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| “ | I'll make you understand! You will know that I am the one who holds the key to the future! | „ |
| ~ Vile to Sigma. |
| “ | Why don't you just give up now and get it over with?! The world as you know it? The Mavericks? Kiss it all goodbye! Doom, mayhem and destruction. This is what we're built for! | „ |
| ~ Vile |
| “ | X: Vile! I should have known you'd be involved into Sigma's rebellion. Vile: Rebellion? Ha ha ha ha... I don't know what you're talking about! I'm just here to cause trouble for you. I hate you! |
„ |
| ~ Vile in Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X (X's Story). |
Vile (in Japanese: ヴァヴァ, VAVA) is the secondary antagonist of the Mega Man X series.
He is a ruthless and psychopathic Maverick who serves as Sigma's second-in-command, as well as the arch-rival of both X and Zero.
Biography[]
Mega Man X[]
Vile was created as a battle Reploid for the Maverick Hunters. Although his powers were great, a failure in his circuits in his electronic brain made him crazy, never differentiating friends and foes and destroying both of them. He was condemned for imprisonment, but Sigma releases him when he starts his rebellion against the humans, making Vile his right-hand. He attacks the city on his Ride Armor and is challenged by X, but easily defeats him. When he is about to dispose of X, Zero rescues him and Vile flees. Once X and Zero finds Sigma's hidden base, Vile challenges them once again, trapping Zero and forcing X to fight him. He once again defeats X, but Zero escapes the trap and blow himself in an attempt to kill Vile, but he only manages to destroy his Ride Armor. X then awaken his hidden powers and fights Vile, this time finishing him for good. In Maverick Hunter X's Vile Mode, an unlockable bonus mode, Vile took a different path. Instead of joining Sigma's rebellion, Vile decided to prove to Sigma that he was better and more powerful than X. After fighting X on the Central Highway, he decided to battle against Sigma's followers to gain more power and reputation. Though most of the eight main Mavericks were rather friendly to him (and offered to let him leave), he destroyed all of them and obtained their powers in order to create new weapons. Afterwards, Sigma extended an invitation to fight against him in order to prove whether he is indeed worthy. Ultimately, he infiltrated Sigma's fortress and fought his way through it until he was cornered by X and Zero. Both of them battled him at the same time, yet were defeated by him.
After defeating both of them, Vile admitted that X, whom he hated more than anyone else, had grown stronger, but was still a wimp to the very end and never had the power to change the world. He then proceeded to beat up X's already injured body by kicking it around and then stomping savagely on X's head while angrily demanding that he show him his true power. He was then attacked by a weakened Zero before he could deliver the finishing blow with his cannon, who grounded him (as well as commented that Vile's comments of changing the world was "Maverick talk") before he was hit by X's charged shot. When he awakened, he was accompanied by Sigma. Heavily damaged, he asked what was so important about X. Yet, instead of answering, Sigma asked Vile why he did all this and whether he wanted to stand before him as a Maverick Hunter or kneeling before him at his mercy. Upon this question, Vile wasn't unable to comply and started laughing, stating that he wasn't actually sure about it himself. He was then left by Sigma (though not before radioing some of his men to "retrieve Vile"). As he walked away, Vile started not caring for what happens to the world and stated that by defeating X, he proved the right of his existence, that he is Vile. But as he reached out to stop Sigma from leaving, his functions ceased, and he was left frozen in his desperate position.
Mega Man X3[]
Vile is later resurrected by Dr. Doppler, who wants Vile's help to stop X. Vile agrees to help him, but alerts that he will make things his own way. He faces X in a junkyard, using a new Ride Armor. Once again defeated, Vile activates a bomb to blow the entire place and flees, but X manages to escape. He would challenge X again in Doppler's lab, now with an even more powerful Ride Armor, but he is once again destroyed.
Mega Man X8[]
Much time later, he is once again resurrected, this time by Lumine, helping him in faking his own kidnapping. He faces the Maverick Hunters X, Zero and Axl many times, being always defeated. When they take the Jakob Orbital Elevator to Moon, Vile challenges them again, fighting with all his strength, but is defeated and run to Sigma's Palace in Moon. There, he fights the Maverick Hunters in a new Ride Armor, being again destroyed. In the Hard Mode setting, Vile is still alive long enough to take down the other hunter (The other character that the player is not using; whoever delivers the final blow to Vile progresses in the Sigma Palace), though the other hunter is later revealed to still be alive and arrives to help during the final battle against Sigma.
Mega Man Zero 2[]
Vile's ghost appeared to attack Zero multiple times during his battle with Phoenix Magnion.
Mega Man Xover[]
Vile is revived again in his original state and joins the union of the villains from across time and space. Vile takes command over World 1. After OVER-1 defeats Chill Penguin, Spark Mandrill, Storm Eagle, and Flame Mammoth, Vile comes out to confront him but is defeated once again.
Rockman X[]
Vile appears in the Rockman X and Irregular Hunter Rockman X manga, playing a role similar to the one he plays in the games.
Vile (with his original appearance and Ride Armor) also has a brief appearance in the last issue from Dreamwave Productions' Mega Man comic, where he catches X with a cable from his Ride Armor, but Zero appears and saves him, giving X a time machine while he fights against Vile and other Mavericks.
Project X Zone[]
Vile makes an appearance in the Project X Zone series as a recurring boss, appearing in both Project X Zone and Project X Zone 2.
Personality[]
Vile is a complete psychopath and insane fighter who destroys everything for fun. He is very destructive, arrogant, and violent, so he has a very unstable and enraged mind. Though he used to be a member of the Maverick Hunters, he never once considered himself as one, and had a habit of not accepting orders from anyone except himself, which often resulted in fierce and argumentative exchanges with his commander and partially to his own arrest and labeling of being a Maverick.
Because of an irreparable short circuit in his electronic brain, Vile developed a strange and almost sociopathic passion for hunting down Mavericks and totally annihilating them, while causing as much damage as possible on the territory. This also includes innocent bystanders and comrades alike. This passion is also what may have led to his own arrest and labeling of being a Maverick.
In all incarnations of the character, Vile is also deeply grudging and vituperative against X and looks down on him for the fact that despite X having a lower rank than him, he received more attention. He is also a traitorous Maverick of both the Maverick Hunters and of the Mavericks. Vile always hates Storm Eagle as much as he hates X.
Quotes[]
| “ | X... Why does it have to be you? | „ |
| ~ Vile to X in Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X (Vile's story intro). |
| “ | Come to reprimand me in person, did you? | „ |
| ~ Vile to Sigma before freeing him. |
| “ | You underestimated me. I hate that about you... X! There's nothing you can do! I'll defeat you and Sigma! Then I'll change the world! | „ |
| ~ Vile while attempting to kill X in Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X. |
Trivia[]
- It is a common tale amongst the Mega Man community that the character's name was changed from VAVA to Vile for the North American release of Mega Man X because Capcom USA was afraid of being sued by LucasFilm because of the character's resemblance to Boba Fett, a character from the Star Wars universe. This was due to Vile's resemblance to Boba Fett's Mandalorian armor, especially the helmet with T-visor, and because his Japanese name can also be spelled "BABA" (the letters B and V are spelled and written the same way in Japanese).
- However, VAVA is actually based on the character Bubba Zanetti (ババ・ザネッティ, Baba Zanetti) from the 1979 film, Mad Max.
- Vile is not to be mistaken for Dr. Weil, whose name in the Japanese version is Dr. Vile.
- Interestingly, X can actually defeat Vile in the Ride Armor in Maverick Hunter X by jumping and shooting Vile rather than the armor. In fact, this is the only way X can deal damage to Vile in this game.
- Vile Mk-II had a figure in the Mega Armor series, and the original Vile in the D-Arts line. Vile also had small miniatures of him.
- When fighting him as the mini-boss of the final stage in Mega Man X8, Vile doesn't actually ride the Ride Armor by sitting in its cockpit like before; instead, he stands on top of it, granting a defense which can be broken by Guard-Breaking the Armor before you can deal damage to him using his weakness weapon.
- There are two missing versions of Vile that have seemingly passed by, as he went from Mk-2 in Mega Man X3 to 5 in Mega Man X8 (his official notation in X8, according to sourcebooks, is "VAVA Pente," meaning "5"). It is unknown if those two versions will ever make an appearance.
- Vile and Sigma share the same Japanese voice actor in Mega Man X8, Mugihito.
- In Maverick Hunter X, Vile is very weak to Zero's buster parts. If X uses Zero's buster parts (not Dr. Light's buster parts) on Vile after the game has been completed, X can make short work of him with two correctly aimed shots at full charge. Using Dr. Light's Buster Parts at full charge will only do up to half the damage as compared to Zero's Buster Parts.
- Interestingly, in Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, in battles that involve Vile, Vile doesn't speak to his opponent(s) unless spoken to.
- Vile is the second major recurring boss character in the Mega Man X series, next to Sigma.
- Vile is the first antagonist in the Mega Man X series to become a playable character.
- Vile's weakness in Mega Man X and Mega Man Maverick Hunter X is the same as Velguarder Sigma's primary weakness from the first Mega Man X game: Rolling Shield. After which, there will be different types of weaknesses against Vile in the concurrent games.
- Vile's overall appearance bears some resemblance to Sniper Joe. The similarities are further highlighted in the Rockman X3 manga, where at one point Vile Mk II has a glowing eye in the center of his visor while dueling with X just like Sniper Joe.
- Vile's personality in the Rockman X manga is depicted much differently than the games. In the manga, Vile is seen as somewhat calculating, manipulative, cunning, and somewhat calm, and can easily catch X off guard. When X encounters him at the abandoned saloon after the battle with Armored Armadillo, Vile mentions to X that he will hunt down all those who bear the name "Rockman" after he finishes him off once and for all, but he leaves while giving X the coordinates of the next Dr. Light capsule. X tries to shoot Vile as he is leaving, but is stunned with a sense of fear.
- The D-Arts Vile figure comes with a glass of Bourbon, an homage to his appearance in the manga. After Armored Armadillo's death, X finds Vile in a bar holding a glass. Vile tells X it would not matter if the glass is filled with Bourbon or mud as Reploids cannot tell the difference between them, and breaks the glass. Later in Sigma's fortress, Vile asks X if he wants a glass of Bourbon before dying, making a reference to their previous encounter.
- It is unknown as to why VAVA is capitalized.
- In Project X Zone, it is noted in Chapter 37 by the main protagonist of Tales of Vesperia, Yuri Lowell, that Vile is very similar to an enemy he fought in his own world known as Zagi. Zagi and Vile share similar parallels in that they are both single-minded in the pursuit of their goal and their existence can only truly be defined when they beat their respective rival (Yuri and X).
- Vile shares similarities with Bass from the Classic Era Mega Man Series.
- Both Vile and Bass have a strong obsession with hunting down the Mega Man in their respective series.
- Both Vile and Bass are the first bosses to be fought in their debut games.
- Both Vile and Bass are depicted with the color purple.
- Both Vile and Bass have golden streamlines on their body.
- Both Vile and Bass use rapid-fire based weapons.
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 Vs. Villains
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