Apex’s latest cinematic kills off one of its biggest villains—but it’s not who you think

Apex Legends promised some big narrative moments from the conclusion to its Kill Code cinematic series, and it made good on that promise with the death of Duardo Silva, the current leader of The Syndicate. However, it wasn’t the death players were expecting to see.

The legends had one explicit mission in Kill Code part four: to destroy Revenant’s head once and for all. As was shown in the short A Life for a Life teaser last week, Loba was now on the same page about putting Revenant out of his misery. Yet moments before she could deliver the killing blow, Duardo Silva was able to convince Revenant, through an offer of power and control over his own head, that living would serve him better. Unfortunately for Duardo, giving Revenant his freedom also marked the end of his usefulness to the simulacrum, and he was brutally executed by an army of Revenant bodies.

It’s something of an odd heel turn for Revenant’s character—one of the few things we’ve always known about him is that he has wanted to die for decades now. The fact that, in his eyes, some upgrades to his simulacrum body and complete control over his jarred head were enough to shift his mindset toward a desire for power is surprising.

But what’s even more surprising is the death of Duardo Silva. Not only was he Octane’s grandfather, but he was also the mastermind behind the current iteration of the Apex Games and responsible for how a lot of chess pieces had been moving in recent seasons (such as Ballistic’s entry into the bloodsport). Not only will his death have a lot of potential ramifications for Octane as a character, but also leaves the Syndicate—the guiding political force in the Outlands—headless.

The one thing that this episode of Kill Code makes clear is that Apex’s story is about to enter a new era. Revenant is even more powerful now and has an army of clones at his disposal, the current ruling body in-universe is in disarray, and Loba is still yet to fulfil her desire for revenge. Where we go from here is anybody’s guess.