Baby

This article refers to Metroid Hatchling character within the Metroid storyline.

For the infant life cycle stage of the Metroid, click here.

The infant Metroid, also known as the Hatchling (which was a name used in reference to Samus Aran as well), is best remembered in its Infant Metroid stage from Metroid II: Return of Samus and Super Metroid, though it did not remain in that form.

Metroid II
Samus Aran was ordered by the Galactic Federation to exterminate the remaining Metroids on SR388, so they could no longer be used as weapons by the Space Pirates. She encountered several stages of the creatures on her mission, eventually defeating the Queen Metroid. Soon after, she came across a Metroid egg, the last of the species. It hatched as she approached and the infant followed her back to her ship, carving out obstacles and enemies alike as it orbited around its adopted parent.

Super Metroid
Samus dropped the larva off at Ceres Space Colony, where it was to be examined by Federation scientists. Not long after departing, the Colony was attacked by Ridley. Samus arrived in time to watch Ridley depart with the creature, and escaped the station in time to avoid its self-destruction. Samus pursued the fiend to Zebes where she defeated him. The capsule that encased the infant had been found broken, with the Metroid nowhere to be found. During her struggles on Zebes, the Pirates used beta-radiation to create clones of it and unknown technology to create Mochtroids from it.

In Tourian, Samus found dried husks of a Torizo, Zoomer, Ripper, and Skrees in two of the later rooms. She then watched as a Sidehopper met the same fate at the hands of the Metroid, now much larger than any that she had previously encountered. It then turned on Samus, siphoning her health within an inch of her life before recognizing her. Samus continued on through the base to fight Mother Brain, who transforms into an enormous cyborg monster, firing Hyper Beams at Samus until the hunter could no longer stand. As the creature prepared the final blast, the Metroid darted in and latched onto the attacker. Leaving the husk of remains, the enormous Metroid displayed a previously unknown ability to heal Samus.

Mother Brain, not yet dead, rises and fires upon the Metroid. After fully healing Samus, the Metroid turns its attention to Mother Brain, who fires off her own attack before the Metroid has a chance to latch on, killing the Metroid. However, as Samus stands up to fight, she discovers that the Metroid endowed her with the Hyper Beam ability, which she promptly uses to slay Mother Brain and avenge her "child". Samus then escapes the planet after Mother Brain's death triggers an enormous explosive.

Its role in the Super Metroid Comic was more or less the same, though Mother Brain apparently tried to convince it that she was its true mother, not Samus. Also, Chief Hardy shot the Metroid Hatchling (he mistook it for another Metroid clone). The in-game death of the creature still likely occurred after this, while not depicted in the comic, as Samus still blames Mother Brain for the Metroid's death at the end. Armstrong Houston theorizes in the final issue that that the reason for the Metroid's size was due to it being "exposed to massive levels of beta rays" by the Mother Brain.

Metroid Fusion
Some time afterwards, Samus is asked to escort a Biologic Space Laboratories science team on SR388. They planned to study the changes in the ecosystem since the Metroid extinction. During this expedition, Samus is attacked by an X Parasite. The creature causes her to become disoriented, and she crashes her Gunship into the SR388 System Asteroid Belt. The ship jettisoned the infected hunter in an escape pod moments before the crash and she was found by the team aboard Biologic Space Laboratories research station and brought there to be treated. Her Varia Suit could not be removed normally while she was unconscious due to its integration with her nervous system, so parts of it had to be surgically removed. Her chances of survival were very low, until one scientist proposed creating the Vaccine "Metroid", from surviving DNA of the hatchling. The vaccine was a success, removing all traces of the X from her system. It also helped to create the Fusion Suit, which made Samus more Metroid-like, now weak to cold temperatures and attacks but able to absorb the previously deadly X Parasites for health and ammo.

Samus remarked later that this was the second time the hatchling had saved her life. It was also used in a secret breeding program by the Galactic Federation, cloning new Metroids and producing the later stages on SR388 up to the Zeta Metroid level. Samus had this section of the ship detached, and killed the remaining Omega Metroid that bred outside of it before she rammed the entire complex into the Metroid homeworld. A new "ultimate warrior", Samus carries the last of the Metroid DNA from the hatchling, acting as a single fusion of the two greatest products of the Chozo civilization.

Metroid: Other M
A 3D version of the Infant Metroid was featured in the Metroid: Other M trailer. It is seen above Samus, then it was destroyed by a powerful beam fired by Mother Brain.

Trivia

 * Samus is referred to as "The Hatchling" by the Chozo of Tallon IV, foreshadowing her "fusion" with the character's final remains later on.


 * The title of Super Metroid may be referring to this character's size at the end of the game, as well as acknowledging the console's name.
 * Samus and Ridley are shown engaged in battle in the intro video to Super Smash Bros. Melee. The Hatchling capsule can be seen in Ridley's tallons. On the Metroid trophy in the same game, the intro image to Super Metroid can be seen, minus the capsule, on the Metroid's reflection. This may be implying that the trophy is meant to represent the Hatchling.
 * A capsule containing this Metroid appears in Animal Crossing: Wild World as a furniture piece. It plays a few seconds of the Super Metroid title theme when grabbed. Though this item could not be transferred to Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii through the in-game catalogue, it is available in that game. However, instead of playing one clip of music, it plays the whole Super Metroid Theme.


 * The reason the Infant does not mutate into a new stage was to be explained in a scan (written by Matt Manchester found in the room Metroid Processing in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, but did not make it into the final game. Because the Metroid is on Zebes instead of SR388, the climate and atmosphere of Zebes lets the Metroid grow to gigantic size without evolving. This would have also explained why other Metroids on Zebes during the original game did not mutate. The Metroids in Metroid Fusion which were created from the DNA of the Hatchling did mutate, because the BSL recreated the environment of SR388.