Fans of Star Wars may not be all in agreement, but one Marvel comic book proved that Kylo Ren is better than Darth Vader. The man formerly known as Ben Solo outclassed his grandfather by accomplishing one feat that escaped the iconic Sith lord: slaying a Zillo Beast.
Zillo Beasts were introduced in The Clone Wars animated series. They are huge, dragon-like creatures with impenetrable scales and an uncanny intellect. During the Battle of Malastare, the forces of the Republic disturbed one of these creatures and Anakin Skywalker had to find a way to subdue this seemingly unkillable monster, whose hide could not be penetrated even by lightsabers. That Zillo Beast then escaped captivity and rampaged on Coruscant and had to be put down using poisonous gas. Age of Resistance reintroduced the creature, using it as a tool to showcase Kylo Ren's obsession with Vader, and why the young Sith is superior to his grandfather.
In Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Kylo Ren #1 by Tom Taylor, Bryan Young and Leonard Kirk, Kylo Ren travels to the planet of the Benathy, an expansionist species that appreciates power and size over everything else and that the First Order needs to submit. There he is confronted by the Benathy's "god": a Zillo Beast. The creature is turning the battle against the forces of the First Order, and Kylo is confronted by the shadow of his grandfather. Vader had once visited the same planet at the head of the Empire's forces. After a long and bloody battle against the Benathy, and after slaying their king, Vader decided to retreat after the Zillo appeared. He knew from his previous experience that he could not slay the beast, nor subdue it (as he did on Malastare) with the means at his disposal at the moment. For Kylo Ren, however, retreat is not an option. Disregarding the advice of Captain Ruthford, a veteran Stormtrooper who served under Darth Vader, the young Sith charges at the Zillo Beast, and succeeds where his grandfather failed.
The way that Kylo Ren manages to kill the Zillo shows why he is better than Vader. He jumps into the creature's mouth and slices it open from the inside, thus not having to deal with its impenetrable scales, in a classic move that is also reminiscent of the time his father Han Solo flew the Millennium Falcon inside the belly of an exogorth slug. In taking down the Zillo Beast, Kylo Ren shows determination, creativity and wit, but in the end, his superiority to Vader comes down to one thing: motivation. Anakin Skywalker has always cast his shadow over Ben Solo's path as a Sith. However, rather than tying Kylo Ren down, his grandfather's legacy proves to be the spark that makes him surpass Vader. Age of Resistance- Kylo Ren does an excellent job in showcasing this dynamic. Flashbacks from Vader's past confrontation with the Benathy and Ben's present are shown side by side, with panels showing the exact same scenes and setting, until the moment when the paths of the two Siths diverge. In the very last panels of the comic, Ruthford, who has previously cautioned his commander from competing with a dead man, compliments Kylo Ren. "Remember how I said this was not a competition?" he says. "You won."
Kylo Ren jumping literally into the belly of the beast shows that he is capable of going where even Darth Vader did not dare to go. That gesture should prove his superiority to Star Wars fans but, at the same time, it is a foreshadowing of Ben's dark future.
