While Mace Windu can easily be summed up as a firm and unforgiving force, he could have also made a great mentor to Anakin, if he only opened himself up a little more.
Was Mace Windu going to give Anakin the rank of master?
Summary. Mace Windu denied Anakin the rank of Jedi Master due to his unorthodox Jedi upbringing and the Council's hesitation to promote him at a young age.
Plus, whenever talk of the prophecy and Anakin being the Chosen One arose, Mace wouldn't hide his disgust. That made him caustic and belittling towards the young padawan, especially when the Jedi became more integrated into the military as the Clone Wars began.
Yes. This is going to be unpopular, however, it's fairly clear from various sources, including Lucas himself, that Palpatine did let Mace Windu win. Lucas himself noted during hos commentary on the film But this part where he, he pretends to lose his power and be weak was something I added later.
If Mace Windu never used Vaapad on Darth Sidious, could Windu have beaten Sidious? Honestly, no. Vaapad, the seventh from of lightsaber combat, is a dangerous fighting style that used both the light side of the Force combined with the dark side. It gave Mace the upper hand in many scenarios.
With all of his accomplishments and becoming the de facto champion of the Jedi, his hubris set him up for his fall to Anakin. Several times throughout the movies and the Clone Wars, Mace undermines Anakin. Even from the very beginning, he was the most vocal council member against the training of Anakin.
With this in mind, it's easy to understand why Mace is one of the few beings capable of defeating Palpatine. In both canon and Legends, Palpatine is one of the most powerful Sith Lords in the order's history and one of the galaxy's most dangerous beings.
Billaba became Windu's Padawan and trained under the Jedi Master in the ways of the Force. During her training, Windu allowed her to study Form VII variant known as Vaapad. She eventually became a Jedi Knight, renowned for her skills with a lightsaber and favored Form III when teaching other Jedi.
Prodigiously talented in the Force, Windu passed the trials early, and continued to progress through the ranks of the order by achieving the title of Jedi Master and, at the remarkably young age of twenty-eight, was appointed to the Jedi Council.
That notwithstanding, Master Windu was also one of the best. If the two spared as Jedi, Dooku would probably win the match because he was the better all-around duelist.
Only three Jedi/Sith in Windu's lifetime ever surpassed him, (Darth Sidious, Master Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker) and all three just so happened to be candidates for “most powerful Force-User in the Republics' 25,000 year history” at various times.
Windu has created and fully mastered Vaapad, a variant of Form VII. Yoda mastered the original variant known as Juyo. Both of them were able to fight with Palpatine on equal ground, matching him blow for blow. It is stated that Yoda beat Mace in a sparring match.
Infil'a put up a fierce fight against Vader, almost killing him by throwing the already damaged Sith Lord off of a cliff. Despite severe damage to his suit, Vader survived the fall, and repaired himself with parts from Infil'a's droid, Arex.
Despite being the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker was not the most powerful Jedi in Star Wars, as that honor goes to Ahsoka Tano. The Star Wars prequel trilogy focused on Anakin's desire to become the most powerful Jedi, and while he became very strong in the Force, his lust for power drove him to the dark side.
While Vader had his weaknesses, including vulnerability to electricity, characters like Emperor Palpatine, Mace Windu, Yoda, and Obi-Wan Kenobi all had the potential to defeat him in battle.
As far as you remember, in Revenge of the Sith, Mace Windu personally arrived at Palpatine's office in order to stop him. After the duel won, Windu was about to kill Palpatine, but Anakin came, who ruined everything by cutting off Windu's hand, after which he was thrown out the window by Palpatine.
