Remembering Richard Moll and the Mega Man Connection That Never Existed

Some sad news today, as it’s been reported that Richard Moll, known for his roles as Bull on Night Court and Two-Face in Batman: The Animated Series, has passed away at the age of 80.

“But why are you writing about it here?” you may be wondering. “Richard Moll never had anything to do with Mega Man, did he?”

Well, in a way he didn’t… but in a way, he also did, at least to me.

I’ve been a fan of Mega Man for a long time. I’ve seen a lot of things that have happened, and I’ve also seen a lot of things that haven’t. This is one of the latter.

A long time ago, around 1995 or so (give or take), I began to go online for the first time. Netscape was the browser of choice, and my school library’s home page was set to Webcrawler as its search engine, though this “Yahoo!” thing seemed to be picking up steam at the time. Naturally, I was keen to seek out whatever I could find that related to my interests at the time: Sonic the Hedgehog, wrestling, and of course, Mega Man.

Then, just as now, there were rumors. Some were true, and others were complete fabrications. Actually verifying things back then was a lot harder, too. And if I’m being perfectly honest, I was maybe a little naive at the time. All the buzz about the internet prior to my use of it was about how it would bring this vast wealth of knowledge right to your fingertips, and connect people like never before. All true, especially over time, but what they didn’t tell you about was how you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. That would come a little later.

This brings us to one Mega Man website I seem to recall from one of my earliest ventures out into “the web”. There, a news item stated that Fox was working on a live-action TV show, possibly for prime time, called “Maverick Hunters X and Zero.” Well, they got the title over half right, at least for one Capcom would eventually use about a decade later.

There wasn’t a whole lot of other information about the show (naturally), but it did say that Richard Moll would be playing the part of Sigma.

At over six and a half feet tall (to say nothing of being well known at the time for his bald look), it seemed like you couldn’t cast a more perfect person for the role of the former Maverick Hunter leader to me. What do you think?

Image via Court is Now in Session on Tumblr.

Of course, as we know now, this rumor (though in all honesty, I’m not even sure if it had enough traction to even be classified as a proper “rumor”) would not come to be true. Nevertheless, as one of my earliest memories related to Mega Man on the internet, it’s been seared into my mind for all time, and it’s always come to mind whenever I’d see him or hear his name mentioned. It’s funny that it would have such a strong association to me, when the man himself had probably never even heard about it.

I always planned to share this anecdote here one day. I just wish I’d been able to do so under happier circumstances. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed this brief look back at a memory of mine.

Rest in Peace, Richard.

Thanks for reading.

LBD "Nytetrayn"

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

For a full list of places to find him online, click here.