Nintendo finally revealed the eagerly awaited Metroid Prime 4: Beyond during its June 2024 Nintendo Direct. I was so pleased to see Samus Aran once again pulled into an active warzone with a dynamic environment being destroyed all around her, just like in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
What I wasn’t ready for, though, was Sylux, who looks like he’s become the Thanos of this universe.
Who is Sylux in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?
Sylux isn’t exactly a well-known character in the mainline Metroid Prime games. His first appearance was in Metroid Prime Hunters on the Nintendo DS as one of five other bounty hunters who all responded to a call for someone to claim the ultimate weapon in a lost sector of space. All five bounty hunters wound up being used by that very same power to create a deadly boss for Samus to defeat.
Following his defeat, Sylux has been hiding in the background of the series. He next appeared in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. If you manage to complete the game to 100%, the ending shows a ship that looks suspiciously like Sylux’s pursuing Samus Aran.
Finally, in Metroid Prime: Federation Force, the game’s ending shows a character with shoulders similar to Sylux’s hatching a Metroid egg. Metroids are, of course, the titular threats to the universe that started this whole series. They were designed to wipe out entire planets and ecosystems in order to keep even more heinous aliens in check.
What is Sylux doing in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond?
Little is known about Sylux, but we do know he hates the Federation and the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who frequently finds herself helping them. That makes it easy to understand why he’d go after both in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, but the trailer presents him like he’s this universe’s Thanos.
We see Sylux show up with not only the main background villains from the Metroid franchise, the Space Pirates, but also a couple of actual Metroids. This means Sylux has somehow gained the allegiance of this terrifying alien race. Coupled with the sheer numbers of the Space Pirates, he has plenty of power to push back against the only force for peace in the universe.
Unlike Thanos, Sylux isn’t going to pick up a glove and snap people out of existence. He’s a being who craves power. He’s got the Space Pirates under his thumb and Metroids as his pets, and now he wants more. I think the answer to his ultimate plan, because all villains have a secret ultimate plan, lies in his weapon.
In Metroid Prime Hunters, Sylux uses the Shock Coil, a weapon that drains its target of life while restoring Sylux’s. You could argue it’s similar to Dark Samus and Phazon, which they would suck up before fighting. We’ve even seen Samus use Phazon herself to become powerful enough to fight Dark Samus.
Sylux wants to get his hands on some Phazon, which is a colossal source of power. Should Sylux have a way to control it, could make him the ultimate being. Even more powerful than Dark Samus.
Nintendo has now set Metroid Prime 4: Beyond up to have an epic story on a scale larger than any we’ve seen in the series. Sylux and his gang of the Federation’s worst nightmares are putting everything they can into this fight. That means their goal is worth losing everything for, and I can’t wait to see Sylux pull off the big reveal just when we think we’ve got him cornered, allowing all our bounty hunter friends to jump in when we engage our own Metroid Prime version of Avengers: Endgame on him.
