Axl

"Just the thought of wiping the floor with those Mavericks makes my trigger finger itch!"

- Axl

Axl (アクセル) is a playable character and the tritagonist of the Mega Man X series. He is a prototype of the New Generation Reploids with the unique ability to mimic the external and internal characteristics of anyone he encounters. Axl has had important roles in Mega Man X7 and X8, effectively making him the third playable protagonist of the Mega Man X series alongside Mega Man X and Zero.

Appearance
Axl appears as a teenager with green eyes, an X-shaped scar on his face and spiky auburn hair that sprouts outward rather than flow down. His basic armor design is somewhat similar to X with a black sheen (or indigo sheen in X7) featuring red accents. His shoulder guards are pointed and his legs feature small booster-like compartments. Jutting from his upper back are two long, white retractable "wings." His helmet design, when viewed from topside, resembles an upside down 'A' with a circular camera-like lens in the center.

Personality
Axl is a youthful Reploid who is very cocky and has a sassy sense of humor. Despite his loud-mouthed ways, Axl is kind-hearted and always cares about his friends, whether they be old Red Alert allies or the Maverick Hunters. He often brags about how he is one of the best Hunters, which can get him into trouble. Although he can be very whiny when there is nothing to do, which can get on X and Zero's nerves, X and Zero treat him like a younger brother of sorts and encourage his eagerness to carry out justice. He may be immature and naive, but he has his heart in the right place and still tries his best to fight for what's right.

Axl has a sort of fondness for battle and can be quite ruthless, putting him in direct contrast with the more pacifistic X. During his days in Red Alert he would gun down targets with no hesitation and proved to be a useful assassin to the syndicate, even carrying over some of his previous mercilessness to his time as a Maverick Hunter. At first he was easily influenced by those around him, blindly following Red Alert at the beginning of Mega Man X7, but he later developed a moral compass and started making choices of his own. This started when he decided to help the Maverick Hunters and do what's right in Mega Man X7, and later peaked when he was unaffected by Lumine's discouraging remarks during their final confrontation in Mega Man X8, encouraging X and Zero to ignore him.

Creation
Very little is known about Axl's past - not even Axl knows specifically when or where he came from, and is sometimes seen searching for the answers to these questions. However, he does learn that he is a prototype of the New Generation Reploids, which explains why he possesses a Copy Chip.

At some point in time, Axl met Red and joined the vigilante syndicate Red Alert. He served them well, and his Copy Chip gave Red Alert a significant edge over their Maverick bounties. However, as Red began meeting with "the Professor" to create power-ups from the DNA programs Axl copied, Axl became disturbed. He noticed that Red Alert was targeting more and more innocent Reploids as opposed to solely Mavericks, irking him. Because of this, he began planning to leave the organization.

Mega Man X7
In Axl's debut, he is still a member of Red Alert. One of his missions under Red Alert has him attacking the hideout of two Mavericks, Cedar and Aluce, to assassinate them both. He accomplishes the mission by killing Cedar, and then masquerading as him to breach Aluce's defenses and shoot him in the back. After briefly taunting the Maverick's methods, he escapes the base, planning to abandon Red Alert and hunt Mavericks on his own. However, he is suddenly pursued by a Red Alert-deployed Mega Scorpio on his way out and is forced to flee. Fortunately, Axl runs into Zero on the highway, who helps him destroy the Mechaniloid. Afterwards, Zero arrests Axl and takes him back to Hunter Base for questioning about the incident.

Axl meets X, who berates him for his internal politics with Red Alert causing so much public damage. Axl defends himself by explaining Red Alert's recent merciless ways. As if on cue, Red sends a transmission to the Maverick Hunters demanding Axl's return. He proposes a "duel" wherein Red Alert and the Maverick Hunters have battles all over the globe, to determine both who gets Axl and to put an end to their hunting rivalry. Axl feels himself responsible for the upcoming conflict, and in order to make up for his mistakes, he joins forces with Zero and the Hunters to stop Red Alert, despite their hesitance to allow him to do so.

As Axl and Zero continue to defeat the members of Red Alert, Axl explains his Copy Chip to Zero. He also explains how Red Alert's members have slowly changed over time, becoming more unruly and violent, and how he felt used by Red Alert for his Copy Chip. Additionally, it is through Axl and Zero's combined efforts against Red Alert that X is inspired to come out of retirement and fight alongside them again.

After Axl, Zero, and X defeat Red Alert's eight members, Red suddenly sends the Hunters the location of Red Alert's secret base, the Crimson Palace. Together, the three infiltrate the Crimson Palace and confront Red himself. While Axl is willing to talk it out, Red cuts to the chase and starts fighting them. After defeating Red, Axl pleads with him to join them, but Red resigns to his mistakes and chooses to stay in a collapsing room that crushes him.

The three Hunters then learn that Sigma is at it again, and that he was the one responsible for manipulating Red Alert into exploiting Axl's abilities. Even after the trio fights him twice, Sigma manages to rise again and punches Axl through a wall, seemingly defeating him. Surprisingly, Red reappears and attacks X and Zero. When Sigma is presumably about to possess him, Red uses an A-Bullet to blast Sigma out of the palace through a window, revealing Red to be Axl in disguise. Axl, Zero, and X then flee the dilapidated palace.

In the ending, Axl is shocked to learn that despite helping defeat Sigma, X refuses to make him an official Maverick Hunter due to his immature and destructive ways. Axl tries to defend himself by saying he'd only done the same kind of damage X had done in past conflicts, only for X to rebut that he was wrong to do so. Suddenly, Alia reports another Maverick attack, and Axl heads out, determined to prove his worth to X.

Mega Man X8
Axl is shown to have become an official Maverick Hunter after all, routinely joining X and Zero in their missions. He appears with X and Zero in the outskirts of the Jakob Orbital Elevator, investigating an out of control crab-like Mechaniloid in Noah's Park. This time around, Axl has fully gained the trust of X and is even encouraged by him. Axl has also learned by this point that he was designed as a prototype for the New Generation Reploids.

After subduing the Mechaniloid, the three encounter (Axl for the first time) Vile, who kidnaps the director of the Jakob project, Lumine. After this incident, a series of Maverick attacks begin around the globe, all revolving around the involvement of New Generation Reploids with the Jakob Project. While X is frustrated by the conflict restarting so soon, Axl is excited by the prospect and helps X come to terms with the reality of the situation.

It is revealed that Axl is a prototype of these Reploids, since they all possess the same copy chip as him. Some of the Reploid Mavericks consider Axl a traitor for siding with the Hunters, as they refer to X and Zero, as the "old" Reploids.

The "mastermind" of the incident is revealed to be Sigma once again, and the three Hunters chase him to his palace on the Moon (and Sigma reveals that, even if Axl didn't side with the "old" Reploids, he still wouldn't have allowed Axl to join anyways, as Axl was nothing more than a "flimsy prototype"). After Sigma is defeated (presumably for the last time), Lumine enters the scene, much to the delight of Axl and his friends; however, this delight is quickly dispelled by Lumine's revelation that he, not Sigma, was the true mastermind: Sigma had merely helped his plan along. He reveals that the copy chips of all New Generation Reploids, including himself, contain the data of dozens of Reploids, including Sigma. Lumine then explains that Sigma rebelled against the world, but had his own reasons for doing so. So what about himself? Lumine states that Sigma's data allows for him and all the New Generation Reploids to go Maverick at will.

Axl and his friends defeat Lumine, but the latter has one last trick up his sleeve: something lashes out of Lumine's lifeless shell as Axl approaches, striking and breaking the lens on his forehead, knocking him unconscious before Lumine's shell is destroyed by X and Zero.

When the group begins their descent back to Earth, a comatose Axl is carried in X's arms. In his broken forehead lens shines a fragment of what Lumine hit him with.

Mega Man X: Command Mission
Axl is now promoted to class S Hunter status. He heads to Giga City a short time after X and Zero did, believing that his copy abilities may have originated there. He joins X's party midway through a mission to infiltrate Mach Jentra's Ulfat Factory. Also, he tells X that someone was using his copy ability to mimic Wild Jango to infiltrate Giga City shortly after they defeated Jango a second time (the culprit later revealed to be Colonel Redips himself). Presumably, his copying abilities grew stronger, as he is now able to copy many of the bosses DNA and transform into them, whereas it was mentioned in X7 that he can't copy bosses, just their abilities.

Rockman X DiVE
Axl makes an appearance as a B-Rank Hunter Program. In Story Mode, Axl debuts at the end of 3rd stage of Chapter 2. Here, he's not a real Axl but rather an enbodientment of Axl's game data in Deep Log. He becomes playable right after his introduction to the Player and RiCO.

Other media

 * Axl appears as a card in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS.
 * Axl has a cameo in Zero's ending of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, where he, Alia, and X discover Zero injured on Earth's moon.
 * Axl appears as an advanced-type Support Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. When equipped, it allows for the user to start off with the Ray Gun equipped.
 * Axl is an unit card in TEPPEN.
 * Axl appeared as an event character in Zombie Cafe.
 * Axl appeared as an event character in Dragon Poker.
 * Axl appeared as an event character in Elemental Story.
 * Axl appeared in Rockman X7 4Koma Manga Kingdom.

Mega Man (Archie Comics)
Axl was present in the Worlds Unite crossover and in the 55th issue of the comic series.

Arsenal
Axl has a special ability called Copy Shot, which allows him to disguise himself as certain non-boss enemies with a special ability called A-Trans; in the games that it's featured in (particularly in Mega Man X8), these transformations can be used to solve puzzles. It is a prototype version of the Copy Chip found in New Generation Reploids, and is thus much less efficient.

He also has an ability called Dodge Roll, which makes Axl invulnerable while doing it. In Mega Man X7 he can use weapons while using this move.

He can also Hover in the air, much like the Fourth Armor or the Ultimate Armor, with some differences. One being that Axl's hovering lasts less time but doesn't stop inmediately while in mid-air, instead, it slows down his falling speed. Another difference being that instead of just tapping the jump button to activate the Hovering, one has to hold down the Jump button after tapping it in mid-air to Hover.

In Mega Man X: Command Mission, Axl's Action Trigger is a special command introduced in the game that allows him to turn into, and use a powerful attack from, one of half the defeated bosses in the game. He can turn into Wild Jango, Silver Horn, Mad Nautilus, Mach Jentra, Incentas, Depth Dragoon, Rafflesian and Ninetails, but cannot turn into Hippopressor, Shadow, Duckbill Mole, Botos, Ferham, Scarface, Epsilon and Colonel Redips. This somewhat makes him take a role akin to a summoner in more traditional RPGs.

In Rockman X DiVE, Axl can use a special skill called Strafing Barrage, which makes Axl fire his guns erratically around him. This skill is similar in function to Model A's Giga Crush.

Following the trend started by his partners X and Zero, Axl can upgrade his armor to improve his abilities. In Command Mission, his Hyper Mode allows him to turn invisible and become invulnerable while it lasts. Like most Hyper Modes, however, this is only temporary.

Production Notes
Designer Comments

"The only design work I did for X7 was to give advice on Axl. I said, 'If we're bringing in a new character, just make sure you give him a distinct silhouette.' Over the years, I came to realize that when you draw robot characters, it's mighty easy for them to fall into similar shapes. That's why I was very careful about X and Zero's silhouettes when I was designing them. Axl ended up with protrusions on his head and a gun in his hand to make him unique." - Keiji Inafune

"Since Axl wasn't supposed to have come from the typical 'good guy' mold, I gave him a nice big scar on his face and went with a lot of black in his coloring to give him an overall dark feel. I wanted his hair and the details of his face to exude youth to emphasize the fact that he was born after X and Zero." - Tatsuya Yoshikawa

Trivia

 * Axl's name could be a reference to either AXL receptor tyrosine kinase or Axl Rose.
 * Model A from Mega Man ZX Advent is designed after Axl. Axl himself was not brought into the ZX series due to his ambiguous fate at the end of Mega Man X8, the last mainline Mega Man X game in the series to this day, where he was seriously damaged and had his helmet jewel smashed by tentacles shooting Lumine’s dead body, seemingly infecting him with an unknown object. Model A incorporates Axl’s color scheme and dual-wielding pistols, but rather than having a jewel on its helmet like Axl, it has a cover where the jewel was, reflecting Axl’s fate at the end of X8. This jewel can be seen in illustrations for Advent however.
 * Axl may have been inspired by Bass, as both characters share gameplay styles in that they both have rapid-fire weapons that can shoot in seven directions and were both introduced in the seventh game in both series. Both share a love for battle and at times takes it too far.
 * One of Zero's alternate colors in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is inspired by Axl.