Doctor Albert W. Wily/Archie Comics

This article is about Dr. Albert W. Wily as he appears in the Archie Comics Mega Man series.

Early Work
In the past, Dr. Wily was banned from directly working on advanced robotics, due to his creation of the Wily Walker and its equipment with dangerous chemical weapons. However, Wily convinced his colleague Dr. Thomas Light to let him help in the design and development of other highly advanced robots. He was thus involved in the creation of Blues, Dr. Light's first Robot Master. He also appears to have had a hand in the creation of the Sniper Joes, less-advanced robots based on Blues' design.

Mega Man 1: Let the Games Begin!
However, Wily eventually grew jealous of Dr. Light, and in Let the Games Begin! he stole six of Light's completed Robot Masters-Bomb Man, Guts Man, Cut Man, Elec Man, Fire Man, and Ice Man-and used them in an effort to establish himself as a dictator. He set the six robots on a rampage alongside Fleas and Sniper Joes, less-advanced machines he had managed to acquire, but was surprised when Dr. Light dispatched his robot son Rock, who had recently been rebuilt as Mega Man. As Wily observed, Mega Man defeated the Robot Masters one after another before being sent to Wily's base to apprehend the evil doctor. Undeterred, Wily dispatched his lesser minions to recover the defeated Robot Masters and repairs them, also sending his Yellow Devil to attack Mega Man.

After the Yellow Devil's defeat and Mega Man's success in tricking the Robot Masters into fighting each other as to whether or not to continue serving Wily, the doctor unleashed his latest creation: the evil Copy Robot, a clone of Mega Man. However, this machine was then destroyed by the Robot Masters, allowing Mega Man to face Wily one-on-one. Piloting his Wily Machine 1, Wily attempted to get Mega Man to surrender by taunting him, but ended up being defeated. Unfortunately for Mega Man, the captured Wily had a backup plan: Robot Masters Time Man and Oil Man.

Short Circuits
Wily appears in many of the series' humorous "Short Circuits" strips, starting in Issue 2 where he has Cut Man perform a number of humiliating tasks before dispatching him to battle Mega Man. He also appears in Issue 4's strip where he is imprisoned after being defeated by Mega Man, and disagrees with Mega Man's assessment that their experience has been "a great first adventure" due to his defeat. Issue 6 finds a sleeping Wily being awakened by Time Man acting as an alarm clock, only for the ringing Robot Master to be knocked out by "Snooze Man", aka Guts Man. Issue 10's strip features Wily, having completed his new set of Robot Masters, putting their abilities to use in relaxing before embarking on his next scheme.

In Issue 11 Wily deals with the problems caused by Crash Man-such as crashing his vehicles and computer-but then has the ingenious idea of sending him in to the stock exchange. Issue 12 finds Wily receiving Mega Man's surrender after revealing his new allies: the aliens from the classic arcade game Space Invaders. Issue 13's Short Circuits doesn't feature Wily himself, but rather a mockup created by Auto for his reenactments of Mega Man's adventures. Issue 16 finds Wily heading to the Advanced Robotics Trade Show in disregard of his Super Adventure Rockman subplot at the time of the "Spiritus Ex Machina" arc. However, he and Reggae then turn around after witnessing the explosion of the Emerald Spears' bombs.

Issue 17 features the first of a series of "Failed Robot Masters", with Wily creating-and being disappointed by-Origami Man. Further failure ensued in Issue 20, where Wily's Police Man chose to berate the scientist over his criminal activities instead of infiltrating the police force as intended. During "Worlds Collide", Wily appeared not only in "Short Circuits" but in the "Off Panel" strips of the Sonic series. His first appearance was in Mega Man Issue 24, where he and Dr. Eggman were granted a reprieve from taking on their united foes by a crossover rule stating that the heroes had to battle each other first.

Sonic Universe Issue 51 featured Wily in the Off Panel, modifying Bass with bio-data from Sonic and greatly altering his appearance. Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 248 saw Eggman replace Metal Sonic's engine with a Mega Buster, with Wily expressing doubts about the idea that proved well-founded. Mega Man Issue 25's strip also featured Wily, claiming that neither the battle between Mega Man and Sonic nor their fight with Wily and Eggman were the greatest battles of the crossover: that honor went to a struggle between pirates (PirateMan and Captain Whisker) and ninja (Shadow Man and Espio the Chameleon). A crayon drawing of Wily appeared in Mega Man Issue 26, where he and Eggman were apparently upset over the new friendship between Bass and E-123 Omega.

Sonic Universe Issue 53 found Wily expressing concern to Eggman over the absence of Tikal, who had appeared when they captured Chaos to create the Chaos Devil. Eggman assuaged his concerns by informing him that Tikal was a pacifist; unbeknownst to both of them, the Echidna girl was holding a pep talk with the Yellow Devil in an effort to get it to abandon violence. Mega Man Issue 27 featured another failed Eggman and Wily team concept: the Roboticized Master Big Man, who proved incapable of anything but fishing. With the crossover ended, Wily returned in Mega Man Issue 35's strip, where Mega Man complained about having him as a nemesis only to be introduced to Sigma by Mega Man X.

Issue 36 found Wily recounting a heroic-and utterly false-tale of his efforts to stop Ra Moon while wielding a sword similar to that used by Sword Man, only to be enslaved by the villainous computer.

Trivia

 * This interpretation of Dr. Wily introduces a number of new elements to the character, including a history of being banned from work with robotics.