Mavericks are a group that appear in the Mega Man comic series, and the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. Hailing from the year 21XX in an alternate reality, they are any Reploid or Mechaniloid whose behavior endangers humans.

After Reploids became commonplace, some began to malfunction or use their free will to endanger humans, which resulted in the term Maverick. The Maverick Hunters were organized to deal with Mavericks, and they were led by the powerful Sigma. However, Sigma himself went Maverick and led a mass rebellion against the humans, and has sought to destroy humanity and rule the world ever since.^[1]

History

Worlds Unite

Some time after a previous operation, at least one Maverick, Vile, was in charge of the defense of Sigma's fortress when the Maverick Hunters came looking to finish off their hated foe.^[2][3] Later, after Roboticized Masters Sonic Man and M'egga Man were returned to their normal forms of Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man, Sigma used the Genesis Portals to revive all his previously defeated Mavericks in preparation for the coming conflict. He also reached into the future of his timeline to bring further Mavericks into his service. Curiously, these duplicated Mavericks lacked the full personality of their counterparts, but Sigma did not concern himself with it once it became clear that their loyalty to him remained.^[4][5][6] Following the defeat of his Mechaniloid army, Sigma unleashed an army of these Mavericks on the Sky Patrol and the heroes aboard.^[7] Weary from their previous battles, the heroes were set upon by four Mavericks while the rest scattered to various worlds on Sigma's orders. The handful of Time-Clones had the heroes on the ropes until some unlikely allies from another Zone arrived. Chun-Li, Ryu, Ken Masters, and Guile swiftly dispatched them, and the heroes then set out to track the remaining Mavericks.^[8]

The Mavericks' efforts to invade other worlds were thwarted by the heroes of both the Unified World and the various worlds they invaded. These consisted of the worlds of Alex Kidd, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Skies of Arcadia, Ōkami, NiGHTS into Dreams..., Monster Hunter, Panzer Dragoon, Breath of Fire III, Billy Hatcher, Viewtiful Joe, and Golden Axe, in addition to world of Street Fighter.^[9][10] The remnants then returned to Sigma to engage in a final battle with the expanded force of heroes, but were destroyed.^[11] Sigma then engaged Super Sonic and Super Armor Mega Man in battle and was defeated, while his journey back in time was prevented by Xander Payne. As such, the Maverick army was never created, and their master and Vile were defeated in their own time.^[12]

Trivia

• The Mavericks serve much the same purpose in Worlds Unite that Wily Robot Masters in the Robot Master Army served in "Worlds Collide". They are also introduced in similar fashion, as none of the Mega Man X games had been adapted in the Mega Man comic, and thus virtually none of them aside from Sigma and Vile had been introduced prior to Worlds Unite. Additionally, although the events of the Mega Man X timeline take place after X7, additional Mavericks created for Mega Man X8 appear in the crossover, as do ones from the spin-off Mega Man X: Command Mission.
• As with the Robot Master Army, the Maverick Army's membership lacks a handful of characters who had served as bosses in the Mega Man X series. Most notably, three prominent members of the Repliforce organization - General, Colonel, and Iris - do not appear to have been cloned by Sigma. It is possible that Sigma chose not to clone them because they were never truly loyal to his cause, similar to how the original Light Robot Masters (bar those from Mega Man 9) never chose to serve Dr. Wily. However, Middy, who was also not affiliated with Sigma, was cloned, maybe as a side-effect of cloning Techno.
• The Maverick bosses in Mega Man X5 each have two names; one is translated from their Japanese name, while the other is a nickname given in homage to members of the band Guns 'n Roses. Ian Flynn has expressed his dislike of the nicknames, and in the comics they are identified by the Japanese names, and thus intended to use their English translation names, including several used in the R20 Rockman & Rockman X Official Complete Works. However, due to the lateness of the change, Duff McWhalen was identified as Tidal Makkoeen rather than Tidal Whale.^[13]

References

External links

• Maverick at Mobius Encyclopaedia, the Archie Sonic wiki.