Ridley is dead. Buuttt….

Ridley is legendary. I think most of us agree that, for the sake of lore integrity, he should stay dead going forward. But let’s be honest. That legendary status basically guarantees that we will see him return in some form or another in a future game, even if it takes many more years. This is just the nature of video games, especially those that lean heavily into gameplay over realistic lore like Metroid often does. I mean we’ve already had everything from clones to mutants to robots. I would like to propose a compromise:

How would you guys feel about a different individual member of Ridley’s species showing up in a prominent role in a future game? Not Ridley, but like him in a boss battle? Lore-wise, you could go a lot of ways with it. Maybe it’s a family member of Ridley’s seeking revenge. Maybe it’s a new character totally unrelated to the past.

One asterisk I’ll add is that I don’t think it should just be a repeat of the role Ridley himself played in the past (badass penultimate bad guy). Maybe an early boss that becomes like a reluctant ally (a la Catwoman to Batman)?