Zero was created by the late Dr. Albert Wily sometime in the early-21st century. His first chronological appearance was in the form of schematic blueprints during Bass's ending for Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters and described by Wily as his "greatest masterpiece." Learning from his past mistakes, including the accidental creation of Bassnium, and his construction of Bass and King, Wily constructed a new robot, far more advanced than anything he had ever built before with a power level far superior to that of Bass or Mega Man. Wily took the time to complete Zero, originally planning to use him against both Mega Man, and his insolent rebellious Bass. However, this never happened, and he was never utilized during the Wily Wars. Zero was routinely activated in a semi-conscious state during his construction, and Wily conversed with him, mirroring what Light himself did with X. Zero was aggressive and disobedient, and because of this Wily decided to seal him in a capsule. Decades later, in the early 22nd century, he was awakened by a group of Reploids prior to the first Mega Man X game.
When he was first activated, he awoke as a Maverick (by the definition of wanting to cause harm to all humans) and destroyed all intruders who had dared to enter Wily's lair. Zero was later cornered by Maverick Hunter Elite, Gamma's Maverick Hunter unit inside an unknown facility, however at the cost of a total loss of said unit. Not wanting to get anymore 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 and a 'W' symbol appeared, apparently causing Zero great pain. Sigma punched this crystal, shattering it and defeating Zero (subsequently passing on the Maverick Virus to himself). He was then brought to Dr. Cain, who analyzed him. After that, Zero recovered from his battle with Sigma and was placed under Sigma's watch. Zero did not show any signs of Maverick behavior and was enlisted into the Maverick Hunters' 17th Elite Unit.
Maverick War era
The Day of Σ
As part of the 17th Elite Unit, Zero became an excellent Maverick Hunter and was soon ranked A-Class, the highest rank the Maverick 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 a somewhat 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 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 pressure X into surrendering. To get Zero out of his way, he was struck by Sigma's beam saber and later abandoned while Sigma 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.
Mega Man X / Maverick Hunter X
Zero from Mega Man X.
Added by Twilight Man
After Sigma's declaration of Reploid Independence on July 4th 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 Hunter organization, became the new leader, and he and a repaired X fought together against Sigma's uprising rebellion. Zero saved X during a Maverick attack at the Central Highway from Vile. 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 a bait for X). When X was also defeated by Vile, Zero managed to break free and destroyed Vile's armor by firing a charge shot from point-blank range, which was a successful, yet fatal action. Afterwords, 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.
Mega Man X2
After Sigma had been defeated, 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 Zero's unique body structure.
Six months later, a group of three Mavericks, calling themselves the "X-Hunters" (Counter Hunters in Japanese), contacted the Maverick Hunters and claimed to be in possession of all parts of Zero. The X-Hunters challenged X to a battle in order to win Zero's remains. (The Japanese version of the game however claims that they actually rebuilt the parts and did not use remains from the previous game.) It was Serges (Sagesse in Japanese) who constructed the parts and upgraded the body with the specs Zero was originally intended to have, 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.
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 very end of the Japanese version of the game, Sigma mentions that Zero is the last of "Wi...numbers", implying that Zero is the last of the "Wily numbers", or advanced robots built by Dr. Wily.
As a non-canon scenario in X2, in case X wasn't able to retrieve all of Zero's parts, the X-Hunters would steal any parts X had previously collected from the Hunter Base, as well as Zero's Control Chip. Zero would then be reconstructed by Sigma as a Maverick and was fought by X prior to his encounter with Sigma. After being defeated, Zero would regain his consciousness and assisted in destroying the base. His weakness in this battle is the Speed Burner.
Mega Man Xtreme
Zero played only a minor role in the story of this game. After X managed to escape the digitalized version of the Central Highway, Zero would inform him that Mavericks had hacked the Maverick Hunters' Mother Computer, stealing and corrupting data and allowing other Mavericks to run wild everywhere. While X was digitalized 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 digitalized 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.
Mega Man X3
Zero only played a minor role during the Doppler incident. He and X defended the Maverick 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.
If Zero was summoned during the second stage of Doppler's lab at a specific point, he fights a Mosquito-like Mechaniloid which was destroyed by him, however the Mechaniloid managed to hit Zero in a last resort attack. The crash of the Mosquito damaged Zero's power generator which forced him to return to Hunter Base to have repairs done. Because this made him unavailable for the rest of the trip, he would then lend his Z-Saber to X.
Mega Man Xtreme 2
In Mega Man Xtreme 2, Zero paired up with X to investigate the resurgence of previously retired Mavericks. Technically speaking, this is the first time Zero was able to 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 Gareth, partner of Berkana, who was reviving the dead Mavericks. Afterwards, Zero aided X in the final battle against the resurrected Sigma.
Mega Man X4
Zero encounters his creator in his nightmares.
Added by BTD
Zero's first appearance as fully controllable character with his own story also marked his most tragic point in 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 of 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 for a moment and as a request for interrogation was declined, the Great Repliforce War broke out.
When the Repliforce was labelled Maverick 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, who was by now Zero's girlfriend, assisted Zero on his missions as being his operator, like during the Erasure incident. However, Iris herself was part of Repliforce while her brother, Colonel, was Repliforce's second-in-command and therefore an imminent target for the Maverick Hunters. Iris didn't want the two of them to fight, ravished between her love 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 side however stated that someone had to stop Repliforce at all costs, much to the grief of Iris. 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 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 programing, 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 together with him, 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 (he yells "NO, THIS ISN'T HAPPENING! THERE'S NO REASON FOR ME TO GO ON!! WHA.. WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOR!!!" at the end). Filled with anger, he confronted General, the leader of Repliforce, defeating him in battle. Upon the end of the fight, General realized that someone had taken over the control over 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
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. Questioning whether or not Reploids were destined to become Mavericks after all, he returned to Earth.
If the game was played by X, Zero would only appear at the very end of the story, contacting X from Hunter Base upon his return to Earth by spacecraft. X, wondering what would happen if he turned Maverick, asked Zero to take care of him if that would ever happen. Confused, Zero didn't answer to X request, although he seemingly realized X's seriousness about the topic and the eventual battle between him and his best friend.
Mega Man X5
Zero played a pivotal role in Mega Man X5. The space colony "Eurasia" was set to impact the Earth, recently being coated in a large outbreak of the Maverick virus, which would cause catastrophes of unimaginable proportions. In the meantime, X and Zero faced Sigma on Earth and easily defeated him, however, Sigma lost on purpose to spread the Sigma Virus around the world. Due to this, thousands of Maverick Hunters turned Maverick, yet, the fall of the colony posed to be a bigger threat. In order to stop the impact of the Eurasia, X and Zero both would gather several enhancement parts to power up an old energy cannon, known as "Enigma" (Enigma is German for mystery, an odd name for a gun) to destroy the colony before it could devastate the planet. While doing so, Zero noticed his strange reaction towards the Sigma Virus. While others, like X, got hurt by being surrounded by the virus, he himself actually felt energy growing inside himself, multiple infections of Sigma Virus anomalies even turned him invincible for brief period in time. Behind the scenes, Lifesaver informed Hunter General Signas about his concerns regarding Zero, but also that there might have been a chance to develop antibodies from his DNA to cure the Maverick/Sigma Virus. Yet, the accomplishment of the Enigma was rendered priority one.
However, it didn't matter how much the cannon was powered up, a complete destruction of the Eurasia was impossible and only delayed the impact (in the game it's possible to destroy Eurasia with only the cannon, but story-wise it didn't work). As a last resort action, a Space Shuttle was readied to be launched and be directed right into the colony to have have it self-destruct right at the Eurasia's core. The shuttle would be operated by Zero and the operation succeeded, however debris would still rain down on Earth. Zero was later rescued by the Hunters but the peace only lasted for a short time as a new threat arose from the debris of Eurasia.
A new virus, merged from the virus inside the colony and the Sigma Virus, called the "Zero Virus" by Alia, had begun to effect the impact area. The area flooded by the new virus was strangely deformed and was filled with Zero Virus anomalies that even resembled Zero. Also, strange Mavericks were found in the area, bosses that actually resembled earlier bosses such as the Shadow Devil and Rangda Bangda. The closer X and Zero got to the source of the virus, the higher Zero's viral infection level rose, yet not showing any Maverick behavior. Not wanting Zero to become a Maverick, X would fight his friend in order to have him being brought back to Hunter Base. Eventually, the battle would end in a draw (apparently, both used "Soul Body" on each other when the other thought they were winning). Upon seeing X and Zero both being completely exhausted after their battle, Sigma would reveal himself to destroy them. However, Zero managed to prevent this, protecting X and himself and forcing Sigma to retreat.
If the one who would pursue Sigma was Zero, Sigma would reveal to him that he let the colony fall on Earth solely to purify Zero's body with the virus to clear his mind and awaken his true self. Upon defeating his first form, Sigma would also reveal to Zero that he met an "Old Man" which knew a lot about Zero and his past, caring for him like a father and that it was that man's suggestion to flood Zero's body with the Virus to awaken him. After defeating his large battle body form, Sigma would then try to take X, who was still left unconscious at the scene of his battle with Zero, down with him. Zero would take most of the hit, majorly damaging him. The remains of Sigma attacked Zero and X one final time, impaling both of them in the chest area but was then completely destroyed by Zero who gained consciousness briefly and fired a charge shot at him from his buster.
Exhausted and damaged from the battle, Zero finally realized that he was going to die and while in a state between life and death, he began recalling memories of his creator and his true purpose of existence. Yet, his memory circuits began to cease function. After recalling his memories of Iris and apologizing to her, Zero asked X to live for him, bringing peace to the world. After X was saved and repaired by the spirit of Thomas Light, X searched for Zero, but found nothing but his Z-Saber, which he kept in order to honor his fallen friend.
As a non-canon scenario, if the Shuttle Operation was not successful, the large amounts of the Colony Virus, together with the Sigma Virus Zero had already been infected with from Earth, would awaken Zero upon crashing on Earth, thus challenging X to a battle. His mind now cleared and caring about nothing but his mission to fight X, Maverick Zero battled X, resulting in a draw. After taking massive damage during the fight, as Sigma revealed himself and prepared to destroy X, Zero regained conscious and he jumped into the line of fire, protecting X with his body. When X destroyed Sigma in this scenario and was damaged badly, Dr. Light would appear to save him, however he made him forget about Zero and would implant a protection inside X's mind so no information about Zero would be accepted.
Originally, Mega Man X5 was supposed to be the final game of the series and Zero getting killed in the course to make way for Inafune's original plot of the Mega Man Zero series. However, Mega Man X6 was produced unbeknown to him and without his approval, and since the plot of X6 involved Zero once again, he had to modify his Mega Man Zero concept in order to not make the story more confusing.
Mega Man X6
In Mega Man X6, the mad scientist Gate began tampering with Zero's data. By studying a piece of Zero's body found in the debris, Gate created the new Nightmare Virus, a discolored clone of Zero (called "Zero Nightmare"), and the near-invulnerable Reploid, High Max. X, taking the assault on Zero's reputation personally, set out to investigate. Upon destroying the Zero Nightmare, X is reunited with his friend, mysteriously repaired and carrying a brand new Z-Saber. Together, X and Zero set out to defeat Gate and the imperfectly resurrected Sigma. Who exactly repaired Zero was never directly stated. Dr. Light, who repaired X at the end of X5, denied knowing who repaired Zero. Some believe it is Gate's ally, Isoc, as he is the only Reploid who claimed to have seen Zero before X found him, and he demonstrates an odd obsession with Zero, even laughing joyously when Zero defeats Gate's own men, but in this very cutscene Isoc says, "Now that I know you are alive I can capture you at anytime." If it was Isoc, he would have known Zero was alive. Again, in this game Zero has his Z-Buster with slight differences: It takes a bit less time to use than in X5 and it seems to do more damage at a close range. It should be noted that the reunion between X and Zero had Zero stating that he repaired himself, and hid himself away while he "healed" [1].
Zero's ending in this game helps to mend the storyline between the Mega Man X and Mega Man Zero games. It shows Zero being sealed to remove a component from his body (presumably something having to do with the virus' influence on him, and/or his original murderous persona). This was originally going to show that the X series had ended, but fans loved the series so much, Inafune was forced to continue, making many people believe that this is either a glimpse of the future, or non-canon. However, recently revealed backstory information in the Japanese Mega Man Zero Sourcebook "Rockman Zero Official Complete Works" has revealed that this ending is indeed canon, takes place in an unspecified time period beyond the last X series game, and is in fact considered the first of 2 different times when Zero sealed himself away (the second time being after the Elf Wars, when he sealed himself away once more in the Rockman Zero TELOS drama tracks, and was then finally reawakened in the Zero series).
Alternatively, it is possible to clear Mega Man X6 without ever finding Zero. In this event, cutscenes show that Zero is indeed alive, but X and the other Maverick Hunters never find him. Zero leaves on his own, stating that there's something he needs to take care of. Like the alternate ending to X5, canonically, this ending does not happen.
Mega Man X7
In Mega Man X7, Zero is responsible for the bulk of the Maverick Hunter workload due to the fact that X has recently refused to battle for any reason, due to his doubts about the Hunters' violent methods (Zero seems to have some resentment towards the workload, as indicated when he says, "I can't believe I'm back here again!" in an irritated tone in his introduction). Zero captures a mysterious Reploid, Axl, who has just recently abandoned the vigilante group Red Alert. Axl assists Zero in stopping Red Alert's rampages, and eventually X rejoins them. While fighting alongside Axl, Zero learns from Axl at least some of the details about Red Alert's downfall. After the battles, Zero has nightmares of X attacking him, out of obsession for eliminating Mavericks (possibly foreshadowing the rise of Copy X in the Zero series). Mega Man X7 signified a few changes to Zero's gameplay. His Z-Buster was eliminated altogether, and in addition to learning new attacks from defeated Mavericks, Zero can also gain other melee weapons to replace his saber. This tradition would continue through the rest of the Mega Man X series and up to the Mega Man Zero series.
Mega Man X8
Zero continues to work with X and Axl, who is now working with the Maverick Hunters, in dealing with new threats in Mega Man X8. One of the new navigators, a purple-haired girl named Layer, has shown a romantic interest in him; Zero has not returned the emotion however, simply keeping the relationship professional. Zero's memories of the virus incident from Mega Man X5 continue to haunt him, fueling his hatred towards Sigma. Upon confronting him, Sigma confirms that Zero is the original carrier of the Maverick Virus, which was transferred to Sigma prior to the game Mega Man X (presumably it happened when Sigma shattered Zero's head gem as X4 depicted, though the unlockable animation "Day of Sigma" in the PSP remake of Mega Man X has put a few doubts on this). This information was long-since stated in Japanese sourcebooks, but was never before made officially available to the public in other regions.
Mega Man X Command Mission
In the game Mega Man X: Command Mission, Zero is sent along with X and another Reploid, Shadow, to investigate Reploid uprisings in Giga City. Zero is separated from X after Shadow betrays them, and presumed dead, until he reappears some time later and attacks one of the rebelling Reploids in a mechaniloid factory. At this point, Zero is joined by X, Axl, and a number of other Reploids that X assembled to assist him. With Shadow's betrayal still fresh in his memory, Zero is unwilling to trust X's new friends, and promptly decides to work alone. However, one of the Reploids, Spider, risks his life in Zero's defense. After this, Zero decides to rejoin X's group permanently, although Spider eventually turns on them and reveals himself as Colonel Redips. He had hid his true identity from the group by using a replica of Axl's DNA change, hinting toward the possibility that Spider could have actually existed at one point (since Axl needs to take DNA from a Reploid in order to change into it).
