The Maverick Wars, known as the Irregular Wars (イレギュラー戦争 Iregyurā Sensou) in Japan, was a series of global armed conflicts between legions of Mavericks led by Sigma, and the Maverick Hunters led by X and Zero. It includes all of the main conflicts of the Mega Man X series. Only Reploids and Mechaniloids fought in the wars.[1]
Background[]
Mavericks appeared shortly after the initial production of Reploids, but the Maverick Wars proper did not begin until Sigma took charge. After Sigma was infected by the Maverick Virus while fighting the berserk Zero, the virus mutated into the Sigma Virus. Sigma began having more rebellious thoughts and pondering how he could change the world. He finally came to the conclusion that the humans were holding back the potential of Reploids, whom he considered to be the superior life-forms, and he began planning an anti-human rebellion using the Maverick Hunters he commanded.
Course of the war[]
Mega Man X[]
On June 4, 21XX,[2] Sigma launched his rebellion. Zero was one of the few to not join Sigma, and led the remaining Hunters against their former commander. X also joined the Hunters to protect the humans from the Reploids he helped create. X defeated eight former Maverick Hunters, while Zero performed reconnaissance to locate Sigma's Hideout. There, Zero sacrificed himself to help X overcome Vile, and X went on to destroy Sigma. This was hoped to be the end of the Maverick Wars, but Sigma promised he would live on.
Mega Man X2[]
In the following six months, Sigma's armies operated from the shadows as the X-Hunters took control. X led the efforts to root out the remnants, tracing them to a Maverick Factory in the desert. Upon destroying the factory, a new Maverick rebellion was unleashed. X defeated the eight SA-Class Mavericks, learning of the Maverick Virus in the process. He then defeated the X-Hunters as well, discovering that both Sigma and Zero had been resurrected. X and Zero worked together to destroy Sigma, learning that he had become one with the Maverick Virus, making the Sigma Virus. Destroying the Central Computer was hoped to have deleted the Sigma Virus.
Mega Man X3[]
The Maverick Wars apparently came to an end. In this peace, Dr. Doppler made revolutionary progress in reforming virus-infected Mavericks. However, Doppler revealed that he too was infected by the Sigma Virus and staged his own rebellion, reigniting the Maverick Wars. X and Zero entered Dopple Town to defeat eight of Doppler's strongest soldiers, then infiltrated Doppler's Lab. Once Doppler was defeated, he came to his senses and urged X to stop Sigma, for whom he had built a new body. X located and destroyed Sigma, and Zero/Dr. Doppler struck him with an anti-virus to seemingly defeat him.
Mega Man X4[]
Anticipating future Maverick outbreaks, the Repliforce military was formed to aid the Maverick Hunters. However, they came into ideological conflict with the Hunters, and the horrific Sky Lagoon incident led to their leader General starting a coup d'état for Reploid independence. The resulting conflict was called the Great Repliforce War, where X and Zero defeated eight of Repliforce's strongest. At the end of the Great Repliforce War, it was revealed that Sigma had sewn the seeds of doubt in General that led to the coup. X and Zero defeated Sigma again, leaving Repliforce disbanded in ruins.
Mega Man X5[]
During the repairs from the Great Repliforce War, Sigma returned again in broad daylight. X and Zero quickly destroyed him, but doing so created an explosion that spread the Sigma Virus across the globe; meanwhile, the mercenary Dynamo set the space colony Eurasia to crash into the Earth. This two-pronged catastrophe was called the Earth Crisis, and X and Zero scrambled to stop the chaos by fighting Mavericks to repair the Enigma and Space Shuttle. Regardless of the success of their mission, the Sigma Virus corrupted countless Reploids, Eurasia rained hellfire across the planet, and Zero was lost.
Mega Man X6[]
There was relative peace in the weeks following the Earth Crisis, as the world laid low. However, it was again disturbed by the mysterious Nightmare. X began investigating the Nightmare, discovering that Zero was still alive and learning the mad scientist Gate was behind the Nightmare. Together they defeated Gate, only to learn he had partially resurrected Sigma once again, forcing them to destroy him too.
Mega Man X7[]
The world rebuilt for many years, recovering from the Earth Crisis and the Nightmare. However, this led to an increase in Maverick activity, exacerbated by X stepping back from the front lines. The vigilante syndicate Red Alert formed to fill this power vaccuum, but they fell under the influence of Sigma and challenged the Maverick Hunters over their runaway member, Axl. The Hunters were forced to destroy Red Alert, and X returned to help defeat Sigma once more.
Mega Man X8[]
At this point, the Maverick Wars drove the humans to begin the Jakob Project to colonize the Moon and escape the chaos. New generation Reploids were created to help, whose total immunity to viruses made them supposedly incapable of going Maverick. However, the new gen Reploids rebelled anyways, hijacking the Jakob Project for themselves to colonize the Moon in place of the humans. X, Zero, and Axl discovered that Sigma was leading them using pure loyalty rather than a virus, and destroyed him for apparently the last time. However, the head of the Jakob Project, Lumine, revealed that the new gen Reploids were only following Sigma to advance their goals and did not need him to go Maverick. The three Hunters defeated Lumine too, but he lashed out to wound Axl before dying.
Conclusion[]
During a lull in the Maverick Wars, Zero discovered he still hosted the Maverick Virus and was inadvertently spreading it across the world. Thus, he chose to seal himself in a research facility to be studied by scientists. This led to the creation of Cyber-elves such as the Mother Elf, which allowed X to annihilate the Sigma Virus and truly end the Maverick Wars.
Aftermath[]
Some humans, such as the scientist Dr. Weil, were dissatisfied with this solution and believed the Maverick Wars proved Reploids could never be trusted, even with the Sigma Virus gone. Thus, Weil proposed his own Project Elpizo to put all Reploids under human control. When he was turned down, Weil sought to prove the unreliability of Reploids and secretly corrupted the Mother Elf into the Dark Elf, starting the hellish Elf Wars which wiped out 60% of all humans and 90% of all Reploids in a span of four years. Though Weil was eventually brought to justice, this cataclysmic war led to the events of the Mega Man Zero series.[3]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ Neige: "The Reploids were well designed. Perhaps too well. Their humanity began to sow the seed of rebellion. The rebels were labeled Mavericks and feared by their Human masters... The Humans decided to pit Reploid against Reploid... That was the fate given to them. The Reploids fighting for humanity were never given a choice... Thus the war of the machines began and the humans just watched..." - Opening, Mega Man Zero 4.
- ↑ The Journal of Dr. Cain
- ↑ Mega Man Zero Official Complete Works