25 Days of Villains - #18: Dark Samus

In the last moments of the Metroid Prime's existence, it lashed out at Samus, managing to latch onto and subsequently absorb her Phazon Suit. With the Metroid Prime already overloaded on Phazon, it continued to expand outwards until it could no longer sustain itself, which led to its demise. However, not long after Samus left Tallon IV, her mission there complete, the Metroid Prime's consciousness began to reorganize itself. The combined DNA of the Metroid Prime and Samus Aran, along with the vast deposits of Phazon within the crater, gave birth to the main villain of the Prime trilogy - Dark Samus.

In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Dark Samus spends much of her time interfering with both the space pirates' research and Samus' progress. The pirates mistake her for the famed bounty hunter, and many of Samus' own encounters with her Phazon counterpart indicate that Dark Samus is still learning how to use this new body to its fullest potential. Dark Samus spends a large portion of the game tracking down sources of Phazon, but is ultimately defeated by Samus time and time again. Her last desperate frenzy as the Ing darkworld collapses implied the death of Dark Samus.

Unfortunately, this was not the case, as Dark Samus rematerialized months later through pirate-controlled Phazon supplies. Having learned from her previous defeats, Dark Samus displays her power to the space pirates, leading them to become subservient to her goal of spreading Phazon across the galaxy. While not originally a part of her plan, Dark Samus' encounter with bounty hunters Ghor, Rundas, Gandrayda, and Samus leaves them marked, and all but the series' posterchild become corrupted by the part of Dark Samus that dwells within them.

Dark Samus does mimic Samus to some degree. Both present themselves as calm and calculating, with Dark Samus leaning towards semi-spastic reactions only when backed against a wall. Both use arm cannons, though Dark Samus utilizes the raw dark energy of Phazon. She is also given the ability to hover and dark much more quickly than Samus Aran.

Boss theme:

I love how the alien techno sounds are offset by the electric guitar and choir voices.