Agent Zero

David North (birth name Christopher Nord) is a mutant comic book character in the fictional Marvel Universe. He is known as both Maverick and Agent Zero. North first appeared in X-Men (vol. 2) #5 and was created by Jim Lee.

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Cell Six

Christopher Nord was born in East Germany. His early history is clouded in mystery, though there are whispers that his parents were scientists for the Nazi regime. He also had an older brother, Andreas. An idealist, he fought against the communist regime during the height of the Cold War, joining a West German black ops unit named Cell Six. On a mission in Italy, he was injured by a rival assassin codenamed the Confessor. While infirmed, he met a Russian nurse, Ginetta Lucia Barsalini, that he fell in love with and married. She was revealed to be a spy, as one by one, Cell Six's missions failed and all of their agents, save Nord, were killed. Nord threatened to shoot her unless she told him who she was working for, but she baited him; saying he didn't have to guts to shoot a defenseless woman in cold blood. Grabbing a knife, she attacked him with it, causing him to shoot her in self defense. Dying, she revealed to him that in killing her, he had killed their unborn child as well. Long after this incident, Nord continues to be wracked with guilt about the betrayal and still seeks answers as to whom Barsalini was working for.

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Weapon X

Nord, fueled by the betrayal, became one of the most efficient covert operatives in Germany. His exploits caught the attention of the CIA, who asked him to join the cladestine Weapon X project. He agreed, and at this time, changed his name to David North. North's immediate team was unofficially referred to as Team X. It consisted of three field agents: North, Logan (who later became Wolverine,) and Victor Creed (who later became Sabretooth). John Wraith, a mysterious mutant with teleportation powers, was the team's intel man and extractor. During this time, an aging suppressant, culled from Logan's healing factor, was grafted to North's DNA. Due to this, his true age is not known. The team handled several missions of dire importance, with dynamic results. On a mission in East Germany, both Creed and Logan were badly injured and had to be dragged by North to the extraction point. Suddenly cornered by Andreas Nord, now an assassin, North saved his teammates the only way he could; killing his own brother in cold blood. Because of this incident, Logan holds North in very high regard. During or slightly after this period, North inexplicably lost his kinetic absorption powers. Team X was disbanded after a failed mission formed a rift between Creed and Logan. The entire Weapon X program was disassembled in the aftermath of the adamantium bonding experiment on Logan. All of Team X went their separate ways. North eventually quit the CIA, picked up the trade name Maverick, and stayed in the world of covert operations as a mercenary.

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A Hired Gun

Years passed and Maverick took on various jobs as a mercenary, developing a reputation as one of the best hired guns available. He often worked for retired Major Arthur Barrington, the man who had brought Nord into the CIA. One mission saw Omega Red capture Maverick's former teammate Wolverine as well as several of the X-Men in an attempt to discover the carbonadium synthesizer's location from Wolverine. Maverick was sent by Barrington to prevent Omega Red from obtaining the device and Maverick tracked Sabretooth to Omega Red's location. With the X-Men's help, he obtained the device from Wolverine, and hid it once again.

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Soon after, Barrington sent him to acquire the Xavier Files, profiles of various mutants, their powers and weaknesses, compiled by the X-Men's founder himself. Maverick was later hired by the US Government to protect Aldo Ferro, a former Weapon X ally. Former Team X alumni sought Ferro out after one of their number 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. Maverick sided with his former teammates against Ferro, who was seemingly killed in the subsequent battle.

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Maverick next sought to kill Sabretooth to make him pay for his numerous crimes. He would, however, join forces with the X-Men in merely capturing him, in what would be a failed attempt by Charles Xavier to rehabilitate the serial killer.

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Legacy Virus

Maverick swiftly contracted the Legacy Virus, a disease akin to AIDS, that only affected mutants. This development brought about the random return of his powers, but also a loss of energy and horrible scarring all over his body. At first, he tried to convince Wolverine to kill him, but Wolverine would not, and Maverick decided to make the best of it, and "fight the good fight." He befriended a teenager, Chris Bradley, who also had the disease, and helped him and his family run from a bigot group. North then treked the world, and in Canada, a telepathic mutant, Elena Ivanova, found him, demanding he help her find Sabretooth, who had killed her parents. Before he could answer her demand, they were attacked by Omega Red, who tracked Ivanova to Maverick, in hopes of recovering the carbonadium synthesizer. With the help of John Wraith, they succeeded in keeping the device away from the villian. After saving her, Ivanova felt that she owed Maverick, and she stuck by his side, despite Maverick's icy demeanor. They worked together for a time. Then, Legacy Virus took hold, killing North. Ivanova used her powers to resucitate North, bringing him back from the dead. To his surprise, the virus went into remission and his powers not only returned, but were enhanced. He could release the energy stored in his body as beams of concussive force or use the energy to increase the strength of his physical attacks tenfold. Trouble soon found them, in the form of Ivan Pushkin, a Russian mob boss, who kidnapped them both and used Ivanova's powers to brainwash Maverick into killing his ally, Major Barrington. They eventually broke free of his control. Ivanova then left Maverick to continue her vendetta. Maverick harshly warned that an assault against Sabretooth was a fool's errand, and Maverick was correct, as Ivanova was seriously injured. Maverick then continued on his adventures, trying gamely, but wthout success, to settle the score with Pushkin and the Confessor.

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Agent Zero

The Weapon X project was soon rebuilt, and having brought Sabretooth and Wraith back into the fold, they were sent to recruit Maverick. Wraith lured an unwitting Maverick into a rendevous. Maverick refused to join, and a battle ensued. Wraith was killed, and Maverick was thrown off the roof of a 20 story building onto a car parked on the street below by Sabretooth.

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Near death, Weapon X again offered him the chance to join, as they could still save him. This time, he reluctantly agreed. He tried to rationalize it to himself, saying he couldn't "fight the good fight" as a corpse. Weapon X further upgraded him. He now has no scent, wears a vibranium suit that absorbs sound, possesses an enhanced actor/">healing factor, and a corrosive was added to his concussive blasts that renders a foes' healing factor useless. In addition, he was equipped with a wide array of weapons, from wrist-mounted plasma blasters, to pistols that fire bullets made from the near-unbreakable metal adamantium, and an adamantium-coated knife. For all the world knew, Maverick was dead, a victim of Sabretooth's. Nord sought to keep it that way, adopting a new alias, Agent Zero. As the agency's most potent weapon, he was used on their most dangerous assignments. The agency tried to break his will by sending him to kill his friend and former teammate Wolverine, a mission he purposely botched. Feeling guilty for joining the enemy, he contemplated suicide almost daily. His hatred for his teammate Sabretooth still ran deep, as he tried yet again to kill him, only to be stopped from dealing a fatal blow by the director of the new Weapon X program.

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During a mission, he encountered a new Maverick, who unbeknownst to Zero, was the same mutant he'd befriended years earlier, Chris Bradley. Bradley had infiltrated a mutant terrorist group called Gene Nation in an effort to destroy them from inside. Bradley had wanted revenge on Weapon X for 'killing' North, and to that end trained in black ops and picked up the Maverick mantle. Zero believing this new Maverick was a terrorist, shot and killed him, only to find the truth as Bradley lay dying. Returning to the base after this occured, Zero found Weapon X had disappeared without a trace. Maverick then picked up Bradley's fight, attacking Gene Nation strongholds across the world and also searched for answers as to what happened to the program.

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It was revealed the reason that Zero doesn't know what happened to Weapon X was because he was being brainwashed by a fellow Weapon X member under orders from the Director, as Zero had become increasingly harder to control. Zero had gone after Gene Nation because Weapon X wanted him to. And without realizing it, Zero served as executioner at Neverland, a mutant concentration camp set up by Weapon X. But just as soon as Weapon X bothered to reveal these truths, they put him under again, and Zero goes on, none the wiser.

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