he didnt, it was just destiny, to put it bluntly. as much as Zero tried, he couldnt escape his intention after all.
It's a vital plot point that Zero is responsible for the bloodstained history and that history repeating itself. Therefor, he has to remove himself from the world. Even without Wily, his original purpose haunts him. That is his nightmare.
Wasn't Zero's purpose to surpass Forte and destroy Rockman? I thought Dr. Light created X to counter Zero.
Zero's purpose is multifaceted.
-To be the strongest robot.
-Robot Destruction Pro...
-Destroy Rockman.
-Destroy Forte.
-Destroy X.
-To prove Wily is the superior scientist, rivalry with Right.
X's creation and sealing is completely unrelated to Zero. X was designed to make robots truly happy, to make them able to determine right and wrong by themselves, the concept of worrying. Zero was initially developed to surpass all others and defeat Rockman and the annoyance Forte. Zero's initial purpose eventually changed and he was sealed away with the objective to destroy X. For the sake of rivalry, his motivation in life, Wily would dare to challenge Right's greatest. That battle is the battle of destiny that Wily has waited a century for. Nothing else, like taking over the world, matters now.
if you're not even going to be able to see it come true?
He's around to see it come true, Zero's battle with X that is. Much like Right is around to guide X.
Wily either managed to get a copy of the plans, or made them from scratch after hearing about X.
Zero and X were developed independently and separate. X's conceptual development began in Power Battle. Zero's schematics were first shown in Power Fighters. Zero is a result of Wily learning from his mistakes made with Forte and developing a new energy that surpasses Fortenium. X is the result of Rock's doubts in Power Battle.
yeah, but thats because by ZX he is technically revived. but from Z2, to pre-ZX, he counts as dead. his physical body was destroyed completely, all that remains is his soul. he can leave cyberspace due to his sheer power. once the control chip is destroyed, its considered a death. which is why technically, Zero only really died once in Z4, where he disintegrated upon atmospheric rentry.
It's pretty silly to throw around labels like living and dead in a series where people can be revived like its nothing. There's multiple types of death to take into account; destruction of the body, separation of the soul from the brain chip and merging with the abyss. Also matters of self revival are important.
Unless one's soul is merged with the metaphorical abyss, then one is essentially living in cyberspace or even as a wave-lifeform. It is what is commonly called a ghost or a disembodied soul, a Cyber Elf. A state of being both alive and dead at the same time. Cases like that exist with Sigma, Elpis Wily, X, Phantom, Girouette, Digg and that guy from Shooting Star Rockman. We also presume Zero and the others of the Big4 can become Cyber Elves like that. It seems one needs a strong will/obsession to remain alive, be special or attain external help. Everybody else just passes on and merges with the abyss. Though, their souls can still be returned from even that state of being, so no type of death in Rockman is permanent.
They probably kept his expiration date on hold, because the world needed a savior if Wily ever attacks again. But in the end, Mega (Along with other robots) were put into a Robot Musem, for great honor to him when Wily "vanished" so he can begin building Zero, thus removing him from the mind of the public years later. (being in textbooks, perhaps) Light made a copy of his mind (As your point), just in case they needed a savior for the next few centuries. Rock's old data, however, was constantly put on replay on his "holy actions".
Rock's fate is completely unknown, but the expiration date and robot museum story is completely far fatched. Without Wily, Rockman would retire and become Rock again until Rockman is again needed. He could become Quint, but he could also leave this planet, there are a lot of options.
Now fast-foward to the X series. Zero was discovered before X (Sigma was there during an escort, meaning that Zero was intentionally the base for some police reploids, as now dubbed. however, during that clash, he went mad, but however, during a scene of MHX, He was probably told to do so by the reploid creator, being Dr Cain himself. however, during that final battle in X8, Axl was belived to be "dead" until his revival in ZXA.
Zero was awakened in 21XX in Wily's lab, because he was disturbed by Repliroids, presumably Garma's unit, which he subsequently slaughtered. Sometime later, in the abandoned warehouse/Rocky Mountain storehouse, he was cornered by Hunters and fought with Sigma. Zero got a headache and got beaten by Sigma. When Zero awoke, he mysteriously woke up without irregularities. Due to that incident, the Sigma Virus transferred from Zero to Sigma. Sigma merged with the Virus, the evil Virus' hold on him was complete after several months, and Sigma of his own free will started rebellion.
Axl did not die in X8, he's taken damage but he's fine. He thus reappears in XCM.
Axl and Model A's relation is theoretical, but not disproven.
What happened was that Zero was created first.
What happened is that the order of creation between X and Zero is unknown. X's concept began before Zero was shown to Forte, but we can't tell when Zero's concept began in relation to X's. Also, Zero was sealed away because X was sealed away. We don't know which project first began, but X was completed first. As a matter of fact, Zero's "completion" isn't technically until X2.
they appeared to be based from old army robots, plus they weren't as light and multifunctional as most Reploids.
Repliroids look odd in X4 cutscenes, but the robots were definitely Repliroids. They weren't light-hearted, thematic or mono-eyed enough to be classic robots.
REPLOID means Replicated Android. I.O.W., replicated off of X.
The term Repliroid has no official meaning such as that. Such is mere fanon. The multiple definitions of Repliroid revolve around the core fact that Repliroid mental functions are designed to be as close to humans as possible, not around being replicated of X. It is simply that the X lies at the root that allows near human mental abilities. Really, the only Repliroid that truly follows the definition of based on X and having ability that surpasses all previous robots... is Sigma, simply because he's the first. That definition becomes highly questionable later, so the human mental capabilities definition is the preferred definition for Repliroids in general.