Merchandise leaks seem to confirm a major theory about a member of the Bad Batch

In the second trailer for The Bad Batch, many observant fans noticed that one member of the squad was conspicuously absent.

Obviously, there are probably spoilers ahead for the upcoming Star Wars show, so keep that in mind!

In my breakdown of the trailer, I explained what’s so mysterious about it: the only shots we see of Crosshair are from the training/testing session on Kamino, which seems to happen very early in the show (presumably in the series premiere). When we get shots of the rest of the squad (plus Omega) in any other setting, Crosshair is not with them.

Which seems to suggest that he is no longer a member of the Bad Batch at some point very early in the show. Some wondered if he would die, but most (including myself) thought it was far more likely that he would defect to the Empire, probably even becoming the trooper we see in the trailer dressed in all-black armor.

This already seemed very plausible, but recent merchandise leaks apparently confirm it. First was a report of an upcoming LEGO Imperial shuttle from The Bad Batch, posted by lego_fulcrum on Instagram. This post included, among other things, that a Crosshair minifigure was included – in an Imperial suit. Later, a leaked image of the set apparently made its way online, which shows us what the prior leak had said. Thus we can assume that the Imperial trooper included is Crosshair. Second, apparently a leaked Black Series figure of Crosshair was posted online, and on the packaging we read, “Formerly a member of the Bad Batch, Crosshair’s loyalties shift after his team defects from Imperial service. Committed to the Empire, Crosshair leads a new squad of enlisted recruits.”

It’s important to keep in mind that we shouldn’t see this as official just because of these leaks (for we can never completely be certain of their reliability), but this would be far from the first time where stuff like this got leaked by merchandise. And, as already mentioned, it seemed obvious to happen just from the second trailer – and Crosshair’s very obvious absence.

And honestly, the fact that the trailer didn’t try too hard to hide it suggests to me that this is something that happens very early – probably in the first episode – and therefore isn’t considered to be as huge of a spoiler. It’s big, without a doubt, but it also seems like something that will shape the show from the very start. And for those already familiar with the Bad Batch, it won’t come as a massive surprise, as Crosshair comes across as cold and strict, compared to the rest of the group.

From the leaked Black Series description, the part that intrigues me the most is actually about how Crosshair leads a squad of enlisted recruits, as that would mean that we’ll be seeing enlisted recruits already, which isn’t surprising but is still cool. I hope that this show explores the transition from clones to stormtroopers, and it sounds like it will.

We’re just over a week away from the premiere of The Bad Batch, and I’m guessing we’ll get some clarity on all of this from the very first episode.