Agent Zero

History

Cell Six

Christoph Nord was born in Germany. During the height of the Cold War, he joined a West German black ops unit named Cell Six. On a mission in Italy, he was injured. While infirmed there, he met a nurse, Ginetta Lucia Barsalini, that he fell in love with and married. She was revealed to be a Russian spy, as one by one, Cell Six's missions failed and all of their agents, save Nord, were killed. Nord threatened to shoot her unless she told him who she was working for, but she baited him; saying he didn't have to guts to shoot a defenseless woman in cold blood. Grabbing a knife, she attacked him with it, causing him to shoot her in self defense. Dying, she revealed to him that in killing her he killed their unborn child as well. Long after the incident, Nord continued to be wracked with guilt about the betrayal and his lack of knowledge as to exactly who Barsalini worked for.

Weapon X

Nord, fueled by the betrayal, became one of the most efficient covert operatives in Germany. His exploits caught the attention of the CIA, who asked him to join the cladestine Weapon X project. He agreed, and at this time, changed his name to David North. North's team, referred to as Team X, consisted of himself, Logan (who later became Wolverine,) Victor Creed (who later became Sabretooth,) and John Wraith. During this time, an aging suppressant, culled from Logan's healing factor, was grafted to North's DNA. The team handled several missions of dire importance, with dynamic results. During or slightly after this period, North inexplicably lost his kinetic absorption powers. Weapon X was disassembled after the adamantium bonding experiment on Logan went haywire. All its members went their separate ways. North picked up the trade name Maverick, and stayed in the world of convert operations as a mercenary.

Legacy Virus

Maverick then contracted the Legacy Virus, a disease akin to AIDS, that only affected mutants. This development brought the return of his powers, but at random. At first, he tried to convince Wolverine to kill him, but Wolverine would not, and Maverick decided to make the best of it, and "fight the good fight." He befriended a teenager, Chris Bradley, who also had the disease, and helped him and his family run from a bigot group. North then treked the world, and in Canada, a telepathic mutant, Elena Ivanova, found him, demanding he help her find Sabretooth, who had killed her parents. Before he could answer her demand, they were attacked by Omega Red, who tracked Ivanova to Maverick, in hopes of recovering the carbonadium synthesizer. After saving her, Ivanova felt that she owed Maverick, and she stuck by his side, despite Maverick's icy demeanor. They worked together for a time. Then, Legacy Virus took hold, killing North. Ivanova used her powers to resucitate North, bringing him back from the dead. To his surprise, the Virus went into remission and his powers not only returned, but were enhanced. He could release the energy stored in his body as beams of concussive force or use the energy to increase the strength of his physical attacks tenfold. Ivanova soon left him to continue her vendetta against Sabretooth. Maverick warned that an assault against Sabretooth was a fool's errand, and Maverick was correct, as Ivanova was seriously injured.

Agent Zero

The Weapon X project was soon rebuilt, and having brought Sabretooth and Wraith back into the fold, they were sent to recruit Maverick. Maverick refused to join, and a battle ensued. Wraith was killed, and Maverick was thrown off the roof of a 20 story building onto a car parked on the street below.

Near dead, Weapon X again offered him the chance to join, as they could still save him. This time, he reluctantly agreed. He tried to rationalize it to himself, saying he couldn't "fight the good fight" as a corpse. Weapon X further upgraded him. He now has no scent, wears a vibranium suit that absorbs sound, possesses an enhanced healing factor, and a corrosive was added to his concussive blasts that renders a foes' healing factor useless. For all the world knew, Maverick was dead. He became Satan, the agencies' most potent weapon, used on their most dangerous assignments. During a mission, he encountered and killed a new Maverick, who turned out to be the same mutant he'd befriended years earlier, Chris Bradley. Bradley had wanted revenge on Weapon X for 'killing' North.

Weapon X soon disappeared without explanation, and Agent Zero claims he no longer works for the program.

Television and film

Maverick appeared in one episode of the '90s X-Men cartoon; Weapon X, Lies and Videotape. The character Morph briefly turned into Maverick to taunt Wolverine in Whatever It Takes.