Dr. Weil

Dr. Weil, known as Dr. Vile (Dr.バイル) in the Japanese versions, is the primary antagonist of the Mega Man Zero series, as the one responsible for the Elf Wars.

Between Mega Man X and Mega Man Zero
Dr. Weil, who was born at an unknown date during or before the Maverick Wars, was a human scientist who participated in the project to design the original Cyber-Elf, the Mother Elf. In this project, Dr. Weil was a coworker and rival of the ancestress of the future Resistance leader Ciel, and both of them had significantly different views on how the Maverick Wars should be resolved. Weil made weapons to use against the Mavericks and specialized in Reploid revival, and was allegedly the creator of the Eight Gentle Judges, while his partner worked on analyzing the viral energies within Zero's original body (which had been salvaged after he entered a period of stasis) in hopes of finding a cure for the Maverick Virus. Although the Mother Elf was completed and was successfully used by X to end the Maverick Wars and eliminate the virus altogether, Dr. Weil was dissatisfied with these results. He believed that the Reploids should pay for the carnage their wars caused and should submit to humanity. Weil eventually took control of the Mother Elf and reprogrammed her, transforming her into the Dark Elf, thus triggering the horrifying Elf Wars.

Additionally, seeing as how the body's original consciousness had been removed, Dr. Weil successfully used his retained genius to steal and fully repair Zero's original body and give it a new identity, Omega. With the Dark Elf to control Earth's Reploids and Omega to destroy any and all who opposed him, Weil nearly destroyed the entire planet.

The use of Cyber Elves, with the Dark Elf in particular, ended the Elf Wars in four years, but at a horrific cost. Omega's power was incomplete without the Dark Elf inside him, having lack of judgment. It became too much to control, and at the height of the war's violence, the Elves went absolutely berserk, completely annihilating everything in sight. The Elves could not distinctively see right from wrong, and thought all Reploids were evil, thus the higher number of casualties on that side of the lives lost. The humans were caught up in the chaos and mistaken for Reploids, causing even more loss of life. X and Zero waged a heroic final battle to stop these elves, and ended up confronting both Weil and Omega, which led to victory. Weil was branded a criminal, and himself, having been severely injured, was rumored to have bargained with X for his life, and convinced X to spare him at the disgust of Zero.

By the time X and Zero (now in a new copy body built by an unknown party) were able to end the war, it had decimated 90% of all Reploids and 60% of humans in its flames. Omega was eventually disabled by X and Zero, and his remains were sealed and launched into orbit. Unfortunately, X had sustained serious damage, and Zero to an even worse extent. Both were sealed away, X to Yggdrasil to lock up the Dark Elf, and Zero, albeit almost destroyed, to a run-down laboratory.

Meanwhile, for his crimes back on Earth, Weil, clinging to life in his battered human body, had his wish to be spared granted. Unfortunately, the humans who restored his body showed less sympathy than X did, and saw it as a punishment. Weil was sentenced to be contained within a bio-mechanical suit that would prevent him from deterioration and death. He also had his memories converted into data so that he would never forget his crimes. He was then exiled to the wastelands he had made, never to age or die, but only suffer eternally therein. Having been exiled, Dr. Weil began to plot his revenge on human and Reploid alike.

Mega Man Zero 2
Dr. Weil is first mentioned in the ending sequence of Mega Man Zero 2 as the man who placed a curse on the Mother Elf, thus turning her into the Dark Elf. He can also be heard (but not seen) talking to Omega after the credits. It's also implied in that scene that he may have had a hand in convincing Elpizo to try and release the Dark Elf, as he seems to have knowledge of her release.

Mega Man Zero 3
Weil makes his reappearance from his imposed exile at the end of the game's opening stage, with a supposedly resurrected Copy X.

Near the end of the Maverick Wars, Weil used the Dark Elf and copies of her, the Baby Elves, to seize control of the Reploids. He also constructed the devilish Reploid known as Omega, whom was defeated by X and Zero with a Final Strike and exiled into space as punishment.

He claims to have repented his ways, and is allowed back into Neo Arcadia. However, he also ends up giving the Eight Gentle Judges various "upgrades", that also resulted in his brainwashing them to follow his will, to which Harupia later discovered while he was asking about Fefnir and Leviathan's condition.

Copy X makes Weil the Leader of the Neo Arcadian Army, as well as being directly responsible for Harupia, Fefnir, and Leviathan's demotion from the Neo Arcadian Army. He leads the search for the Dark Elf and the Baby Elves and eventually combines Omega with the Dark Elf after launching a missile containing Omega into the human settlement Area Z-3079. Weil eventually kills Copy X with a booby trap on his body that detonates when he attempts to access his Seraph form (see Mega Man Zero 3 Script).

With Copy X dead, Dr. Weil invokes Ordinance #8 and becomes Leader of Neo Arcadia by unanimous vote. He then uses Neo Arcadia's resources as he sees fit, to gain control of Reploids through the combined powers of the Dark Elf and Omega, in order to punish the citizens of Neo Arcadia for his banishment.

Though Zero destroys Omega in the end of the game, Weil remains ruler of Neo Arcadia.

Mega Man Zero 4
The fourth game in the series begins with the premise of Weil as absolute ruler of Neo Arcadia. Under his rule, humans and Reploids are equally oppressed, with all those that oppose him labeled as Mavericks. His reign of terror became so unbearable that in Mega Man Zero 4, a group of humans escaped to Area Zero, where the remains of the Mega Man X5 Eurasia space colony not only crashed, but also helped revive vegetation (see Mega Man Zero 4 Script).

Seeing Area Zero as a threat, Weil devises Operation Ragnarok to obliterate it, thus forcing people to live in Neo Arcadia. The plan involved distracting the Resistance with half-hearted attempts to destroy the ecology in Area Zero, whilst he completed the Ragnarok Satellite and its huge Energy Cannon. He was prevented from firing it by Craft, who ended up firing it at Dr. Weil himself, destroying Neo Arcadia and killing many civilians.

Unfortunately, Dr. Weil survives and teleported to Ragnarok. He attributes his survival to his regenerative armor, which the humans of the time put him in before his exile. Weil states that it can heal all wounds faster than normal, prevents him from aging, and prevented him from dying. Additionally, to ensure that he would never forget his partially metallic and partially carbonic body.

After defeating him once, Weil comes back. Eventually, Zero decides to destroy the Core, destroying Ragnarok, Weil, and (presumably) himself along with it. Weil is apparently destroyed, but Zero's sacrifice is unable to account for the numerous fragments of Ragnarok raining down to Earth. Although they present no harm at the time, as a result of Weil's fusion with Ragnarok, and the fact he had program data in his mechanical body, traces of his evil mind lie in the fragments, and are amplified over time by even more travesties committed, leading to a new conflict. 

Mega Man ZX series
Though Dr. Weil doesn't appear directly in the Mega Man ZX series, it is implied that he returned as the major evil of the series in the form of the Biometal Model W (Model V in the Japanese version). Model W is the original Biometal, formed from the pieces of Ragnarok, which Dr. Weil fused with, that fell to Earth at the end of Mega Man Zero 4. Sometime after the end of Mega Man Zero 4, the original commander of the Guardians (Ciel) analyzed data collected from Model W and learned that Model W has the ability to drive both machines and humans to madness. In response, she built the six Biometals (those used in the game) to stop Model W.

A decade prior to Mega Man ZX, the small fragment that Ciel studied was stolen by Serpent. The power of Model W led Serpent to create various Maverick out-breaks, and, in turn, form Slither Inc. to stop the Mavericks, which caused many Cyber Elves to be released from the deaths of the victims. These Cyber Elves are then captured and used to "awaken" Model W at the end of the game.

In Aile's story, Prometheus and Pandora, two major antagonists, state that Serpent, the hero, themselves and even Model W are but pawns to "the man who created Model W", Master Albert, who made his appearance in Mega Man ZX Advent as one of the Sage Trinity and the creator of Model W and Model A. Though ZX Advent later implies that it was actually Model W that was controlling everything, and that Albert was no different than Serpent, the hero, Prometheus, and Pandora; that even he himself was a pawn. Albert later manages to have the various Model W's reform and form Ouroborous, the Mega Man King's biometal. Model W, and presumably any remaining trace of Dr. Weil, was presumably destroyed for good after Master Albert's death and Ouroborous' destruction.

It could also be that like the other Biometals, who retained their own consciousness they had as Reploids, Weil is still conscious at the time, but prefers not to speak and instead decided to manipulate possible targets in order to continue his goal of forming a utopia under his rule, using his manipulated subject to give orders. Although it is reasonable to claim that Albert made Biometal W instead of the Biometal forming of its own will, it is implied that the original Biometal formed by itself with no influence.

Appearance
Dr. Weil's design takes notable traits from his villainous predecessor, Dr. Wily. He appears as an aged man with rough skin, a pointed nose, long gray hair and beard and red eyes. Because of his cyborg status, his default form appears as a floating figure with seemingly no legs; his lower body replaced by an array of black and red arrow-like bands to form a coat of sorts. His head is engulfed in an orange glass shield filled with some sort of bio-liquid, often causing his hair to freely flow upwards.

Personality
Weil generally displays a calm, manipulative nature, but underneath that he's clearly psychotic. By re-building Copy X he gained power in Neo Arcadia, and later set the stage for a battle between Copy X and Zero, which he made sure Zero would win. This shows Weil's intelligent side. Also, when he sent Omega in the missile to intercept the Dark Elf, he counted on the Baby Elfs to fight Zero as a distraction for not fighting Omega, meaning he knew Zero would go on the missile. He showed his psychotic side when he commented of how much he enjoyed controlling all Reploids with the Dark Elf. Another symptom of his psychotic persona is that in Weil's desire to destroy Area Zero, he wants to bear witness first-hand to the crashing of Ragnarok into Area Zero by staying on the station during its crash. He firmly thinks that, thanks to his regenerative armor, he can survive the crash, regardless of what happens to his "human side".

He is also shown to be extremely sadistic, as evidenced by his expressing how he enjoyed causing the mayhem of the Elf Wars and his admitting that Neige and everyone else's humiliation, rage, and suffering delights him, and the fact that he desires to rule all of Neo Arcadia with his subjects, Human and Reploid alike, living a living death.

He is also shown to be power-hungry, and feels that ruling over people is the ultimate joy, something that he believes no Reploid could ever experience. He also seems to think that this is exactly what humanity feels, as well.

He also tends to view Reploids as being inferior to Humans, that they should obey them as if they were slaves. The only notable exception to this rule was Omega, where he seemed to hold him in far higher regard than himself. This is evidenced by the fact that when Zero asked Dr. Weil why Omega, who was just revealed to be the Original Zero, was serving him, Weil stated that Omega was the god of destruction, and all Weil himself did was enhance his power, hinting that he never really viewed Omega as a servant.

Despite his manipulative nature, Weil's most significant weakness is his knack to underestimate his enemies, especially Zero. He thinks that Zero has no chance of defeating Omega, especially when the latter surfaces in his most powerful form. Also, after Zero defeats Craft for the second time, Weil fired a "warning shot", indicating that Ragnarok was still operational. This alerted the Resistance to the imminent threat of Ragnarok's crashing into Area Zero, and the warning shot was like a challenge to his enemies to try to stop the crash.

Weil shows a constant hatred of Reploids, as well as humans for exiling him. He also seems to harbour some hatred towards idealism in general, due to his saying "Risou Dato... ZAREGETTO DA!!!", which roughly translates to "Ideals and such... ARE UTTER NONSENSE!!!", or "Ideals?! WHAT A LIE!!", before his fight with Zero. Also in his final fight with Zero when performing his diamond projectile attack, what he says can be translated as "How foolish of you".

In the manga
Dr. Weil made an appearance in volume 3 of the Rockman Zero manga. He is an aged scientist that prolongs his life with chemicals in his body. He is looking for the Dark Elf, and orders Omega and Craft to help him (as well as making a duplicate to Zero known as Roze), but Omega and Roze was defeated and Craft joined the new Zero. In the last chapter, Weil uses Mega Vile (メガバイル) to fight against Zero, a giant mecha that has resistant armor and can fire powerful lasers. During Christmas, Weil emerged from the ground and destroyed Lito's house, apparently killing Lito (it's later shown he wasn't inside the house). Zero is enraged with the death of his friend and fights against Weil with the help of Craft, Neige and the villagers. In the end, Zero is sent above Mega Vile and uses Zero Knuckle on the cockpit while falling, breaking the cockpit and the glass from Weil's head, making the chemicals drop out. After the attack, Weil's mecha felt into the pit he created, apparently killing him.

Trivia

 * As much as Dr. Wily is to the original Mega Man, and Sigma to Mega Man X, Dr. Weil could also be perceived as Zero's own personal archenemy.


 * Even though Weil is not featured officially until the 3rd game, he is responsible for many of the events in the first two. His corruption of the Mother Elf led to X's original body being used to seal away the Dark Elf, which in turn led to the creation of Copy X, having serious repercussions in the first two games.


 * Three different designs - young, middle-aged, and elder - were proposed for Weil's character. The final design of Weil was based on the latter character concept. Weil's middle-aged concept was later reused for a character in Mega Man ZX Advent who will allow the character to teleport to the Trinity Building.


 * Canonically, Weil is the only Mega Man villain who has successfully destroyed the world, leaving it in a post-apocalyptic era.


 * Although he has no official connection to Dr. Wily, the two Doctors have other similarities besides the structure of their names: they both continued to menace the world long after the demise of their mortal bodies (Dr. Wily during Mega Man X with the Maverick Virus, and Dr. Weil before and during Mega Man Zero as a cyborg, and during Mega Man ZX as the original Biometal, Model W), which makes Dr. Weil the most everlasting antagonist, being "alive" during at least 2 series, while both Dr. Wily and Sigma just lived on their respective series.


 * There is a slight reference to the 1998 movie Armageddon prior to Zero's final battle against him. Right after Zero sees the Ragnarok core, Dr. Weil says "Hehehe! Welcome to your front row seat to the end of the world!!". One of the main characters (and arguably the main antagonist), Rockhound, says something similar when watching the meteor they are trying to destroy get closer to Earth.


 * Dr. Weil mentions that humans enjoy ultimate power and having everything obey their every command. Sigma mentions a similar description of humanity to General when telling him to get Repliforce to fight against Humanity/the Maverick Hunters.


 * Weil is the only known human character to be killed, (at least the body he possessed in the Zero series) by Zero, although it is possible for Zero to have murdered humans when he was a viral Maverick.


 * Weil is the only human character in the the Mega Man Universe, (except for Super Adventure Rockman) to die on screen. (This is, however, disputable- Weil, while once completely human, is now completely robotic with a human's mind, or at least a cyborg.) Most of the time, humans are never shown die on screen, except for the aforementioned Super Adventure Rockman.


 * The name Weil may be a reference to futurist Ray Kurzweil, who is famous for his theory of the Singularity. Coincidentally, Kurzweil has even spoken of cybernetic implants, similar what happens to Dr. Weil.


 * On the cover of the U.S. release of Mega Man Zero Collection, Dr. Weil boss symbol was still V like in the Japaneese version instead of W like in the U.S. release.


 * Being over 100 years old, he is the second oldest human of the series, the oldest being The Master who was over 3000 years old.


 * He is not related to VAVA/Vile from the Mega Man X series and, contrary to fan speculation, there is no direct evidence that he is Dr. Wily from earlier games.


 * It should be noted that "Weil" is technically a correct translation of Bairu, if assumed it follows German phonetics; however, "Vile" is the name acknowledged by official Japanese media, proven by the fact that the boss logo in Mega Man Zero 4, which is no longer an Omega symbol, is the letter V in the Japanese game (it is changed into W in the English releases).
 * Dr. Weil is considered by some fans the "most hated villain" in the entire Mega Man franchise, due to him simply causing a war which caused catastrophic disasters simply out of anger of the results he did not see, unlike Wily's whose motives were because of Dr. Light, and Sigma's because of Mega Man X.