Star Wars Just Introduced Its Own Super-Soldier Serum

Since Disney acquired both Star Wars and Marvel, fans have been somewhat worried about the two franchises bleeding together. Well, that worry isn't going to get any better now that Star Wars has introduced what is essentially its own version of Marvel's iconic Super-Soldier Serum. The power-enhancing formula that created Captain America got a Star Wars makeover in the latest episode of The Mandalorian season 2, "The Seige". A mission at an Imperial base led Mando and his allies to discover a secret lab, where the Empire was apparently working on creating a kind of Super Stormtrooper, with Force-sensitive abilities.

(SPOILERS) The lab that Din Djarin discovers with his allies Cara Dune (Gina Carano) and Grief Carga (Carl Weathers) was Moff Gideon's (Giancarlo Esposito) true purpose for being on Planet Nevarro. It's also why the Moff has been focused with wolf-like intent on re-acquiring Baby Yoda from Mando. It's revealed that Baby Yoda has a high "M-count," which is a reference to Midi-chlorians, the controversial Phantom Menace plotline that explained Anakin Skywalker's unique Force powers.

A hologram message from Gideon's scientist, Doctor Pershing ( Omid Abtahi) explains that Baby Yoda's blood is being developed by the Empire into a serum, that's being tested on a new breed of clone soldiers. So far, it seems that the Gideon can't get the fusion with Baby Yoda's DNA to hold for long - but presumably, the end goal is creating a process to transfer Force abilities - or rather Force sensitivity - between different host bodies. That could result in a class of Stormtrooper that can use Force abilities, something that Star Wars' heroes don't need to face.

There's also another potentially huge reason for Gideon's new process: giving a gravely injured Emperor Palpatine a new lease on life, in a new body that has all of his immense dark side Force abilities. In other words: we may finally explain how that Palpatine Clone showed up in The Rise of Skywalker. Ironically enough, Captain America's nemesis Red Skull has pulled a similar trick to survive longer than his natural lifetime.

So far, it doesn't seem like The Mandalorian's Baby Yoda super-serum will be the same kind of Macgufffin it has become in the Marvel Universe. The timeline of The Mandalorian is somewhat contained, as the years between the end of the Original Trilogy and the start of the Sequel Trilogy have been pretty well mapped. A Force-giving serum doesn't seem to be a part of the larger saga - as stated, the breakthrough of its creation could be the stepping-stone to bolstering some of the Palpatine/Snoke mythology that's been put out.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian is airing new season 2 episodes Fridays on Disney+.