History
Early Life[]
Born in the former East Germany, Christoph Nord was an idealist who fought against the communist regime as a freedom fighter for the West German Cell Six. Nord's brother Andreas fought for the East Germans, and when the two met in battle, Nord was forced to kill him in cold blood.[7]
Mercenary[]
Later, after an encounter with the assassin the Confessor, Nord was recovering in a German hospital where he fell in love with nurse Ginetta Barsalini. The two married, and she soon became pregnant, but he later learned that she was a double agent and was forced to kill her after she attacked him. Guilt and pain drove him further into his mercenary work, and he eventually accepted an offer to join the Central Intelligence Agency's Weapon X Program. Nord joined the Program's covert operations unit Team X, changed his name to David North, and took the codename Maverick.[8][9]
Japanese crime lord Matsu'o Tsurayaba and his allies, including former Weapon X scientist Doctor Cornelius, resurrected the Russian super-soldier Omega Red. In order to stabilize his mutant power, Omega Red required the Carbonadium Synthesizer, a device stolen from him by Team X decades earlier. Omega Red captured Maverick's former Team X teammate Wolverine, who had the location of the C-Synthesizer buried in his memory, and several of Wolverine's teammates in the X-Men. Maverick was hired by former Team X liaison Major Arthur Barrington to prevent Omega Red from obtaining the device, and he tracked another former Team X member, Sabretooth, to Omega Red's location. With Maverick's help, the X-Men were able to defeat the villains, and he subsequently killed Cornelius in an act of revenge.[10]
Barrington later sent Maverick to recover documents known as the Xavier Files, after the father of the X-Men's telepathic founder, Professor Charles Xavier. The files were in the possession of a former colleague of Xavier's father, Doctor Alexander Ryking, who was under the protection of the superhuman mercenary Warhawk. During the ensuing clash, Warhawk exploded, killing Ryking and seemingly destroying the files.[11]
Maverick was then assigned by the US Government to protect Aldo Ferro, a former Weapon X ally. Maverick's former Team X alumni sought Ferro after one of their number, Mastodon, died when his age suppression factor was seemingly reversed. Unbeknownst to Team X, Ferro was responsible for secretly implanting them all with false memories during their time with Weapon X. After Ferro betrayed Maverick, he sided with his former teammates against Ferro who was seemingly killed in the subsequent battle.[9]
Legacy Virus & Pushkin[]
Maverick next sought to hunt down Sabretooth to make him pay for his numerous crimes, and joined forces with the X-Men in capturing him.[12] Maverick subsequently learned that he had contracted the deadly mutant-killing Legacy Virus. He asked Wolverine to kill him in order to avoid prolonged suffering, but Wolverine refused[13] and Maverick came to form a sibling-like bond with another Virus sufferer, Bolt (Chris Bradley).[7]
During the final stages of his infection, Maverick encountered the Russian mutant telepath Elena Ivanova who was hunting Sabretooth to avenge his murder of her mother. The Virus claimed Maverick's life, but Ivanova managed to use her powers to coax him back to life. As a result, Maverick's Legacy Virus went into full remission and his powers further mutated.[14]
Maverick was then captured by Russian crime lord Ivan Pushkin, whose scientists implanted false memories into Maverick's mind to make him believe that Barrington had been responsible for his wife's betrayal. Pushkin intended for Maverick to kill Barrington to prevent him from providing testimony that threatened Pushkin's financial interests. Maverick located Barrington's safe-house but was opposed by members of the Canadian super-team Alpha Flight: Maverick overcame Pushkin's mental manipulation, however it was too late to save Barrington from Pushkin's agents, Hammer and Sickle.[15]
Agent Zero[]
Agent Zero
In a later encounter with Hammer and Sickle, Maverick's left eye was gouged out by Sickle, and he was left to die in the Swiss Alps.[16] Forced to cauterize the wound to stop from bleeding to death, Maverick survived and later resurfaced to aid Wolverine against a revived Weapon X Program. This new Program sent Sabretooth to recruit both Maverick and fellow Team X alumnus John Wraith. Neither accepted the offer, and so Sabretooth killed Wraith and critically injured Maverick. Brought to the Program with only minutes to live, Maverick reluctantly joined in order to survive and was genetically modified to become Agent Zero.[17][3]
Although an efficient operative, Zero hated what he had become and frequently considered suicide. His initial missions included killing a Colombian drug lord, killing a government informant, and taking out a terrorist organization. He was later assigned to kill Wolverine, but Agent Zero purposely failed the assassination, knowing that he could not try to kill an old friend. The Director punished Zero for his failure, but he knew Zero would fail-the assignment was merely given to further break Agent Zero's will. Later, Zero recaptured Sabretooth after his betrayal of the Program and would have killed him had the Director not shocked him again. Agent Zero continued to serve the program by performing missions such as recruiting other mutants to join the program and even hunting innocent mutants for internment at the camp dubbed Neverland. The agent continually tried to distance himself from the other agents, disgruntled that he fit within the group. At one point, the Director stated that he'd like nothing more to have Agent Zero killed, and he had tried before, but Zero was too successful.[18]
After a change in leadership of the Program, Zero was assigned to track the anti-human terrorist group Gene Nation that had been revived by former Weapon X operative Marrow. Confronting her, Zero learned that her latest recruit, a man using his former identity of Maverick, had been sent to attack New York's Grand Central Station. Confronting the impostor, Zero inflicted a fatal wound upon him only to learn that it was his friend, Chris. Zero then set about the task of wiping out Gene Nation with new zeal, although he declined to make Marrow a martyr. Returning to an abandoned Weapon X facility, Zero's investigations led him to join Wolverine and the enigmatic mercenary Fantomex in opposing the Project's original founder, John Sublime.[19][20]
Decimation and Later[]
Nord lost his powers during M-Day.[21] He relocated to an office in Queens handling various depowered mutants. Wolverine sought him out for information on Carbonadium, reuniting the two and Jubilee. However, Omega Red soon attacked the building, looking for the Carbonadium Synthesizer with Nord injured in the attack and forced to put Omega Red on the Synthesizer's trail.[22]
Nord later stole Weapon X files and sold them on the black market. In an effort to cover up his involvement in kick-starting the Strikeforce X program from Wolverine, he helped him to take down Strikeforce X and killed the man to whom he'd sold the files.[23]
Doctor Doom[]
After the cataclysmic event where a lunar space station meant to clear the hazardous CO2 emissions from Earth's atmosphere was destructively sabotaged by an armed militia flying Latveria's colors,[24] Nord, having returned to mercenary work, was tasked by Interpol to apprehend the likely suspect dead or alive, and to do so with extreme prejudice.[24] Although hideously outmatched in all counts; the dictator surrendered willingly to the proper authorities without much of a fight. Agent Zero, among others, kept a close eye on Victor during prisoner transfer.[25]
Wolverine: Dawn of X[]
With the rise of a new mutant nation Krakoa, Maverick ignored the summons to come to a new home to instead indulge his old mercenary lifestyle once again.[2] Somewhere along the line, while working a job, he ended up captured and mind wiped by an underground auction for the superpowered black market, eventually being put up for sale as an all-purpose tool in the service of any clandestine venture whom a willing buyer could think of.
Nord was eventually saved by his old war buddie Wolverine who infiltrated Madripoor where the sale was being held, but refused to come to the new nation just for mutants because he did not trust the way they did things. Instead after running a black bag mission with his brother in arms for old time's sake, Nord went back to independent work, eventually being contracted by Special Agent Delores Ramirez, one of the attendants at the memorabilia gala he was part of, offering him a new mission while dining at a coffee shop back in New York.[26]
Maverick started visiting more and more Krakoa, although he never officially became a citizen; during one of these visits, Logan recruited him for a mission. Maverick, Wolverine and Domino assaulted a cargo ship that was transporting terrorists that would’ve used toxic waste to damage Krakoa’s ecosystem. Maverick suggested blowing up the whole ship, but that would’ve damaged the sea nevertheless and therefore Domino blocked him.[27]
Despite Nord working for Agent Ramirez, he was also hired by the Merchant to eliminate one of Ramirez’s subordinate, Agent Jeff Bannister and his daughter to acquire a device created by Forge Bannister was custoding. Bannister was Logan’s friend and the X-Force member managed to save the father and the daughter by bringing them to Krakoa and foiling Nord’s plan. Maverick still managed to get the device after attacking Ramirez and Bannister having lunch. What Maverick and the Merchant did not know was that the device did not contain intel about Krakoa and instead contained music files, as Wolverine fooled them both.[28]
Maverick then allied himself with the weapons dealer Weasel to steal a suitcase that Wolverine and Deadpool were taking away from the robot Danger, thinking it contained Shi'ar diamons: it instead contained the materials that constituted Danger’s “daughter”. They accidentally activated the little robot, who escaped from Weasel’s laboratory in Las Vegas. Deadpool and Wolverine took back the robot after having disharmed it in order to bring her back to Danger.[29]
Maverick was then hired by X-Force Director Beast to police mutant space operations and defending them from pirates like Sevyr Blackmore. After bringing Blackmore to the Prison Moon that Beast built to contain enemies of Krakoa and experiment on them, the pirate was immediately freed by the Arakkii Solem and the two caused a mass prison break. After having understood what was the Prison Moon true scope, Maverick quit the job, even after Beast tried to raise his pay.[30]
Weapons of X[]
During a work he was doing for an English aristocrat, his submarine was attacked by a group of Wolverine duplicates Beast created to complete more dangerous missions unbeknownstly to the rest of X-Force as part of a program called Weapons of X. As the Wolverines killed all of Nord’s crew and destroyed the submarine, he escaped bringing with him a tied down Wolverine.[31] He brought the duplicate to his base off the coast of Greenland, where he was joined the real Logan: the two agreed to take revenge on Beast together. [32] They took a motorboat to the Pointe to attack Beast directly and were also joined Agent Bannister and C.I.A., but Beast striked and fled away. [33]
Having contacted X-Force about the current situation, back at the base, Maverick and Wolverine brought the duplicate outside to exchange him with Agent Bannister, that meanwhile was kept as hostage by Beast. Having discovered that the one that showed him with Bannister was not the real Beast Prime, but a duplicate instead, he was immediately killed by Logan and Maverick, along with all the other duplicates present; the actual Beast Prime was inside the Pointe all along and managed to escape when the walking base was destroyed by X-Force.[34]
Blood Hunt[]
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As as vampire
When the Structure shrouded in a Darkforce-induced darkness the world, the vampire Alyssa seduced Maverick and turned him into a vampire to force him to help her defeat the Structure and dominate the world. Maverick, who fell madly in love with the woman who was only manipulating him, convinced her that capturing and transforming Logan would’ve added a strong asset to her army. The couple lured him to their base on the Santa Cruz Island, but he managed to eliminate every single obstacle put to stop him, impressing Alyssa. Alyssa, who now preferred Logan over Nord, now both vampires, ordered the two to fight to the death, declaring that the winner would’ve been the new consort of the future queen of vampires. Even though Wolverine came out as the winner of the duel, since Alyssa was killed by Wolverine's vampire hunter partner, Nightguard, Maverick became a human again. As the Blood Hunt ended, Maverick parted ways peacefully with Wolverine and Nightguard. [35]
From The Ashes[]
After the dissolution of Krakoa, S.H.I.E.L.D. hired Maverick and his team to capture Sabretooth that was allegedly hiding in Frankfurt; it was revealed it was not, in fact, Sabretooth the on hiding, but Mystique instead, who eliminated every member of the team except Maverick. She then transformed into his brother Andreas to extort from him intel about a device called Protozoa and S.H.I.E.L.D.[36]
Around this time, Maverick also started working for O*N*E as a leader for their field operatives.[37]Attributes
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Powers
Like a great many of Earth's mutants, Zero lost his Homo Superior abilities as a result of the aftermath of M-Day.[21] Nord currently possesses no superhuman abilities due to the events of M-Day.[38]
Abilities
Paraphernalia
Equipment
As Maverick, Agent Zero wore a suit of body armor that contained airtight seals, shielding and a mask containing a limited oxygen supply. The suit also stored an artificial booster field that multiplied the amount of kinetic energy he absorbed boosting his power.
Weapons
When last seen, he had no weaponry. Prior to being depowered, Agent Zero carried a wide array of weapons:
- Wrist mounted Nail shooters
- Pistols, Rifles and other arms
- Wrist-mounted plasma blasters
- Pistols with Adamantium ammunition
- Adamantium-coated knife
- Sniper rifle loaded with "Anti-Metal" ammunition
Notes
See Also
- 94 appearance(s) of Christoph Nord (Earth-616)
- 9 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Christoph Nord (Earth-616)
- 15 minor appearance(s) of Christoph Nord (Earth-616)
- 9 mention(s) of Christoph Nord (Earth-616)
- 3 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Christoph Nord (Earth-616)
- 83 image(s) of Christoph Nord (Earth-616)
- 5 quotation(s) by or about Christoph Nord (Earth-616)
- 2 victim(s) killed by Christoph Nord (Earth-616)
- 1 item(s) used/owned by Christoph Nord (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ Wolverine: Weapon X Files #1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Wolverine (Vol. 7) #8
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Weapon X: The Draft - Agent Zero #1
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #5
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #62
- ↑ Wolverine: Blood Hunt #4
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 X-Men Unlimited #15
- ↑ Maverick (Vol. 2) #2
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Wolverine (Vol. 2) #62–64
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #5–7
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #10–11
- ↑ X-Men Unlimited #3
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #87
- ↑ Maverick #1
- ↑ Maverick (Vol. 2) #1–3
- ↑ Maverick (Vol. 2) #8–12
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #166
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #2–4
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #19–21
- ↑ Weapon X (Vol. 2) #23–25
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 New Avengers #18
- ↑ Wolverine: Origins #6–8
- ↑ Wolverine Weapon X #1–5
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Doctor Doom #1
- ↑ Doctor Doom #2
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 7) #9–10
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 7) #17
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 7) #18
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 7) #21–22
- ↑ X-Force (Vol. 6) #34–35
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 7) #32
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 7) #33
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 7) #34
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 7) #35
- ↑ Wolverine: Blood Hunt #1–4
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 Mystique (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ Deadpool/Wolverine #1
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 Wolverine (Vol. 7) #9
- ↑ Wolverine: Weapon X Files #1
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 7