Characters / Kirby - Dark Matter

Kirby Main Character Index
Main Series: Heroes and Supporting Characters (Kirby | King Dedede | Meta Knight | Magolor) | Enemies (Major Recurring Enemies) | Recurring Bosses | Villainous Factions (Dark Matter | Another Dimension | Haltmann Works Company | Jambandran Religion | Beast Pack) | Other Major Antagonists | Other Bosses
Other Continuities: Kirby: Right Back at Ya! | Light Novel Characters

The various Dark Matter-related characters of the Kirby games.

Due to how nearly every character on this page is a major antagonist, and the majority being some form of Final Boss, there will be many unmarked spoilers below, so reader discretion is advised.

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Dark Matter (boss)

Debut: Kirby's Dream Land 2

Dark Matter (Blade) in Kirby's Dream Land 2

(Real) Dark Matter in Kirby's Dream Land 3

The lone alien that serves as the main antagonist and True Final Boss of Kirby's Dream Land 2. To face it, Kirby must acquire the Rainbow Sword and exorcise it from King Dedede. Dark Matter first takes the form of a humanoid swordsman also known as Dark Matter Blade, but after Kirby defeats that form, it takes on its core form also known as Real Dark Matter.

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• Adaptive Ability: Its clone shows the ability to utilize the Rainbow Sword's power due to lingering memories of it, though whether or not Dark Matter itself can do so is unclear.
• All There in the Manual:
  • Officially, the original Dark Matter character is often referred to as "Dark Matter" in both of its forms; however, its individual forms both have obscure official names, with "Dark Matter Blade" as its first form and "Real Dark Matter" as its second. The True Arena in Planet Robobot calls the clone "Dark Matter Clone", but the American English version also calls it "Dark Matter Blade", and a closer look at the Japanese and Korean versions show it was meant to be "Dark Matter Blade Clone" in full.
  • Dark Matter is rarely given a concrete motive outside of the original Dream Land 2 manual claiming that it wants to turn Dream Land into a "Dark World" and Team Kirby Clash Deluxe describing it as plotting to "shroud the world in darkness". The 2022 "Kirby Character Encyclopedia" elaborates on this a bit further, suggesting that it was attempting to turn Popstar into a world more suitable for its kind. Meanwhile, A Japanese Kirby book released in 1995, Saishin Hoshi no Kirby Ōhyakka ("The Latest Kirby of the Stars Large Encyclopedia"), describes it as being lonely and attacking Dream Land after becoming envious of the residents' camaraderie. It also claims that Dark Matter created Dark Castle using magic.
  • The official Japanese guide book for Kirby's Dream Land 3 suggests that the Dark Matter fought at the end of that game is the same as the one that Kirby defeated in Kirby's Dream Land 2. 20th Anniversary Hoshi no Kirby Pupupu Taizen, a Japanese visual dictionary released in 2012, briefly mentions that Dark Matter, Zero, and Gooey belong to the "Dark Matter clan", and suggests through a Shrug of God that 0² and Dark Nebula may or may not be related to the Dark Matter clan. invoked
• Anime Hair: Though it isn't real, Dark Matter Blade's spiky "hair" is a clear emulation of this.
• Art Initiates Life: In Kirby 64, the possessed Adeleine creates a replica of Real Dark Matter as it appeared in Dream Land 3.
• Back from the Dead: A Japanese guide book heavily implies that the Dark Matter fought in the Hyper Zone is indeed the same one from finale of Dream Land 2.
• Badass Long Robe: Dark Matter Blade manifests a grey robe which billows as it flies.
• Beat the Curse Out of Him: Downplayed. Kirby does need to defeat Dedede, but simply having the Rainbow Sword is enough to force Dark Matter out.
• Big Bad: This one serves as the main antagonist of Dream Land 2, and wouldn't reappear as the final boss until the Kirby Quest sub-game of Mass Attack (though it gets Demoted to Dragon in Dream Land 3).
• The Cameo:
  • Dark Matter Blade appears in one of the unlockable artworks in Squeak Squad.
  • Dark Matter Blade appears as a keychain in Triple Deluxe.
  • Both Dark Matter Blade and Real Dark Matter appear as stickers in Planet Robobot.
  • Dark Matter Blade appears as one of the gears for Sword Hero in Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, complete with Real Dark Matter as its shield.
  • Both forms appear on Character Treats in Dream Buffet.
  • Dark Matter Clone appears as a Dress-Up Mask in Return to Dream Land Deluxe.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The fact that the cloned Dark Matter Blade turns into Real Dark Matter (its true form) upon defeat becomes important when you face Sectonia Clone immediately after. ^note When the Seconia Clone is defeated, she briefly turns into something that closely resembles Taranza, which raises questions about Sectonia's relationship with him before she turned evil.
  • The fact that Dark Matter was one of two beings that Star Dream was incapable of fully analyzing, (the other being Kirby) becomes much more significant in Star Allies where it's heavily implied that both of them reincarnated from Void Termina.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: When it takes its true form in Kirby's Dream Land 2, Dark Matter may do more damage with its lasers, but its attacks are very telegraphed and it takes more damage from Kirby's attacks.
• Costume Evolution: Subverted. Dark Matter Blade was given a new design in the Kirby Quest sub-game in Kirby Mass Attack with a green-ish robe, a blue eye in its visor and a bandana with a necklace. However, both the clone in Planet Robobot and its armor set in Team Kirby Clash Deluxe use the original Dream Land 2 design.
• Demonic Possession: Possessed King Dedede in Kirby's Dream Land 2, which in this case is induced sleepwalking.
• Demoted to Dragon: In Kirby's Dream Land 3, (Real) Dark Matter merely serves as the penultimate boss. The real Big Bad is revealed to be Zero.
• Depending on the Artist:
  • Later games give it some special aesthetic effect, though the effect itself varies: In Kirby Quest it has blue lightning coursing around it, in Planet Robobot it emanates particles of darkness and the Bad Boss Brothers picture from Star Allies gives it blue flames.
  • Dark Matter Blade's eye in its visor also changes a lot: In Dream Land 2 and the armor set in Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, Dark Matter's eye is normal. In Planet Robobot and unlockable artwork in Star Allies, the eye is orange or red (Planet Robobot's case might be explained as it being an imperfection of the clone, but that doesn't explain the eye looking fine when it moves to its stomach). Meanwhile, Kirby Quest depicts the eye as blue, this being the only time this has been done.
• A Dog Named "Dog": A consequence of the English localization of Kirby 64: Crystal Shards giving the cloud species the same name as the boss character. The Japanese-exclusive 20th Anniversary Hoshi no Kirby Pupupu Taizen would eventually refer to the race of beings as the "Dark Matter Clan", while the clouds are still referred to generically as "the dark cloud".
• Driven by Envy: In a Japanese Kirby encyclopedia released in 1995, it's stated that Dark Matter attacked Dream Land in Kirby's Dream Land 2 out of loneliness and envy at the camaraderie of others on Popstar.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Artwork for Dream Land 2 depicts Real Dark Matter's petals as purple rather than orange. Additionally, its eye had a simpler design with a black iris and no pupil.
• Energy Weapon: It's able to shoot large beams from its eye in Kirby Quest.
• Eye Beams: Real Dark Matter always shoots them diagonally, except in Kirby Quest.
• Final Boss: Of Kirby's Dream Land 2, and of Kirby Quest in Mass Attack.
• Friendless Background: It never had any friends.
• Genetic Memory: The reason that Dark Matter Clone wields the Rainbow Sword is because it recognized Meta Knight's power, and so materialized what it remembered as a powerful weapon to fight him with.
• High-Altitude Battle: In Dream Land 2, you're fighting outside of the atmosphere, and even though you do not seem to be falling very quickly, guess what happens if you take too long during the second phase?
• Homing Projectile: The purpose of the purple or orange orbs on Real Dark Matter's back is to shoot them off at Kirby.
• Irony: Dark Matter Clone fights Meta Knight using the Rainbow Sword, the same weapon Kirby needed to destroy it in Dream Land 2.
• Legacy Boss Battle: A clone of Dark Matter Blade is the first secret boss of Planet Robobot.
• Loners Are Freaks: An old Japanese Kirby encyclopedia states that Dark Matter turned to villainy and targeted Dream Land's lifestyle because no one wanted to be its friend.
• Magic Knight: Half of its moveset in Dream Land 2 involves using its sword as a weapon while the other half involves using the sword to shoot projectiles at Kirby. The clone in Planet Robobot not only uses these attacks, but adds some of its true form's moves for good measure. The Kirby Quest sub-game in Mass Attack also grants it the ability to shoot energy waves.
• Modified Clone: Downplayed. Compared to Sectonia Clone, the Dark Matter Clone made by Star Dream looks near identical to the original; however, its eye is orange instead of white and turns red when the clone does, much like Star Dream's "eye".
• Multi-Directional Barrage: Real Dark Matter can shoot rapid shots to multiple directions. Dark Matter Clone can do the same after it Turns Red.
• My Name Is ???: Kinda. In the bad ending to Kirby's Dream Land 2, it's referred to as "!?".
• No Name Given: Dark Matter Blade was unnamed outside of Japanese guides for the longest time — its name was only indirectly revealed in the American English localization of Planet Robobot, where the clone is erroneously referred to as "Dark Matter Blade" rather than "Dark Matter Clone" in the True Arena's rest area.
• Noodle Incident: The Haltmann Works Company somehow managed to tear a piece off of it some point prior to Planet Robobot, which they used to produce its clone.
• Oculothorax: As Real Dark Matter, but not so much as Dark Matter Blade. Although if its clone is any indication, it can pull the Dedede trick.
• Ominous Floating Castle: Its base in Dream Land 2 is Dark Castle, which floats in the sky and houses a whooping seven stages. For bonus points, the final stage and subsequent boss fight take place in a tower.
• Orbiting Particle Shield: The Dark Matter Clone is able to materialize orange orbs around itself as a shield.
• Pulling Themselves Together:
  • In Dream Land 2, Dark Matter Blade explodes after it is defeated, but then the pieces come back together as Real Dark Matter.
  • In Dream Land 3, Dark Matter reforms from particles of the Hyper Zone.
• Purple Is Powerful: Its secondary color motif in Dream Land 2 was purple (Dark Castle's palette when playing on the Super Game Boy is purple, and Real Dark Matter's artwork depicts its "petals" as purple rather than the familiar orange).
• Red Baron: In Planet Robobot, the cutscene the Dark Matter Clone appears in is called "The Dark Rainbow Thief".
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Not so much its actual eye, but its visor turns red after losing about half its health in Planet Robobot.
• Sequential Boss: The battle in Kirby's Dream Land 2 has two phases: the first as Dark Matter Blade and the second as Real Dark Matter.
• Shock and Awe: Real Dark Matter can shoot black lightning from its eye. Dark Matter Blade also has blue electricity coursing around it in the Kirby Quest sub-game.
• Sword Beam: Dark Matter Blade can fire these from the tip of its blade.
• Tennis Boss: The orbs it uses as projectiles and the energy balls created by its blade can be hit back at it for heavy damage.
• This Was His True Form:
  • Invoked by the name of its second form, "Real Dark Matter".
  • After being defeated in Planet Robobot, its body distorts, then briefly turns into Real Dark Matter a split-second before it explodes and truly dies.
• Time-Limit Boss: The fight against Real Dark Matter takes place while you are descending from space back to Pop Star. Once you reach the atmosphere Kirby will begin to burn up, taking damage periodically. There is no way to stop this aside from defeating Dark Matter before you die.
• True Final Boss: Of Dream Land 2. Also, it serves as the first True Final Boss of Dream Land 3, before Zero, the real True Final Boss, shows up.
• Uniqueness Decay: Downplayed. Dream Land 3 reveals it to be one of many, but it still holds a higher rank among them, being Zero's second-in-command.
• Weapon of X-Slaying:
  • In Dream Land 2, Kirby has to complete the Rainbow Sword first so he can rid Dark Matter out of Dedede's body before he can fight it.
  • In Mass Attack, in the Kirby Quest sub-game, if the Kirbys managed to get the Galaxia beforehand, they can use it on Dark Matter afterward to deal massive damage.
• Walking Spoiler: A rare subversion for these types of villains: While the game itself keeps Dark Matter's appearance a mystery, the English manual outright states that it destroyed the Rainbow Bridges and is controlling King Dedede.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Dark Matter had no friends to speak of, and it was driven to invade Pop Star after growing jealous of the abundance of camaraderie between its many natives.
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form: In Kirby: Planet Robobot, this is the given reason why Star Dream could only create a clone of Dark Matter Blade. It's the only version of it that could be analyzed at all — even then, Star Dream is said to have been pushed to its limits to manage that much^note only in the English version; the Japanese version does not mention Star Dream being pushed to its limits, though it does note regardless that only a partial-analysis was possible, and the result is still flawed. Yes, Dark Matter is such a bizarre and incomprehensible being that not even a sentient, reality-warping, wish-granting supercomputer on par with Nova can wrap its mind around this thing. It's just way too alien for anyone to truly explain.

Gooey

Debut: Kirby's Dream Land 2 (cameo), Kirby's Dream Land 3 (playable)

A good friend of Kirby who is made of the same substance as Dark Matter. He and Kirby share many of the same hobbies and abilities.

For more information about Gooey, see Kirby - Heroes and Supporting Characters.

Dark Matter (as a species)

Debut: Kirby's Dream Land 3

A species of amorphous, malevolent, sentient, cloud-like substance seen in Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, not to be confused with the boss character also called Dark Matter. They greatly resemble Real Dark Matter, except they are generally depicted as fuzzier and without a ring of spheres.

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• Alien Invasion: Arrives from outer space to corrupt Pop Star. After failing to conquer the planet, it later sets its sights on Ripple Star.
• All There in the Manual: According to the official Shogakukan guide for Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, the three identical-looking cloud spawns that possess Waddle Dee, Adeleine, and King Dedede have names: 「ダーク・リムル」 (Dark Rimuru), 「ダーク・リムラ」 (Dark Rimura), and 「ダーク・リムロ」 (Dark Rimuro), respectively.
• Always Chaotic Evil: Across this ancient species of eldritch parasites, only 2 known creatures of Dark Matter have been shown as remotely benign. Those being Gooey and post-purification Void Termina. The rest want nothing more than the complete extinction of free will and happiness that isn't their own.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Done in Dream Land 3 where King Dedede's tower is implied to be claimed by them (as it has Zero's eye on it). Also done in Kirby 64 where Ripple Star's corruption is most evident at the castle. Potentially averted for Dark Castle though.
• Ambiguous Situation: As applied to an entire entity; it's not entirely known what Dark Matter is. The name "Dark Matter" is applied to both the entire massive cloud and the various offshoots it spawns (in English, at least; see Dub Name Change below). There's also the question of how it relates to the being found in the cloud's innermost depths.
• Arc Villain: For the "Dark Matter Trilogy" comprised of Kirby's Dream Land 2, Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.
• Assimilation Plot: If the implications they're a Hive Mind are true, their most likely goal (taking over the universe by possessing everything in it) would result in this.
• Beat the Curse Out of Him: In Kirby 64, this is Kirby's way of freeing the possessed. Subverted in Kirby's Dream Land 3, where, without the Heart Stars, Kirby cannot exorcise it from its host.^note This may be due to different concentrations of Dark Matter.
• Big Bad: Of the fittingly titled Dark Matter Trilogy, consisting of Dream Land 2, Dream Land 3, and 64. Many details in the Shinya Kumazaki games heavily imply they are this to the entire franchise.
• Breakout Villain: The Dark Matter species is up there with Marx as Kirby's most recognized Big Bad, being the main enemies for multiple games and as the series has gone it's been implied they are connected with many of the antagonists of the series and possibly even Kirby himself.
• Casting a Shadow: It isn't called Dark Matter for nothing.
• Dark Is Evil: The Dark Matter clouds possess people and cover planets for no adequately described reason at all.
• Demonic Possession: The clouds have an en masse influence and possess Ado/Adeleine and King Dedede in both games, as well as Whispy Woods, Acro and Pon & Con in 3 and a Waddle Dee and the Ripple Star queen in 64.
• Dub Name Change: The old NoA website for Dream Land 3 and English manual of Kirby 64 refer to the clouds as "Dark Matter", leading many fans to believe that it and the villain from Dream Land 2 were supposed to be one and the same; however, the Japanese Kirby 64 manual instead describes the clouds with the far more generic term 「黒い雲」 ("black cloud") similar to the original Dream Land 3 manual, and the name "Dark Matter" instead usually refers to the individual enemy.
• Eldritch Abomination: No idea where it came from, lots of unanswered questions about how it works, no idea why it does what it does, and Dark Matter does not resemble any familiar life forms too closely. Even a supercomputer on par with Nova was only able to partially analyze the data of a particularly noteworthy specimen, and the clone it creates is still flawed.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: Another recurring theme with the Dark Matter is that any stronghold they capture is usually a tower of some sort. This leads to Kirby having to climb it.
• Fog of Doom: They are effectively a race embodying this: They're described as clouds to the point of being portrayed as fuzzy smoke in Kirby 64 and the Hyper Zone in Kirby's Dream Land 3 is implied to have an "area of effect"-style corruption compared to the lone alien from Dream Land 2 or the trio from Kirby 64.
• Genius Loci: The Dark Matter clouds are able to join together and become an intangible, giant mass, which is implied to be controlled by Zero. Kirby 64 takes it further by showing that Dark Matter can practically become a planet. Curiously enough, the purple clouds surrounding Dark Castle in Dream Land 2 do not seem to be sentient.
• Good Hurts Evil: They are defeated by the Love-Love Stick in Dream Land 3, which is made of the feelings of love and gratitude from all of Pop Star.
• Homing Projectile: When Dedede is under its influence in Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64.
• Implacable Man: In Kirby 64, one of the Dark Matter fragments chasing Ribbon slams through an asteroid without blinking.
• Knight of Cerebus: Kirby games will always become darker when these things show up.
• Leitmotif: Whenever it shows up in cutscenes in Kirby 64, it usually has a distinct droning scale of notes, contrasting with the usually upbeat music. The bad ending is the sole exception, instead using a simmering scale of notes which is also used in Star Allies for failing to retrieve at least 100 hearts in Heroes in Another Dimension.
• Mooks: Whilst Dark Matter usually takes on a cloud-like form, Kirby 64 heavily implies that the N-Z are some sort of offshoot; they fall from the roof in stage 3 of Ripple Star (which has been overtaken by the darkness from Miracle Matter's influence) and they're the only enemies in Dark Star.
• The Night That Never Ends: Dark Matter can cover entire worlds like storm clouds as it attempted in Dream Land 3. With no Kirby around, it successfully does so to Ripple Star in Kirby 64.
• No Ontological Inertia: Large Dark Matter masses such as the Hyper Zone, Dark Star or the cloud that originally attacked Ripple Star have some kind of leader that functions as a Hive Queen. When the leader dies, the mass usually explodes shortly afterwards.
• Oculothorax: Commonly depicted as a black blob with a single eye.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over:
  • The Hyper Zone in Dream Land 3 is a massive black cloud with a lone red eye.
  • Dark Star in Kirby 64 is primarily black with a red sky, though the crystalline platforms of the platforming setions have a bit more color.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: A recurring motif with its cores are that they have a single red eye (or multiple, in Miracle Matter's case). The Hyper Zone from Dream Land 3 also carries a red eye (presumably from Zero) and it's used as a sigil on Dedede's tower. Downplayed with the race itself to varying degrees.
• That's No Moon: In Kirby 64, 100% completion leads to Kirby flying out to a planet-sized mass of Dark Matter, called Dark Star.
• Transformation of the Possessed: The effects of the clouds' possession vary: Adeleine gains red eyes and a Slasher Smile; Dedede's eyes become slits, and suffers outright Body Horror whenever you do him enough damage with an eye and a mouth emerging from his belly; most bizarrely, the Waddle Dee that Kirby befriends is turned into a Waddle Doo. None of the common enemies and bosses change at all.
• The Unfought: Unlike the Dark Matter character, the Dark Matter clouds are never fought outside their host bodies, although other relatives of it do show up as final bosses.
• Warm-Up Boss: In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, the cloud trio has the role of possessing characters that each found a Crystal Shard and support Kirby afterwards. All three of them are relatively easy compared to the bosses faced later on in the game, which do not appear to be influenced by Dark Matter.
• Weakened by the Light: Generally, Dark Matter does the exact opposite and blots out light, but certain sources of light, like Ripple Star's Crystal, hurt Dark Matter badly... but not so badly that it can't shatter these objects, forcing Kirby to reassemble them. The Japan-only Hoshi no Kirby Character Daizukan suggests that they cover planets in their pitch-black clouds because it's simply easier for them to live without the presence of light.
  "They spread black clouds across every planet, including Popstar, where Kirby and his friends live, and turn them into worlds of darkness that are comfortable for them to live in."
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, the cloud trio on Pop Star are never seen again after they're beaten, even though the cutscene after collecting Waddle Dee's Crystal Shard implies that they escaped.

Zero

Debut: Kirby's Dream Land 3

Zero is a huge, white mass with a red eye who is revealed to be the leader of the Dark Matter forces in Kirby's Dream Land 3. It lurks inside the oblivion known as the Hyper Zone; Kirby must first collect all the Heart Stars in order to confront it.

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• Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The Hyper Zone where you fight Zero has a blue background with scrolling black ellipses. The Boss Butch version emphasizes the "Technicolor" aspect by using a yellow background with red and blue^note  Orange and green in the Virtual Console version ellipses.
• Ambiguously Related:
  • Despite 0² having a more than passing resemblance to it, and a name that literally is read as "Zero Two", both 20th Anniversary Hoshi no Kirby Pupupu Taizen and the unlockable Rogues Gallery image in Star Allies list them separately.
  • Likewise, Dark Nebula's Japanese name is Dark Zero, but is similarly listed separately. Interestingly Sounds of Kirby Café 2 acknowledges the name similarity as the song Monochome Blend is a medley of Zero and Dark Nebula's themes.
  • Void in Star Allies uses Zero's palette, fights with similar attack patterns, and uses the above-mentioned technicolor Hyper Zone for his splash screen. Additionally, Hyness' boss description in the Ultimate Choice refers to him as "the progenitor of darkness" whereas one of Zero's attacks in its boss fight implied that it was the progenitor of Dark Matter and the name "Void Termina" is synonymous with "Final Zero". Tellingly, the form in which Void most closely resembles Zero is also the one to drop the Termina/"Final" part of the name. It's left unclear whether they are the same being, one's a creation to the other, or some other option.
• Archnemesis Dad: To Gooey, technically, not that Gooey seems to remember or care...
• Big Bad: It's the instigator of the conflict of Dream Land 3, albeit a hidden one. It is also the closest thing the entire franchise has to one, too, seeing how its other incarnations and its creations appear as reoccuring foes in the series.
• Bloody Murder: It sometimes cuts red lines on its body and then shoots what appears to be blood out of them.
• The Cameo: After somehow not appearing in the Boss Butch keychain in Triple Deluxe (the original Boss Butch image has it included) nor being in the Rogues Gallery picture in Squeak Squad, Zero appears as a sticker in Kirby: Planet Robobot, in the "Bad Boss Brothers" Celebration Picture in Star Allies, on a Character Treat in Kirby's Dream Buffet, and as a Dress-Up Mask in Return to Dream Land Deluxe.
• Camera Abuse: When Zero attacks from the background, its blood projectiles linger on the camera for a few moments before they fade away.
• Determinator: It tears its own eyeball out of its body just to have another, last-ditch attempt at taking down Kirby.
• Eldritch Abomination: It is the leader and apparent source of Dark Matter and is just as mysterious.
• The End... Or Is It?: In the bad ending of Dream Land 3, there'll be a hint of its presence, similar to Dark Matter in Dream Land 2.
• Evil Is Visceral: A rather infamous example. It's a villain from a cutesy children's game that attacks by shooting its own blood at the player, then rips its own bleeding eye out of the socket just before it's destroyed.
• Eye Scream: Infamously, in Kirby's Dream Land 3, Zero breaks its red eye out of its body in a last-ditch attempt to defeat Kirby.
• Flunky Boss: Zero can conjure multiple smaller Dark Matters against Kirby.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: It has no stated motivation for invading planets and spreading darkness around. It also has (seemingly) no personality or even lines.
• Go for the Eye: Subverted, since attacking its eye will do no more damage than attacking anywhere else on his body.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Of Kirby's Dream Land 2 (where it doesn't appear) due to being Dark Matter's leader. If it truly is the progenitor of every individual Dark Matter, it may be this for the entire Kirby franchise given the number of villains^note Dark Mind, Dark Nebula, Dark Crafter either confirmed or implied to be forms of Dark Matter.
• Hive Queen: Zero is the core of the Hyper Zone. Due to its appearance, it is also believed that Dark Matter itself is an instrument of its will.
• I Have No Son!: Considering it also attacks him during the battle, Zero has no qualms killing Gooey for turning his back on the Dark Matter Hive Mind despite having most likely created him in the first place.
• King Mook: It is a much stronger version of Dark Matter, an already final-boss-tier enemy.
• Knight of Cerebus: Dark Matter was already pretty bad, but this thing is in a whole category of its own since it's highly unlikely that another Kirby villain would ever be allowed to get as graphic as it does without losing the Everyone Rating.
• Kubrick Stare: It gives one of these in its Boss Butch credits artwork.
• Lightning Bruiser: Its attacks are much quicker than Dark Matter's. They are also much more damaging and its overall mass is much larger than its cohorts.
• Load-Bearing Boss: After its defeat, the clouds it commands go along with it. This is subtly acknowledged in the Hyper Zone: The blobs in the background move faster when Zero appears and even faster when Zero enters its final phase.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Downplayed, but its red eyeball dies in a bloody explosion when it is defeated.
• The Man Behind the Man: It created Dark Matter and is responsible for its actions.
• Monster Progenitor: It is shown to create miniature versions of Real Dark Matter from its mass to attack Kirby and Gooey. Additionally, the mass of Dark Matter it's fought in grows more unstable as the fight goes on and blows up shortly after it dies.
• Mood Whiplash: Didn't expect to be ripping out eyeballs in Kirby, did you?
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: My Hero, Zero? It's the complete opposite.
• No Name Given: Prior to Planet Robobot, Zero's name was never mentioned in English sources. In fact, there was no indication it even had one in the games until Kirby 64, so naturally fans assumed it was spelled "0" in correspondence with "0²".
• Ramming Always Works: One of Zero's attacks has it moving in an erratic pattern to hit Kirby with its own body. Due to its size, it's tricky to avoid.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Its most distinguishing feature is its blood red eye, which is implied to be its core. You'll especially take warning when it rips itself out of the rest of its body.
• Self-Mutilation Demonstration: One of its attacks is forming deep cuts on its body to shoot its blood at Kirby. These heal up immediately, and using this move doesn't cause Zero to take any extra damage.
• Sequential Boss: Two phases: phase 1 against Zero itself and phase 2 against its ripped-out eyeball.
• The Spook: Virtually nothing is known about Zero other than its status as the leader of Dark Matter. Its motives, backstory, and even its exact goals are all unclear. Kirby Star Allies does give it a connection that may hint at its nature, but given that said connection is to Void Termina...
• Tears of Blood: Which it uses as a weapon.
• True Final Boss: Of Dream Land 3. Collecting the Heart Stars is required to get the good ending.
• Unexpected Shmup Level: The battle suddenly turns into a horizontal shooter game when you fight it.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: One of the more well known video game examples. While brought up slightly less than 0², the moment of its eye ripping out is infamous.
• Walking Spoiler: Its existence is a Spoiler itself, given how Dark Matter isn't revealed to have a core until the (true) final level of the game.
• White and Red and Eerie All Over: In contrast to its more shadowy underlings, Zero is entirely white save for a single red eye. Adding to its creepiness, it fires Bloody Murder from the slits on its body that occasionally open.

Miracle Matter

Debut: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

An icosahedron with a red eye on each face. Miracle Matter appears in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards as the Final Boss, being the second-in-command to 0².

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• Adaptive Ability: Played With: After being damaged with a certain element enough times, Miracle Matter will stop using the equivalent form.
• All Your Powers Combined: Can use each of the seven basic Copy Abilities of Kirby 64.
• Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: Though it isn't "technicolor" so much as "near total darkness".
• Barrier Change Boss: It has seven forms, one for each of the seven basic Copy Abilities of Kirby 64, and the only way to hurt it is by using the element that it's currently using.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The colors of its forms corresponds with the ability it is currently using. This is most obvious with its Needle and Cutter forms.
• The Dragon: While initially appearing to be the Big Bad, the true ending reveals it to be this to 0².
• Elemental Shapeshifter: It displays element-based abilities, but it also has the unique ability to completely change its form.
• Evil Is Burning Hot: It's evil and has a burning form.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: It has an ice form in which it attacks you with ice shards.
• Eye Scream: Those are irises and pupils on each of its sides. They explode as you continue to fight it.
• Final Boss: Though there is a True Final Boss if you get all of the Crystal Shards.
• Final Boss, New Dimension: Its arena has shades of this, being fought in a room with nothing but pulsating waves of darkness. It can even be seen from the final room of the previous level.
• Final-Exam Boss: You don't need all of the Copy Abilities, but you at least need to fire projectiles of the same property as each.
• No Ontological Inertia: Averted in the bad ending where the Dark Matter mass it was in charge of simply flees the planet. Played straight on the route to the good ending where it blows up instead.
• Pre-Final Boss: If you manage to collect all the Crystal Shards, it's the last boss before 0², otherwise it's the Final Boss.
• Puzzle Boss: Each form can only be hit using a Copy Ability or projectile of the same ability it's using, being the only boss in a main series game since the first to effectively cancel out the Copy Abilities (not counting those that are only fought with 11th-Hour Superpower).
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Its eyes have both red and black. Also, it's a villain.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Exaggerated. It's a villain with many red eyes, with one of them on each of its sides.
• Sinister Geometry: Miracle Matter is an icosahedron (20-sided solid).
• The Spook: Even worse than Zero in this regard: nothing is known about it aside from it working for 0² and while it contains elements that imply it to have a connection of some kind to the Zeros (white color scheme with red eyes, Hive Queen to a cloud of Dark Matter) and it displays unique attributes including the ability to No-Sell any ability it is not using itself, none of this is ever explained or even acknowledged outside of its boss fight. And this isn't even getting into Zero's and Kirby's possible relatonships with Void...
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Downplayed. Its color scheme is the same as Zero, it seems to be Hive Queen and apparent leader of the invasion of Ripple Star and, on the path to the good ending, the cloud it controls explodes after it's defeated, much like the Hyper Zone did after Zero's demise. However, Miracle Matter's gimmick and fight are very different from Zero's and an entity more closely resembling to Zero appears as a True Final Boss.
• Tactical Suicide Boss: If you don't copy and attack it with the ability it's currently using, it would be impossible to defeat it. Of course, it can't really attack outside of them...
• White and Red and Eerie All Over: Much like 0², Miracle Matter has a white body with red eyes.

02

Debut: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

The new (or revived?) leader of the Dark Matter species, and True Final Boss of Kirby 64. It's an angelic-looking being, with wings, a halo, and a green cactus-like tail.

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• Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: Dark Star is a somewhat dark example, with a predominantly black background, but it's still covered in red mists (almost akin to Giygas). During 0²'s boss fight, the space around it and Kirby & Ribbon also adds rings of black barcodes around them.
• Ambiguously Related:
  • Officially speaking, it's unknown whether it's related to Zero or not, but in context it's painfully obvious that they're related, with the real question being whether it's the exact same character. The fact that 0² wears two plasters underneath its halo, roughly corresponding to the location of where the eye (or was it an iris?) burst out of the original Zero seems to lend credence to the idea that it is the original, only reincarnated somehow, but it's still left vague. A picture in Star Allies that shows all of the series' final bosses, except for new forms of the same character that appeared later, has both Zero and 0², suggesting they're not the same entity.
  • After the events of Kirby Star Allies, the false face that 0² flashes at the start of the fight retroactively ties it to Void Termina, whose final core form first takes on a cute Kirby-like face before its "mouth" opens wide into an eyeball. And given that connection, it's also this to Kirby himself.
• Angelic Abomination: It's a giant, white-and-red bleeding eyeball just like the original Zero, but now resembles a seraphim, with a golden halo and giant segmented wings (which resemble tentacles in its official artwork).
• Attack Its Weak Point: Its weak spot is the cactus tail that appears when it's stunned. Before that, you have to shoot at its eye, and then its halo, in order to make the tail appear.
• Attack the Injury: One of the weak points you have to shoot down is the bandage on 0²'s head. It's implied that this is where Zero's eye burst out of its body back in Dream Land 3.
• Back from the Dead: Implied to be Zero reborn, but in the sense of a reincarnation rather than an outright revival, to the point that the 20th Anniversary Hoshi no Kirby Pupupu Taizen and a Rogues Gallery Showcase in Star Allies list them as separate characters. Void's ability to reincarnate supports this theory.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: Played with, as it usually keeps its stinger retracted and will only involuntarily pull it out when stunned, after which Ribbon will fly Kirby in position to shoot it. All the same, it leaks deadly clouds that can damage them if they're not careful.
• Big Bad: Hidden, just like the bosses in 2 and 3.
• Call-Back: The bandaged wound on Zero Two's head is an obvious throwback to the last phase of the battle against Zero in Dream Land 3, but the full implications are unknown.
• Depending on the Artist: Its wings are much more stylized in-game compared to its concept art. Later depictions and references to it, such as Star Allies' pictures, use the in-game wings.
• Eldritch Abomination: It's just as bizarre and unknowable as Zero, but now with an angelic motif that makes it even creepier.
• The End... Or Is It?: As per tradition, in Kirby 64, there's an ominous hint about it.
• Eye Scream: Kirby needs to shoot at 0²'s eye to stun it, letting him go after its other weak points.
• Fallen Angel: Invoked with its design.
• Game-Breaking Injury: You can aim directly at its wings. It does not damage its life bar, but it can stun them. Damaging both wings will take away its ability to aim at you, so you can freely avoid most of its shots and go straight for its halo.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: Just another Zero, with the exact same amount of character, or lack thereof.
• Go for the Eye: You don't have to go for the eye, but doing so will temporarily make it stop shooting and hang stationary so you can hit its halo and tail.
• Knight of Cerebus: Just like in Kirby's Dream Land 3, it brings the very cute and lighthearted Kirby 64 to a (literally) unholy conclusion.
• Light Is Not Good: It's white, it's got angelic wings and a Holy Halo. Would be rather nice if it weren't for that sinister red eye and pair of wings, as well as the fact that it's the leading force of evil in the game.
• Load-Bearing Boss: Much like Zero and Hyper Zone before it, the Dark Star blows up shortly after it is defeated.
• The Man Behind the Man: If you don't collect the Crystal Shards, Miracle Matter will appear to be the Final Boss. In fact it's 0² who's directing Dark Matter in the game.
• Meaningful Appearance:
  • Its appearance in general is this, depending on whether or not one believes that it truly is Zero Back from the Dead.
  • The bandage on top of its head is commonly cited as the link between Zero and 0², with the implication being that it's covering the wound left by the Eye Scream move Zero used in Dream Land 3.
  • Given Void's heavily implied connections to both Kirby and Zero, as well as the "Kirb" meme, it's entirely possible that through its "fake face" at the start of its battle, 0² was trying to mimic Kirby the entire time!
• Meaningful Name: Besides being Zero's successor, 0 times or to the power of anything is still 0.
• Meet the New Boss: It pretty much picks up where Zero left off, namely corrupting planets using Dark Matter. This is assuming Zero Two isn't just a resurrected Zero.
• Mind Screw: 0² displays a beady-eyed full face with a blissfully-happy expression for merely a moment, then its "mouth" opens wide, revealing it to be its real eye. Why? Does it say something about it? Who knows? Notably, Void Termina displays a similar face when you fight it, just adding to the strangeness.
• Mood Whiplash: Its battlefield and theme is right next to Shiver Star Factory in terms of melancholy.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Just like Zero, it completely averts the My Hero, Zero trope. The fact that its name is written as numbers adds another layer of eerieness.
• Point of No Return: After you get to the fight against 0², you can't quit — either you beat it, or it beats you till it's Game Over.
• Poisonous Person: Spews poison from its tail.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Its arena is a red void with black barcode-esque stripes.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Just like Zero.
• Spread Shot: 0²'s primary form of attack.
• The Stoic: Granted, Zero wasn't exactly brimming with emotion, but the only time 0²'s eye changes from its half open-esque state is when it's squinting in pain from having its eye shot. Even when it's withering in pain from having its bandage shot, it doesn't look any more surprised than it does in the rest of the fight. Compare this with Zero who could at least open its eye wide and give off the appearance of emoting in both the Boss Butch game over and secret clear screens.
• Tears of Blood: In its official artwork. In the game proper, it's more like "Tears of Explodium".
• True Final Boss: You can only fight it and get the good ending if you collect all the crystal shards.
• Unexpected Shmup Level: Its battle suddenly turns the game into a Rail Shooter.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Infamous for it, Whenever somebody tells you Kirby is "kiddy", show them a picture of this guy.
• Walking Spoiler: Serves as the True Final Boss, just like Dark Matter and Zero in 2 and 3.
• White and Red and Eerie All Over: Besides its halo, bandages and tail, 0² is pure white with red in its wings and eye, leading a force of dark monsters.

Dark Nebula

Debut: Kirby: Squeak Squad

The Greater-Scope Villain and Final Boss of Kirby: Squeak Squad that was sealed away in a chest. The Squeak Squad believed the chest to be a source of power, while Kirby believed it contained a delicious shortcake that was stolen from him, leading to the events of the game. Only Meta Knight knew the secret of the chest and tried to prevent anyone from opening it.

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• Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: It can change the backdrop of where Kirby fights it, but said backdrop also changes tint depending on what element its currently using.
• Ambiguously Related:
  • Given its Japanese, Chinese and Korean name, "Dark Zero", it stands to reason that it could have a connection to Zero and/or 0². The 20th Anniversary Hoshi no Kirby Pupupu Taizen simply states that their relation is unclear.
  • It also bears a passing resemblance to the star shaped tears in space used in more recent Kirby games (starting with Return) considering these are usually portals to Another Dimension (opened by powerful characters like Hyness and Fecto Forgo), it's possible Dark Nebula was just something's eye looking through a moving tear in space an exerting itself
• Ambiguous Situation: It was sealed in a chest, but how and by whom? Daroach found it in King Dedede's castle, but how did it get there? Meta Knight knew what was in there, what was his role in all this?
• Astral Finale: It's fought at the end of Gamble Galaxy.
• Beat the Curse Out of Him: Dark Nebula only leaves Daroach's body after being beaten by Kirby.
• The Cameo: Appears in Triple Deluxe (along with Drawcia) and Star Allies as one of Stone's forms. In a later update of the latter game, the playable Daroach can pull out a chest that contains a dummy version of Dark Nebula on a spring. It also appears as a sticker in Super Kirby Clash, on a Character Treat in Dream Buffet, and as a Dress-Up Mask in Return To Dream Land Deluxe.
• Dark Is Evil: Not just from the name, but also from the color and possibly being connected to Dark Matter in some way.
• Dark Reprise: The background melody of both its chase and boss music is an ominous version of the Sparkling Star theme from Kirby's Dream Land.
• Demonic Possession: It did this to Daroach and the Squeaks until Kirby freed them.
• Dub Name Change: Named "Dark Zero" in Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Presumably the name change was to avoid confusion with the existing Zero. This is thought to be a rogue Dark Matter-related being, not the original Zero.
• Elemental Shapeshifter: Downplayed. Dark Nebula's texture changes depending on which ability it's using, but otherwise, it stays the same shape. Kirby will also get burned, frozen, or electrified if he touches it, depending on its current state.
• Evil Is Burning Hot: It has a fire form, in which it can burn you and has an attack involving a fireball.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: It can freeze you and attack with an ice laser while in its ice form.
• Final Boss: It's the final obstacle faced in Kirby: Squeak Squad.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Its three main attacks besides simply ramming Kirby and shooting stars are a giant exploding fireball, a laser beam of ice that turns the floor icy, and a square of green electricity.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: We have no idea what any of its motives are; it's only seen in one late-game cutscene and then the final battle.
• Greater-Scope Villain: It's the final villain of Kirby: Squeak Squad but only makes an appearance during the final level. Prior to that point, Daroach was the main villain, attempting to steal the chest it was sealed in without knowing what was inside.
• Green and Mean: When in its lightning form, it's colored green. It's also a villain.
• Meaningful Name:
  • A "Nebula" is a cloud of gas or dust in space, fitting considering that Dark Nebula is described as a "cloud of smoke". They're commonly star-forming regions, explaining Dark Nebula's star-shaped body. Given Dark Matter's ties to Void, the so-called "Astral Birth", this becomes even more meaningful.
  • Its Japanese, Chinese and Korean name depends on whether or not one believes it to be connected to the "Zeroes".
• Oculothorax: It's a star-shaped creature with a single eye.
• Physical God: The English ending of Squeak Squad makes a passing remark that Dark Nebula was the 'Ruler of the Underworld', which presumably means that Dark Nebula is some sort of physical god. The Japanese and Korean versions avert it, as its nickname in those versions is "Lord of the Dark" with no mention of "the Underworld".
• Purple Is Powerful: It has a purple aura. Its eye is also purple in artwork, but maroon in-game. A later reissue of the artwork corrects its eye color to the in-game color.
• Red Baron: It is described as the "Ruler of the Underworld" during the ending. In the Japanese and Korean versions, it is instead called the "Lord of the Dark".
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Downplayed example; it has one big reddish eye in its sprite and it's the game's Final Boss.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: An evil star sealed up in a chest that was mistakenly believed to be a source of power (by Daroach) and a stolen cake (by Kirby).
• Shapeshifter Swan Song: Downplayed, similar to the above: When Dark Nebula is defeated, its body shifts between each of its textures.
• Super Smoke: Its initial appearance describes its star particle form as "a dark, eerie cloud of smoke". It assumes a more solid form for the final battle.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: It is described as a cloud of smoke when it initially appears and is shown possessing people much like Dark Matter. Additionally it is shown to have elemental powers like a (very toned down) Miracle Matter and its Japanese, Chinese and Korean name is Dark Zero.
• Transformation of the Possessed: Does this to Daroach, turning him to Dark Daroach. More commonly shown is his dark blue fur, violet cape, and larger claws, as shown in his official artwork.
• Walking Spoiler: Due to the twist occuring at the end of Level 7 and being the Final Boss, it's definitely a Spoiler character.

Void Termina

Debut: Kirby Star Allies

Voiced by: Shinya Kumazaki, Hirokazu Ando, Yuuta Ogasawara, Yumi Todo

^{Void Termina's essence} 

^{Void Termina's Dark Matter form} 

No one knows from whence he came, only that he has existed for aeons, unchanging and unrelenting. Perpetually roaming the cosmos, he has finally arrived.

Born from the total absence of care and composed of dark energy, he has awakened from a state of mere existence to that of true sentience. He now desires only one thing... to CRUSH all opposition!

The dark god worshipped by Hyness and the Final Boss of the game. A mindless(?) destroyer of worlds who only knows ruination. He is summoned by the "masters of a matter most dark" ("the worshippers of the darkest matter" in the Japanese, Chinese and Korean versions) and his true core very heavily resembles Dark Matter, but his true relationship to the species is unknown. Furthermore, it's implied that he's related to a more surprising subject...

For more information about Void Termina, see Kirby - Jambandran Religion.

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