Sigma (Mega Man X)

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Sigma is the main villain of the Mega Man X video game series and is the final boss in all games of the series except [[Mega Man X: Command Mission]] and Mega Man X8. A typical "power mad" antagonist, Sigma is a Reploid first seen in the original Mega Man X who rebels against humankind using a military force of robots called "Mavericks." The Maverick Hunters are devoted to crushing Sigma and his minions; X and Zero are among the organization's most prominent members. Sigma appears as a bulky, bald humanoid robot in most forms, and often produces a new body after defeat.

History

Sigma is the arch-enemy of the Maverick Hunters, and instigated many of the bloody Maverick Wars. However, he was originally built to be the most advanced Maverick Hunter (of the time). Sigma possessed Dr. Cain's latest circuitry designs, which were theoretically supposed to prevent him from going Maverick. He was placed in charge of the 17th Unit of Maverick Hunters, and led his Hunters to victory multiple times.

One day, he received reports of an incredibly violent Maverick. He arrived at an abandoned laboratory to investigate reports of a "red Maverick" that destroyed an entire Hunter squadron (Gamma Unit). It was there that he confronted Zero, the last creation of Dr. Wily. Zero carried with him a malicious computer virus, one which powered up his abilities and turned him into a "bloodthirsty god of destruction." Sigma fought well, and after a long struggle, defeated Zero. He crushed the crystal in Zero's helmet, an action which transferred the virus directly from Zero into Sigma. Sigma limped away from the battle, and ordered his men to take the body of Zero back for study.

Sigma's advanced circuitry did its job well, as Sigma remained stable for months before succumbing to the virus inside of him. He declared a mass revolt, and instigated total war on the humans. Many of the Maverick Hunters followed him out of loyalty, leaving Zero in charge of the organization. By this time, he had become a very powerful Maverick Hunter. X, the last creation of Dr. Light and the base model for every Reploid, decided to join Zero out of guilt. X and Zero battled through the Maverick regime, and it was X who finally destroyed Sigma. But though his physical body was destroyed, Sigma's soul—the virus—survived, and Sigma had no qualms about leaving a cryptic message for X that stated this very fact.

Over the years, Sigma returned time and time again—the first time he returned with the help of the X-Hunters, and masterminded the Unification plot. X thwarted this, and a reactivated Zero returned to the Hunters as the leader of Zero Unit. Other plots included hacking into the Maverick Hunters' Mother Computer and infecting it with Maverick data. Later he infected the Reploid scientist Doppler and used him to front the revolts in Doppler Town. Sigma was thought to be defeated after X used a true anti-virus made by Doppler. But still, he returned. This time, he used two "Soul Erasers," Berkana and Gareth, in a plot to capture Reploid DNA for an unknown use. He was destroyed after claiming the Soul Erasers had gone too far, but returned when he masterminded the plot to pit the Repliforce Army against the Maverick Hunters. He succeeded, and the Repliforce was decimated before Sigma was defeated.

It was some time before Sigma surfaced again. During his absence, Sigma's consciousness met some incarnation of the evil Dr. Wily, and the two of them hatched a plot to unlock Zero's true power—the power that the original virus gave him. Sigma enlisted the help of a bounty hunter named Dynamo, and plotted to crash the orbiting space colony, Eurasia, into the Earth. The ultimate goal was to mix Sigma's own viral code, which he spread across the Earth, with a newer virus that would ultimately recreate the original Zero Virus, and therefore warp Zero back to evil. This plan failed, and though X and Zero defeated Sigma, Zero was critically wounded and left for dead. Sigma used his last energy to try and destroy both X and Zero; Zero managed one last shot which decimated the minute shell Sigma had left, and X, though heavily damaged, was repaired by Dr. Light. Zero's body could not be found, and he was thus declared "missing" though thought to be dead. It was a mere three weeks later that Mavericks began reappearing on the devastated Earth, and Zero returned through unknown means.

Three weeks passed as the humans moved underground to survive the devastation left by Sigma's last attack, and was soon resurrected by the scientist Reploid, Gate. Gate was angry at the world for rejecting his advanced creations, and turned into a Maverick after he came into contact with a piece of rubble that contained signatures of Zero's virus-infected DNA. Gate also managed to find Sigma's remains in the process, and began to rebuild his program and body. Though Gate used all of his abilities to piece Sigma's program back together, he wasn't successful, and the half-conscious, barely alive program inhabited an equally half-built body. The damage inflicted upon Sigma during the Earth Crisis was more severe than even Gate's ability could repair, and Sigma fought the Maverick Hunters, remembering little more than revenge against those who had hurt him. Technically, this would be the first instance when Sigma was merely a pawn in someone else's scheme.

However, time off allowed Sigma to fully recover, and after years of dedicated reconstruction work, Sigma reappeared and manipulated the hunting organization known as Red Alert. His plan was to use a mysterious young Reploid named Axl to copy DNA signatures of X and Zero, and then use it to create destructive war machines. The plan failed as Axl fled Red Alert and sought asylum with the Maverick Hunters, and Red Alert's organization was destroyed before Sigma was defeated. He swore to return, even though he was tricked by Axl (using a DNA Core captured from Red) and blasted out of a window.

Sigma's next plot was very complicated, and it wasn't even him behind the entire scheme. It turned out that Axl was a prototype for a new generation of Reploids. These new Reploids possessed advanced copy abilities, and Alia discovered that the copy chips bore copies of Sigma's program among other powerful reploids. Sigma instigated a new Maverick revolt with these new Reploids as the humans were evacuating Earth in hopes of finding a new home on the Moon. The revolt was stopped, Sigma was completely decimated, and the real mastermind; Lumine, who was the manager of the project, was revealed and beaten. Before his death, Lumine made a startling claim—Sigma was dead and not coming back. It is believed that the reason Sigma could not regenerate within another body after his final defeat is that he was on the Moon, where the virus is not effective like on Earth. There were no available bodies, and he was stretched too thin. He simply vanished. Little remains except only annoyances still wandering cyberspace in the time of Mega Man Zero (Heard in TELOS records.)

Personality

Sigma has an interesting trait that sets him apart from the other villains in the X series. While most other Reploids lose control of their inhibitions and conscious thought, and, for lack of a better term, go insane, Sigma does not. He's able to study and learn new things, such as Zero's past, while in this state, and even conceive of grand-scale plans and strategies. With most infected Mavericks, we never see their true personality, as it's masked by the virus. Sigma, however, shows his true personality all throughout. He's a brilliant military strategist, and he uses this to his full advantage.

His obsession with destroying humanity as well as X and Zero stems from the virus, but one thing that has always set Sigma apart is that he doesn't lose control of himself (even Gate's personality was warped and changed by his infection).

Sigma has always been very intelligent, and remains so. He keeps his enemies' weaknesses in mind and preys on them (such as X's big heart, Zero's wanting to block out all mention of his bloody past, or Axl's discontent at being called a prototype). Sigma's personality itself, post-infection, has been very manipulative. He conned Dr. Doppler, manipulated Colonel and General into a full-scale war, and masterminded the whole Red Alert incident. In fact, the Nightmare Outbreak (X6) and the Jakob Project incident (X8) marks the only times in the recorded history of the series that Sigma himself was not fully behind the attack.

Abilities

As the former leader of the Maverick Hunters, Sigma is a brilliant military leader, often thinking strategically and calmly in the execution of his plans. Even as a Maverick, Sigma is a competent leader, able to command others effectively, even those who would normally not take orders well, including the rogue Maverick Hunter, Vile, and the mercenary, Dynamo. Sigma also enjoyed learning the weaknesses of others (such as Zero's mysterious history), often using those weaknesses to his advantage. A former soldier, Sigma often moved with disciplinary grace, and expected those under him to follow his commands to the letter, as though he were commanding an army.

In his many battles against humanity and the Maverick Hunters, Sigma's body was reconstructed numerous times, incorporating different weapons and abilities each time. Such weapons include energy projectile guns, a sword, a scythe and weapons that launch fire and ice. In battle, whenever Sigma is defeated the first time, he usually returns immediately, more powerful than before. Video game players have called this act "pulling a Sigma." Later, it was discovered that Sigma's program (soul) and the Maverick Virus have merged and thus became one being. This would explain why Sigma is able to return to life despite being destroyed numerous times. Since all "new-generation" Reploids currently include Sigma's DNA in their make-up, Sigma's virus may have nowhere to go. Capcom has stated that Sigma is dead (permanently)^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}, therefore any theories about how he may come back currently bear very little weight. It is worth noting, however, that Sigma is supposed to be killed by X using the Mother Elf according to the Mega Man Zero story, although this may simply mean destroying the Sigma DNA in the new generation Reploids.

References

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