Zero (Mega Man)

Zero
Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero character
Zero as he appears in the X series
First game	Mega Man X (1993)
Created by	Keiji Inafune
Designed by	Keiji Inafune (X series) Toru Nakayama (Zero series)
Voiced by (English)	Jack Merluzzi (Mega Man X7) Lucas Gilbertson (Mega Man X8, Command Mission, Maverick Hunter X) Johnny Yong Bosch (Marvel vs. Capcom 3) Jamie West (Mega Man ZX Advent) Rino Romano (Onimusha Blade Warriors)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Ryōtarō Okiayu (Mega Man X series, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Project X Zone, Project X Zone 2) Yūto Kazama (Mega Man Zero series)

Zero (ゼロ^?) is a video game character present throughout Capcom's Mega Man franchise. First appearing in the 1993 game Mega Man X for the Super NES, Zero is a Maverick Hunter, a mechanical soldier in charge of defeating Mavericks, robots who turned against humanity. He continues his job as the main character of the Mega Man Zero series. Zero has also played a supporting role in other game series such as the Mega Man ZX series and appeared in crossover video games as a guest character.

First developed by Keiji Inafune when he was attempting to create a new design for Mega Man for the X series, Zero was instead used as a secondary character. In the Zero series, which was developed by Inti Creates, Zero is the protagonist and had a change in his design, which was meant to create a more "human feel" to him. Zero has since played a minor role in the ZX series as Model Z. His inclusion in the Mega Man X series has generally received positive critical response from video games reviewers.

Zero was created by designer Keiji Inafune when he was told to recreate Mega Man for a new series on the Super NES, Mega Man X. He wanted to design a Mega Man different from the original one. However, Inafune realized afterwards that the character he created was too different from Mega Man's old appearance to be viewed positively by fans. Deciding to let another designer work on the character that eventually became Mega Man X while he developed Zero, Inafune created the character intending him to be "the 'other main character' that would "steal all the good scenes". He further described Zero as representing the idea that "nothing is absolute", and circumstances can change anything. When asked if Zero had killed the cast of the original Mega Man titles, suspected due to their absence in the X series, he replied no, adding that given how he had designed the character, "Zero is not such a person--it is not in his profile."