Star Wars is potentially ready to introduce a Bad Batch replacement team. Next month, Clone Force 99 (aka The Bad Batch) will make their grand return to the Star Wars universe in a new epic comic story from Dark Horse Comics. This new star-faring adventure, titled Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories: The Bad Batch—Rogue Agents, will be the lovable team of defective Clone Troopers' latest chapter in the Star Wars story, coming after three seasons of their hit TV show and several books centered on the sharpshooting squad.
However, ahead of The Bad Batch's return, Star Wars is introducing fans to what could be the team's planet-hopping replacements. With the debut of Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories: The Bad Batch—Rogue Agents on December 31, 2025, the official Dark Horse Comics social channels revealed a yet-to-be-named team of Clone Troopers that curiously mirrors Clone Force 99.
This new art introduced audiences to Cole, Hank, Rice, and Charger, four Clone Troopers who seem to be a part of a team similar to that of The Bad Batch.
The first is Cole, who sports the Captain's appropriate red markings on his armor. He is assumed to be the leader of the team (similar to The Bad Batch's Hunter), with a long black cape and red shoulder pad.
Next is Hank, who looks to be the Crosshair-esque sniper of the outfit, rocking a recon visor and green accents.
Then comes the blue-accented Charger. Charger looks as though he is the group's muscle, just like Clone Force 99's Wrecker, sporting all the makings of a great Shock Trooper.
And then last is Rice, who seems to be just an everyday, run-of-the-mill Clone Trooper, sporting the standard, unaltered armor of these Republic soldiers. If this new team continues the pattern of mimicking The Bad Batch, then Rice would either fall into the Echo or Tech role (being the strategist of the crew).
It is unclear how these new Clones will factor into the Rogue Agents story; however, the official synopsis for the upcoming comics describes The Bad Batch heading out on a mission and realizing they are not the only ones on the trail of a Separatist scientist. This likely means that these four troopers are the other rival company on the hunt.
Additionally, it is unclear whether the "Rogue Agents" title refers to this Separatist scientist or something else. There is also the chance that these new Clones are the 'Rogue Agents' in question, having deserted their post within the Republic and working as guns for hire (kind of like where fans find The Bad Batch after Star Wars: The Clone Wars).
Star Wars: The Bad Batch—Rogue Agents #1 arrives in comic book stores on December 31, 2025.
Why Would Star Wars Replace The Bad Batch?
For longtime fans of The Bad Batch, it might be a confusing prospect to see a new Clone character being introduced that seems to be hinting at potentially replacing the rag-tag bunch.
Clone Force 99 has been one of the most deeply explored groups of characters of the Disney era of the franchise. After being introduced in the final season of The Clone Wars, the team received three seasons of their own series on Disney+, and have since been getting the literary treatment with various Clone Wars-era stories.
While this new team may resemble and operate like the Bad Batch, it is unclear whether they have the capabilities to replace the oft-celebrated company of defective Republic operatives fully.
In fact, it might be precisely the opposite (at least in the Rogue Agents comic). This new quartet of armored characters could be the antagonists in this latest comic book story, serving as something of a bizarro version of The Bad Batch team.
That is not to say Star Wars is not ready to replace the animated family of Clones. By the end of The Bad Batch Season 3, it felt as though Clone Force 99 was being sunset with the spotlight potentially moving over to their young ward, Omega, as she joined the fight against the Empire.
Perhaps, one day, the Bad Batch story will return as Omega and her new team (whatever that may look like) replace her adoptive Clone Trooper fathers.
