Mega Man X/Characters

This page deals with characters from the Mega Man franchise. More specifically, it refers to characters from the Mega Man X games. Beware of spoilers, which will not be hidden. Name differences between the English and Japanese versions will be pointed out by English Name/Japanese Name.

As Command Mission is an RPG (therefore having Loads and Loads of Characters), it has its own Character Page.

Mega Man X/Rockman X

 * Mega Man X/Rockman X

The first of a new breed of robot with the ability to think and feel, X was the last creation of Dr. Thomas Light. Of course, Light had experience with about ten or so doomsday scenarios courtesy of one Albert Wily, and decided to give X a Hyperspace Arsenal and an endless array of power ups in the expectation that, come the next one, X would become the world's new champion, and in spite of his own pacifistic leanings X did just that. "Voiced by: Kentaro Ito (JP, X4), Showtaro Morikubo (JP, X5-X7), Takahiro Sakurai (JP, X8), Mark Gatha (EN, X8)"

"Sigma: Hmm...I see a new clarity in your eyes. You are no longer troubled. X, that look in your eyes says you might be ready to face me..."
 * Above the Ruins: He does this in the endings in X1 through X3.
 * The Aesthetics of Technology: Played with. He has a simpler-looking design than most bosses, but he is literally described as having unlimited potential, and throughout his series, developed abilities that were previously seen after he picked up armor parts or health upgrades; it's like the concept of Weapon Copy was taken to its logical conclusion and turned into an Ability Copy. Justified, he's a Super Prototype.
 * A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Defied. Being a robot with 100% free will, Dr. Light makes sure that this trope don't happen by sealing him in a 30-year morality testing to ensure that he would do the right thing.
 * Asskicking Pose: He always does this after he teleports into a stage.
 * Badass: X's defining moment is the first scene in the series. He lands on a highway under attack, and everyone is driving away as fast as their cars can go. X runs through them towards the enemy. Throughout the series (with one Shocking Swerve in X7) he only gets more badass.
 * Badass Boast: To Sigma, at the end of X6.
 * And in Maverick Hunter X, to Sigma: "I'll finish this! Right here, right now! I WILL DEFEAT YOU, SIGMA!!"
 * Bag of Spilling: Unsurprising for the series, but it doesn't seem to be for lack of trying: he keeps his dash ability permanently after the first game, and both X5 and X6 feature watered-down versions of the previous entry's powerups, with the implication that battle damage has detracted from their effectiveness. X7 and X8 also see X respectively regaining the air-dash and super charge shots, which were once armor exclusive powers, for his base form.
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: One way or the other - a memorable boss fight in X5 suggests at the very least that X can recover old maverick weapons somehow. The leading theory is that X doesn't want to have all that power, so he voluntarily gets rid of his weapons at the end of each game.
 * Berserk Button: It's stated that his greatest strength and Achilles' Heel is his emotional bond with his allies. There is logic behind this: X has a Berserker Mode, and his allies are the button. Wail on it enough times, and...

"Head: an upward helmet attack
 * Maverick Hunter X shows what happens when X has to deal with the loss of his friend. He goes from being a little detached from the conflict and reluctant to fight to full-on scary voice, angry eyes, and absolute lethal intent. The change is jarring.
 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Blue Oni
 * Brought to You by The Letter "S": Only in X8, but there's an X on the sides of his helmet.
 * The new basic armor he sports in Command Mission has a white X on the chest.
 * Call Forward: Zero's X7 ending. "Eliminate the Mavericks. The Mavericks...eliminate..." Depressingly, this game marks the one time we see X actually try to escape his fate, so it packs a punch even though the writers botched it.
 * Calling Your Attacks: In later games, and the remake of the first.
 * The Cameo: Appears briefly in Zero's Tatsunoko vs. Capcom ending.
 * Car Fu: In the opening of X2, he jumps out from his speeding Ride Chaser, which then hits the Mechaniloid guarding the facility he's trying to infiltrate.
 * Can be done in-game as well, in Overdrive Ostrich's stage, as well as in X4 and X5.
 * Character Development: Somewhat averted; his fall from the spotlight coincided exactly with the series' increased focus on characterization. However, The Day of Sigma and Maverick Hunter X do cover his journey from Wide-Eyed Idealist to Martial Pacifist, and it's generally assumed that the scrapped remakes of X2 and X3 would have followed up on this.
 * Charged Attack: One of his main features.
 * Climax Boss: He'll do anything to prevent his friend from going Maverick. Including fighting him.
 * Cool Loser: As of X5, Zero is his only friend. There might be good reasons, especially after what happened to Zero one game earlier. There might also be other reasons, but that doesn't entirely cover it.
 * Cutscene Power to the Max: The X3 opening is entirely made of this trope. Blowing away two Bee Bladers in one shot? Dropping Launch Octopus's irritating miniboss on him, destroying both? Switching between the armor sets of the first two games at will while fighting Sigma? Awesome.
 * Depending on the Writer: The horribly self-pitying loser of X7 and the half-crazed macho warrior of Command Mission are the farthest extremes, but how willing he is to fight varies wildly from game to game. It generally remains constant within any given game; Maverick Hunter X is the exception that proves the rule, as his Character Development actually matters for once. Zero being dead probably helped.
 * Doomed by Canon: Attempts to stop the fighting in X7...which came out while the Zero series was in full swing. Failure Is the Only Option.
 * Dual Boss: With Zero in Maverick Hunter X's Vile Mode.
 * Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite being the reason Reploids exist, and the one with the most potential power, X is a B class Hunter for most of the series, though those who know him realize this is entirely because he holds back and is reluctant to fight. By X8 and Command Mission, he's a Special A class hunter, having apparently gotten over those hangups.
 * Dull Surprise: He does this in the opening cutscene to X8, whether from shell-shock or bad animation. Facing down an army of shapeshifting Reploids should yield a stronger reaction than, "did I leave the oven on?"
 * Everything's Better with Samurai: His Blade Armor from X6 resembles a samurai armor.
 * Evolving Weapon: Once you get a buster upgrade, every Maverick weapon counts as this. (Well, sort of. The second version counts as a Charged Attack.)
 * Expy: Erm, yeah. He owes his existence to this status, in fact. He started the trend of having Expies in the Sequel Series.
 * Face Palm of Doom: Gives Sigma one in The Day of Sigma, mimicking the Shining Finger, no less.
 * Foreshadowing: In his X4 ending, X asks Zero that if he (X) ever goes Maverick, Zero should be the one "to take care of him". Because of the Continuity Snarl between the two series, it falls into Fauxshadow.
 * When combined with the ending of X3 stating that X will have to destroy Zero to protect mankind, this at least foreshadows that the two of them will fight in X5.
 * Gameplay and Story Separation: In Vile Mode and Day of Sigma, his Charge Shot was shown to be extremely powerful, the former instance resulting in Vile getting critically wounded and also receiving a gaping hole in his chest, and the latter being powerful enough to knock down and temporarily knock out a renegade Maverick. In gameplay, although the Charge Shot is definitely more powerful than regular buster shots, its somewhat weak.
 * Golden Super Mode: His Golden Armor hidden powerup in X3.
 * Gratuitous English: Applied to Calling Your Attacks above, with...interesting results. Generally better in X8, Maverick Hunter X, and Command Mission, though YMMV.
 * Guns Akimbo: X2 and X3 upgrades, sort of. By charging up enough, he fires a blast from one arm, then the other.
 * The Command Mission version of the Ultimate Armor has BFG akimbo!
 * Healing Factor: X gets one in the third game, with either the enhanced helmet parts or the Golden Armor.
 * Heroic BSOD: He suffers a major one during Lumine's Hannibal Lecture speech. It got so bad that Axl actually had to shoot Lumine with his gun and remind X that Lumine is their enemy to get him to at least put it aside long enough to manage to defeat Lumine.
 * Heroic Resolve: In the fight against Vile in the first stage of Sigma's castle, X loses the fight much like he did in the beginning of the game, left paralyzed and with little health. Zero makes a Heroic Sacrifice and destroys Vile's mobile suit with his remaining energy. Vile still thinks he has won, to which X breaks his bonds and restores his meter to full.
 * In the "Day of Sigma" animated-prequel in the PSP remake Maverick Hunter X, Big Bad Sigma stabs X through the gut with his beamsaber. After a brief Flash Back of X swearing to Doctor Light that he will always fight for hope and justice, he comes back online and charges Sigma, digging his glowing hand with an awesome power into Sigma's face and giving Sigma his trademark eye scars before finally shutting down.
 * Hunter of His Own Kind
 * Hurting Hero: It's kind of his shtick. See The Woobie entry.
 * "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: In the infamous X vs Zero battle in X5, X tries to bring back the Maverick Zero to his, technically, "new self" (the "old self" is the Maverick Zero itself).
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: The Shadow Armor in X6, complete with Ceiling Cling ability. Like Gaea Armor of X5, it provides immunity to spikes.
 * It Never Gets Any Easier: X always feels grief and doubt about those who die in the Maverick Wars, even his own enemies, because he's at heart a Martial Pacifist. It's even been argued that he deliberately does this so he always has sympathy for the enemy, because becoming callous is not the way to finding real peace. When he finally loses all sympathy centuries into the future, he retires.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: In the bad ending in X5, Dr. Light erases all of X's memories of Zero, and installs a program that will "reject" any information regarding Zero.
 * Laser Blade: In X6. Unlike Zero, he can only do a single slash, but with armor upgrades, its ability gets tweaked up.
 * Blade Below the Shoulder: The Blade Armor from the same game.
 * Sword Beam: Its Giga Attack, which involves firing a crescent blade forward that does heavy damage. Shadow Armor's Giga Attack uses this differently, with 2 crescent blades that revolve around him, damaging everything in the vicinity.
 * Let's You and Him Fight: An impending fight between him and Zero has been hinted upon ever since X2. (Though in a non-canon process just before the final battle in that case.) It was again touched upon in X4 before finally taking place in X5, and by extension, X6.
 * Let X Be the Unknown: His name represents limitless potential. It also carries connotations of danger, leading Light to apparently seal him because The World Is Not Ready. Then again, he might have been lying about the last part to spare X's feelings.
 * Magikarp Power: Really, X himself. No match for pretty much anything at the start of the first game, he is more or less a One-Man Army by the end.
 * A more traditional example is Zero's saber in X6. Oh, X can't wield it for crap (unlike in the third game, where it was ridiculously powerful and even useful at range in his hands), but the subsequently collected armors allow it to be used as a Charged Attack, and a certain set of parts restore it to ridiculous levels of power.
 * The Mario: In X8, relative to the other playable characters. He can be nudged towards different skill sets depending on which armor parts you go with.
 * Meaningful Name: X stands for an unknown variable (a'la Algebra) that could have unlimited potential. This was elaborated upon in Maverick Hunter X.
 * Mechanical Evolution: He's apparently the key to this, if Maverick Hunter X is to be believed. He starts at Ridiculously Human Robot and tops out at Reality Warper (albeit with far fewer appearances), so not a bad run.
 * Mega Manning: From his relation to Peyton and Eli, of course.
 * Multiform Balance: the armors in X5-X6, as well as Neutral Armor's upgrades in X8.
 * X5
 * The Mario: Force
 * Fragile Speedster: Falcon
 * Mighty Glacier: Gaea
 * Super Mode: Ultimate
 * X6
 * The Mario: Falcon
 * Lightning Bruiser: Blade
 * Glass Cannon: Shadow
 * Super Mode: Ultimate
 * X8
 * Master of None: Neutral
 * Fragile Speedster: Hermes
 * Mighty Glacier (or Lightning Bruiser): Icarus
 * Super Mode: Ultimate
 * One-Letter Name: In the early games, other characters would call him anything from his full name to just X. He's consistently called X from X4 onwards.
 * Also created a lot of confusion with people who thought his full name is Mega Man X. His full name is X. Mega Man is just an Artifact Title.
 * One-Man Army: Especially in the first two games.
 * Out of Focus: After X3, and especially in X7. Axl even Lampshades it in the intro stage of X8, threatening to steal the spotlight from him. Too late, buddy.
 * Post Dramatic Stress Disorder: Immediately after scarring Sigma in the OAV. As the latter is far from defeated, this is really, really bad timing.
 * Power Crystal: It blinks when his health is critical, projects the map in X3, and when we see it glow full-stop in the OAV, he apparently develops New Powers as the Plot Demands.
 * Powered Armor: He has at least one per game. In X4, he gets two, in X5 and X6 he gets 4 each. All of them gives X different changes.
 * Powered Armor Expansion Pack:
 * The Neutral Armor's (X8) gimmick. With the exception of the Ultimate parts, the armor pieces can be switched for different combinations. Equipping a complete set would grant a fifth ability exclusive to that armor.
 * Icarus: access to the Giga Crush, a full screen-explosion attack. Its power and duration depends on the amount of energy in the Giga Crush meter.

Body: halves damage, and removes recoil

Arms: Wave Motion Gun as a fully charged attack. Lesser charge attacks are one less level than normal.

Legs: increased jump height"

"Head: boosts weapon charge speed
 * Hermes: access to the Hyper Drive, which will increase your movement and charging speed, as well as upgrading the Spread Shot into 5 shots. Its duration depends on the amount of energy in the Hyper Drive meter.

Body: Invincibility to weaker attacks

Arms: 3-way Spread Shot

Legs: Invisibility while dashing, as well as increased movement speed"

"Head: enabling the Shoryuken move
 * Ultimate: the Nova Strike returns, which gives high damage to the opponent it crosses over, but unlike in the previous games, this attack can't be quickly spammed (one use will deplete its meter, and then the meter regenerates in a few seconds). Also, it's now a Two-Hit Kill to most Bosses.

Body: same as Icarus Armor's

Arms: the multi-hitting Plasma Shot

Legs: combination of Hermes and Icarus Armor's leg parts (although you can't be invisible)"


 * Also, in X3, you can ask Dr. Light to insert a special chip to one of the armor upgrade when you get the access to the capsule. You can only do this to one part of the armor, though. But there's a secret way to get all of them, and it comes with a nice touch of gold color, too!
 * Promotional Powerless Piece of Garbage: Despite the rarity of the card, he's effectively useless in the trading card game, having the same stats as Bass.
 * A Protagonist Shall Lead Them: Eventually he becomes this in the timeskip between this and Zero series, being the leader of Neo Arcadia.
 * Regenerating Health: His X3 armor has an upgrade to his helmet that allows him to refill his health (and Tanks) by standing still and waiting.
 * Robo-Family: With Rock, Blues, Roll, and Auto, but it's kind of moot because they never interact. Being the template from which all Reploids are designed, however, he's kind of everyone's father. This never actually comes up, even with the Guardians, who are built directly from his DNA, but it's a little weird.
 * Scarf of Asskicking: Gets one in Command Mission. It's not an actual scarf, but a device built into his back that projects a flowing, tattered scarf when he runs. It also comes in a variety of colors (depending on your game progress) and lengthens to a noticeable degree when he dashes. May or may not be a Shout-Out to "older brother" Proto Man and/or PlayStation 2 Shinobi.
 * Screaming Warrior: Spends much pre-fight dialogue yelling at bosses, especially after X7. Reaches Ham-to-Ham Combat territory against Sigma.
 * In Maverick Hunter X, he starts off more or less calm and collected. When Zero dies, he goes into full-on Unstoppable Rage, and he can't communicate in anything less than a shout.
 * Screams Like a Little Girl: His death scream in X4, thanks to the crappy voice acting.
 * Sealed Good in a Can: More or less. He ends up being the template for all kinds of evil, but then his best buddy has it even worse there. They Fight Crime, by the way.
 * Sensitive Guy
 * Shout-Out: His in-game attacks have included the Hadouken and Shoryuken (the latter twice), and in the OVA he seems to pull off the Shining Finger...complete with shared voice actor!
 * Frank West's Mega Man armor is clearly a takeoff on X's look. This then became a Mythology Gag in one of the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom trailers, as West using said armor for a special attack alongside Zero made it look like the X/Zero combination might be together for the game after all...for all of half a second.
 * Skilled but Naive: He's this, at first (especially apparent in The Day of Sigma OVA). He slowly loses his naivete over time, but is still apparently idealistic and pacifistic.
 * Supporting Protagonist: Unless Maverick Hunter X is taken into account, as it gives X a good deal more focus.
 * Given that Zero has all of his plot threads dropped post-X5, X may have regained a degree of prominence, in the sense that the other protagonists were dropped to his level, rather than him being brought back up to theirs.
 * Super Prototype: Though only because Cain did a really half-assed job duplicating his technology. Not that it's entirely his fault, mind you, Dr. Light was just that damn good, but basically the plot of every game is the result of his inferior skills.
 * Swiss Army Hero: In any game with multiple armor sets, but especially X5. Drawing from the third game's opening, fandom sometimes takes this Serial Escalation and depicts him swapping through every armor set ever.
 * Talk to the Fist: So Epsilon plans to haunt everyone until his death...that won't take long.
 * Technical Pacifist/Reluctant Warrior: He swings back and forth, depending on the game. X3, X4 and X7 leaned more towards Reluctant Warrior, the others portrayed him as a Technical Pacifist.
 * Ten-Minute Retirement: X7. Fans were nonplussed. Of course, diplomacy never works in an action series, so he came back.
 * And when he does, he becomes a complete ass-whooper. It really makes up for having yourself tortured by playing as Axl.
 * Transformation Sequence: Going into a level, you'll usually see X summon his Powered Armor before becoming playable (provided you've gotten it, of course).
 * In X8, even though he's already in the armor as he warps in, he performs the gesture anyway.
 * Tragic Keepsake: He keeps Zero's Z-Saber after Zero's death in X5, up until X7.
 * 24-Hour Armor: More specifically his helmet, X is the only Mega Man not shown have some kind of synthetic/artificial hair, and one of the few who does not take off his helmet when the smoke goes down at the end of the adventure; this has led many to believe that X does not have hair, just a metal plate like RoboCop without his helmet.
 * In the manga Rockman X4 in the few last pages near the end of the manga, it hints that X may actually have hair. See for yourself
 * Underestimating Badassery: arguably the point of The Day Of Sigma, and probably the entire Retool.
 * Video Game Flight: His Falcon Armor from X5 makes him able to do this.
 * Wave Motion Gun: On occasion. X8 features one as a Buster Part and Finishing Move.
 * Weak but Skilled: He's almost always smaller and less technically able than the opponents he faces, but he's goddamn unstoppable once he starts. Add the fact that every game still manages to have That One Boss even after he gets his 'Ultimate' armor.
 * Wimpification: Happens mostly to X in fan works, because he's a peace-loving Reluctant Warrior/Technical Pacifist who has a moral conflict, and is quite angsty about it. Remember that, despite all of them, he's still have a strong will to defeat his enemies.
 * X Makes Anything Cool: his name.

Zero

 * Zero

The beloved Ensemble Darkhorse of the series, Zero has been described by the series creator as "the other main character who gets all the good scenes." "Voiced by: Ryotaro Okiayu (JP), Lucas Gilbertson (EN, X8), Johnny Yong Bosch (EN, MvC3)"

""You should have read the blueprints closer. There is only one Zero!""
 * A.I. Is a Crapshoot: According to the Zero Collection's story, the reason he was berserk before he joined the Maverick Hunters was because a programming error occurred in Zero that caused him to become violent and uncontrollable, and it was for this reason why Wily had him sealed away (apparently he couldn't control him without risk of him being killed by him). Ironically, the Maverick Virus was the only reason Zero became somewhat pacified after being defeated by Sigma.
 * Amnesiac Dissonance: He was originally designed by a certain Mad Scientist for the express purpose of destroying all in his path before losing his memory. Come to think of it, what he currently does isn't much different...
 * Anti-Anti-Christ
 * Arm Cannon: The Z-buster is always there. We just can't use it sometimes because...stuff.
 * Ascended Extra: Somehow pushed his way from Mauve Shirt status to the co-protagonist role - even after being killed!
 * Two Words: Popularity Power: just read the trope entry.
 * The Atoner: one of the largest examples of the trope.
 * Ax Crazy: Before his Heel Face Turn. He even had a Slasher Smile!
 * Not to mention his Laughing Mad...
 * Back from the Dead: Fans think he does this all the time, even though he's only done it twice.
 * Badass: THE physical embodiment of awesome in the series.
 * Badass Back: He pulled this out after teleporting in a stage, or after killing bosses. This is brought out to Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
 * Badass Boast: From X2:

"Vile: Hmpf... Zero... Why would someone as powerful as you align yourself with X? He's just a B-Class Hunter, nothing more! ZERO: Vile... You're nothing but a Maverick now."
 * Badass in Distress: He was kidnapped by Vile as a bait for X in the first game. Then, after Vile gets his hands on X, Zero breaks out of the cage and then he does the Heroic Sacrifice to destroy Vile's Ride Armor.
 * Something similar happens in Maverick Hunter X, where Zero is knocked out and Vile immediately captures him without battling him. Zero regains consciousness and then proceeds to do the aforementioned Heroic Sacrifice.
 * Badass Long Hair: Oh ye of the mighty Rapunzel Hair!
 * Heartbroken Badass: Although the circumstances are different from the norm.
 * Sealed Badass in a Can: Both at the beginning and the "end" of this series.
 * Battle Aura: In his Super-Powered Evil Side.
 * Also when X (or himself) is beaten in Vile Mode's Dual Boss fight in Maverick Hunter X, he (or X) would employ an aura, which tells the player that he's pissed.
 * Berserk Button: Iris's death in X4. After that, he didn't care who he was fighting until the end of the game...
 * Big Damn Heroes: He manages to pull at least one per SNES game, with the last marking his debut as a player character. The best example is his Establishing Character Moment below.
 * Bishounen: Even Lampshaded by Bass. See "Early-Bird Cameo" below.
 * Blood From the Mouth: The first game has him with blood/mech fluid/oil/some red substance running from the corner of his mouth after sacrificing himself to destroy Vile's Ride Armor. Notably, he does not bleed from anywhere else despite having been torn in half.
 * Blond Guys Are Evil: Well, that was Wily's plan, anyway.
 * Breakout Character
 * Bring My Red Jacket: He's a red robot, and he mainly uses melee attacks, and he's a Glass Cannon. Do the math.
 * Brought to You by The Letter "S": The stylized "Z" insignia on his shoulder(s). According to a certain Flash Back, Wily's own insignia can be found on his Power Crystal.
 * Calling Your Attacks: Started in X8 to keep X company.
 * Celibate/Chaste Hero: With Iris's tragedy still fresh in his mind, he believes he's not ready to have another romantic pursuit. This is seen with Layer, although he's also just plain oblivious to her advances.
 * Character Development: Post X4, in spades. After Iris' death, his character changes dramatically. His carefree personality turns into a grim, serious, no nonsense one (as evidenced by his victory pose changing from a thumbs up to a simply head turn). He's still a good friend to X, but is less willing to hold his hand through tough situations and is more than willing to call him out for his naivete and idealism as seen in Command Mission. His originally witty humor becomes dry, biting and cynical. Even his theme music changes from energetic rock to slow, solemn, and even outright melancholic.
 * Char Clone: Word of God confirms it.
 * Chick Magnet: One tragic girlfriend, and two more "admirers". It doesn't seem impressive compared to other examples, until you realize that one of those admirers is human. There's also Ferham and Leviathan, who really seem to enjoy fighting Zero, and Prairie, who loved Giro because he reminded her of Zero.
 * Climax Boss: Alternative to the article that X also has above. It was all because of a little misunderstanding. Most of it went according to Sigma's plan, though.
 * In the path to the Bad Ending, however, the stakes are much, MUCH higher...
 * Continuity Cameo: The Tenshouha from X8 actually debuted in Mega Man Zero 3, and is pretty much useless aside from the nod - it actually drains ammo, keeps Zero in place, and unlike in that game, does not prevent Collision Damage.
 * Crutch Character: In his original playable appearance in X3, Zero amounted to a potent Mighty Glacier who, while incredibly useful early on, paled in comparison to a fully-upgraded X. In the RPG, Command Mission, he is the strongest member of your party early on, but leaves for a long stretch of the game. When he returns, however, he's still very strong.
 * Deus Exit Machina: Before he became a playable character, he was only around when the plot needed his power. And then, later, Command Mission also puts him out of commission for a good portion of the game.
 * Divergent Character Evolution: Following X3, his buster was de-emphasized in favor of the melee-oriented gameplay most associate him with.
 * Double Jump: In X4 and X5, Zero learns a move which allows him to do a double jump in mid-air (accompanied by the spinning attack mentioned below). He learns it permanently from X6 onwards.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: Appears in in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters
 * Elemental Punch: Some of his copied techniques involve giving an element to his saber.
 * Establishing Character Moment: X getting his ass handed to him by the very first Hopeless Boss Fight in the series? Cue the awesome Theme Music Power-Up, an Arm Cannon being charged, and then Vile goes Oh Crap.
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: In X4 and X5, Zero learns a move which allows him to do a spin-slash in mid-air. By X6 onwards, his normal air slash has been replaced by it. And in X6, X7 and X8, he still gets more spinning moves.
 * Expy: ProtoMan.EXE is half this, half the expy of Blues. Girouette and Model ZX are both this and the legacy-bearer of both leads.
 * And Zero.EXE from Network Transmission, who was made as a computer virus to infect other Navis and computer systems before being defeated by MegaMan.EXE (and becoming a purified Navi in the good ending).
 * Zero himself, in the X series, was an expy of the Classic Proto Man in the first X game, and was even referred to as "a Blues like character" in early Japanese publications that came out before the game. Whether or not he can still count as an expy for Proto Man is up for debate, but the intention for him to be as such in the first X game is clear (obviously not counting who/what Zero was supposed to be when still in the early design stages, of course).
 * First-Episode Resurrection: Well, okay, he dies in the first game and is resurrected in the second, but he otherwise fits the trope entirely. It could be considered an example of the series taking on more and more Anime Tropes (Inafune has noted the influences often), except that this was apparently unplanned.
 * Flashback Nightmare: In the beginning of X4, Zero has a nightmare about the circumstances of his creation, as well as slaughtering several Reploids upon being reactivated. It's also implied that he's had this nightmare at least once before.
 * Glass Cannon: He's a devastating fighter with his saber, and he takes lots of damage. Even more with his Black Zero upgrade in X8, which doubles the damage he deals and takes. Even more with the Red Lotus Saber in Command Mission, which adds his defense stats to his power stat, but sets the defense stats to zero.
 * This stays true to his cameos in SNK vs. Capcom SVC Chaos, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
 * X3 takes this Up to Eleven. He's far more powerful than X to begin with, and still on par with X even after upgrades. However, if Zero dies even once in the game, whether from losing all his energy or falling into a Bottomless Pit, he can't be used again unless you restart from scratch (or use a password generator to get him back).
 * Good Is Not Nice: He tends to shoot first, ask question later when encountering Mavericks. What makes it worse is that those Mavericks sometimes have a point about what they did.
 * Gratuitous Japanese: In the games where his Command Arts are not translated.
 * Ground Pound: In his Giga Attacks.
 * Hair of Gold
 * Heel Face Revolving Door: Due to Multiple Endings in some of the games.
 * Heroic BSOD: Part of his Character Development in X4 is the ending where he anguishes himself over not being able to save and/or protect all any of the people he ever cared about, and wondering why he should bother continuing the fight. Although the Jerkass Facade seems noticeable from previous games, this is most probably where it came to a head.
 * He does experience a relatively minor one in Command Mission when he learns that . While the others are rushing off to chase, Zero is hesitant to go with them, and then tells X "" before X snaps him out of it by reminding him that.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: If there's any story about Zero, this will always wind up happening to him. The two Sequel Series (plus one drama track, where Zero manages to pull off two sacrifices) can attest to that.
 * He's Dead, Jim: After he accidentally killed Iris, he realized she was dead after calling her name and trying to shake her back to consciousness.
 * Hunter of His Own Kind: And he is the original of his kind, in fact.
 * Humble Hero: In his X6 ending, when he seals himself, he told the scientist who helped him in the sealing that his friend, X, will always be the better hero between them, and that the world would be fine with X still alive at the time.
 * Hyperspace Arsenal: In X8, all of the melee variety of course.
 * I Am Who?: Zero struggles with various levels of amnesia in the this series. He keeps getting flashbacks of his creator, Dr. Wily, but remembers nothing else from before Sigma captured him.
 * Iconic Item: His Z-Saber.
 * "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: His fight against Iris, as he tries to bring her back in self-defense. Unfortunately, just after she's going back to normal, she dies because of her injuries. Cue Zero's infamous agonizing scream about his (lack of) reason of fighting.
 * It Never Gets Any Easier: Almost completely averted, since he doesn't let it bother him. He's not totally heartless, though - he just sees it from a different perspective. When a twin dies along with his Big Bad brother (because they shared a CPU), he told the upset X that he knew the consequences and he should honor his sacrifice instead of bemoaning it. However, when his love interest Iris dies in a cruel and pointless war, he didn't take it well.
 * It's Personal: Very much so in X8. Seems like he's taken way too long to hate Sigma's guts - he's mainly angry about the events of X5 (surprisingly, no mention of Iris) - but other than that, it makes perfect sense.
 * Jerkass Facade/Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Deep down, he really is a very nice guy. Don't let his portrayal in Command Mission fool you.
 * Lampshaded in the same game, when he actually apologizes for acting like a jerk at one point.
 * Katanas Are Just Better: In the official arts, his Laser Blade is often depicted in a katana-like form.
 * The Lancer: While the X series has yet to form a distinctive Five-Man Band (the secret characters of X8 and the cast of Command Mission notwithstanding), Zero fits this archetype nonetheless.
 * Laser Guided Tykebomb: His original purpose.
 * Laughing Mad: How he reacted when fighting Sigma in X4 (not to mention later beating Sigma to a bloody pulp when the latter was at his mercy.)
 * Loners Are Freaks: Subverted, spit on, blown up, cut to ribbons, set on fire, and then subject to an epic Shut UP, Hannibal.
 * Magnet Hands: In the 3D games.
 * Manly Man: Being the Bishonen of the two, that's saying something.
 * Master Swordsman
 * Implausible Fencing Powers: One of Zero's recurring skills is an upgrade to his sword that can block projectiles.
 * Meaningful Name: The games only give vague allusions to what Zero really stands for, although Fanon speculated that it has a similar meaning to X, i.e. a fixed power that cannot grow, but is already beyond comprehension, neither positive nor negative.
 * Another possible meaning is "Multiple by Zero," which is to say, turn everything to nothingness.
 * Given how fond he is of slicing Reploids apart, "Divide by Zero" is equally apt; meaning to destroy utterly.
 * The Mentor: for X1.
 * Multi Melee Master: In X7 and X8, where he can acquire other melee weapons.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: After he beats Iris.
 * My Hero Zero: Duh.
 * Mysterious Past: Even after all this time, all Zero knows of his "father" is a silhouette; but that didn't stop him from learning that he is the cause of most of the hardships in the world up to that point.
 * Not So Stoic: His freakout in X4 after Iris' death.
 * Perpetual Frowner: After Iris dies, he not only stops smiling, practically at all, but loses essentially all of his Badass Boasting personality and becomes The Stoic.
 * After X4, he no longer throws a thumbs up at the player after beating a boss either. He just turns away.
 * Even his theme music has noticeable changes. Where his theme is X4 may have been the peak of giving the feeling that Zero is about to cut down everyone in the level, in X5 and onward, Zero's music becomes a lot more calm and serious sounding.
 * Person of Mass Destruction
 * Pietà Plagiarism: In Iris' death scene, he carries the dead Iris this way.
 * Pillar of Light: His Giga Attack in X8. Before that, in X6, he can summon screen-filling shower of beams.
 * Power Gives You Wings: The "Absolute Zero" armor from Command Mission. He even resembles his brother's Treble Boost.
 * Rapunzel Hair
 * Recurring Boss: X2, X5, X6 (sort of), and Maverick Hunter X (Vile's route only, as a Dual Boss with X), complete with Secret AI Moves.
 * Red Oni
 * The Rival: Colonel.
 * Robo-Family: Sigma, at least, considers Dr. Wily to be Zero's father. Making Bass a crappy big brother before he was even born.
 * His ending in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom gives a nod to this, where Dr. Wily actually calls Zero his son.
 * Sacrificial Lamb: In X1. With the help of Popularity Power, he's revived in X2.
 * Screw Destiny: One of the most important character themes for Zero is how he gives destiny the middle finger and defies it every step of the way.
 * Or tries to, anyway. As Colonel and Iris (and very nearly X) demonstrate, he's still a threat to those close to him under the wrong circumstances - which Sigma is all too willing to provide. And lest we forget, Omega manages to successfully lay waste to most of the world - he has to show up with a new body and team up with first X and then the Guardians to stall and then destroy him, but the God of Destruction indeed fulfills his purpose.
 * Secret AI Moves: Zero might be the patron saint of this trope. While X5 and X6 give him back the Z-Buster and the latter hands over a screen-clearing move, the iconic "twin busters, then Sword Beam" combo never becomes available. Model OX gets some of them, at least, and one of them is a Super in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.
 * Awakening Zero has plenty of these. The shots from his Buster combo become homing, and he gets a one-hit kill attack that takes the Sword Beam Up to Eleven.
 * In Marvel vs. Capcom 3, he does get that Sword Beam as a level 3 hyper...except that it does a lot of damage instead of being an instant kill.
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran
 * Shout-Out: Several of his X8 techniques are straight out of Street Fighter. His staple rising sword uppercut is also based on the Shoryuken.
 * In Command Mission Zero can gain a second, incredibly powerful Hyper Mode armor. It has black bat-like wings, adds smaller bat wings to his helmet, claws on his hands and dark armor on his body and legs. It's a nod to his predecessor Bass and his power armor upgrade, the Trebel Boost.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: In Maverick Hunter X:


 * Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Inafune wanted him to be the main character. Even after Capcom forced him to change his mind, Inafune didn't change his plans.
 * The Stoic
 * Super-Powered Evil Side: which, Sigma would like to point out, is his real self.
 * Swiss Army Weapon: The Z-Saber from X4 onwards.
 * Take Up My Buster: After his Heroic Sacrifice in X1. A more literal version occurs in X3 where the Z-Saber is an Infinity+1 Sword (if you meet the required conditions) and at the end of X5.
 * Theme Deck: His signature attacks, the Z-saber (triple slash) and Z-buster (two buster shots + Sword Beam) combos, stand out of all of his other Command Arts since they are present in some form in all games. However, the latter was never used again from X7 and beyond. As a Call Back, though, Omega Zero uses both attacks again in Mega Man Zero 3.
 * Typhoid Mary: It is said that Zero unknowingly spread his virus around as he ventured around the globe. This leads to him
 * Video Game Flight: At least as a bug in X8. Kinda funny, and it lets you bypass the worst parts of the final dungeon - could you ask for more? Oh, and Layer can do it too.
 * The Virus
 * Weapon of Choice: Post-X4, his Z-Saber becomes this. He actually receives the Saber in X2, but only uses single slashes in conjunction with Buster Shots until X4, where the Saber becomes his primary.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: In Command Mission, he chastises X for being so trusting all the time, stating that it's because of such naivete that Shadow managed to betray them.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: In his Zero Armor.
 * Wolverine Publicity: Aside from starring in two (arguably three) out of the 7 series, he was referenced and cameoed in two more (Legends, Battle Network, with the latter even including a Captain Ersatz/Expy) and finally, appearing in a roster in two three games of the Capcom vs. Whatever series. Whew...

Axl

 * Axl

A former member of Red Alert (a Bounty Hunter organization), turned Maverick Hunter; since the only difference is the government sanction, this hasn't really changed his outlook on life. The prototype of the next generation of reploid evolution, Axl's copy ability allows him to effectively become anyone. "Voiced by: Minami Takayama (JP), Jeffrey Watson (EN, X8)"


 * Anime Hair
 * Blood Knight: He tends to answer questions regarding his motive like this.
 * Bottomless Magazines: In X8, all of his weapons have this property.
 * Calling Your Attacks: By the name of the weapon.
 * The Cameo: Appears briefly in Zero's Tatsunoko vs. Capcom ending.
 * Charged Attack: He has one in his original appearance, but the Bag of Spilling takes it away as part of his later Super-Hero Speciation.
 * Chekhov's Boomerang: Blink and you'll miss it, but Sigma's plan in X7 (before the whole Gambit Roulette went Off the Rails) was to have Axl copy the data of X and Zero, presumably with the intent of hijacking him from there. This seemingly irrelevant plot point is eventually revisited in X8 (specifically, where it's revealed that Axl is the prototype of the New Generation Reploids) and (although Axl may or may not be personally involved) Mega Man ZX Advent.
 * Cousin Oliver
 * Dual Wield: In Command Mission his Axl Bullets weapon is his default gun times two, and two other weapons are also dual guns. In X7 one of the Maverick weapons lets him wield dual guns and attack two enemies at once Guns Akimbo.
 * Expy: Mega Man Model A, an expy of unclear origin. To a gameplay extent Axl himself might be considered one of Bass, minus the double jump.
 * Fire-Forged Friends: Has to work hard to earn X and Zero's trust and friendship, specifically because he was an assassin for a group that straddled the line between Reploid and Maverick. His own tendency to avoid answering questions, and the fact that Red Alert was more than happy to go to war with the Maverick Hunters to get him back didn't help him at all. By X8, he has earned it.
 * Flawed Prototype: His copy ability doesn't work on anything more massive than he himself is. He seems to have ironed this out by the time of Command Mission.
 * Fragile Speedster: A variant; there's nothing wrong with his defense, but his attack power is relatively low in X8. In Command Mission he has somewhat low health compared to X and Zero at the same level.
 * Good Scars
 * Guns Akimbo
 * Hero Worshipper: According to character data. Never adhered to anywhere else.
 * Infinity+1 Sword: The White Armor from X8, which lets him remain airborne indefinitely while firing...and oddly enough, heals his scar.
 * More Dakka: When the Guns Akimbo don't entirely cut it, Axl pulls a gatling gun, a grenade launcher, frikkin laser beams, a Magnum that ignores walls...
 * Multi Ranged Master
 * My Species Doth Protest Too Much: He does not join the uprising of the "pure" new generation Reploids in X8. They, in turn, regard him with contempt and (occasionally) regret.
 * Mysterious Past: He cannot remember anything from before his Red Alert days. Sourcebooks give some hints - he retains certain responses, such as his hatred for Mavericks and admiration of X, but he cannot remember why he feels that way. Red (see Self-Made Orphan below) refuses to talk about how they met.
 * Power Perversion Potential: Pointed out amusingly here (safe for work).
 * Psycho Prototype: Inverted. He is the prototype for the next-generation Reploid line, but he himself is actually quite sane. It's the mass-produced versions, especially Lumine and Redips, who were very much insane.
 * Quest for Identity: Hinted at when he first appears in Command Mission.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: the actual line was not said, but he defected from Red Alert when they started killing people who weren't bad guys.
 * Self-Made Orphan: Red is his adopted father, at least...
 * Sequel Hook: Involved in a big one in X8. It hasn't been settled, yet; theories abound.
 * Shout-Out: Briefly acquires what is quite obviously the Morph Ball to solve one puzzle in X8.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal/Talk to the Fist: His most famous positive moment.
 * Spam Attack
 * Spell My Name with an "S": it's a small running gag in Fanon whether or not Axl knows how to spell his own name...
 * Super-Hero Speciation: Axl's "skillset" from X7 is pretty much the same set that X will use after the end of his Ten-Minute Retirement. Fortunately for Axl, X8 fixed the problem by giving him a different set of skills.
 * Command Mission also rectifies this by making Axl a summoner akin to the traditional RPGs (Well, what he did is transforming into a defeated boss and using one of its attack, but it generally has the same effect).
 * Swiss Army Hero: He's got data from all the bosses in Command Mission and can transform into any of them. Command Mission is not a platform game, and this amounts to only using an attack, but as stated above, his expy does much better in ZX Advent.
 * Tagalong Kid: in X7 at least. He "grew up" before X8.
 * Took a Level in Badass: after X7.
 * Rescued from the Scrappy Heap
 * Trigger Happy: On par with him being a Blood Knight, in contrast to X and Zero.
 * Unnecessary Combat Roll: In this case, it provides immunity to projectiles.
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: It's anyone's guess what became of him (or indeed, the entire supporting cast) between the last game and Mega Man Zero. His Expy in Mega Man ZX Advent doesn't (seem to) originate from him, which solves...absolutely nothing.
 * X Marks the Hero: How he got the scars or why they are still there remains unknown. A 4koma states that they're self-inflicted.
 * Young Gun

Dr. Wily
Thought to have been gone since the Classic series, the mad doctor himself seemingly takes a page out of Dr. Light's book, in that he actually might have come back to life. His influence throughout the entire conflict can still be felt with the Maverick Virus that he (possibly) created, and, of course, his masterpiece, Maverick Zero. His plans have reached its peak at the (supposed) Grand Finale of the series, X5. "Voiced by: Takeshi Aono (JP)"


 * Aborted Arc: Hinted to be The Man Behind the Man in X5, but after that we only get a few half-hearted follow-ups.
 * Revisited in Tatsunoko vs Capcom, where Wily seems to come to terms with Zero being a good guy, saying how proud he is of Zero and wishing him well and to never give up, though there is a small hint towards Zero's original dark purpose...
 * Back from the Dead: Word of God is that he returned to life for the events of X5, something to do with the Maverick Virus.
 * Evil Plan: Even though Sigma got in the way of either destroying or corrupting X, he still got a century of war out of it. Heck, the next series starts with Zero out of commission and an evil X running the last of the destroyed world - while it's not the real thing, he arguably won.
 * Hijacked by Ganon: If the series' conflict (through The Virus and Zero) can really be attributed to him, he easily beats the Trope Namer hands down for the top contender...
 * Irony: Go ahead and guess. Even after all the damage his creation(s) have done, who's the one who eventually ended it all?
 * Capcom seemingly could've handled it better though. Look under Unfortunate Implications in the Mega Man Zero series, and the video game section for Fridge Horror.
 * The Man Behind the Man
 * My Death Is Only the Beginning
 * Posthumous Character
 * Sinister Silhouette: Twice. It occurs for the third time in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.

Sigma
The primary antagonist of the series. Bald, scarred and murderously insane; the former leader of the Maverick Hunters now seeks nothing less than the destruction of the people he was built to protect. "Voiced by: Mugihito (JP)"

"Sigma: Evolution requires sacrifice."
 * Arch Enemy: For X and Zero. Since Axl's a newbie to the team, he and Sigma don't really have any personal feelings towards each other.
 * Arc Words: "Evolution requires sacrifice."
 * Arc Welding: His evolution talk calls to mind later Big Bads Serpent and Lumine. It's not clear where Inafune was going with this, as the remake series was canceled.
 * Attack Its Weak Point: Most of the time, his second body's weak point is located on the head.
 * Back from the Dead: Again and again and again and again...at last count he's been killed ten times. Capcom swears he's dead for good post-X8, but of course that doesn't mean he can't come back as a Biometal in the Mega Man ZX series or in the form of a Copy Chip Reploid emulating him.
 * In the strictest sense, the only times where it seemed like his death might stick were in X3, where he's first hit by a real anti-virus, X5 where Zero destroys him after most of the Sigma Virus has been eradicated from the Earth, and X8, where he is destroyed on the moon.
 * And since the New Generation Reploids are eradicated inbetween X8 and Command Mission, there would be no Sigma imposter on earth. But is his virus left intact on the moon, or not? Nobody knows.
 * Badass Baritone: In Maverick Hunter X.
 * Badass Cape: X1 and X5. Subverted with his tattered form in X6 and X7.
 * The Coats Are Off: Before his boss fight in X1 and X5.
 * Bald of Evil
 * Batman Gambit: In X4 and X5 the plans rely on the personalities of General, Colonel, X, Zero and Maverick Hunter policy.
 * BFG and BFS: Usually employs either one, but not at the same time. Special mention to X8's BFS.
 * The animated opening to X3 depicts the first game's saber as a BFS.
 * Big Bad
 * Brought to You by The Letter "S": All the Mavericks directly under Sigma would have his symbol somewhere on their person.
 * Came Back Wrong: Gate revived Sigma. Unfortunately, he apparently ruined his sanity in the process.
 * Continuity Nod: His One-Winged Angel from X5 is Gamma, the Final Boss from Mega Man 3. And it was given to him by surprise, surprise, Dr. Wily.
 * Deader Than Dead: In X8, as he died on the moon, though it's hard to tell given that this is Sigma of all people. This is somewhat confirmed with his absence in Command Mission.
 * Disc One Final Boss: In X8, which served as a twist since usually Sigma was the one who was manipulating the supposed main bad guy, instead of the main bad guy manipulating Sigma.
 * Enemy Civil War: His X4 plan is to set one of these up. It works perfectly because the Repliforce is...not very bright.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Disapproves of Berkana's actions from Xtreme 2, because she acted for her own gain (rather than his).
 * Everything's Deader with Zombies: His X6 form.
 * Evil Scars
 * Evil Plan: Its always to destroy the humans, somehow.
 * Evilutionary Biologist: He follows the robotic version of this, especially in Maverick Hunter X, where he wants to see the hidden potential in Reploidkind. And...

"Sigma: "Come and get me X! The time has come to prove your mettle against me. This fight will decide the fate of all Reploids! The battle may be over, but the war is just beginning! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!""
 * Expy: To Braiking Boss from Neo-Human Casshern and Casshern Sins
 * Eyes Are Unbreakable: The attack that gave him his trademark scars did nothing whatsoever to his actual eyes. Subverted when Maverick Zero does, in fact, gouge out one of his eyes along with half of his face.
 * Eye Scream: Both Maverick Zero and X have gone for his eyes in the past. The latter inflicted burn scars in the process. Since Sigma's a robot, we are usually spared the worst of this trope.
 * Fighting a Shadow: Eradicate his current body, his viral self is still intact. Erase it, and a backup copy will pop up later in a new body. It takes killing him on the moon to finally destroy him, supposedly because his viral form will just fade away to nothing with no other robots to infect there.
 * Foreshadowing: Sigma, when trying to recruit General to revolt against humanity, claims that humanity will try to destroy anything that doesn't obey them completely. Come the Mega Man Zero series, as well as Weil's badass boast in Zero 3, it turns out Sigma was right.
 * Genius Bruiser
 * Giant Hands of Doom: In his second form in X1, X5, and X7.
 * Grand Theft Me: Tried to pull this on Red in X7, but failed.
 * Grim Reaper: His first form in X4, while orchestrating a massive civil war between two armies, and then trying to use a Kill Sat to commit genocide. He even comes complete with an Laser Scythe!
 * Humongous Mecha: his X5 and X7 forms are by far the largest Bosses in the series.
 * I Have the High Ground: just before his duel with X in the X3 opening.
 * I'll Kill You!: X6. THE BADDLE HAZ JUSD BEGUNN!
 * IWILLSHOWYOUWHATATERRORISALLABOUT!!
 * JUSDIE X!!
 * ZELLLLLLO!!!
 * I Need You Stronger: Why he doesn't up and finish X at the end of The Day Of Sigma. He spares Zero either because he doesn't know what he is or knows exactly what he is.
 * Large and In Charge: Even before he goes One-Winged Angel.
 * Large Ham: Especially at the end of the Day Of Sigma OVA. He's no slouch in the other games, either.


 * Laser Sword: His weapon of choice in X1 and X8.
 * Letting the Air Out of the Band: A computer variant as described on the page after being once destroyed by Zero.
 * The Man Behind the Monsters: All of the humanoid Sigma's henchmen are all animaloid, save for his various Dragons.
 * Manipulative/Magnificent Bastard: Pre-decay, anyway. However, some say that he's still this post-decay.
 * Neck Lift: In the Day Of Sigma OVA, he did this twice, to Zero and then X.
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Happens twice, and literally even, both involving Zero is some way.
 * One-Winged Angel: And how! This happens pretty much every game except in X8.
 * The Paragon Always Rebels: He was a honorable commander of Maverick Hunters before he become a Maverick leader.
 * The Professor: He uses this title as an alias in X7.
 * Psycho Prototype: Sort of: He was the first Reploid created by Dr. Cain, and he was certainly one of the best and also finest Reploids and Maverick Hunters, until, that is, he got infected with Zero's Maverick virus.
 * Right-Hand Attack Dog: At the end of X1, he sics his robot pet Velguarder on X before confronting him personally.
 * Scars Are Forever: No matter what body he uses, the trademark scars over his eyes are left intact. Usually this is because his head is left intact, but sometimes this is not the case.
 * Sigma On His Throne: He has rarely been directly involved during each "phase" of the Maverick War. The only exception to this was in X5...and though it didn't stray Sigma off this trope too much, the consequences speak for themselves.
 * Slouch of Villainy: He does this in X8.
 * Spanner in the Works: Unwittingly defeats Wily's plan to either destroy or corrupt X, in the process setting up Zero's Heel Face Turn. However, it also leads to Sigma's own turn.
 * Spikes of Villainy: Added these to his armor after his Face Heel Turn. They frequently adorn his armor in his later incarnations.
 * Taking You with Me: He tries to take both Zero and X down with him in X5 before Zero fires one last shot, completely destroying him. Sigma half-succeeded; he did mortally wound X, but X is then repaired by Dr. Light afterwards.
 * Unwitting Pawn: If words are to be believed,.
 * The Virus/Contagious AI: His true form.
 * Weaksauce Weakness: His One-Winged Angel forms tend to suffer this in one way or another. Worst possible contender? Splash Laser, a literal Bubble Gun.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: He becomes this in Maverick Hunter X, where his motivations are more explicitly laid out compared to the original game. He's interested on X's unlimited potential and believes that all Reploids has the same potentials, and that humans are restraining them from finding that potential. See also "Evilutionary Biologist" above.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Hoo boy...Aside from the Grim Reaper Omnicidal Maniac bit, there's also X8. For starters, his X8 form vaguely resembles the Devil, and then there's the very logical conclusion that he's weak to light-based weapons...
 * Wolverine Claws: Uses Laser Blade variants as his Weapon of Choice for X2 and Xtreme 2.

Vile/VAVA
A former Maverick Hunter who was detained for use of excessive violence, released by Sigma to act as his second in command during the events of X1. In Maverick Hunter X, after being released Vile instead decides to take on both X and Sigma. He is revived by Dr. Doppler in X3 in order to defeat X. After a long absence from the series, he returns in X8 to kidnap Lumine. He can be distinguished by his use of Ride Armor, his shoulder cannon, and his Boba Fett-esque helmet. "Voiced by: Mugihito (JP, X8), Hiroshi Shimozaki (JP, Maverick Hunter X)"

"Vile: You pathetic piece of scrap metal, did you think you could defeat me?"
 * Another Side, Another Story: Vile Mode in Maverick Hunter X, featuring him as a Villain Protagonist.
 * Armed Legs: In Vile Mode, he can launch bombs from his knees.
 * Ax Crazy: And how! This is said to be due to a malfunctioning chip that is irreparable.
 * Badass
 * Badass Boast: In X1:

"Vile: Don't you ever get tired of the whole "justice" thing? Zero: Don't you ever get tired of being Sigma's lapdog?"
 * Brought to You by The Letter "S": the first game had the Maverick insignia on his helmet, while the third was Dr. Doppler's, and X8 has none. Maverick Hunter X, on the other hand, replaced both symbols with his own letter "V".
 * The Cameo: Yes, he also appears in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, but not in Zero's ending like all the other aforementioned cameos...Instead, he showed up in the PTX-40A pilot's ending.
 * The Dragon: Lampshaded by Zero:

"Vile: Sigma...I may be the wildcard you hadn't counted on!"
 * Expy: Yes, his character design is based on Boba Fett. Why do you ask?
 * The Faceless: One wonders if there is a face underneath that helmet at all...
 * Iconic Item: His shoulder cannon. His helmet might also count, although it's already iconic to someone else. On that note, in X8, his the color of his armor/helmet is changed from purple to green, and he uses a jetpack during his encounters with the heroes.
 * Kick Them While They Are Down: Happens at the end of Vile Mode, to X.
 * Also at the intro stage of his mode, after you beat X, where he shoots the grounded X several times before Zero rescues him.
 * Laughing Mad: His reaction right after killing off his enemies.
 * Voice Clip Song: Many fan videos use his iconic laugh as a song. See it here, here, and here.
 * Mini-Mecha: It just wouldn't be Vile without his Ride Armor.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Thanks to a possible Woolseyism.
 * Real Men Wear Purple
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: His X3 artwork shows a glowing red eye peering out his visor.
 * Rocket Punch: He can acquire these in Maverick Hunter X.
 * Shoulder Cannon
 * Shout-Out: To Boba Fett (see the Iconic Item input above). The fact that the Japanese use "V" and "B" interchangeably means that his original name could be translated as BABA kind of puts the icing on the cake.
 * Word of God states that Vile's Japanese name was actually based on Bubba Zanetti.
 * Sociopathic Soldier: Due to an irreparable shortcut in Vile's brain, Vile has a rather...disturbing way of dealing with Mavericks (he seems to not only intensely love destroying Mavericks, but also causing as much damage as possible), which was one of the reasons why he ended up branded a Maverick and placed in the brig before Sigma released him for his revolt.
 * The Starscream: Retconned into this in Maverick Hunter X.
 * Wild Card: Even as far back as X3. Although his bio in the original Mega Man X implies that he was always a wild card (something about being rebellious towards his superiors).
 * Lampshaded by himself in Maverick Hunter X's Vile Mode, in the intro stage:


 * Writing Around Trademarks: The reason for his Dub Name Change.

X-Hunters/Counter Hunters


A trio of Mavericks who have dedicated themselves to defeating X. In X2, they challenge X to one-on-one fights; with Zero's rebuilt body as the bait. Their members are Agile, Serges/Sagesse and Violen.


 * The Brute: Violen.
 * Disc One Final Boss: At first there is no sign of Sigma.
 * Epic Flail: Violen's weapon.
 * Laser Blade: Agile's weapon; it can even fire out Sword Beams.
 * Mad Scientist: Serges.
 * Meaningful Name: All three; Agile and Violen are obvious; Serges' original name, "Sagesse", is french for "wisdom", apt for a Mad Scientist.
 * One-Winged Angel: Agile's rematch fight.
 * Prehensile Hair: Sort of. Remember where Violen's Epic Flail comes from?
 * The Remnant: They (along with their eight mavericks) were part of the original rebellion six months prior.
 * Sinister Silhouettes: Their first appearance.
 * Terrible Trio
 * Big, Thin, Short Trio
 * Theme Naming: The names were originally French words: Agile (translating to Agile), Violent (the ending 'T' is silent), and Sagesse, French for Wisdom.

Dr. Doppler


A Reploid scientist specialising in the field of computer viruses. Prior to X3, he made an amazing discovery: Sigma was actually a virus that caused reploids to turn maverick. He developed an anti-virus that cured many mavericks and they formed a city called Doppletown around his lab. However, it turned out to be a placebo: Doppler himself was infected and had just formed a maverick army under the Hunters very noses. After he is defeated by X, the virus leaves him and he reveals that not only has he revived Sigma; he had also built a massive battle body for him. Depending on whether Zero survives the game, either Zero gets Doppler to install the real Virus program into his saber, or Doppler installs it into himself in order to save X from Sigma's Viral form. Unfortunately, in either ending Doppler is too damaged and is destroyed along with his lab.


 * Disc One Final Boss
 * Egopolis: Doppletown/Dopplertown.
 * Heel Face Turn
 * Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate
 * Redemption Equals Death
 * Shoulders of Doom
 * What Have I Done

The Nightmare Police


Made up of the fast Bit/Vajurilla FF and the strong Byte/Mandarilla BB, the Nightmare police were the law of Doppletown before Doppler's rebellion. They can combine to make the powerful Godkarmachine O Inary.


 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Bit seems to have shades of this.
 * Friendly Enemy: What little characterization he gets paints Byte as one of these.
 * Fusion Dance
 * Good Old Fisticuffs: Byte's only attack. And it does obscene damage, to boot.
 * Laser Blade: Bit
 * Lightning Bruiser: Byte is damned fast for such a big guy.
 * Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Bit has one.
 * Quirky Miniboss Squad
 * Rocket Punch
 * Theme Naming: In the translation.
 * Also in the Japanese, although it's an obscure Indian mythology reference.
 * Those Two Bad Guys

The Repliforce


The Repliforce is a military group formed by Dr. Cain as support for the Maverick Hunters due to the increase in Maverick incidents. They are lead by General along with his second in command; Colonel. During X4, they are framed by Sigma for the fall of the floating city Sky Lagoon, and refuse to give up their honour by disarming to the Maverick Hunters. This causes them to be labeled Maverick and they decide to hold a military coup and flee to the space station Final Weapon. "General is voiced by: Ryuzaburo Ohtomo (JP)"


 * Aloof Big Brother: Colonel.
 * Attack Its Weak Point: General is invincible, except for his head.
 * Colossus Climb: The natural conclusion.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking
 * Badass Beard: It doesn't look exactly like a goatee, but Colonel has a red one.
 * Badass Mustache: General has one.
 * Be as Unhelpful as Possible: They inadvertantly started a friggin' war because they refused to disarm and come in for questioning when their troops and equipment were found at the scene of an atrocity.
 * Bling of War
 * Colonel Badass: Colonel.
 * Commissar Cap: Colonel wears one. General wears a golden one.
 * Cool Chair: General is seen sits on one, before destroying it, leading to the boss fight.
 * Everyone Calls Them Colonel and General
 * Although being reploids built for war, these are probably their actual names.
 * General Badass: General, arguably.
 * Gold Makes Everything Shiny: General.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: General.
 * Honor Before Reason: The whole group suffers from this, especially Colonel.
 * Humongous Mecha: General himself could count as one.
 * Kill Sat: Final Weapon.
 * Knight of Cerebus: They effectively kickstarted the themes of how the term "Maverick" can be abused to truly horrific levels (though how much of it was earned due to the self-destructive idiocy of the Repliforce is up for debate), as well as giving us a firsthand look at the tensions between Reploids and Humans, both of these themes playing a major role in future Xgames as well as being the main theme of the Zero and ZX series.
 * Large and In Charge: General.
 * Laser Blade: Colonel.
 * Putting on the Reich: The intro cutscene shows them performing a salute very similar to the Nazi salute.
 * Redemption Equals Death: Particularly General.
 * The Remnant: The Skiver/Spiral Pegacion and Mattrex/Burn Dinorex in X5, and Red in X7.
 * Reploid In White: Colonel.
 * The Rival: Colonel to Zero.
 * Rocket Punch: General's attack. It doesn't really help as X/Zero can just use them as stepping stones to reach his head.
 * Shock and Awe: On one of Colonel's attacks. See the Stab the Sky below.
 * Shoulders of Doom: General.
 * Stab the Sky: One of Colonel's attacks involves him doing this, getting the saber struck by lightning in the process, and then doing a Sword Plant to spread the electricity to the ground.
 * Sword Beam: Colonel's signature attacks.
 * Sword Pointing: Colonel does this to X in the flashback in X's ending (at 0:16)
 * Teleport Spam: Colonel.
 * Unwitting Pawn
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: General.

Iris


Designed as one half of the Ultimate Soldier project, along with her brother Colonel. The project was a failure as the caring nature of Iris and the fighting spirit of Colonel could not be resolved into one body. The two halves were split into two reploids who were considered brother and sister. She is introduced in X4 as Zero's girlfriend who gets caught in the middle of the civil war between her brother fighting for Repliforce and her lover fighting for the Maverick Hunters. She initially helps Zero as his Mission Control (she once had to break up a fight between him and Colonel). After Zero retires her brother, she goes insane and installs her brother's combat skills, completing Ultimate Soldier and forming a ride armour like body around herself. She challenges Zero and he is forced to kill her in self defence. With her body consumed by the destruction of Final Weapon (not to mention her mind already being damaged due to incompatibility with her brother's fighting will), she is Deader Than Dead. This doesn't stop her, however, from appearing in the chronologically earlier Xtreme 2 or having a cameo appearance inside Zero's memories during X5. During his dying moments, no less... "Voiced by: Yuko Mizutani (JP)"


 * Attack Drone: In her boss fight, every time you hit her, she will release drones that slowly home in on Zero and explode on him for good amounts of damage. Worse still, you have to hit her in order to expose the crystal and to push her backwards.
 * Commissar Cap: Specifically, a beret.
 * Cores and Turrets Boss: In her boss fight, her Ride Armor-like body is invincible. Attack it enough times and its purple crystalline external core would appear. Attack that core to inflict damage.
 * Died In Zero's Arms Tonight
 * Expy: Along with Colonel, she gets one in the Battle Network series.
 * Face Heel Turn
 * Go Out with a Smile
 * I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Her death remains a huge factor in Zero's life/lives. Was It Really Worth It? indeed...
 * Ironic Echo: She has a desire of having a world only for Reploids and living peacefully in it with Zero. It's the exact same desire (minus the "living with Zero" part of course) of Elpizo of Mega Man Zero 2.
 * Little Dead Riding Hood
 * Love Hurts
 * Love Makes You Evil/Crazy
 * My Skull Runneth Over: Even if Zero had only incapacitated her by simply destroying her armor (which he probably did, but the armor...well...), Iris would have likely still died due to her systems being fried by downloaded Colonel's battle data.
 * Neutral Female: She doesn't take any side when her boyfriend and her brother fight.
 * Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: During her death scene, her English voice actress seems to randomly switch between standard American, British, and Texan.
 * Powered Armor: Her One-Winged Angel, which suspiciously looks like a Ride Armor.
 * Rapunzel Hair
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: She's caring, peaceful and compassionate, while her brother Colonel is battle-hardened, aloof and values honor.
 * Thanks to supplemental material, this is justified: she and her brother were the result of an experiment to create the ultimate combat reploid. The Repliforce scientists couldn't get the warrior and pacifist sides of the personality to mesh, so they were split into Colonel and Iris and they have a mental link from sharing over half the same mental programming. She's literally unable to go beyond her neutral-ness if Colonel's alive.
 * More specifically, they were an attempt to replicate the titular X's ability to handle the personality paradox. They fact they failed to live up to these principles, even one at a time, causing Zero to have to kill Colonel and then a grieving Iris to combine their power, attack Zero, and also have to be killed may have originally foreshadowed that X would eventually no longer be able to handle the Logic Bomb himself - Copy-X of Mega Man Zero was originally intended to be an X who had lost that compassion and reluctance to kill and become a Knight Templar that Zero would have to kill.
 * Triang Relations
 * Voice with an Internet Connection: Acts as this for Zero until her Face Heel Turn, reprised this role for Xtreme 2. Managed to avoid Stop Helping Me! due to not interrupting you during the levels.
 * Wave Motion Gun: Her primary weapon during the boss fight with her.
 * What the Hell Is That Accent?: Part of X4's shoddy voice acting.

Double


Introduced as a rookie Hunter in X4, this little fat yellow reploid acts as X's Mission Control and seems completely harmless...until it is revealed that he was a Maverick working for Sigma all along, with a much more sinister second form. "Voiced by: Yasunori Matsumoto (JP)"


 * Attack Drone: He only releases this if you use the Double Cyclone (his weakness) on him. Makes sense as the move blows off his Jello coating.
 * Axe Crazy
 * Bastard In Sheep's Clothing
 * Bishounen Line
 * Blade Below the Shoulder
 * Deadly Disc: One of his attacks involves throwing a large blue spinning energy disks.
 * Facial Markings
 * Fat Bastard: Subverted as it isn't his true form.
 * Lack of Empathy: Not only does he not have any regret for using X and betraying him upon his defeat, he actually mocks X for having a trusting nature, stating that's his fatal flaw.
 * Laughing Mad: His reaction both before and after fighting X (and in the case of the latter scenario, being defeated by him), not to mention his reaction when thinking about killing X.
 * Meaningful/Punny Name: He's the double sized, double formed double agent 'double' minded: 'Double!' And his weakness? Double Cyclone. Even more sense in Japanese; Double and Devil are pronounced the same, and Double's final form? A Devil!
 * The Mole
 * Not So Harmless
 * Obfuscating Stupidity
 * Psycho for Hire
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: In his second form. Notably, his irises is actually black, but his sclera is red.
 * The Starscream: If his claims about the Mavericks being idiots because they made his job easier is anything to go by, he might have plans to betray Sigma as well.

Dynamo


A mercenary hired by Sigma during the events of X5 to spread the virus inside the space colony Eurasia, in order to destabilise its orbit. While the Hunters were racing against time to prevent this, Dynamo challenged them to fights in order to slow them down. He reappears in X6, this time on his own trying to increase his power by the use of Nightmare souls. "Voiced by: Showtaro Morikubo (JP)"

"(to Sigma): "I'll do anything for you... anything...""
 * Affably Evil: Admits right up front that he's only interested in stalling the Hunters in X5.
 * Arm Cannon: In the shape of a cylinder, complete with a massive ironsight. He only uses it when fighting Zero, however.
 * Bonus Boss: in X6, the irony of which is that he's the easiest part of the whole game.
 * Bounty Hunter
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After X6, he's never heard from again...
 * Cool Shades
 * Double Weapon: His beam saber, though he never actually fights with it in the traditional Double Weapon style.
 * Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: he has no relevance whatsoever in X6.
 * Ground Pound: Which results in lasers fired out from the ground.
 * Ho Yay: One line in particular in X5 that's hard to interpret any other way...


 * Informed Attribute: Was apparently given a combat rating of GA. That's a level above Zero. In-game, he tends to be a pushover, even if you don't have his weakness weapon.
 * Wiping Eurasia's entire population single-handedly is an impressive feat, to reflect on his rank. Still played the trope straight in-game, though.
 * One Man Goldfish Poop Gang: Although he used to work for Sigma...
 * Spin to Deflect Stuff: The only time you see his beam saber in full Double Weapon Form.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Somewhat replaces Colonel's Mini Boss status in X5. In fact, Dynamo was also fought during the halfway points!
 * Throwing Your Sword Always Works: It even returns after bouncing off the wall.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy
 * Wild Card: for X6.

Gate


A reploid researcher dedicated to the illegal field of reploid resurrection, in X6 he was infected by a part of Zero while inspecting the wreckage of the Eurasia space colony. Driven insane by The Virus and the persecution of the scientific community, Gate resurrected eight of his retired creations and teamed up with the enigmatic and mysterious Isoc. Together, they created a powerful reploid: High Max, a virus-like army of drones called The Nightmare, and the Zero Nightmare: a discoloured clone of Zero. He used the Nightmare to cause global chaos and "the ghost of Zero" to pull the blame off his Nightmare Investigators, who were in fact searching for something else: the real Zero. Eventually, he would be challenged by X and would reveal that he had created an almost indestructible armor based off of Zero's design; however he would ultimately be defeated.

Oh, then he gets Hijacked By Sigma who he brought back as a zombie. Whoops. "Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (JP)"


 * All of the Other Reindeer: He was the subject of envy by his peers, including Alia. Ouch.
 * Badass Labcoat
 * Big Bad: Only for X6, even though he wasn't the Final Boss. Still notable for being the first legitimate Big Bad other than Sigma.
 * Evil Genius
 * Foe Yay: With Alia, as they were both on the reploid research committee.
 * Hijacked by Ganon: Why of all things by zombie Sigma?!
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: Because he brought him back, of course.
 * Instant Armor: Before the battle against him, he appears in his normal form with his Badass Labcoat. Then he swapped his labcoat aside and then his golden armor instantly appears on his body.
 * Insufferable Genius
 * Mad Scientist
 * Playing Tennis With the Boss: A particularly annoying example.
 * Puzzle Boss: A very rare example for the series.
 * Ship Tease: With Alia in the ending credits her flashback (Collect 3000 Nightmare Souls without defeating High Max or killing all of the Investigators).
 * Social Darwinist
 * What Happened to the Mouse?? The ending of X6 left his fate rather ambiguous. Was he spared by Alia and restored? Or did she leave him dead?

High Max/HI-MAX


A powerful Reploid made by Gate using Zero's DNA. He's the leader of the Nightmare Investigators, and tasked to gather Reploid volunteers in order to help them. "Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (JP)"


 * Bonus Boss: A variation - he can be accessed in the secret areas in the game, after you beat Nightmare Zero in another secret area. And later, he becomes the Sub Boss in one of the fortress stages.
 * The Dragon
 * Expy/ShoutOut: He's quite obviously based on Pluto, from the Astro Boy comics. Appropriate, considering how the original Mega Man is often compared (and is pretty much an expy) to Astro Boy.
 * Guide Dang It: It's hard to figure out how to hurt him without finding a guide.
 * Hopeless Boss Fight: In the first fight against him. After a few seconds, he'll just scoff at how unimpressive X is and leaves.
 * Large Ham: The natural conclusion to being voiced by Norio Wakamoto (in his Boss Banter, and quotes during battle, at least). Yeah, really.
 * Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: In his boss fight in Gate's second Secret Lab stage, he's able to summon these to protect himself.
 * Meaningful Name: His name really reflects his powers.
 * Power Floats: He floats all the time.
 * Sequence Breaking: After you beat him in the secret areas, you can go straight to Gate's first Secret Lab stage.
 * Smug Super: Being higher in terms of specs than X and Zero, he's very arrogant.
 * This Cannot Be!: After you beat him in the secret areas, he can't believe that he's defeated by old robots like X and Zero.
 * Unwinnable: If you go into the rematch with High Max in the 8 boss stages right after beating Nightmare Zero (thus, having no boss weapons to damage him with), you are stuck. Slowclap, Capcom.

Red


Leader of the vigilante bounty hunting organization "Red Alert", He is the main antagonist of X7. Yeah right, of course the real Big Bad is still Sigma. When Axl decides to leave Red Alert, he challenges the Maverick Hunters for his return. "Voiced by: Akio Ohtsuka (JP), Barry Gjerde (EN)"


 * Bounty Hunter: The Red Alert is basically this, and he's the leader.
 * Disc One Final Boss
 * Evil Scar
 * Jumping Off the Slippery Slope
 * Parental Substitute: He does think of Axl as something of a son.
 * The Remnant: Red was a veteran from the Repliforce War.
 * Sinister Scythe: a double-scythe, with blades on both ends.

Lumine


The overseer of the Jakob Project, a Space Elevator being constructed to allow mankind to colonize the moon. Lumine is in fact a New Generation Reploid, featuring the copy chip present in Axl. He is kidnapped by Vile at the start of the game as part of Sigma's plans. After Sigma is defeated, Lumine reveals that he was actually secretly manipulating Sigma as part of his plans to eliminate not just humanity, but also all old generation reploids as well. "Voiced by: Junko Noda (JP), Elinor Holt (EN)"


 * Adaptive Ability: his whole shtick.
 * Call Back: His motive (bringing the New Generation Reploids to the moon to create their own society) mimics General's motive from X4. Unlike General, though, it was all entirely his idea, and manipulated Sigma.
 * Deflector Shields: His second form use one.
 * Disc One Final Boss: Inverted, Sigma is the Disc One Final Boss for X8. Fans have never experienced such a Shocking Swerve.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Voice didn't help.
 * Final Exam Boss: His first form (see Mega Manning below) also has him being vulnerable to whatever weakness of the Boss he's emulating.
 * Giggling Villain
 * Hannibal Lecture: Actually works at first. Of all people, Axl shuts him up!
 * Light Is Not Good
 * The Man Behind the Man
 * Manipulative Bastard: Not only did he use the Maverick Hunters, but apparently he even manipulated Sigma.
 * Meaningful Name: Somewhat. Fans were quick to cite the similarity of his name to the original Fallen Angel. For double points, it's also Latin for Light.
 * Mega Manning: His first form packs every Desperation Attack of the eight standard bosses.
 * Peek-a-Bangs
 * Perpetual Molt: His second form has feathers falling down from his wings - even though he has robotic wings.
 * Power Floats
 * Power Glows: He glows everytime he absorbs a colored orb of the Mavericks' powers.
 * Robots Enslaving Robots: He plans to destroy all of the Old Generation Reploids so the New ones like him could rule.
 * Rocks Fall Everybody Dies: His Paradise Lost attack. On the plus side, while charging it, he doesn't do anything else but hide in his wings and teleport. If you fail to finish him off in about 30 seconds, the trope is invoked.
 * Shout-Out: His pattern in the first phase just screams Wily Alien. His One-Winged Angel could be to Copy-X, Mega Man Juno, or even Sephy himself.
 * Louis Cypher: He also contains Shout-Out to Lucifer of the famous Paradise Lost poem, whose first follower is an underling named Belial (and Sigma's form in this game is called Belial Sigma). Lumine's second form is called Seraph, and said form's Desperation Attack (and the subtitle of the game) is also named Paradise Lost.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Dr. Light
The original Techno Wizard, and the "father" of Mega Man X. In the year 20XX (later in the 21st century), Dr. Light began working on his masterpiece. However, he knew that he would not live long enough to fully test X's potential, so he had X sealed in a capsule on September 18, 20XX, not to be awakened for thirty years. "Voiced by: Tomohisa Aso (JP)"


 * Big Good
 * Brain Uploading: There's a theory that Light made the holograms (or is it just ''hologram?) this way...
 * It's almost impossible for it to be anything else, as in X5, he specifically refers to Alia. Sure, he could know about Zero from the past, maybe, but Alia?
 * Crazy Prepared: He manages to make the Zero Armor, for a robot he probably doesn't (or maybe he does) even know exists in his own lifetime! And that's just one example...
 * Energy Being
 * Inexplicable Treasure Chests: How did he hide all those upgrade capsules?
 * Light Is Good
 * Not Quite Dead: At the very least, he's alive enough to have conversations in X5, and repair a critically damaged X at the end...
 * The Obi-Wan
 * Posthumous Character
 * The Professor
 * Shoot the Dog: X5's bad ending: He repairs X, but deletes his memories of Zero and installs a program to prevent X from having those memories replaced or recreated.
 * The Smart Guy

Dr. Cain


An Archeobotanist who discovered X and used his design to produce Reploids, robots able to think for themselves. When they started going Maverick, he helped to form the Maverick Hunters. He appeared in X2 and X3 and was mentioned in the backstory for X1 and X4, but disappeared from the series after that.


 * The Atoner: To a small degree, at least, compared to Zero. He was a painful subversion: every attempt he makes to rectify that mistake, only made things worse: Repliforce, Dr. Doppler, and especially Sigma. At least making Signas the leader of the Hunters wasn't a bad move.
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: His role diminishes over the course of the series. His most pronounced and significant appearance was only in X2, where he's the one who (canonically) ressurected Zero from the parts X reclaimed from the X Hunters.
 * The Mentor
 * Name of Cain: In the OVA Day of Sigma, this is reinforced by the city attacked by Sigma's missile attack being called Abel City.
 * Not That Kind of Doctor
 * OC Stand-In: Did not appear post-X3, except as part of the backstory, and characterization only started to come up one game later. He's generally used as A Father to His Men - after all, it seems like X and Zero need it once stuff stops blowing up.
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Despite his field of study being old weeds, Cain could still reverse engineer X's design to create Reploids. This reverse engineering was physically sound, but he then subverts this trope when he neglects Light's warning about morally testing the new reploids.
 * Retcon: The OVA and Maverick Hunter X continuty seems to kill him off 3 games too early.
 * Schrödinger's Cast: Due to his indeterminate fate in the Maverick Hunter X reboot.

Signas


The last of Dr. Cain's personal creations, he was once a private investigator before becoming the new leader of the Maverick Hunters when Dr. Cain retired from duty. He was introduced in X5 and has remained in place since, but he was only mentioned in the manual to Command Mission. "Voiced by: Hirotaka Suzuoki (JP)"


 * All There in the Manual: Was apparently a private investigator before joining the Maverick Hunters.
 * Bling of War
 * Commissar Cap: Not quite as blatant as Colonel's, but...
 * Continuity Cameo: Blink and you'll miss it, but he briefly appears in The Day of Sigma.
 * Demoted to Extra: Not that he actually had a large role to begin with, but, in X8, his only appearance is at the end of each mission to congratulate the heroes. That's it. Isn't It Sad?
 * Expy: He's remarkably similar, appearance-wise, to Colonel.
 * Ironically, his aproach to situations is very much Reason Before Honor.
 * Power Crystal: Seven of them, apparently meant to convey his importance.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * The Strategist

Alia


A navigator who appeared in X5 and has appeared in every game since (not including Command Mission). Her role in the game is generally to point out that spikes hurt and to pause the game at inopportune moments to tell you so. She gained more plot relevance in X6, where her backstory was expanded and tied up with Gate's Start of Darkness. Unlike the rest of the cast, her upgrade in X8 was very well recieved among the fans.


 * Always Someone Better: Played oddly with Gate, as each considers the other to be the greater of the two.
 * The Atoner: For her involvement in Gate's Start of Darkness.
 * Call Forward: The ending of X6 implies she at least started the project that created the Cyber-Elves.
 * That, and she resembles the descendant of the actual genius behind the project.
 * The Cameo: Appears briefly in Zero's Tatsunoko vs. Capcom ending, and in the field with X and Axl no less, suggesting that she kept her level in badass.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: First introduced as a simple Navigator in X5. One game later, however, the motivations of one-time Big Bad Gate is caused directly by that "simple" navigator. Oh, and there's a theory that they were even actually romantically involved...
 * Distaff Counterpart: Can be unlocked as a playable character with the same play style as X...but without the Powered Armor.
 * Dumb Blonde: Not remotely so in-story, but she seems destined to accidentally kill her charges throughout X5 with her ill-timed "help." She gets better.
 * Expy: Take a look at her in X8, then take a look at Ciel. The resemblance is very uncanny...
 * Fan Service Pack: Her X8 redesign can only be explained as this.
 * Letting Her Hair Down
 * Took a Level in Badass: Became playable - instant Action Girl and all the appeal that comes with it!
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Reverse engineering and recreating the armours from X4 and X5 for the following games.
 * Hartman Hips: Even before the "upgrade."
 * Hot Scientist: Yeah...
 * I Will Wait for You: Not as pronounced as, say, Ciel to Zero, but a conversation in X6 provokes this trope with X.
 * Mission Control
 * Exposition Fairy
 * Stop Helping Me!: Lampshaded by X8 having the option of turning off Navigator contact before going on a mission.
 * Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: She became a lot more tolerable for X8, and, of course, there's the Took a Level in Badass part...
 * Voice with an Internet Connection
 * Out of Focus: She expresses personal concern about X during certain transmissions during X6; nothing comes out of it and in the next games Alia has no personal ties with X, dropping their interaction back to X5 status, strictly professional.
 * Ship Tease: With Gate in her flashback sequence in X6.

Douglas
This green reploid was introduced in X5 as the head of the Hunters research and development department; working to repair the Enigma cannon (and later probably the Space Shuttle) in order to stop the descent of Eurasia, as well as installing parts for X and Zero. He reprises this role for X6, before dropping out of the limelight. "Voiced by: Wataru Takagi (JP)"


 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Post-X6.
 * Gadgeteer Genius

Lifesaver
Introduced in X5, Lifesaver acts as the head medic for the Maverick Hunters. He becomes suspicious of Zero due to his unusual reactions towards the virus. His suspicions end up provoking the fight between X and Zero fight. Unlike the other Hunters introduced in X5, he does not return in any other game in the series.


 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome
 * Meaningful Name
 * The Medic
 * Properly Paranoid
 * The Stool Pigeon: Of the Disgruntled Daria subtype.

Layer


A new navigator introduced in X8. She specializes in analyzing Boss patterns and can determine their weakness.

""Just hearing the words "space rocket" is so nostalgic. How romantic... Oh... Sorry. Anyway, don't worry. I'll navigate properly.""
 * Blinding Bangs
 * Distaff Counterpart: Can be unlocked as a playable character with the same play style as Zero.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?

"Layer: Good work out there, X. Um.. Zero looks awfully down in the dumps... X: Oh? Are you worried about him, Layer? Layer: No... Um... Not really... As an operator, I'm just concerned about the overall welfare of the team. That's all..."
 * Enemy Scan: Her Mission Control specialty.
 * Hopeless Suitor: To Zero. If you squint long enough, it leads to one of the few, genuinely funny scenes whenever these two interact.
 * Of course, he's carrying The Virus, so this is probably for the better. Heck, look what happened to Iris!
 * It doesn't help that Zero is just plain oblivious. Unless he actually believes in his own Cartwright Curse.
 * Lady of War/Hot Chick with a Sword: When you unlock the requisite weapon upgrades.
 * Luminescent Blush
 * Stripperiffic: Mostly because of her...
 * Underboobs
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial:

Pallette


The third navigator introduced in X8. Specializes in the layout of levels, and can find secret areas.

""Zero! Have you forgotten already? I'm Pallette. This here is Layer. We're the new navigators here. Don't forget about us!""
 * Distaff Counterpart: Can be unlocked as a playable character with the same play style as Axl...but, for obvious reasons, without his copy chip abilities.
 * Gadgeteer Genius
 * Item Crafting: She manages the research and development department, which comes close to the trope.
 * She's also the most likely of the three navigators to help you find the pieces strewn about the levels, almost but not quite averting Guide Dang It. A for effort, Capcom.
 * Remember the New Guy?: Invoked/lampshaded:


 * Shipper on Deck: Likes to tease Layer on her unrequited crush on Zero.
 * Small Girl, Big Gun
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Isn't it sad, Douglas?

Green Biker Dude
A popular extra from the intro stage of X2, who died within seconds of his introduction. While popping a wheelie!


 * Badass Biker
 * OC Stand-In: Absolutely nothing is known of his character. Lucas Gilbertson, the English voice of Zero in the later series, has expressed interest in voicing a prequel explaining his motives; this is at best highly unlikely to happen.
 * One-Scene Wonder
 * Red Shirt

Mac
A Hunter turned Maverick. Captures X at the beginning of X3, allowing players to finally get the chance to play as Zero!


 * Curb Stomp Battle: One buster-buster-saber combo from Zero is enough to do him in.
 * Face Heel Turn
 * Mini Boss
 * Mook: Technically a Mecha Mook.

iX/Return-X
A clone of X created by Dr. Doppler's Limited Virus, this manga-only character serves as the lead's Evil Twin.


 * Enemy Without
 * Evil Twin

Martei
A female reploid whose design is based on a mermaid. She becomes X's Love Interest.


 * Ms. Fanservice: After being rebuilt in a normal, humanoid form, the pants she wears...aren't.
 * Pirate Mermaid Robot
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Her name has been translated usually as either Martei or Marty.