Doctor Albert W. Wily, (Ｄｒ．アルバート・Ｗ・ワイリー Dokutā Arubāto W Wairī), known simply as Dr. Wily, is the primary antagonist of the original Mega Man series, appearing in almost all games, and a major (though unseen) antagonist in the Mega Man X series. He is a human scientist and both primary rival to Doctor Thomas Light and arch-nemesis to Mega Man. He aspires to conquer the world with his robot army lead by his Robot Masters, though he is always defeated by Mega Man. A brilliant scientist, Wily showed a passion in pushing the future of technology and robotics no matter what the cost to the robot, a trait that he held throughout his entire life. He has a PhD in Electronic Engineering from the Robert University of Technology, and is a five consecutive year runner-up of the LIT Manual Design Contest, and has won the silver prize at the World Technology Award and was a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Physics. Wily is shown to be hot-headed, prideful, and resentful, even as a student. These traits eventually evolved into pure hatred and evil, driving him in his bid for world domination and in his fight against Dr. Light. Using various machines and Robot Masters to fight his nemesis Mega Man, he often begged insincerely for mercy after being defeated by him before escaping to avoid being taken to prison.
In their youth, he and Thomas Light used to be good friends, but his Double Gear System was passed over in favor of Light's research into sentient thought in robots (which Wily passed off as "empty optimism") due to how dangerous Wily's Double Gear system could be to a robot's internal systems as well as to others if misused; according to Dr. Light he went as far as to advocate against Wily's research. Conversely, Light believed that his own research into giving robots independent thought would let them become "true partners to humankind", whereas Wily continued to believe that robots, free-thinking or not, would "never be more than tools" unless they had "the power to outdo humans" and become, in his words, heroes. However, Light's efforts were successful in stymieing Wily's research, and Wily grew resentful of his former colleague and friend, and became a bitter rival to him. Wily eventually begins scheming to take over the world by creating, reprogramming, and infecting dozens of robots to help him, and though these schemes were stopped time and time again by Mega Man, this did not stop him from trying and being recorded in history as a legendary mad scientist. Wily's rivalry with Light would continue even into the next century well after his death, as he even appears consciously active in the Mega Man X series through the use of the Maverick Virus and robotic bodies. In Mega Man X4, Wily tells Zero [1] that his rivalry with his nemesis (presumably Dr. Light and/or Mega Man) is what gives him motivation in life. It might be assumed that as time passed, Wily became more interested in having Zero defeat X to prove that his last creation is superior to the one created by his rival rather than conquering the world.
As diabolical as he may be, Wily has exhibited rare moments of decency and goodness in his character. In Super Adventure Rockman, Wily shows concern for Mega Man when he uses two Mega Busters to win a battle despite possibly expending all of his power. He also tells Ra Moon that he loves his creations.[2] In Mega Man 10, he leaves enough medicine to cure the Roboenza virus, presumably out of gratitude that Mega Man saved his life. In Mega Man 11, it was also revealed that one of his earliest motives for acting as a robotics scientist was ultimately a desire to do good, and that his Double Gear System proposition was largely an attempt to allow even robots to be heroes, but the sting of rejection by Dr. Light as well as the scientific community led to him becoming very bitter and more extreme in his thinking, which ultimately made him a fairly tragic character. In addition, despite Wily's hatred for Dr. Light, he does not wish to injure him, never attempting to cause harm despite having the opportunity, like capturing him in Mega Man 5 and having Bass only steal his plans in Mega Man 7.
In all, Wily is a dynamic character. Though he is usually shown as seemingly pure evil, even he is not without a few reputable traits. Prior to the first Mega Man, before his descent towards insanity, Wily was shown to be an ordinary and diligent, yet petty, scientist. Even though he is rarely depicted in the games prior to his turn towards evil, in most media in which this period of his life is depicted Dr. Wily is shown to have been genuinely helpful to Dr. Light, though he still harbored a tinge of jealousy towards his former friend and colleague.
