Adam Malkovich

Adam Malkovich in the official Manga
Adam Malkovich
Species	Human
Debut	Metroid Fusion

Adam Malkovich is a ranking officer in the Galactic Federation and features prominently into the story of Metroid Fusion, despite having died years before the game takes place.

Background

Very little is know about Adam in life. He was a member of the Galactic Federation at the same time as Samus Aran. As her commanding officer, he would often be the one to send her out on missions and relay the orders to her. His keen military knowledge and tactical mind made him an excellent officer, even in situations where he was forced to make difficult choices that risked lives to save others. In particular Samus greatly admired him and considered him a friend. Whenever he had finished giving his orders, he would follow up with: "Any objections, lady?" Though it might have sounded disrespectful from anyone else, it was always sincere from Adam, even though he knew Samus never would object.

The circumstances of his death are unknown, but he gave up his life in order to save Samus's life. Unknown to her however was that given his extraordinary leadership, his mind had been copied and uploaded into the Federation archives so that he could continue to serve when his mind would be needed.

Inevitably he would 'meet' Samus Aran again when the X Parasite invaded the BSL Station. Samus had been escorting researchers on SR388 and was infected by the X. Her Gunship was destroyed when she passed out later while in flight. The Federation replaced her ship with a new Gunship, but this one had an on-board AI installed. Though Samus was unaware of it, this AI was actually the mind of Adam Malkovich, presumably chosen due to his familiarity with Samus Aran.

The familiarity was immediately noticed Samus, though largely on a subconscious level. She even named him Adam based on the similarities, though she saw him as being a much colder, computerized version of her old friend. Eventually she and the computerized Adam came into conflict when the Federation's ambitions to weaponize the X became apparent. Though Adam at first supported the Federation's plans, when Samus accidentally slipped and called him Adam, he had her explain what she thought the real Adam did. Though he refined her plan, he agreed to help her wipe out the X by destroying SR388.

With the SA-X destroyed, the Gunship was nearly destroyed by an escaped Omega Metroid, though a few passengers he had picked up before (a few creatures Samus had rescued from Zebes) operated the Gunship to get it to safety and to later pick up Samus and get her away from the explosion. Though victorious, Samus and Adam were faced with the judgment from the Federation for their actions, though Adam remained resolute that someone would understand.

Manga

Adam makes an appearance in the official Manga (which is believed to have been written by Yoshio Sakamoto, the co-creator and scenario writer of the Metroid series). He makes his first appearance at the end of Volume 3 and makes sporadic appearances in the rest of the series. He is shown as being Samus's superior and is shown first meeting her after one of her first missions for the Federation. He defends her when the inhabitants of K2-L are accused of being unable to defend their selves from the Space Pirates and authorizes her to a short mission to Zebes to warn the Chozo of an impending attack.

Because the rest of the manga remains untranslated (and some of the ending still unreleased online), the rest of his story is unknown. Because the manga covers Samus's life from her childhood to the end of Metroid, Adam has been shown living even up unto Samus's confrontation with Ridley in Brinstar. As a result, it remains to be seen whether or not Adam's death will be shown in the course of the story or if his death occurs during the events of the Metroid series, perhaps in an as of yet unreleased game.

Trivia

• It is often thought that Samus and Adam may have been romantically connected and that his death is what compelled her to leave the Federation to be on her own.
• Even if the manga is not believed to be canonical, Adam would seem to be human based off his reaction to Samus finding no surviving humans on the BSL, despite her rescuing the Zebesian lifeforms - "So the survivors were not human? …unfortunate."

External Links

• Metroidhat - Volumes 3-7 of the fan-translated manga.