first season finale of 2019's The Mandalorian features a fun aside in which a pair of nameless stormtroopers try and fail repeatedly to shoot a stationary object. This scene goes on for less than half a minute and features no dialogue. A meta-reference to the classic reoccurring jokes about stormtroopers' aim represents an interesting point, that perhaps both presentations of the stormtroopers are key to the franchise.
Occasionally, creators include details to justify or explain the varying presentation of the stormtroopers. In Star Wars: Rebels, Rex comments on the differences in armor between clone and stormtrooper. He notes that his visor is misaligned, which negatively impacts his aim. In addition, the clone troopers were all made from ideal breeding stock, genetically predisposing them towards competence. Stormtroopers are not all clones, they are often enlisted or enslaved, leading to a wider variance of skills which could explain their sudden decrease in combat proficiency. These could provide justification for the difference in tone between appearances, but it is worth asking why the inconsistency needs to be justified at all.
Stormtroopers are an army, a galactic government combat force, complete with a military hierarchy, varied specializations and a wide-reaching collection of missions to carry out. Armies, in reality, generate stories with their every major action, every success and failure added to the cultural narrative of the world we live in. Those stories will cast that army in a variety of rolls, from cruel enforcers to bumbling rubes and those readings are all valid. Perspective is the magic trick that the Star Wars franchise uses to cast the imperial stormtroopers in the many parts they play, and that is why both the complex sympathetic portrayal and the comical silly portrayal are crucial to the beloved galaxy far far away.