Vile

Vile, or VAVA (ヴァヴァ) in the Japanese version, is a character of the Mega Man X series. He used to be a Maverick Hunter prior to the first X game and was ranked SA-class in Sigma's 17th Elite Unit prior to his commander's rebellion against humanity. He appeared in multiple games of the series as a boss character and was being playable for the first time in Maverick Hunter X, a remake of the first Mega Man X for the PlayStation Portable.

Personality
Vile is a very arrogant, violent and rude character as well having an unstable and enraged mind. Though he used to be a member of the Maverick Hunters, he didn't accept orders from anybody except himself which often resulted in fierce arguments with his commander and (eventually) to his own arrest and labeling of being a Maverick.

Because of an irreparable shortcut in his electronic brain, Vile developed a strange passion for hunting down Mavericks and totally annihilating them and causing as much damage as possible on the territory. This also includes innocent bystanders and comrades alike.

In all incarnations of the character, Vile holds a deep grudge against X and looks down on him because for him, X is a weak character and doesn't deserve that much attention.

The Day of Sigma
Shortly before Sigma declared war on humanity, Vile was arrested by the Hunters for unknown reasons, however Zero claimed that he "must have caused a ruckus again". It is presumable that he again disobeyed orders from superior officers and/or threatened the safety of comrades and bystanders while hunting Mavericks. During the chaotic search for the perpetrator who hacked the Hunters' database (which was actually Sigma himself) and the defense of Abel City from another berserk Mechaniloid, Vile was freed by his former commander who requested his assistance in defeating X, saying that he needed a Reploid that could go Maverick on his own accord. Eventually, Sigma left Vile alone, freed of his chains and open to his arsenal, so he could decide whether or not to join his rebellion.

Mega Man X / Maverick Hunter X
In the original Mega Man X, Vile's character wasn't that expanded and deep yet. He was pictured as nothing more than Sigma's loyal soldier and bodyguard who led his attack teams against the humans. Vile first appeared in the intro stage, using a powerful Ride Armor that X found impossible to damage. X was eventually defeated and caught by Vile's stun beam, and had to be rescued by Zero. When X and Zero later attacked Sigma's fortress, Vile rushed to stop them. While Zero chased after him, X was left behind for a moment. During this time, Vile had jumped aboard his new Ride Armor, had imprisoned Zero in a cage and used him to blackmail X to surrender. X fought him however, up to a point until he was (again) caught by Vile's stun net. In order to save his friend, Zero mobilized all of his power to break free and destroyed the Ride Armour by overloading his buster. Vile was then destroyed in a one-to-one battle by X.

In Maverick Hunter X, Vile's persona was greatly expanded as a rogue character with a strong hatred for X and a desire for destruction. Though he joined Sigma's rebellion and helped attacking the Central Highway onboard Storm Eagle's Death Rogumer, he hardly followed any orders and did what he could best, causing havoc and fighting X. At first it seemed X was able to defeat him, but was captured between the iron fingers of Vile's Ride Armor, stating that he'll destroy him and eventually defeat Sigma as well to change the world. X was then rescued by Zero and Vile retreated. He then showed up in Sigma's fortress, having already defeated Zero like in the original game and laid him in a hallway as a bait for X, whom he captured. However, he had underestimated Zero who was able to stand up and destroy the Ride Armor, as in the original Mega Man X. After a long battle, he was destroyed by X.

However, in Maverick Hunter X's Vile Mode, an unlockable bonus mode, took a different path. Instead of joining Sigma's rebellion, Vile decided to prove to Sigma that he was better and more powerful than X. After fighting X on the Central Highway, he decided to battle against Sigma's followers to gain more power and reputation. Though all of the eight main Mavericks were rather friendly to him (and offered him to leave), he destroyed all of them and absorbed their powers in order to create new weapons. Ultimately, he infiltrated Sigma's fortress and fought his way through it until he was cornered by X and Zero. Both of them battled him at the same time, yet were defeated by him.

After defeating both of them, Vile admitted that X, whom he hated more than no one else, had grown stronger, but was still a wimp to the very end and never had the power to change the world. He was then attacked by a weakened Zero, who grounded him before he was hit by X's charged shot. When he awakened, he was accompanied by Sigma. Heavily damaged, he asked what was so important about X. Yet, instead of answering however, Sigma asked Vile why he did all this and whether he wanted to stand before him as a Maverick Hunter or kneeling before him at his mercy. Upon this question, Vile wasn't unable to comply and started laughing, stating that he wasn't actually sure about it. He was then left by Sigma (though not before radioing some of his men to "retrieve Vile"). As he walked away, Vile stated that by fighting X, he proved the right of his existence, that HE is Vile. When he tried to hold Sigma from leaving however, his functions ceased and he was left frozen in his desperate position.

Mega Man Xtreme
Vile made a small appearance in the opening stage of the game. Said level is a digitalized version of the Central Highway stage from the original Mega Man X. He serves as the boss of this stage and is again seen riding his Ride Armor. However, this version of Vile is not the actual one but merely a data record of the character that had been stored in the archives of the Maverick Hunters' Mother Computer, and as such can be damaged. In this game, he is errorously refered to as "VAVA", which is actually his original Japanese name. He was destroyed/deleted by X.

Mega Man X3
What was left of Vile after his destruction at the hands of X in the first game was salvaged from a Reploid scientist named Dr. Doppler, who was infected with the Sigma Virus and controlled by Sigma himself. Doppler created a new body for him and upgraded his weapons to be more powerful. However, the influence of the Sigma Virus around him turned him insane and the only thing he could think of was to get revenge of X who had previously killed him. Instead of assisting Doppler in creating a new body for Sigma, he left Doppler's lab on his own accord. He lured X into an abandoned factory which was set up to self-destruct and tried to hinder X from escaping by fighting him in his new Ride Armor.

In case X didn't use the Ray Splasher or Spinning Blades, Vile's weaknesses, on him, he would flee the scene. He would then reappear at Doppler's lab as one of the final bosses, riding an upgraded version of his Goliath Ride Armor. Eventually, he was destroyed by X, but not before swearing to haunt X until the day he died.

Power: 9200 rp Speed: 7200 rp

Mega Man X8
X, Axl, and Zero are sent on a mission near the Jakob Tower to investigate a unique crab-like Mechaniloid. They manage to defeat it, but are then interrupted by a hail of missiles from Vile, who has apparently been resurrected from his earlier defeat in Mega Man X3. Vile has kidnapped the Jakob Space Elevator project leader, Lumine, for unknown reasons and it becomes the Maverick Hunters' mission to rescue him. Oddly, Zero and X weren't completely shocked to see him alive (as X was with Vile MKII in X3), calling him a 'wanted' criminal as if he's been revived for quite a while. He appears as a miniboss sometimes in certain rooms in stages, rather than doing the 'puzzle' of that room. He also appears as the boss of the Jakob Elevator, but isn't destroyed. Rather, he teleports away.

In the final level, Sigma Palace, Vile reappears as a mini-boss, this time in his trademark Ride Armor. He has to be knocked off it with a Guard Break before being fought as before, preferably with his weakness, the Drift Diamond/Hyouryuushou/Ice Gatling. On Easy or Normal mode, Vile explodes upon victory, but on Hard, he comes back and attacks the reserve character, forcing the current character to go through the rest of the stage alone until the two are rejoined during the Sigma fight. It's implied that the other character destroyed Vile.

Arsenal
Vile uses a great variety of weapons hidden inside his body, but his most significant weapon is his trademark shoulder cannon, the Front Runner.

In the Maverick Hunter X remake, Vile is able to acquire 45 different weapons. These are divided into three main categories (Arm Weapons, Shoulder Weapons, and Leg Weapons), and then each are again divided into nine weapon systems, ranging from vulcans and napalms to rocket punches and flamethrowers. His standard weapons are his Front Runner, the Cherry Blast vulcan, and the Bumpity Boom napalm.

Cameo appearances

 * Vile makes two short appearances in the opening of Mega Man X5, first as Vile MK-2 fighting X, and later the original with the Ride Armor fighting against Zero.
 * Vile makes a small cameo appearance in Mega Man Zero 2 as one of the four "haunting spirits" that attacks Zero if he is grabbed by Phoenix Magnion.
 * There is a poster of Vile in Higsby's shop in the first MegaMan Battle Network game.

Other media

 * Vile appeared in Mega X, the 26th episode of the Ruby Spears Mega Man animated series. He came from the future along with Spark Mandrill to steal Lightanium from Dr. Light's newly opened Plasma Power Plant to finance Sigma's war against humanity. He's depicted as near-invincible in the cartoon, where Dr. Wily's robots and even Mega Man are no match for him (mostly because Mega Man's cannon couldn't so much as scratch him). However, he himself was no match for Mega Man X (some lines in the episode heavily implied that Vile had a grudge against him). He was voiced by Lee Tockar.
 * Vile appears in the Rockman X manga with a similar role to the games.

Trivia

 * It's a common tale amongst the Mega Man community that the character's name was changed from VAVA to Vile for the North American release of Mega Man X because Capcom was afraid of being sued by LucasFilm because of the character's resemblance to Boba Fett, a character from the Star Wars universe. This was due to Vile's resemblence to Boba Fett's Mandalorian helmet (T-visor) and because his Japanese name can also be spelled "BABA" (the letters B and V are spelled and written the same way in Japanese). On a somewhat related note, the "Vava" name was also used in Mega Man Xtreme, due to the fact that the game was rushed, and the developers forgot to change it.
 * Vile is not to be mistaken for Dr. Weil, whose name in the Japanese versions is Dr. Vile.
 * Interestingly, X can actually defeat Vile in the Ride Armour in Maverick Hunter X by jumping and shooting Vile rather than the armour.
 * When fighting him a second time in X8, Vile doesn't actually ride the Ride Armor by sitting in its cockpit like before, instead standing on top of it.