Who the Clix? Agent Zero

Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.

For the full Who The Clix? archive, click here. To support us on Patreon, click here.

Appearances in Heroclix: Mutations and Monsters (as Maverick), Deadpool
First Appearance: X-Men (vol. 2) #5
Team Affiliations: Cell Six, CIA, Weapon X, Team X
Created By: Jim Lee

Christoph Nord used his mutant power to absorb and redirect kinetic energy to fight against communism during the Cold War, joining a West German black ops unit named Cell Six. He was injured on a mission and met an Italian nurse that he fell in love with and married. For the next three years after their marriage, Cell Six’s field agents were killed one by one except for Nord. This led Christoph to realize that his new wife was a spy. He confronted her and demanded to know her employer. She refused and lunged at him, causing him to instinctively shoot her and kill their unborn child (which she revealed with her dying breath). Nord was incredibly untrusting since.

Nord continued working with Cell Six and became so successful that he was recruited by the CIA into Team X. Upon accepting the invitation, Christoph changed his name to David North and began wearing his signature yellow and black faceplate. North’s squad was made up of Logan, Victor Creed and John Wraith. North, Logan, and Creed were typically field operatives with Wraith acting as intelligence and extraction. North was given a modified version of Logan’s healing factor during this time. During one of these missions, North chose to disobey protocol and drag an injured Logan and Creed to their extraction point. While waiting for extraction, North confronted his brother, an opposing assassin. With no other options, North had to kill his own brother; it is because of this event that Logan is incredibly loyal to North.

Team X also confronted Omega Red before eventually disbanding and being captured by Weapon X. Logan was the first to be experimented on and went through the infamous adamantium bonding process, which led to massive damage to the compound, allowing the others to escape. Though glad to be freed, North found he had lost his powers. Undaunted, he began work as a mercenary using the name Maverick.

During his tenure as a mercenary, Maverick helped rescue the X-Men from Omega Red, locating the carbonadium synthesizer that was thought lost during an old Team X mission that Wolverine and Maverick had taken part in. He also ended up helping the X-Men fight Sabretooth, Fenris and Matsu’o Tsurayaba. During this time he also seems to kill Dr. Cornelius.

Maverick is also sent to acquire the Xavier Files, a collection of profiles on various mutants put together by Xavier. The files seem to be destroyed during this mission. Maverick became integral to capturing Sabretooth for the X-Men, which was followed by Xavier’s failed rehabilitation of the psychotic mutant.

Maverick became one of the victims of the Legacy Virus. This mutant specific disease miraculously brought a return of his powers but incredible fatigue and scarring all over his body. After a period of depression and attempts to end his life, North decided to push on and used his considerable savings to try and find treatment. During this time, North and Deadpool were both targeted by a group trying to create a cure for the Legacy Virus from Wolverine’s healing factor. North and Deadpool were sought because they had both received their healing factor from Wolverine’s DNA and it was hoped this would be good enough.

Maverick was later tracked down by telepathic former KGB agent Elena Ivanova who hoped to track down Sabretooth. Instead, they were attacked by Omega Red and escaped. This led to Ivanova traveling with Maverick, feeling that she owed him a debt. She was with North when the Legacy Virus finally killed him. Ivanova was able to bring him back to life, only for them to discover that the Legacy Virus had gone into remission and all his scars were healed. As well, his powers remained, at times being stronger than before.

Eventually, the Weapon X project was resurrected and managed to bring Sabretooth and Wraith into its service. Next, the project set its sights on Maverick. Wraith was sent to recruit Maverick and when North refused, Sabretooth ambushed him and severly injured him before bringing him back to Weapon X. Once there, Malcolm Concord offered Maverick a second lease on life if he would join them. North accepted and was enhanced with a stronger healing factor, the removal of his scent, a healing factor inhibiting corrosive blast power, a vibranium suit that muffles all sound and an arsenal of advanced weaponry. North dyed his hair brown and took the identity of Agent Zero.

North was one of the many mutants to lose his powers on M-Day.