5 Stories To Tell In Publishing And Comics To Expand 'The Bad Batch'
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Recently, in CultureSlate’s coverage of San Diego Comic-Con, we overlooked one of the announcements from Lucasfilm Publishing. Surely to the delight of the group’s fans, the Bad Batch are coming back to comics in April of 2026. This new series, entitled Star Wars: Hyperspace Stores: The Bad Batch: Rogue Agents, might pick up the plotline from the 2025 comic miniseries regarding the Republic’s Ghost Agents operating during the Clone Wars. But on top of this ongoing comic support, we recently had the release of Sanctuary: A Bad Batch Novel, and it was a stellar addition to Star Wars canon. With this considerable investment in the Bad Batch by Lucasfilm Publishing, we thought it was a good idea to count down five stories we hope we see with the group in the coming years.
5. More Missions For/With Cid
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While Seasons 1 and 2 of The Bad Batch gave us a good look at several missions run for Ciddarin "Cid" Scaleback, there are other, different stories to tell involving their partnership. Some of those adventures we only saw the end of, or we never saw, but all of them helped wear the Batch down enough to abandon her. Getting more context on those unseen occasions, as well as the unequal division of financial gain between the two parties, would help flesh out this key element of their tumultuous relationship.
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The possibilities for exploring that tension are nearly endless, but some of the most interesting stories we’d want to see are:
A mission with Echo, Hunter, Omega, and Cid, since after the excellent Tech, Wrecker, Omega, and Cid story we got in Season 2’s “Faster”, a different adventure with the other half of the team makes sense.
A mission or two alongside Phee set before the episode “Pabu”, when they fully broke ties to Cid and began to focus their life on the tropical planet. Sanctuary has us craving more time with the intriguing team-up!
A mission involving former Separatists like Senator Avi Singh, but with a key twist, like these Separatists having less than righteous or justifiable motives.
A mission where AZI-3 comes along! It could involve former clones, or have a focus on something medical, but he should get the spotlight sometime!
4. The Bad Batch And Commander Cody
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We know very little about the connection between the Bad Batch and Commander Cody, other than that, before the Battle of Anaxes, it was forged because of a key mission both were involved in. Just what sort of an adventure did he maybe send the team on, or participate in himself? It seems very likely that such an answer could be provided by the Dark Horse comics, as they continue to tell stories set during the Clone Wars. We will refrain from speculating too wildly, but this connection is important due to its later impact on Crosshair during Season 2. It might also be a way to talk about where Cody ended up after he went AWOL from the Galactic Empire. For instance, we might see a tale told in a comic issue by a stranger at a bar, only to reveal it was Cody himself just as he leaves, paying his tab as Stormtroopers arrive to search for him.
3. Echo And Rex
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While somewhat separate from the wider Batch, the largely unknown exploits of Captain Rex and Echo during the events of Season 2 before the infiltration at Raven’s Peak on Eriadu could make for a great story. It would allow for more appearances by Senator Riyo Chuchi, the Martez Sisters, and others in the Clone Resistance to the early Empire. It might also give us some new or diverse villains, because while the Empire should certainly remain the big-bad, and Hemlock, as well as the various operatives of Mount Tantiss, were all stellar, creepy, and effective, Sanctuary showed us villains with no links to secret cloning projects yet who were still effective foes. This is an era of change as well, and showing how people are switching sides, changing loyalties, or altering their opinions might also leave excellent room for new villains or returning figures who have now become villains in the era of the Galactic Empire. Perhaps Rex even tries to go to Wulf Yularen for help, and finds himself facing a man he doesn’t recognize.
2. The Clones Go Rambo
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Hunter has very strong connections to various action film protagonists in the 1980s. From the gruff voice, to the bandana, to his unique hunter’s intuition, to his tattoo, he fits a specific mold, or at least, he did. Throughout the course of The Bad Batch, we saw each of the leading clones in an expanded light, adding to their character beyond the stereotypes they presented when they appeared in The Clone Wars Season 7. But thanks to The Bad Batch, we also know their fate: survival, on the idyllic world of Pabu, for many years.
What if, though, the Empire or some criminal group came down to the island, disrupting life there with sinister intentions in the years before A New Hope? We know there are several Clones in refuge there beyond just the Batch, but led by Hunter, what if we get a stepping-stone story between the series finale and its epilogue scene? It could show us an older Hunter, and a more prepared Pabu, fighting back against foes and removing them from their beautiful island home. Now it wouldn’t be truly like Rambo, Pabu is 90% inhabited with a lot of urban structures, but even so, traps, ambushes, and some hard fighting are all likely to be seen if the Batch works to help save their home. This could make for a great novel or comic issue someday, so here’s to hoping!
1. What Happened To Anaxes???
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Now, it very well could be that this story wouldn’t be told in an adventure involving the Bad Batch. However, given that the world in question appeared in The Clone Wars Season 7 as part of the arc that the Batch were introduced in, and some massive, devastating bombs were last seen being disarmed with the help of the Batch, their playing some role in whatever happens to cause the planet’s destruction makes a great deal of sense.
While it is exceedingly unlikely for the Batch to directly destroy the planet (even if it is under Imperial rule, that seems extraordinarily harsh), past stories with the team have shown the capability of Bad Batch storytelling to focus on a wider picture first, before the arrival of the Batch to play a key role. For example, Season 1 of The Bad Batch had the midseason two-parter “Devil’s Deal” and “Rescue on Ryloth”, and so a story set on Anaxes that explains how the planet ends up a debris field by the time of Star Wars Rebels would be greatly enjoyed by fans who want to fill this critical gap.
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Source(s): Star Wars: The Bad Batch
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