Star Wars: The Bad Batch Updates: A big Imperial has already appeared in Star Wars: The Bad Batch. But, at this moment, where is Darth Vader?
Star Wars: The Bad Batch wasted little time in incorporating canon characters into its plot, beginning with Admiral Tarkin in the first episode, while still maintaining a strict timeline emphasis.
The series starts with Order 66, the Emperor’s triggering of the Clone Army’s inhibitor chips, which turned them against the Jedi in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and continues the plot of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, with the Bad Batch taking the lead in the aftermath of the Jedi’s defeat. Given this, the matter of Darth Vader’s whereabouts during The Bad Batch becomes a moot point.
Vader is given very precise positions in Revenge of the sith during and directly after Order 66. From there, his course vanishes from view before four years before the Battle of Yavin, in Star Wars: Rebels, Season 2, Episode 1, and “The Siege of Lothal.”
Thankfully, Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the sith, a Marvel in-canon strip, sheds more light on Vader’s journey after Revenge of the sith.
There is still no official timetable for The Bad Batch, although most of the specifics of parallel storylines are intentionally unclear on where they take place. This allows the storytellers to act freely, but anything else is at best an estimate.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Darth Vader
CNETOrder 66 takes place in various places around the world at the same time, providing a shared frame of reference in terms of the canon timeline. It is seen heavily in both the opener of The Bad Batch and Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Season 7, Episode 11, and “Shattered,” in addition to Revenge of the sith.
Between Order 66 and the birth of Padme’s twins, two complete days pass, according to Lucas film storey guru Pablo Hidalgo, which is probably enough time for the first two episodes of The Bad Batch to take place.
During Order 66, Vader assassinates the younglings in the Jedi Temple, and then flies to Mustafar to assassinate the Separatist leadership before his fatal duel with Obi-Wan. The Bad Batch is in transit to uncertain destinations at the end of Episode 2, “Cut and Run.” Around the same time, the Emperor returns to Coruscant to reassemble Vader’s armour, and the Dark Lord of the sith starts his reign of terror.
According to the comics, Vader spends the first days since the Republic’s defeat in Coruscant, observing the purging of the Jedi’s last remains and learning sith abilities from Palpatine.
He thus becomes the Emperor’s personal representative, bypassing the Imperial elite and concentrating on missions that are particularly important to Palpatine. This involves indoctrinating Force-sensitive into the Imperial Inquisition, tracking down remaining Jedi, and spotting traces of a potential Rebellion.
In this way, the ambiguity of the timeline helps future episodes of The Bad Batch to put Vader almost anywhere and yet make him meet up with Clone Force 99. This is particularly valid if Omega turns out to be Force-sensitive, which would prompt Vader to investigate.
The timeline of Dark Lord of the sith involves a couple of more detailed events that might easily include the Bad Batch in a variety of ways. The first is Vader’s participation in the occupation of Mon Cala, which occurred around a year after Order 66 and was a significant turning point in the Rebellion’s evolution.
The second is a probe into Geonosis, which brings Vader to the Death Star’s existence. Its exact date is unknown, although it seems to be within the time period covered by The Bad Batch.
Nothing, after all, limits The Bad Batch’s timeline for at least a decade in canon, and if the development team stays true to tradition, they’ll leave things ambiguous on when it all happens. As a result, Vader’s appearance in the series is just an educated guess.
However, Star Wars shows aren’t reluctant to have main characters, and the comics have left some interesting ideas unexplored. It’s unclear if The Bad Batch would usher back anyone like Vader, but the show’s links to the wider Star Wars universe will only strengthen.
