Christoph Nord (Earth-616)

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 his brother.

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.

In recent years, 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.

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.

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.

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. 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 and Maverick came to form a sibling-like bond with another Virus sufferer, Bolt (Chris Bradley).

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.

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.

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. 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.

Agent Zero

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.

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.

Zero lost his powers during M-Day. 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.

Recentlly Maverick stole Weapon X files and sold theam on the black market. In an effort to cover up his involvement in Kick-starting the Strikeforce X program from Wolverine, he Killed the man whom he sold the files to.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Currently:
Nord currently possesses no superhuman abilities. Like most of Earth's mutant population, he lost his powers as a result of the aftermath of M-Day.

Original Powers:
Kinetic Absorption: Nord's primary mutant power was the ability to absorb the energy caused by a kinetic impact. While this power did have limits, Nord could survive a 10 story fall, powerful blasts of energy, and being struck with superhuman force without being injured.

Regenerative Healing Factor: Upon joining the Weapon X Program, Nord was artificially granted a slight healing factor by the program similar to the ones possessed by Wolverine and Sabretooth, though far inferior to theirs. As a result, he could fully heal from mild to moderate injuries faster and more extensively than a normal human. This healing factor also made him highly resistant, if not immune, to most diseases and toxins. It also greatly suppressed Nord's natural aging process, causing him to age much slower. However, after contracting the Legacy Virus, Nord burned out his artificial healing factor and his power to absorb the energy of kinetic impact was reduced considerably.

Further Mutation:
Kinetic Absorption and Energy Control: After the Legacy Virus went into remission, Nord's kinetic absorption power mutated to greater limits and the energy he absorbed had to be channeled into powerful blasts of concussive force or heat. He could also purposely channel the energy to increase the force of his physical blows. After absorbing his peak level of energy, Nord's punches and kicks were 10 times stronger than normal. It isn't known if Nord could channel the energy for the purpose of lifting great amounts of weight.

Agent Zero:
Anti-Healing Factor Corrosive Blasts: After Nord was forced to join the latest incarnation of the Weapon X Program, he underwent a procedure that altered his kinetic absorption ability. After absorbing the energy of kinetic impacts, Nord could now channel the energy into blasts of corrosive energy due to an acidic enzyme that was secreted from the tips of his fingers. This enzyme was specifically designed by the Weapon X Program that, aside from it's naturally acidic properties, could counter act an enemy's accelerated healing capabilities. The process of self-healing was actually reversed so that the more an opponent's body tried to heal injuries inflicted by the enzyme, the worse the injuries became. Nord also retained his ability to channel the energy for the purpose of increasing the strength of his physical blows.

Scent Suppression: Due to the procedures he underwent at the hands of the Weapon X Program, all discernible scent was removed from Nord's body.

Abilities

Even without his mutant powers, Zero is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, a precision marksman, and an expert in covert operations and demolitions. He also has vast experience with computers and communications equipment.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

As Maverick, Agent Zero wore a suit of body armor that contained airtight seals and a mask containing a limited oxygen supply.

Just prior to losing his powers, he wore a Vibranium-weave body armor that rendered him him completely silent as he moved. The armor also refracted light, which in total darkness rendered him nearly invisible to conventional methods of detection.

Weapons

When last seen, he had no weaponry. Prior to being depowered, Agent Zero carried a wide array of weapons:

Wrist-mounted plasma blasters
pistols with Adamantium ammunition
Adamantium-coated knife
Sniper rifle loaded with "Anti-Metal" ammunition

Notes

Despite the fact that Maverick's Identity is secret, it is known to certain officials in U.S., Canadian and German governments.

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Christoph Nord (Earth-616)

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