Maverick is one of the most underrated X-Men characters, despite the fact that he's mostly ed as just a teammate of Wolverine's. One of the long-standing elements of Wolverine's origins is his participation in Team X. The team's black ops missions took Wolverine all over the world, fighting alongside (and sometimes fighting against) his bloodthirsty nemesis/co-worker Sabertooth. But there was a third member of the team - the mutant known as Maverick - who remains one of the most underrated characters in the entire X-Men universe.
Maverick, AKA David North, first appeared in X-Men #5 in February of 1992. The character was known for his distinctive yellow-and-black costume as well as his ability to absorb kinetic energy. Wolverine recently said, "There was a time you could take a bullet, swallow up its kinetic energy, throw a punch that had the bite of a .357." Maverick was introduced as the third member of the Team X trio and often proved to be the balance between Wolverine's reluctant altruism and Sabertooth's vicious impulsiveness.
After Team X disbanded, Maverick began to take mercenary work, and his most recent appearance in Benjamin Percy and Adam Kurbert's run on Wolverine shows he hasn't left the game yet. He's also fallen victim to quite a lot of bad luck over the years. He was infected with the terminal Legacy Virus and later lost his powers after the events of M-Day. He was also extorted into working again for Weapon X for a time. Beyond that, things have been pretty quiet for Maverick - until his latest appearance in Wolverine suggests the mercenary will be back to kicking up trouble for both friend and foe alike.
True to his name, Maverick is an unknown quantity, which makes his character both compelling and unpredictable. While the personalities of Wolverine and Sabertooth are well-known to readers, Maverick can be something of a blank slate. He's proven capable of selfless actions - such as mentoring Chris Bradley, a young mutant suffering from the Legacy Virus. But he's also equally indulgent in more selfish goals, like acquiring and selling information on the black market and then killing to keep it a secret. In many ways, Maverick is a classic anti-hero - a warrior with selfish motivations and (somewhat) altruistic ends.
Ultimately, Maverick exists in the moral gray area, something Benjamin Percy and Adam Kubert nail in the character's most recent appearance. He is someone who will fight, bleed, and even die for comrades like Wolverine in the trenches, but the causes he fights for are often extremely fluid, and anyone depending on his loyalty could be making a fatal mistake. The character fits perfectly into an era of pop culture dominated by anti-heroes in properties like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. As the mutant nation of Krakoa continues down a violent path, Maverick's skills and unpredictable morality will hopefully be in more demand than ever. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing for the X-Men remains to be seen.
