Doctor Albert W. Wily

Doctor Albert W. Wily (Ｄｒ．アルバート・Ｗ・ワイリー) is the main antagonist of the original Mega Man series, appearing in every game as the antagonist but not necessarily as the final boss. In the Mega Man series, Wily resembles a stereotypical mad scientist as he schemes to take over the world, creating several robots to help him. Through Wily's schemes were stopped time and time again, this did not stop him from being recorded in history as a legendary mad scientist, his legacy contuining even into the next century. He even appears consciously active long after the demise of his mortal body, playing a significant role in the Mega Man X series.

Before the first Mega Man
Dr. Wily was at one time Dr. Light's classmate in the university, however he became a bitter rival during their professional lives. Wily and Light partnered to create robots, being responsible for advancements in the field of robotics. Though Wily won many awards in his time, he was consistently upstaged by Dr. Light, and this wounded his pride. After being shunned from professional circles due to the nature of the experiments he did, and his pride being wounded by Dr. Light, he went missing for a long time. Unlike his MegaMan Battle Network series counterpart, where both him and Light have a family, nothing is known about his personal life and past, except that in the Ruby-Spears cartoon he remembered "Not having toys like the other kids."

After this, Dr. Light completed Proto Man, the first humanoid robot with feelings. However, Proto Man had a defect in his Solar Reactor, and he left LightLabs fearing to be changed, wandering around the world on his own. Dr. Wily came across him (presumably when he had fallen unconscious or broken) and repaired him, giving him a new nuclear core. Unfortunately for Proto Man, a defect still existed. Dr. Wily began to create plans to conquer the world, while Dr. Light continued creating robots to help humanity. After a unknown time, Wily enacted his evil scheme: exclaiming he would achieve this by stealing six (eight in Mega Man: Powered Up) of Dr. Light's industrial Robot Masters and reprogramming them.

Mega Man
During the events of Mega Man, Dr. Wily used Dr. Light's robots to take over Monsteropolis/Monstropolis (a city created in the American instruction manual). He is foiled by the Super Robot Mega Man, that he saw no potential in when he reprogrammed the other robots.

Mega Man 2
Dr. Wily returns in the second game trying to get revenge, this time creating eight of his own robots to defeat Mega Man, but once again fails.

Mega Man 3
In the third game, Dr. Wily discovers an old robot (believed to be made of alien technology) and reprograms him as Shadow Man. From here, he also creates 7 other robots to battle Mega Man. But first, he pretends to be a good guy and helps Light build Gamma, a giant robot meant to bring world peace. During this time period, Dr. Wily steals Gamma and tries to kill Mega Man.

Mega Man 4
Dr. Wily managed to kidnap Kalinka, daughter of the scientist Mikhail Cossack. Dr. Cossack was blackmailed into using his elite robots to fight against Dr. Light and Mega Man. Mega Man and Proto Man helped Dr. Cossack free Kalinka, and stop Dr. Wily.

Mega Man 5
Dr. Wily tries to get revenge on both Proto Man and Dr. Light. He creates Dark Man, a robot with the ability to disguise himself like Proto Man to frame him. Dark Man kidnaps Dr. Light and lures Mega Man out to his doom. Unfortunately for Dr. Wily, the real Proto Man saves the day.

Mega Man 6
Dr. Wily dons the persona of a billionaire named Mr. X (possibly lived under the pseudonym for a long time). As Mr. X, he calls for a world tournament of the greatest fighting robots. He then reprograms them all to try and take over the world. Mr. 'X' is thwarted as usual.

Mega Man 7
Dr. Wily knew he would eventually be imprisoned so he had built four robots. He also built Bass and Treble sometime before his imprisonment. He was freed from prison by these robots and had used Bass to get close to Mega Man. Wily was defeated once again.

Mega Man 8
Dr. Wily recovered 'Evil Energy' from a robot that fell from space. He used this energy to power his robots. In this game, Bass may have already turned away from Dr. Wily. Duo helps Mega Man defeat Dr. Wily.

Mega Man & Bass
In this game, it is revealed that Dr. Wily built King as a new prototype for a future generation of robots. He even reveals plans for a King II. Bass and Mega Man both destroy Wily, leaving him in the dust once again.

Other games
In the Game Boy games of Mega Man I-V, Dr. Wily creates 'Rockman Killers', a special series of robots designed to destroy Mega Man. In these games, he is usually trying to kill Mega Man and fails. In one game, he travels into the future and kidnaps Mega Man, reprogramming him as Quint. He also tries to use a number of extraterrestrial robots to combat Mega Man.

Wily is a playable character in the game RockBoard.

Mega Man X series
Dr. Wily doesn't make an official appearance in the Mega Man X series, but it is revealed that he created Zero to be a powerful robot that would kill Mega Man X. It's believed that he used Bassium, the energy he accidentally created while creating Bass, in Zero's creation. Zero was programmed with an urge to kill, and this program found its way into Sigma, becoming a virus.

Keiji Inafune planned on Mega Man X5 being the last in the series. The references to Dr. Wily and how Sigma met him in Mega Man X5 are vague. He may have been a hologram like Dr. Light, or, as some internet fan-based sources feel, he was integrated into the virus, or if he truly was in a Reploid form. In any case, it is known in Mega Man X5 that Dr. Wily somehow contacted and taught Sigma about the Virus and Zero. This allows one to infer that Wily either designed the virus, or was aware of it.

Since Dr. Wily used the Time Skimmer (time traveling device) in Mega Man II to go into the future and kidnap Mega Man, he may have done so again to check on Zero and saw the state of the world.

Dr. Wily should not be confused with Dr. Weil/Vile from the Mega Man Zero series. It hasn't been directly stated that the two characters aren't the same, but as well, it hasn't said they are. Weil is pronounced as "While", as in Wily. But, in Japan, the character's name is Dr. Vile, very different from Wily or While, or Weil. (He was renamed in America because VAVA, a Maverick, was renamed Vile in Mega Man X. To hold off confusion, Dr. Vile became Dr. Weil.)

It should also be noted that there is a prominent theory that Serges from MMX2 is Dr. Wily. This is due partly to the Manga, which claims they are the same. (Non-game sources generally create their own theories and ideas, and thus are not normally considered canon.) This comes from the fact that Serges states that the rebuilding of Zero is a Purification. Later in Mega Man X5, Sigma tries to reveal Zero's true power with the virus by Purifying him. Serges has worked with Sigma, seemingly understood Sigma's body and Zero's. Serges built at least one body for Sigma, and possibly the bodies that show up in X4 and X5. The theory that Serges is Dr. Wily is usually shunned because Serges seems to be a minor character, and Capcom hasn't made him a bigger villain. Those that are for this theory simply claim he is, but was a minor character to keep the focus on the main characters, (I.E. Sigma, Zero, X) and build up a mystery. A Dr. Wily-esque character in Mega Man X6, Dr. Isoc, is also believed to be Dr. Wily, which is supported by the fact that he is voiced by Takeshi Aono, the same Japanese voice actor of Dr. Wily.

Achievements
Dr. Wily holds a PhD in Robotic Engineering from Robert Engineering University. He's the four years consecutive runner-up of the LIT Manual Design Contest. He has won the Silver prize at the worldwide engineering grand prix and was a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Mega Man and Bass CD data
He has created many robots to challenge and defeat Megaman.

"Gha ha ha ha ha! I'm a genius!"

Good point: Genius scientist

Bad point: Incorrigible

Like: World domination

Dislike: Accepting defeat 

Other media

 * Wily appears in all episodes from the Mega Man animated series.
 * Wily is one of the main antagonists in Captain N: The Game Master.
 * In Mega Man: Upon a Star, Wily and Mega Man are video game characters that went to Japan in the real world.
 * In the manga Rockman Megamix, Wily wears shades and a tie with a skeleton motif.

Trivia

 * Wily's first name, Albert, is taken from "Albert Einstein", opposite to Dr. Light's first name, Thomas, taken from "Thomas Edison". However, unlike Dr. Light, Wily has some of a resemblance to the person he is based off of.
 * According to the American manual for the first Mega Man, Dr. Wily was Dr. Light's assistant and worked on his DRN series of robots. Though this story was reinforced by the Ruby Spears cartoon and later the PAL version of Mega Man Powered Up, it is not factual to the Japanese version of Wily's backstory.
 * In an article on PC World, Wily was voted as #39 of the top 47 "most diabolical video game villains of all time."
 * Master Albert of the Sage Trinity in Mega Man ZX Advent is named after Dr. Wily. True to his namesake, he is the main antagonist of the game.
 * In early Mega Man games and manuals, his name was occasionally mistranslated as Dr. Wiley.
 * Despite being a villain, Wily did create Zero, one of the main heroes of the X series, and the hero of the Zero series. Whereas Wily started the "War of the Machines" at the beginning of the Mega Man timeline, Zero was the one who ended it at the end of the Zero series.