Here's my random thought of the day.
In the Maverick Hunter X continuity, was Zero a Maverick?
Here's why I'm thinking he was NOT, initially.
There's the exchange he has with X about 'why would someone become Maverick'- his answer here is a little too ..hmm, what's the word I want... ignorant? Unsubtle? If he had Maverickism in his past (assuming it wasn't purged and nobody TOLD him), his answer here is a radical shift from his characterization in the first games.
He's giving off vibes of noob, too. He appears to be still in training, along with X, under Sigma's unit. He's clearly not a commander-level fighter or anything like X's 'sempai'. They're bestest friends forever, though, natch. XD
Instead of Zero leaving Sigma with his trademark eye scars, it's X. But in the prior game's canon line, that scarring is when Zero transferred the Maverick Virus to Sigma- if that only happens NOW and by X after Sigma's already turned, then by default Sigma got the Virus (if it even exists in MHX) from another source. That takes Zero off the hook for Sigma's conversion, and it's not possible the Virus could have come from X.
I'm now willing to guess that the MHX pathline would have flipped things over- SIGMA turned ZERO Maverick during the missile base fight. If we watch Day of Sigma closely, in that moment just between when he's holding Zero up as a shield and then tossing him aside... we don't quite see what happens there, but Zero is suddenly sparking like hell as he falls.
I'm guessing that the Maverick Virus jumps from Sigma to Zero at this point. I'm also guessing that X's glowing-hand attack may have been an attempt to implant the Suffering Circuit into Sigma (subconsciously on X's part?) and whether this failed or succeeded.. well, if it succeeded, that might explain why Sigma spared them both when they were completely incapacitated. If it failed, the contrast between the Circuit and the Virus would have made Sigma laugh his ass off- if GUILT is the best weapon X has in store, his 'limitless potential'...
When you extrapolate, that makes things a LOT harder for the future games, because so much depends on Zero's mysterious past and his former Maverickism to drive the plot forward in the original series. It also -really- makes a victim of Zero, as he would spend the next several games being an INNOCENT dragged through this hell of increasing insanity and death for even LESS reason than the original games gave. FUN!
You can almost see why it'd be hard to do more games- MHX flipped things over REALLY radically, and I think it would require a full rewrite of some of the games. While that'd be awesome as a mashup/remix sort of thing, it really DOES 'reboot' the franchise to a broader degree maybe than they realized at first. That, plus poor sales, is probably why we haven't seen sequels already. God knows Capcom would demand them if the sales supported it.
But what the hey, that's what fanfic's for. Cue How Mystery Muse Would Use MHX As An Excuse To Tweak The X Series... hee hee.
X2: Sigma orders the X-Hunters to gather Zero's parts as bait for X. Include flashbacks to how they first met up (see: X3's ending bits) and became friends. Zero's control chip would need to fall into Maverick hands too, and at this point Sigma starts to get the idea to rebuild Zero as a weapon to use against X- BECAUSE he sees how strongly X reacts to the loss of his friend. Exploit emotional weaknesses? Check. Implant Virus in Zero for SURE at this point if he didn't during Day of Sigma? Check. Zero returns, but now he's TAINTED. Cue the angst.
X3: Personalize the Doppler conflict by having Zero agree to try out Doppler's cure for Maverickism in order to stay on with the Hunters. Zero is under influence of Neuro Computer when Doppler starts going bugshit. The Neuro Computer process also triggers Zero to begin having strange dreams about wiggly-eyebrowed old men... Angst for X: having to destroy Doppler not only crushes hopes of an easy cure for Maverickism, but reinforces the fact that he's going to have to shoot Zero in the head sometime, but neither of them know when. The closing narration goes orgasmic with vindication.
X4: Well, SHIT. Repliforce goes batshit. Zero and X struggle with their reasons for doing so; Zero is more on their side than not, but still obliged to kill Iris and Colonel. I'd schedule a lesser version of the larger conflict that shows up in X5 here between X and Zero about this. If Sigma's reaaaallly smart, he can make this all come out looking like you could blame X for it, from one particularly skewed viewing angle. "Iris, are we all Mavericks in the end?" becomes more than a merely philosophical question for Zero. Resentment building between X and Zero.
This would be a great time for Sigma to drop the bomb of Zero's true origin on his head. "You were designed to destroy X", etc.
X5: Merge 5 and 6 into a single story split over 2 games, as Capcom tried to do rather CLUNKILY to handle the Inafune splitoff. Eurasia goes boom. X and Zero have their Epic Fight Which Has Been Foretold For Oh A Few Months Now. Basically a series of verbal bombs dropped under extreme pressure. Nobody dies, but Zero quits the Hunters over it. Depressed over the deaths of Iris, Colonel, and all that he's had to endure, Zero blocks X from getting the Enigma pieces, saying he'll deal with it his own way. He decides to fly the shuttle into Eurasia on his own. X, thinking Zero has gone full tilt, goes in pursuit, but is unable to stop Zero from going splode with the colony. end game.
X6 then features Zero fluttering down to Earth as, yup, a full-tilt Maverick, propelled by grief and despair. Cue the Zero Nightmare. Places where Zero felt great pain or some powerful emotion are haunted by his 'ghost',and Zero brings back the Zero Virus with him, Sigma's final stab at X's heart. Zero blames X for everything and goes after him HARD. Most of the world gets infected, Sigma laughs his ass off, and X and Zero have their For Real final battle, which ends up with both of them getting skewered on Sigma's petard. Zero, unexpectedly, regains enough control of his mind to eliminate Sigma -for the last time!- and then dies. X is rebuilt by the Blue Light, and takes the Saber in memory of Zero.
But someone else also rebuilds Zero... and in accordance with the Three Months Rule, Zero returns to the Hunters. Although X is initially pleased to see him... it soon becomes apparent that Zero has been Changed By The Experience, and isn't the warm and friendly guy he used to be.
And, if X is honest with himself, maybe he's NOT so happy to see Zero...
X7: Zero and X are still stinging from the events of the Zero Nightmare; their partnership is in ruins. X pretty much quits, not for some pissy philosophical difference but because he's so angry/ashamed/hurt by his part in things before, and Zero has gone ice cold to mask his own very similar feelings. They're completely out of synch as fighters and friends. Enter: Axl! Just in time to up the tension to nuclear standoff levels! Excuses for them to scream at each other about anything and everything! The appearance of Red Alert allows X and Zero something to take their frustrations out on. Red takes the place of Sigma (Sigma just doesn't even appear in this game, AT ALL, having been properly annihilated in the prior one) for some good old traditional headfucking for Axl, X and Zero eventually come back to terms as they individually bitch about each other to Axl, Axl mirrors stuff back to them, and in the end, we have the seeds of a happy ot3 beginning to brew.
X8: Emphasize how WELL the three of them are getting along. BFF x3! This game can PRETTY much go as originally scripted at this point, since the X/Zero conflict has cooled off and they're back on their original path, and focus in the series now shifts to the issue of new-gens going Maverick. Oh yeah, shit. Axl's a new-gen too! Build up dread throughout. Close with Axl getting Lumine's spark in his head, and there's no question that X and Zero are PAINFULLY aware of this fact and where it will probably lead. Another innocent corrupted. They couldn't save Zero from suffering, can they save Axl now? The happy trio goes foom with Teh Angsting. Paradise Lost.
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