Dark Samus

"The troops now call her the 'Dark Hunter.' It is a fitting title." - The Space Pirates

Dark Samus is a being of Phazon taking on the form of Samus Aran. She made a brief cameo appearance in the secret ending of Metroid Prime, was a central character in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and was the main villain in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Metroid Prime
After Samus defeated Metroid Prime on Tallon IV by absorbing Phazon and using it as a weapon against Metroid Prime, the creature began to destabilize, and in a desperate move, it absorbed her Phazon Suit and subsequently exploded. As Samus left the planet, a new creature was born from the remains of Metroid Prime, using Samus's Phazon Suit as a shell - the being known as Dark Samus.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Dark Samus, now with a new Chozo-based shell and instincts that commanded her to absorb and spread Phazon, managed to leave Tallon IV in search of of it in a suit similar-looking to Samus, although with skeletal-looking feet, crystal-like shoulder pads, and a more menacing overall figure. She eventually discovered the planet Aether, a planet rich with Phazon. A Leviathan from Phaaze had landed on the planet fifty years prior, ripping open a second, darker dimension. Dark Samus explored Aether and absorbed any Phazon she could find on the planet.

The Space Pirates, prior to Dark Samus's arrival, had established a base on Aether. Once Dark Samus arrived, they first thought she was Samus Aran. Her dark suit and her forceful invasions to obtain Phazon confused them, and they began to refer to her as the Dark Hunter.

The real Samus eventually landed on Aether to investigate what had happened to a team of Galactic Federation marines who had landed on the planet in pursuit of a Space Pirate frigate. Samus first encountered Dark Samus in the marine base, where she followed her into a portal to Dark Aether. There, she found Dark Samus absorbing Phazon, with several shadowy creatures which Samus would soon learn to know to be the Ing above. Dark Samus, sensing her, fired a shot at the light crystal that protected her from Dark Aether's poisonous atmosphere. With the crystal broken, the Ing stole most of Samus's power-ups. She escapes through the portal with only a few pieces of equipment intact.

The next encounter took place in the Agon Wastes, within a Space Pirate base. There, Samus had her first battle with Dark Samus. Once Dark Samus was defeated, she collapsed and disintigrated into no more than Phazon Particles in the air. Samus believed that her foe was dead after the encounter.

However, this was not the case. The particles that Dark Samus transformed into managed to reach Torvus Bog. Samus saw the cloud transform into Dark Samus, though she did not fight Samus. Instead, she merely laughed and disappeared. Samus later saw the same cloud in the Sanctuary Fortress, and it once again transformed into Dark Samus. She then destroyed the bridge to the Sanctuary Fortress and left, forcing Samus to find an alternative route across the chasm.

Samus later saw Dark Samus firing at several Dark Pirate Troopers. She disposed of them and began absorbing several canisters of Phazon. Samus pursued her foe, cornering Dark Samus within an elevator and battling her once more. Samus once again defeated her, and she fell off the top of the elevator and again disintigrates.

Once Samus had defeated the Emperor Ing and absorbed the remaining planetary energy, Dark Aether became unstable and began to collapse. Samus, having only eight minutes to escape, hurried out of the Sky Temple and began moving toward the exit. However, Dark Samus suddenly appeared, blocking off the escape route and forcing Samus to battle her again. Due to the huge amount of Phazon that she had absorbed, Dark Samus had begun to deteriorate, revealing her organs and Metroid Prime's face inside her helmet. A final eye appears on the back of her hand, mimicking the arm that reached out of the pool at the end of the first game. It is interesting to note that her "organs" are actually energy-based, and are shaped in galaxy spiral-type shapes in various colours. It also appears that she has a skeletal system, albeit shaped like Samus's suit.

Samus and Dark Samus battled in two phases, though Samus defeated her once again. During the fight, Dark Samus tried several times to kill Samus by launching pure Phazon at her, but Samus absorbed the Phazon into her Charge Beam, and shot it back. The attack penetrated Dark Samus's Phazon shield, and causes Dark Samus to destabilize, just as She had as the Metroid Prime. She tried one last attempt at defeating Samus by trying to absorb Samus's Light Suit, but disintigrates just before she touches her. This could also be percived as some sort of symbolism, as is reaching out for something similar to itself, albeit in such a way that makes this theory highly unlikley. Samus escapes Dark Aether and brings peace to the Luminoth on the planet, and presumes that Dark Samus died along with Dark Aether.

Even though Dark Samus lacked a physical form, she still existed, and it would be only a small amount of time before she would return.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Sometime between the events of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the Space Pirates briefly returned to Aether to collect the small amount of Phazon that remained, just before the Galactic Federation came and took the rest of it. In their haste, however, they also collected the particles of Dark Samus. Using the Phazon, she regained her physical form (now with a more armored look to it) and wiped out a third of the Space Pirates aboard the ship. The rest were brainwashed into accepting her as their new leader.

Soon after Dark Samus had established her followers, she left them for several months. When she returned, she brought with her a Leviathan - she had managed to reach her homeworld, Phaaze. Bringing the Space Pirates back with her, she began her mission to spread Phazon across the universe.

Under her orders, the Space Pirates attacked the GFS Valhalla and stole the ship's Aurora Unit, 313. The Aurora Unit was corrupted with Phazon and implanted into Phaaze, allowing Dark Samus to control the planet and all of its assets - including the Leviathans. The first Leviathan that she controlled was sent to the Space Pirate Homeworld, bringing all remaining Pirates under her control.

After this, Dark Samus sent three more Leviathans to planets important to the Galactic Federation - one to Norion, containing an important military base; one to Bryyo, the Federation's primary source of Fuel Gel; and the last to Elysia, containing a vital research facility. While the ones on Bryyo and Elysia collided without any trouble, Dark Samus encountered opposition on Norion - specifically, in the form of Samus Aran and three other bounty hunters: Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda. Just before they activated the cannon to destroy the oncoming Leviathan, Dark Samus confronted them, and, after a brief skirmish, corrupted them with Phazon. Believing her work to be done, Dark Samus flies off, but Samus, using the last of her strength, manages to activate the cannon to destroy the Leviathan before falling unconscious.

After this, Dark Samus herself does not appear until the game's climax; however, due to her "mark of corruption" that she had left on Samus, Rundas, Ghor, and Gandrayda, the latter three succumb to Phazon. Samus is forced to kill all three of them. Each time one of them dies, a shadowy apparition of Dark Samus appears before them, absorbing their bodies and their powers.

Dark Samus was confronted for the final time in the depths of Phaaze. Dark Samus then challenges Samus to a grand final battle. However, after being injured considerably, Dark Samus called forth the stolen Aurora Unit 313 and merged with it in a last-ditch effort to defeat Samus. After a grueling two-part battle, the Aurora Unit is destroyed, beginning a chain reaction that would culminate in Phaaze exploding, eradicating all Phazon from the universe. As a result, Dark Samus once again destabilizes, but this time is completely destroyed in a burst of Phazon.

If Samus were to succumb to the Phazon corruption inside her, she transforms into what appears to be a new Dark Samus, or something resembling it, leading to an alternate Game Over screen.

Attributes
As Dark Samus, the creature utilized many abilities similar to Samus, in more powerful forms. It could fire Phazon beams at enemies in the form of small shard-like bursts (dubbed by fans as the "Shrapnel Beam") and use Phazon-charged Super Missiles to blast opponents into bits. She could also do a powerful dive bomb attack, a Phazon Boost Ball that generated vast amounts of kinetic energy in alarmingly short times, and raise pillar-shaped shields of pure Phazon energy in this form. However, when Dark Samus consumed too much Phazon, she gained the disadvantages she had in her previous form: Phazon fired at her could overload and destabilize her, resulting in her generating very powerful Phazon attacks to discharge the used Phazon radiation from her body, including a pure beam of concentrated Phazon.

In Metroid Prime 3, Dark Samus' abilities were further augmented. In addition to most of her previous abilities, she could now produce clones of herself (fittingly called "Dark Echoes"). After she unleashed the massive blast of Phazon at the four hunters, the corruption within them seemed to be connected to Dark Samus; after the defeat of each hunter, a strange black wraith-like entity in the shape of Dark Samus would appear above the hunters, and fly off into space, presumably back to Dark Samus herself. This seems to be the manner through which she gained the Hunters' abilities--Gandrayda's agility, Ghor's ability to merge with machinery (the Aurora unit), and Rundas's ice pillars, to name a few.

Dark Samus is a very durable life-form, surviving a massive destabilization, and traveling unaided through space and freely between the Dark and Light Dimensions. It can survive in the vastness of space, travel through it, and live through the explosions of planets, even dimensions. This is how it has constantly been able to regenerate itself after defeat and fly to another planet for Phazon absorption. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption reveals her to be sentient and capable of long-range planning, as noted through a series of Space Pirate data logs that record the fanaticism she inspires among the mind-warped pirates. They detail her plans and how she reacts to certain events, and credit her with being something near a deity whose rule of the galaxy will be great.

Trivia

 * During the final battle of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, the insides of Dark Samus resemble those of Metroid Prime, but unlockable artwork depicts her as having organs similar in shape and look to spiral galaxies.
 * Dark Samus appears as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * In all of her appearances, she is accompanied by a consistant theme song, entitled Darkness. The song is remixed in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, but largely stays the same, melodically, and notes of it can be heard during Dark Samus' attack at Norion.
 * In each of her physical appearances, resemblances to Metroid Prime are visable. In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, the Metroid Prime's face and organs can be seen inside her in the final battle. In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Her chest area is an alteration of Samus' that resembles the Metroid Prime's face.