Biography Creation
Zero was created by the late Dr. Wily sometime in the early twenty-first century. Wily alluded to him during Bass's ending in Megaman: The Power Battle, where he mentioned he was developing a robot that will blow away both Megaman and Bass is Megaman 9. Schematic blueprints of his body were seen during Bass's ending in Megaman 2: The Power Fighters. Learning from his past mistakes, including the accidental creation of Bassnium and his construction of Bass and King, Wily constructed Zero as a far more advanced robot than anything he had ever built before, with a power level far superior to that of Bass or Megaman. He also presumably began to create the Maverick Virus around this time. Wily even dubbed Zero his "greatest masterpiece". Zero was routinely activated in a semi-conscious state during his construction and Wily spoke with him, mirroring what Dr. Light himself did with X. Wily originally planned to use Zero against both Megaman and the insolent, rebellious Bass. However, it is unknown if this ever happened. Zero contained a flaw in his cognitive program that made him violent and unwilling to obey instructions. Because of this, Wily decided to seal him in a capsule. Decades later, in the early twenty-second century, he was awakened by a group of Reploids prior to the first Megaman X game series.
Awakening
When he was first activated, Zero awoke as a Maverick (by the definition of wanting to cause harm to humans), and he destroyed all intruders who had dared to enter Wily's lair. Zero was later cornered by Hunters Elite, Gamma's Hunters unit, inside an unknown facility—at the cost of the total loss of said unit, however. Not wanting to get any more comrades endangered by the powerful enigmatic Maverick, then-Hunter Commander Sigma himself challenged Zero in a one-on-one battle. Even though Zero eventually gained the upper hand during the battle, Sigma was able to defeat the red Maverick after the gem on Zero's head began to glow with a 'W' symbol, apparently causing Zero great pain.
Sigma punched this crystal, shattering it and defeating Zero. As both Zero and Sigma were in close proximity to the former's capsule when they fought, which contained the Maverick Virus, Sigma and Zero were consequentially infected with the virus. Zero was then brought to Dr. Cain, who analyzed him. After that, he recovered from his battle with Sigma and was placed under Sigma's watch. Zero did not show any more signs of Maverick behavior and was enlisted into the Hunters' 17th Elite Unit.
The Day of Σ
As part of the 17th Elite Unit, Zero became an excellent Hunter and was soon ranked A-Class, the highest rank the Hunters had to offer at that point of time. It was during that time in which he met X for the first time who was also part of the 17th Unit, even though he was only ranked B-Class due to his hesitation on the battlefield. The two became friends and partners and worked together whenever they could. Zero soon became somewhat of a mentor to X.
Soon afterwards, a series of Mechaniloids going berserk occurred in Abel City, the city in which the Hunter Base at that point was located. During the course of the investigation, it was Zero who eventually uncovered the identity of the person responsible for the attacks, which was none other than Sigma himself. Zero realized this after analyzing various locations which were seemly connected to the attacks, and by looking over the bodies of defeated Reploids, which were all taken down with a single blow directed at a weak spot. There had been only a very few number of Reploids with such perfect skills, including Sigma. The blows that the defeated Reploids had taken was caused by a beam saber, and not by range-weapons, which ruled out the previously suspected Vile.
Even though Zero managed to block Sigma's first attack, he was soon overwhelmed by Sigma and was used to goad X into attempting to kill Sigma, which would have killed Zero in the process, to see whether X really could hesitate. Upon seeing that X indeed does hesitate, and to get Zero out of his way, Sigma slashed him with his beam saber and abandoned him while he held X captive, and launched a missile attack on Abel City. Some time later, Zero regained conscious and found X all alone in the facility, heavily damaged. He then brought him back to the Hunter HQ.
Megaman X
After Sigma's declaration of Reploid Independence on July 4 21XX (June in the US manual of the original game), dubbed "The Day of Σ", Zero, who at that point was the highest-ranked member of the Hunters organization, became the new leader, and he and a repaired X fought together against Sigma's uprising rebellion. Zero saved X during a Maverick and Enigma Symbol/Σ Symbol attack at the Central Highway from Vile. In Hunter X, Zero also responded to Vile's question about why Zero would aid a B-Class Hunter like X by informing Vile that he's nothing more than a Maverick at the present. After that, the two split up, with X's task to slow down the Maverick activities in nearby areas while Zero himself was on recon duty at Sigma's fortress.
They eventually met there and together invaded the fortress. Here, they encountered Vile for a second time. Zero was captured by Vile and imprisoned in a cage (in Maverick Hunter X however, Zero was left unconscious by Vile as bait for X). When X was also defeated by Vile, Zero managed to break free (or regain consciousness, as was the case in Maverick Hunter X) and destroyed Vile's armor by firing a charge shot from point-blank range, which was a successful, yet fatal action. Afterwards, Zero handed his Buster Parts to X (only in case X hadn't obtained the Buster Upgrade from the Dr. Light capsules) and encouraged him to continue to fight before ultimately dying in X's arms (Maverick Hunter X also has Zero remarking on the irony of his actions in saving X leading to his death when he earlier told X not to be so careless[3]).
Vile Mode In Vile Mode, included after completing the main game in Maverick Hunter X, Zero's characterization was similar to in the main game, including saving X from Vile. However, instead of chasing Vile off, Zero instead retreats with an injured X. Zero later reappears as the final boss alongside X at Sigma's Palace Stage 3, where he learns with X that Vile is in fact working against Sigma as well as fighting X and Zero. He ends up severely injured by Vile, although he eventually managed to sneak up and grab Vile's leg and pin him before he could deliver the final blow against X, also referring to Vile's earlier rant about X "changing the world" as "maverick talk," also grounding Vile so he'd be caught in X's charge shot. It is unknown if Zero managed to survive the charge shot that critically wounded Vile, or if, like in the main game, Zero also ended up destroyed in a sacrificial effort to help bring Vile down.
Megaman X 2
After Sigma's defeat, the Hunters tried to salvage whatever remained of Zero from the sunken fortress and found Zero's control chip (which serves as Zero's "brain" and consciousness) which had miraculously survived the destruction of the body. However, the Hunters were incapable of creating a new body for Zero because they were unable to analyze his unique body structure.
Six months later, a group of three Enigma, calling themselves the Σ-Trinity (Σ-Trinity in Japan), contacted the Hunters and claimed to be in possession of all of the rest of the parts that would be required to rebuild Zero. Although the American translation of the game fails to reveal how the Enigma-Trinity gained the parts, the Japanese version elaborates with the claim that Serges (Sagesse in Japan) built them. The Enigma-Trinity challenged X to a battle in order to win Zero's parts.
When Serges constructed the parts for Zero, he upgraded the body, including reinforced shoulder plates and Z-Saber. Other enhancements were the improved arm guards (in contrast to the original streamlined ones) and leg joints, with improved mid-air dash thrusters and gold-plated covers, along with thicker and bigger chest armor. Because Serges was able to rebuild Zero with an improved design, it is theorized that Serges is a reincarnation of Dr. Wily, whose mind could have been programmed into the Maverick Virus before it mutated into the Sigma Virus. The first version of Zero was apparently just an "incomplete" prototype, as shown by the second version's outline shown as the blueprints in The Power Fighters.
X, who didn't want his friend to be in the hands of Mavericks, accepted and eventually recovered Zero's head, body and foot parts. Eventually, Zero was reconstructed by Dr. Cain (now completed with his signature Z-Saber and enforced shoulder plates) and assisted X in destroying the base of the resurrected Sigma. Trying to fool X however, Sigma had constructed a doppelganger of Zero with Black Armor which he claimed to be Zero, however this copy was destroyed by the real Zero. This is the canon ending. In the Japanese version of the game, Sigma mentions just before his death that Zero is the last of "Wi...numbers", giving the first hint that Zero is the last of the "Wily numbers", or advanced robots built by Dr. Wily.
Megaman Xtreme
Zero played only a minor role in the story of this game. After X managed to escape the digitized version of the Central Highway, Zero would inform him that Mavericks had hacked the Hunters' Mother Computer, stealing and corrupting data and allowing other Mavericks to run wild everywhere. While X was digitized again and sent back into the Mother Computer to destroy the protection systems that were needed to be taken out to shut the computer down, Zero would handle Maverick attacks in the real world. Also, later during the game, X would be able to find four capsules within the digitized areas, the Zero Scrambles, which allowed him to "summon" Zero to perform an attack or move. However, this was only combat data of Zero and not the real one.
Megaman X 3
Zero only played a minor role during the Doppler incident . He and X defended the Hunter Base from Dr. Doppler's Maverick forces and saved X from the traitor Mac. Zero would here and there be of help for X as he could summon him once a mission (this marked the first time Zero was playable, but he wasn't able to fight bosses), using his Z-Buster and his Z-Saber. While trespassing Doppler's secret lab, he saved X from a spike room booby-trap with REX-2000.
Megaman Xtreme 2
In Megaman Xtreme 2, Zero paired up with X to investigate the resurgence of previously retired Enigma/Σ and Soul Death. technically speaking, this is the first time Zero can fight bosses. It also introduced his famous three hit saber combo, as well as his ability to learn special techniques as opposed to weapons. He battled Knight Warrior Gareth, partner of Empress Berkana, who was reviving the dead Mavericks. Afterwards, Zero aided X in the final battle against the resurrected Sigma.
Megaman X 4
Zero's first appearance as a fully controllable character with his own story also marked the most tragic point in his life. At the beginning of the game, Zero encountered his creator within his dreams, who ordered him to finally obey his orders and fulfill his destiny by destroying his nemesis. When he awakened from the nightmare (which is implied to have happened before), he was immediately dispatched to the Sky Lagoon colony which had been attacked by Mavericks. Repliforce was also confronted at the scene, claiming to assist the Hunters in evacuating the city; however, both factions didn't trust each other, and, as a request for interrogation was declined, the Great Repliforce War broke out.
When the Repliforce was labeled Maverick and Enigma Symbol/Σ Symbol after the Sky Lagoon incident, both X and Zero were assigned different missions to gather information about Repliforce's coup and to cut off their support lines. Iris assisted Zero on his missions as his operator, like during the Erasure incident from Megaman Xtreme 2. However, Iris herself was part of Repliforce while her brother, Colonel, was Repliforce's second-in-command and therefore an imminent target for the Hunters. Iris didn't want the two of them to fight, torn between her care for Zero and her love for her own brother. When the two of them battled in the Ceremony Hall of Repliforce's command center, it was Iris who stopped the two Reploids from terminating each other by begging her own brother to stop since Zero had previously saved her life after the Sky Lagoon had crashed down. Colonel, who had always regarded Zero as a friendly rival, backed off. Zero, on the other hand, stated that someone had to stop Repliforce at all costs, much to Iris' grief.
When Repliforce's coup began, Zero rushed to the space port to stop the ascension of the military troops to the newly constructed space station of Repliforce, Final Weapon. There he battled Colonel, this time not holding anything back, just like his former friend, with Zero being the victor of the fight. After that, he traveled to the Final Weapon where he was, much to his surprise and horror, encountered by Iris, who was blinded by her grief of the loss of her brother and anger for Zero killing him. She had salvaged Colonel's Control Chip from his remains, fusing it with her own programming, thus resulting her body to transform into a massive Ride Armor-like combat form which Zero was forced to battle. Even though he didn't mean to, Zero damaged the exterior power core of the structure, resulting in the destruction of the armor. He hurried to Iris' body, however, it was too late to save her. Whispering to Zero that she did all this because she wanted to live in a world for Reploids only, and that he could live in that world too. She died in his arms and Zero, who was totally overthrown by the pain, began questioning his own reasons for fighting and the means of his own existence. Filled with anger, he confronted General, leader of Repliforce, defeating him in battle. Upon the end of the fight, General realized that someone had taken control of Final Weapon, aiming it at Earth. Zero went to the control facility, only to find Sigma there, who revealed their pasts to him (back when Sigma was still a Hunter and Zero was first seen as a Maverick and Enigma Symbol/Σ Symbol).
After Zero had destroyed Sigma and the General had sacrificed his life to make the Final Weapon self-destruct, Zero escaped the destruction in a small spacecraft, thinking about what he had done. He hadn't been able to save anyone he cared about. He had killed his own friend Colonel, the General, and Repliforce with him, who in the end has only been manipulated by Sigma and the Mavericks. Most of all, he lost Iris, who he had cared about for so long. Questioning whether or not Reploids were destined to become Mavericks after all, he returned to Earth.
Name: Zero
Occupation: Maverick Hunter
R.M. Serial Number: DWN-Infinity
Gender Identity: Male
Creator: Doctor Albert Wily
Original Function: To be the ultimate robot.
Whereabouts: Abel City
Abilities & Equipment: Zero is a very adept combatant on the battlefield. Originally, his power far exceeded X's (until X himself grew in power). His power as a robot from a past age is considerably exceptional in the Maverick Wars. Zero is equipped with a powerful buster weapon known as the Zero Buster, and wields a melee weapon known as the Z-Saber, a sword with a blade composed of pure destructive energy.
Unlike his comrades, Zero does not copy the powers/weapons of defeated Mavericks, but instead, his Learning allows him to acquire special attacks known as Techniques, which are attacks based on techniques utilized by bosses. He does not require the use of a buster weapon as the attacks often utilize his hands or enhances his Z-Saber power by empowering the blade with elemental properties. The Zero Buster can be utilized from both arms, as evidenced by some gameplay and cutscene representations interchangeably showing the buster arm as being his left or right.
Biography
Name: Zero
