The Bad Batch theory: Will Captain Howzer help Clone Force 99?

The team in Star Wars: The Bad Batch has some serious problems ahead of them. When they’re not doing dangerous missions for Cid, they’re dealing with their own personal problems, which they can only outrun from.

On one end, they have the Galactic Empire on their tails. As clones-on-the-run, Crosshair is in charge of tracking them down and bringing them back. What would happen to them once they are captured? We don’t know, but we know it won’t be pretty.

And on the other end, Omega can’t rest easy just yet. Even though Nala Se called off the hunt for Omega — the real problem still lurks. Lama Su wants Omega captured because of her unique, first-generation DNA of Jango Fett. And while nothing has developed since they shook off Cad Bane a few episodes back, we know this issue won’t stay dormant for long.

So, what’s going to happen to the Bad Batch when things come to a head? Well, they are a good team together. But they could use all the help they can get. And last week, The Bad Batch introduced a character who just may be on their side: clone Captain Howzer.

Captain Howzer: Friend or foe?

Captain Howzer appeared in episode 11, “Devil’s Deal,” in which he was part of an Imperial clone squad sent to deal with the situation on Ryloth. He was very sympathetic to Hera Syndulla and her family’s plight, and he might even be the reason why she survived long after the incident on her planet.

But that’s about all we know about Captain Howzer. Episode 11 was his Star Wars debut, but you couldn’t help notice that something was off about him compared to the “reg” clones that he worked with. It appears as if Howzer’s inhibitor chip has somehow malfunctioned, and that puts him in a good spot to help the Bad Batch.

We know already that Cut Lawquane and Captain Rex are clones who are no longer affected by their chips. So now it’s nice to know that Howzer is yet another ally who the Batchers could trust. The only problem is… the clone force never met Howzer in that episode. It’s possible they’ve known him from before the Clone Wars ended. But to them, he could be yet another mind-controlled clone at this point.

It would take a miracle for the Bad Batch to meet Howzer. But seeing as they’ve happened to run into characters like Rex, the Martez sisters and even Fennec Shand, we know useful characters just have a way of finding themselves to the Bad Batch. In fact, episode 12 of The Bad Batch is titled “Rescue on Ryloth,” which means the story from episode 11 isn’t over yet. And that means the Bad Batch just may get to meet the clone captain after all.

If Howzer and Clone Force 99 were to meet, it would be nice to have an inside man — someone who worked for the Empire but was not loyal to them. He could even be the key to getting Crosshair back and potentially even deactivating his inhibitor chip, seeing as both Crosshair and Howzer work closely with Admiral Rampart.

Overall, we know there’s another clone out there who isn’t totally controlled, and it would be too bad if they only limited Howzer’s appearance to episode 11. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of him soon, and he’ll be there to help the Bad Batch.

Do you think Captain Howzer will return? Let us know in the comments!

Update: This story was updated to include information about episode 12 of The Bad Batch.