WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 1, Episode 14, “War-Mantle,” streaming now on Disney+.
The latest episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch delivered another character from an earlier series in spectacular fashion. During another spectacular set piece — in this case, the rescue of a wayward clone from an Imperial facility — Clone Force 99 finds itself in a pitched battle with the newest class of stormtroopers: TK units. Beyond a terrific action sequence, it highlighted the show’s ongoing themes of clone troops facing their own replacement, as the Empire declares them obsolete and replaces them with non-clone troops.
However, sharp-eyed Star Wars fans spotted a familiar set of armor among the Bad Batch’s foes. RC-1262, better known as Scorch, appeared in the middle of the fight, then reappeared at the end of it. He had no dialogue, and the animators didn’t draw any undue attention to him. Indeed, the episode’s overall visual trend looks to the future, and the aesthetic of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope is abundant: even to the point of evoking the 1977 film’s iconic themes in its soundtrack. It’s great camouflage for Scorch and the rest of the Delta Squad. They fade so much into the background that they’re far more Easter egg than supporting characters. But their presence is more than just a callback to Star Wars: The Clone Wars; it’s an organic follow-through on the clones’ inevitable replacement.
Scorch debuted in The Clone Wars Season 3, Episode 14, “Witches of the Mist,” where he appeared as a member of Delta Squad. The elite commandos were used for highly dangerous missions, such as retrieving the bodies of fallen Jedi from the battlefield and returning them to Coruscant. The squad was marked by the visors in their helmets, which glowed a light blue rather than the flat black of most clone helmets.
The Bad Batch Season 1, Episode 14, “War-Mantle,” opens with the Bad Batch being contacted by Rex, who needs them to retrieve a fugitive clone. They quickly find themselves on Daro, an uninhabited planet on the Outer Rim, hiding a surprisingly sophisticated Imperial base. An initial effort to free the prisoner triggers the alarms, forcing them to flee. During the firefight that ensues, Delta Squad members lead TK troopers into the battle. The topper comes with the arrival of Scorch — marked by the signature yellow highlights in his armor — who stuns the prisoner before the Bad Batch takes him out. However, he recovers from the blasts and closes in on Hunter with the rest of the TK troops at the episode’s conclusion.
Their presence on Daro — mixed in with newer non-clone troops — furthers The Bad Batch’s main plot thread about the obsolescence of clones. As Gregor, the rescued prisoner, states, Delta Squad and the other clones were assigned to train the non-clone recruits as part of Project War-Mantle. This is matched by the episode’s intercuts with Kamino, as the Empire removes the remaining clone troops from the planet and the Kaminoans plot to avoid being discarded along with their creations. Delta Squad is quite literally paving the way for their own obsolescence.
Beyond that, their appearance on the show delivers the full ramifications of Order 66. Besides Rex, the Bad Batch and a few other outliers, the clones all succumbed to the Emperor’s command and now eagerly work to stamp out the nascent forces of rebellion. That includes specific figures like Scorch, who have not only turned against the Republic but work tirelessly to destroy it: even though they’ll be tossed aside when the Empire has no more use for them.
Whether fans see more of them or not is up in the air, but their presence indicates that The Bad Batch doesn’t intend to simply forget about previous clone characters. Delta Squad is indicative of the ultimate fate of the whole clone army, something the Bad Batch may be forced to address sometime in the future. Until then, figures like Scorch and his squad-mates will likely continue to appear in the series and almost certainly on the wrong side.
Filled with various Star Wars Easter eggs, new episodes of The Bad Batch drop each Friday on Disney+.
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