Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars #4

Star Wars has just debuted one of the weirdest TIE Fighters I’ve ever seen in the official canon. Set during the earliest days of the New Republic, Marvel’s new Star Wars comic features the heroes of the Rebellion attempting to restore a stable, galaxy-wide democracy following the days of the Empire. However, not everyone’s on board with the vision.

In the first few issues of Marvel’s new Star Wars series, the planets of the Fenril Sector have banded together against the New Republic, cutting off trade until their demands are met. They’ve also employed a brand-new military force using repurposed Imperial hardware. As such, the new Star Wars #4 features one of the strangest TIE Fighters of all time.

Star Wars Has Introduced the New Republic Era’s Zantarrk Stormtroopers

Known as the Zantarrk Gang, it seems as though this new force was once a small band of pirates in the Outer Rim. However, the fall of the Galactic Empire has allowed the Zantarrk to exponentially grow into a major threat, appropriating old pieces of stormtrooper armor and blasters to become far more dangerous.

Likewise, the very first issue of 2025’s new Star Wars run confirmed that the Zantarrk even got their hands on at least one Imperial Star Destroyer (if not more). Having been repurposed and modified much like their mismatched armor, it’s now been revealed that the Zantarrk Gang has done the same thing with a fleet of TIE Fighters.

I Can’t Believe The Zantarrk Gang’s New TIE Fighter Exists

Attacking The Millennium Falcon in Star Wars #4 by Alex Segura and Phil Noto, a large force of TIE Fighters is deployed by the Zantaark Gang from an Imperial light cruiser. However, these TIE variants are unlike anything that’s been seen before.

On the one hand, there are multiple kinds of TIE Fighters beyond the standard model, such as the TIE Interceptor, Bomber, Striker, and even some incredibly powerful variants, like Grand Admiral Thrawn’s TIE Defender project or Andor season 2’s prototype TIE Avenger.

That said, the one common denominator is that each TIE model typically has at least two or more solar collector panel wings. Even the recent mashup “TIE-Wing” seen in Legacy of Vader #5 had two-panel wings.

Keeping that in mind, one of the repurposed Zantarrk TIEs surprisingly features only a single panel with what looks to be an engine on one side, and the cockpit on the other. Beyond providing power, these solar panel wings provide stability during flight. As such, it’s hard to imagine how this new TIE is even functional on multiple counts.

Nevertheless, this strange new TIE does help highlight just how much the Zantarrk Gang has cobbled together discarded Imperial materials for their own means, allowing them to become the next big threat to the galaxy and the New Republic.

Likewise, they’ve notably become a threat well before the actual Imperial Remnant, as we’ve seen in shows like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, both of which are set a few years later in the New Republic Era.

Star Wars #4 is now on sale from Marvel Comics.