WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 3, "Replacements," streaming now on Disney+.
With the Battle of Scarif raging around them in 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor scoured the imposing data vault of the Imperial security complex in search of the top-secret Death Star plans. During their frantic search, Jyn reads off a trio of unrelated code-named files -- "War-Mantle. Cluster-Prism. Black-Saber." -- that held little significance at the time. However, with the release of the third episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, one of them suddenly has meaning.
The episode, "Replacements," reveals Project War Mantle is the name given by newly promoted Governor Tarkin (Stephen Stanton) to the plan to phase out the Empire's clone troopers, and replace them with willing conscripted recruits.
Although the clones have been largely devoted soldiers, a result of both conditioning and their inhibitor chips, the program is, in Tarkin's words, "a cost-prohibitive relic of the past." And costs are undoubtedly a growing concern for a fledgling Empire that's secretly building a Death Star.
While finances appear to weigh on Tarkin's mind, loyalty is what drives Vice Admiral Rampart (Noshir Dalal), fresh off the successful implementation of chain codes. Well, that's Admiral Rampart by episode's end, which suggests he's about to join Star Wars' long line of bureaucratic primary antagonists.
Part of the top-secret Tarkin Initiative, whose other programs included the construction of the first and second Death Stars, Project War Mantle gets off to a roaring -- and undeniably disturbing -- start. In "Replacements," Crosshair (like the rest of the clones, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) is tasked with training leading the Empire's top new recruits, an "Elite Squad" of four conscripted soldiers. For their first test (because Tarkin loves tests), they're sent to finish the mission Clone Force 99 failed to do: Wipe out the camp of Saw Gerrera (Andrew Kishino).
When one new recruit bristles at being led by a clone, and then refused to follow Crosshair's order to execute civilian prisoners, he himself is killed. Although that ruthless move probably didn't ensure loyalty, it undoubtedly instilled fear -- and resulted in Crosshair's commands being carried out.
Although this new Elite Squad lost a member, it also passed Tarkin's test, convincing the governor that the program should proceed, even as the Empire continues to deploy its massive clone army.
Nineteen years before the Battle of Yavin, Project War Mantle marks the birth of the seemingly endless stormtrooper force that menaced the Rebel Alliance in the original Star Wars trilogy -- and became the butt of endless jokes. Obviously, there's a long way to go between the introduction of the Elite Squad on The Bad Batch and the boarding of Tantive IV in the opening moments of A New Hope. But at this point, we can at least say Crosshair isn't to blame for the stormtroopers' notoriously bad aim.
Created by Dave Filoni, Star Wars: The Bad Batch stars Dee Bradley Baker, Andrew Kishino and Ming-Na Wen. A new episode debuts each Friday on Disney+.