Albert Wesker

Albert Wesker is a character in Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by the Japanese company Capcom. He was first introduced in the original Resident Evil (1996) as the captain of the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) unit of the Raccoon Police Department. Wesker has been one of the series' main antagonists as a member of the pharmaceutical conglomerate Umbrella Corporation, the primary antagonistic faction, manipulating story events behind the scenes. To further his own plans, Wesker betrays his allies, fakes his death, gains superhuman abilities, and works with both Umbrella's mysterious rival company and their successors in the field of biological weapons development until his ultimate defeat by Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar in Resident Evil 5 (2009).

Wesker appears in several Resident Evil games, novelizations, and films and has also appeared in other game franchises, including Marvel vs. Capcom, Teppen, and Dead by Daylight. In his first appearance, Wesker was voiced by Pablo Kuntz, while D. C. Douglas voiced the character across most of his other appearances; in Japanese dubbings, Jouji Nakata has consistently voiced the character across all of his video game appearances. Several actors have portrayed Wesker, including Jason O'Mara, Shawn Roberts, Tom Hopper, and Lance Reddick, in the live-action Resident Evil films and television series.

Wesker was conceptualized by writer Kenichi Iwao, who envisioned Wesker as an arrogant, intelligent, and unsympathetic character. Wesker is presented as a virologist focused on advancing human evolution and later becomes a bio-terrorist obsessed with eradicating humanity. He possesses superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and regeneration, and he mutates into a more powerful form in Resident Evil 5. Wesker has received mostly positive reviews from video game publications, with critics praising him for being one of the most memorable video game villains, particularly his death, but critiquing him for appearing as a one-dimensional and stereotypical villain.

Concept and design
Albert Wesker is an American of Caucasian descent. He was created by director Shinji Mikami and designer Isao Ohishi. The main characters were originally intended to be cyborg police officers, until writer Kenichi Iwao discarded the idea and completely redesigned the characters and the game's backstory. He envisioned Wesker as a former special forces member who possessed exceptional intelligence and physical prowess, with a cold demeanor that matched his egotistical mindset. His co-workers suggested making the character a traitor who betrays the protagonist. The game's designers ultimately developed Wesker into the commander of the protagonists' elite police task force, who is secretly employed as a virologist for the Umbrella Corporation. His drive to develop viral agents and engineer the ultimate lifeform is a central plotline in the Resident Evil series. Wesker is depicted as a white male with blonde hair in the video games and movies. Designer Jun Takeuchi helped create Wesker's in-game character model in the first Resident Evil. He suggested giving Wesker a pair of black sunglasses to help differentiate him from the other characters, which became a staple of his appearance throughout the series.

During the finale of Resident Evil 5, Wesker sheds his human appearance when he infects himself with the Uroboros virus, a volatile and mutagenic viral agent. The Uroboros virus grants him more strength while also transforming his arms into tentacles that allow him to absorb and wield metallic objects as weapons. The early concept sketches of his Uroboros mutation differed significantly from the final version. In the initial design, his combat style would have relied solely on his mental powers to manipulate Uroboros. This concept was shaped by the one-on-one battle between Wesker and Chris Redfield, without a co-op partner. However, with the addition of Sheva Alomar as a co-op partner, adjustments were made to bolster Wesker's abilities and provide him with additional makeshift weaponry for the final boss battle. Following Wesker's demise, producer Masachika Kawata stated that there was no possibility of the character returning.

Voice-over and live-action actors
Wesker was originally voiced by Pablo Kuntz, who said that Capcom's staff gave him limited direction and that he did not fully understand the game's plot at the time of recording. He later reflected on his performance, stating: "I know the acting was slightly over-the-top, but you know, the more we played RE1, the more the voices seemed to harmonize with everything the gameplay offered". He was also surprised at the character's popularity among fans, commenting that it was "a wonderful experience" to voice him.

Peter Jessop voiced the character in the 2002 remake of Resident Evil and a recreational arcade game released solely in Japan. Wesker was next voiced by Richard Waugh in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica. His performance of Wesker was influenced by George Sanders, particularly his role as Shere Khan in The Jungle Book. He wanted to give the character a "precise and inhuman" speech pattern by speaking with a "military-type" tone and never using contractions. He reprised his role in Wesker's Report, a fictional documentary detailing Wesker's backstory, as well as Resident Evil Zero and Resident Evil 4. He also provided voice recordings in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, but they were replaced by D. C. Douglas's recordings before launch.

Douglas then voiced Wesker in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster, Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Umbrella Corps, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. He described his inspiration for Wesker's voice as "an amalgamation of Peter Jessop, Richard Waugh, and the spirit of an irritated David Bowie". He was instructed by Capcom's staff to keep his performance for Wesker in Resident Evil 5 closer to the character's previous voice actors, but he also "unleash[ed] his rage and animalistic side, letting it over power his coolness" as Wesker mutated during the course of the game.

Ken Lally provided a motion capture for Wesker in Resident Evil 5. In the 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4, he was voiced and motion captured by Craig Burnatowski. Eric Pirius portrayed Wesker in the Resident Evil live-action cutscenes. In Resident Evil: Extinction, Jason O'Mara portrayed Wesker, and Shawn Roberts portrayed him in Resident Evil: Afterlife, Resident Evil: Retribution, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. Tom Hopper portrayed Wesker in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. In contrast to other video game and film characterizations of Wesker, he portrayed Wesker as a sympathetic character with a friendly demeanor who begrudgingly followed orders from the Umbrella Corporation to betray his compatriots. He explained that the filmmakers did not want Wesker "to be a stereotypical villain, we wanted him to be likable. We're seeing who he really is underneath the sunglasses."

In the 2022 Resident Evil Netflix series, Lance Reddick portrayed the character; he was the first person of color to do so. The series' showrunners did not want to limit themselves to actors who resembled Wesker's in-game appearance; showrunner Andrew Dabb stated that "you're making the show weaker by going with someone that may be more aesthetically a match to the game." Reddick did not know that the character was from a video game series, stating: "When I was doing it, I didn't think of having to play an already established iconic character, I just kept trying to bring what was on the page to life". He further said, "This Wesker, although very very much based on the Wesker in the games, isn't exactly him".

In the Resident Evil series
Every game in the series is set in the fictional American metropolitan area of Raccoon City until its destruction at the end of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Wesker's presence was initially limited to cutscenes in the main Resident Evil games, where he manipulates the series' events from the background. He leverages his genius-level intellect to engineer mutagenic viruses to forcefully advance human evolution. Wesker's backstory was largely left undeveloped until the release of The Wesker Report, a fictional documentary that details his virology research and role within the Umbrella Corporation. Resident Evil 5 reveals the Umbrella Corporation raised Wesker as part of a eugenics program, which offers him the best education but also indoctrinates him into developing misanthropic views and a superiority complex.

Wesker debuted in the original Resident Evil (1996), where he is the captain of the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.), a special forces police unit in Raccoon City. He initially helps the player by providing supplies and useful information. However, the protagonists learn Wesker is secretly working with the Umbrella Corporation to develop mutagenic viruses and bio-organic weapons (BOWs). Wesker is seemingly killed after releasing his latest BOW, the Tyrant, which unexpectedly impales him during the game's finale.

He returned to the franchise after a two-game hiatus in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica (2000) as the game's secondary antagonist. He survives his apparent death due to an experimental virus that not only resurrected him after suffering grievous injuries but also endowed him with enhanced strength, speed, and agility. Wesker, now working for an unnamed rival to the Umbrella Corporation, conducts a raid on a secret research facility in Antarctica. He is defeated by Chris Redfield, who arrives at the facility while searching for his missing sister, Claire. Wesker makes a cameo appearance in Resident Evil 4 (2005), where he is revealed to be working with Ada Wong to obtain a specimen sample for further BOW research.

He is the central antagonist in Resident Evil 5 (2009), where he conspires to release the Uroboros virus across the world and trigger an extinction event. He appears in-game as a nigh-invincible boss during the game's penultimate battle, in which he effortlessly dodges and parries most of the player's attacks. Chris and his partner Sheva ultimately halt his plans and kill Wesker in an active volcano at the end of the game. Despite his demise, his plans continue to drive the plot of the series, as his viral and BOW research causes many of the disasters and outbreaks in the subsequent games. The producer of the series has acknowledged that Wesker is indeed dead in the mainline video games.

Other appearances
Wesker appears in several of the Resident Evil live-action film series. His character was adapted for the 2007 live-action film Resident Evil: Extinction. This version of Wesker is the head of the Umbrella Corporation, unlike Wesker's role in the games as a renegade high-ranking Umbrella researcher. He runs Umbrella's operations from behind the scenes, holding meetings via hologram with his underground board of directors in Tokyo. Originally, Wesker's character was not intended to be in the film, with his role and lines in the script being given to Commander Okamoto. He reappears in 2010's Resident Evil: Afterlife as the main antagonist of the film. He later appears in Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) as a defector from Umbrella, who sends Ada to rescue Alice from an underground Russian Umbrella outpost run by the Red Queen, who has taken over the rest of Umbrella. Wesker returns in the sixth film, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016), where he betrays Alice. She then tracks him down to the Hive and kills him. His death triggers a dead man's switch, which destroys the Hive and everyone within, including Alicia Marcus, the Umbrella High Command, and thousands of others held in stasis. In the reboot film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), he is portrayed as a more sympathetic police officer for the Raccoon Police Department and serves as a secondary antagonist. Notwithstanding his appearance in the Resident Evil Netflix series (2022), which delves into his backstory and personal experiments with human cloning.

Wesker is a playable character in several non-canonical Resident Evil games. He features in numerous Resident Evil mobile games. He appears in two games in the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise and in the asymmetrical survival horror game Dead by Daylight (2016). He also makes a cameo appearance as an unlockable alternate skin in Lost Planet 2 (2010), Street Fighter V (2016) for Urien as an alternate skin, as a spirit in the Nintendo crossover video game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018), and in the digital collectible card game Teppen (2019).

Wesker features in novelizations of the first game and Code: Veronica. In the former, titled The Umbrella Conspiracy, Wesker is attacked by multiple Chimeras and fatally wounded; he manages to awaken the Tyrant, which kills him. Several comic books based on the games were released, and he is a character in Bandai's Resident Evil Deck Building Card Game (2011). Merchandise featuring Wesker includes action figures and gun replicas.

Reception
Game publications have described Wesker as one of the best and most memorable villains in video game history. In 2013, Guinness World Records named Wesker among the 50 greatest video game villains of all time. Kazuma Hashimoto of Polygon noted that the character's light skin and blonde hair design evoke the aesthetic of the Nazi ideal of Übermensch, reflecting the series' "core" theme of eugenics. She noted that Wesker's monologue in Resident Evil 5 fully illustrated the visual metaphor and stand-in Wesker embodies, drawing on standard social Darwinist talking points from Friedrich Nietzsche's Übermensch theory. Together with other themes from the series, Wesker's monologue creates a sense of terror that transcends the visual into something genuinely unsettling and intensely political. Kat Bailey of VG247 stated that Wesker is the perfect horror game villain. She said, "With his trenchcoat and omnipresent sunglasses hiding red, reptilian eyes, Wesker is the overarching antagonist through much of the series". Ryan Davis of GameSpot said that the voice acting of Wesker "is a better fit", and he is entertaining while serving as the narrator of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. Jesse Schedeen of IGN discussed his appearances across the franchise and also said that "even if the games start over from square one, we highly doubt Wesker will be left out of the party. After all, the best bad guys are the ones that wear shades." Rich Stanton of Eurogamer said that "Chris and Wesker's final showdown is both a terrible boss fight and unforgettable, because despite the faults it showcases a certain mindset about what an ultimate action climax should be." GamesRadar+ staff described him among the "best characters in the three decades of Capcom's history" and wrote, "Even after his death in Resident Evil 5, Albert Wesker shows no signs of stopping, which is just the way we like it." Matt Cundy of GamesRadar+ praised Wesker's death scene in Resident Evil 5, as it showed the character's strength. Brandon Trush of Bloody Disgusting and Luke McKinney of Den of Geek both echoed a similar sentiment and regarded Weskers' death scene as one of the most outstanding and over-the-top moments of the Resident Evil series. Conversely, Shubhankar Parijat of GamingBolt stated that "Resident Evil hasn't had an overbearing villainous presence since Wesker died", but noted that "his arc was wrapped up very well, and bringing him back might not be the best idea."

The character has also received negative critical reviews. Ron Whitaker of The Escapist described Wesker as one of the terrible video game villains; he said that he always finds Wesker "kind of a joke of a villain." He further said that it became worse in Resident Evil 5 when he shows up "looking like he just failed a casting call for a character from The Matrix." Obi Anyanwu of Complex described him as the "second-douchiest" video game character, stating that "Wesker has a following, yes, but there's something very Agent Smith, a villain in The Matrix, about him that makes us shake our heads." Marshall Lemon of The Escapist also compared Wesker to Agent Smith, noting both villains' creators illogically enhanced their characters' power in subsequent installments, which diminished the narrative's coherence. Lemon stated that the amount of varied roles Wesker played in association with his constant reappearances was cited by Lemon as devaluing his influence and effectiveness overall. Andy Kelly of PC Gamer commented that Wesker lacked the depth of a complex villain and instead embodied the over-the-top antagonist trope, surmising the character as "a comically evil asshole who can do cool Matrix moves and transform into a monster." Ben Yahtzee Croshaw of The Escapist said that he cannot stand with Wesker and described him as "emotionless shithead", "grating", and "boring cunt." Andy Kelly of PlayStation Official Magazine described the battle with Wesker in Resident Evil 5 as one of the worst boss fights in a PlayStation 3 game. John Friscia of The Escapist said that the final boss fight against Wesker was a "pisstake for the ages." He felt that the boss fight was not difficult but basic, though he said that he "couldn't crack it." Bob Mackey of 1UP.com has called him one of the least scary things in Resident Evil, suggesting that "[t]o accentuate his alleged nefariousness, we suggest that Wesker grow a zombie mustache — that twirls itself."

There was also commentary on Wesker's film persona. Lance Reddick's portrayal of Wesker in the 2022 Resident Evil Netflix series was lauded by critics. Zosha Millman of Polygon described his performance as the "perfect balance of menacing and mannered." Charles Pulliam-Moore of The Verge offered a mixed review of the series but cited Wesker as the show's best character, which they attributed to Reddick's "steely, menacing energy". Taylor Lyes of IGN noted that the Netflix series' portrayal and characterization of Wesker diverged from his video game counterpart, but commended the character's revised backstory and story arc. However, Shawn Roberts' performance as Wesker in Resident Evil: Afterlife was criticized by Jim Vejvoda of IGN, who wrote that his portrayal of the character is "one-dimensionally evil and over-the-top", which he attributed to poorly developed writing. Cory Wells of Hardcore Gamer criticized Tom Hopper's portrayal as Wesker in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City and said "Wesker lacks his monotone, conniving demeanor that's matched in the games" and "doesn't exude cocky confidence in the game series, but does [in the film]."