| “ | X: Maverick. What could cause someone to go Maverick anyway? Zero: Program errors, short circuits in the electronic brain. The very things that gives us Reploids our advanced processing power could also be our greatest weakness. |
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| ~ X and Zero about Mavericks' true natures in Maverick Hunter X. |
The Mavericks are the main antagonists of the Mega Man X series and overarching antagonists in the Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX series.
They are Reploids (robots with free-will) who rebel against humans. Their main goal is to make the humans go the way of the non-avian dinosaurs to create a perfect world only for Reploids, This group consists of about 96 Reploids, although there can be more.
The term "Maverick" is used to identify a Reploid that goes berserk and violent, be it by a programming error, faulty short circuits in their electronic brains, viral infection, illegal reprogramming, political decisions, by their own will or even mere misunderstandings and anger. A Reploid can also be wrongfully labeled as Maverick due to mistakes. Sigma led the Mavericks rebellion against humanity. There is not just one kind of Maverick, as their reason for becoming Mavericks can vary.
However, not all Mavericks are evil. In fact, a large handful of them like Gigabolt Man-O-War, Blizzard Buffalo, Volt Catfish, Magna Centipede, Rainy Turtloid, Shield Sheldon, Iris, Tornado Tonion, Soldier Stonekong, Flame Hyenard, Vanishing Gungaroo, Commander Yammark, Ground Scaravich, Blizzard Wolfang, Izzy Glow, Grizzly Slash, Storm Eagle, Blast Hornet, Optic Sunflower, Dark Mantis, Bamboo Pandamonium, Avalanche Yeti, Gravity Antonion, Burn Rooster, Earthrock Trilobyte and Squid Adler are all kind and caring and actually want to mean no harm to humans and instead help them, and Iris herself is also an ally and cares deeply for Zero.
Biography[]
Mega Man X[]
The very first Maverick was Zero.
Mega Man Zero[]
The term is now used to identify any Reploid who opposes the rule of Neo Arcadia. Copy X wrongfully accuses many Reploids of being Mavericks, retiring every one of them. The scientist Ciel then forms the resistance against Neo Arcadia. Later, when Dr. Weil take control of Neo Arcadia, he labels Maverick on anyone who opposes him, be it human or Reploid, even his own people.
Mega Man ZX[]
After countless wars, humans and Reploids call a truce between themselves. As the Legion and the Sage Trinity are formed, it is decided that every human will receive bionic parts and every Reploid will be given a life-span, so everyone should go to Legion to be inspected. Anyone who disagreed to these rules would be labeled Maverick and expelled from the Inners, the cities at that time who were protected by large domes. The Mavericks started to organize themselves and make large-scale attacks to the Inners. Later, it is discovered that they were under the influence of Model W, who can corrupt machines just like the Sigma Virus.
Members[]
Types[]
- Flawed and Error Mavericks: Early cases of Reploids and Mechaniloids becoming Mavericks were due to their mental routines and programming suffering from manufacturing bugs. It is not by choice that they are Maverick, but rather because their malfunctioning minds make them act dangerously with rarely any consideration of the consequences. At first, these Mavericks could be dealt with via emergency shutdown devices leading to repairs. Frequent outbreaks and the Mavericks hacking the devices themselves, however, brought on a gradual increase to the Maverick threat. Wire Sponge is the first major Maverick described with a programming flaw, though he was designed to be a Maverick from the start. Crush Crawfish is another example, being a military Reploid who failed to differentiate targets and attacked indiscriminately due to a flaw in his AI. Zero himself was a flawed Maverick at first, being unwilling to obey orders as well as relishing in causing destruction due to a flaw in his cognitive program. This is the primary reason why Dr. Wily sealed him away. The best known example to both types is Vile.
- Viral Mavericks: A frequent cause of Mavericks is computer viruses. Viruses can infect Reploids and Mechaniloids, causing them to malfunction into violent and dangerous mindsets. The Maverick Virus, created by Dr. Wily some time in 20XX, was the first virus to make Reploids and Mechaniloids go haywire (hence the name). Furthermore, an evolution of it known as the Sigma Virus was the most destructive and widespread virus in the entire series, being solely responsible for catastrophes such as the Dopple Town riots and the Earth Crisis. Not only did the Sigma Virus make Reploids rebellious, but it also influenced them with the anti-human prejudice of Sigma himself, making it especially dangerous to human life. An unrelated virus, the Nightmare Virus, was capable of turning Reploids into zombie-like slaves, with which Gate planned to enslave all "low-grade" Reploids, while also hypocritically enslaving both of all "mid-grade" and all "high-grade" Reploids. Certain robots do not suffer any effects of viral infection. X's body can be damaged by the Sigma Virus, but his mind cannot be corrupted, while Zero is totally immune to viruses and can in fact absorb them to grow stronger. New generation Reploids such as Axl are granted inherent immunity to viruses thanks to their Copy Chips, which give them unparalleled control of their bodies and DNA, although the Copy Chips can and will be tampered with.
- Other Non-Digital Viral Influences: There are a host of other malicious influences which can corrupt Reploid minds, similar to viruses, but are not digital in nature, in other media. Examples include the Limited from Rockman X Mega Mission and the Worms from the Rockman X3 manga. The Dark Elf and Baby Elves were used to brainwash Reploids in the Mega Man Zero series, forcing them to obey their master (such as Elpizo or Omega). In the Mega Man ZX series, Model W could influence both organic and inorganic beings into "Mavericks", a term which had grown broad by that time and was used for any dangerous being. Model W's victims spanned from wild Mechaniloids, to Serpent to Master Albert himself.
- Reprogrammed Mavericks: There are several instances of Maverick activity induced via total reprogramming or brainwashing. This is not simply the influence of a virus, but rather a complete re-haul of a Reploid's programming, changing who they are and forcing them to commit crimes or other dangerous acts that they would likely never do otherwise. A prominent example is Magna Centipede, a former Maverick Hunter who was one of Zero's allies who was kidnapped and brainwashed into an emotionless Maverick. If the player fails to assemble all three parts of Zero in Mega Man X2, Zero is resurrected as a Maverick and forced to fight X, luckily returning to his senses upon his defeat. Cyber Peacock was formerly a defensive program in Cyber Space, but he was reprogrammed by Sigma to attack anyone accessing the network. Finally, criminals hired by Sigma hacked several Mechaniloids into causing mayhem in The Day of Σ. To a lesser degree, Copy X was implied to have been reprogrammed by Dr. Weil following his resurrection, causing him and Neo Arcadia to attack even humans just to grab the Dark Elf.
- Political Mavericks: Not all Mavericks plot to harm humans or the government. Because the distinction of Mavericks is dictated by the Maverick Hunters and those they answer to, individuals or groups may be labelled as such for political reasons or misunderstandings. A notable example is the Repliforce, a Reploid army which after being falsely accused of being Mavericks went against orders to create an independent Reploid state. When obstructed by the Maverick Hunters, Repliforce went as far as to occupy cities and even sabotage one entirely in their coup d'état, only further reinforcing their Maverick status. They were mostly annihilated by the Hunters and subsequently disbanded. The Rebellion Army led by Epsilon in Mega Man X: Command Mission is another political example. Their banishing of humans, not to mention reckless experimentation with Force Metal and some of the Cadre's questionable tactics, were interpreted as Maverick activity by the Federation. After the fall of the Rebellion, Colonel Redips wrongfully labeled X and the Resistance as Mavericks to justify their destruction so he could get his hands on Supra-Force Metal. Once Redips was defeated and exposed as a Maverick himself, both the Resistance and Epsilon were deferred of "Maverick" status. Yet another example would be the Resistance in the Mega Man Zero series. The Resistance did not seek to harm humanity in any way (with the notable exception of Elpizo) and were only labeled Maverick for defying the Neo Arcadian regime.
- Free-will Mavericks: Some Reploids are labeled Mavericks because they have consciously decided, with rarely any infection or flaw in their circuits, to harm humans, other Reploids and even other Mavericks. These are criminals, mercenaries or rebels who engage in anti-human activities, although many also harm innocent Reploids. Dr. Light himself was aware of this dangerous possibility when he created X, but understood it was integral to the concept of free will. Unlike political Mavericks, these individuals accept that their goals are at odds with human civilization, although some still dislike the designation due to its implications that they are irregular in some way or are suffering from a viral infection. The new generation Reploids who followed Sigma in Mega Man X8 are a note-worthy example of free-will Mavericks. The initial hypothesis by Alia suggested they were influenced into becoming Mavericks by Sigma, whose DNA was stored in their Copy Chip databases; she then modified it to suggest that they were his clones. Lumine later revealed that the New Generation Reploids could "go Maverick at will" and chose to collectively, deliberately follow Sigma, taking advantage of his leadership, but Lumine disposed of Sigma when he was no longer useful to Lumine's goals. Lumine implied that this ability to consciously become Maverick via the copy chips meant the New Generation Mavericks were more insane than Sigma ever was (although there are drawbacks for certain members like Gigabolt Man-O-War, who only became insane and Maverick out of pure fear). Colonel Redips, implied to also be a new generation Reploid with shape-changing abilities, is another example of a free-will Maverick. Redips had no obvious irregularities or relationship to Sigma and had his own agenda, but he decided to evolve into the "ruler of all Reploids" after becoming dissatisfied over the course of many decades by his fellow Reploids' unwillingness to change the world despite their great potential. Anger at the Maverick Hunters as individuals or as an institution is also a frequently cited reason for going Maverick. A tragic case of this is Gravity Beetle, who was motivated to join Dr. Doppler's forces in Mega Man X3 to avenge the death of his brother Boomerang Kuwanger in Mega Man X. Moreover, many Mavericks have reasons to go Maverick that have nothing to do with political persecution or physical condition.
- Overlaps: As such, there can be overlap between free-will Mavericks and other kinds of Mavericks. For example, Vile in Maverick Hunter X is stated to have an irregularity in his electronic brain, and yet he retained enough sanity to willingly go Maverick without major impediment of thought. Colonel Redips was also a political Maverick in that he was ambivalent about his "Maverick" status and believed that history would vindicate him. The New Generation Reploids freely accessed Sigma's viral DNA to become and act like him, and among their ranks Avalanche Yeti, Bamboo Pandamonium, Dark Mantis, Gravity Antonion, Optic Sunflower, Burn Rooster, Earthrock Trilobyte and Gigabolt Man-O-War all appeared to suffer from malfunctions, but they believed in their cause and openly consented with joining Sigma's Maverick forces. However, the reasons differentiate in each individual (Avalanche Yeti being upset and bitter over the worsening deterioration of the environment, Bamboo Pandamonium using his condescendence, giant size and selfishness to abuse his power as rocket data manager, Dark Mantis realistically deluding himself as an honorable war hero for selling and manufacturing weapons and misguidedly misusing his role as head chief of security, Gravity Antonion yearning to gain praise for his anti-gravity research as head lead scientist of his study, Optic Sunflower losing his senses of identity and self at first, but regained them to reasonably deduce that X, Zero and Axl have passed all of his tests with the haywire AI Helios, Burn Rooster becoming maddened and angered over the cremations of several deceased Reploids and Mavericks to get revenge in a misjudged sense of justice and realized and accepted that he is fully aware of being Sigma and Lumine's pawn like his allies, Earthrock Trilobyte being incredibly greedy with sending out the rare ores and minerals to Sigma while showing grouchy Social Darwinism to all older models and even hypocritically not caring about even the youngest and newest Reploid models, and lastly, Gigabolt Man-O-War only stealing all of the power supply from Megalopolis to give to Sigma, Vile V and Lumine in order to successfully prove his innocence and the truth of being brainwashed purely out of sympathized childish reluctance and fear that Sigma, Vile V and Lumine will hurt and harm him in some way). Sigma himself was influenced by the Maverick Virus, but retained enough sanity to accept his status as a Maverick, believing it necessary for the sake of Reploid evolution, although he also advocated for human and Reploid genocide as essential to this goal. Gate was a similar case in that he was infected with the Zero Virus, but the virus freed him of inhibitions that were holding him back from doing what he wanted to do anyway.
Known Maverick Reploids[]
- Sigma (Leader of the Mavericks)
- Vile (Second in-command of the Mavericks, Sigma's right hand man and on-and-off traitor)
- Chill Penguin
- Spark Mandrill
- Armored Armadillo
- Launch Octopus
- Boomer Kuwanger/Boomerang Kuwanger
- Sting Chameleon
- Storm Eagle
- Flame Mammoth
- The X-Hunters:
- Wheel Gator
- Bubble Crab
- Flame Stag
- Morph Moth
- Magna Centipede
- Crystal Snail
- Overdrive Ostrich
- Wire Sponge
- The Doppler Army:
- The General
- The Colonel
- Web Spider
- Split Mushroom
- Cyber Peacock
- Storm Owl
- Magma Dragoon
- Frost Walrus
- Jet Stingray
- Slash Beast
- Double
- Dynamo
- Crescent Grizzly
- Tidal Whale
- Volt Kraken
- Shining Firefly
- Dark Necrobat
- Spiral Pegasus
- Burn Dinorex
- Spike Rosered
- The Nightmare Investigators:
- Red Alert:
- New Generation Reploids:
- Lumine
- Bamboo Pandamonium
- Optic Sunflower
- Dark Mantis
- Gravity Antonion
- Earthrock Trilobyte
- Gigabolt Man-O-War (only joined out of pure fear)
- Avalanche Yeti
- Burn Rooster
- The Shadow Hunters:
- Techno
- Gareth
- Berkana
Non-Canon Members[]
Gallery[]
The iconic symbol of the Mavericks.
The iconic symbol of the Mavericks.
The first eight Maverick Bosses in the novelization.
Trivia[]
- The Sigma letter in the Maverick logo makes a reference to the Maverick's leader Sigma.
