Anderson part 3

The T-virus was a bioweapon developed by the Umbrella Corporation; it was “a weapon of mass destruction beyond any world leader's wildest dreams—or nightmares” and was the deadliest virus ever developed by man. Its release into the world lead to the deaths of over 7 billion people, nearly wiping out the human race, and replaced them with relentless Undead creatures. The T-virus and Las Plagas covered here are from the live-action films directed by Paul Anderson and are not to be confused with their identically named game counterparts, which are covered in Virus Analysis: Tyrant and Virus Analysis: Las Plagas. This Analysis also covers the Scarab device, despite it having no stated relationship to any virus or parasite, as it is a direct adaption of the P30 drug from Resident Evil 5, which is based on the Progenitor Virus. Alexander Isaacs is also covered, despite his enhancements being technological rather than biological.

The information making up this analysis is a combination of info from the movies, their screenplays, and their novelizations, in addition to commentaries, featurettes, interviews, press kits, and other supplements. Special thanks to Rodney Holbrook, BSAArklay, Forerunner from the Resident Evil Wiki, Dr. Wunderbar, and Reen Hearst for contributing to this analysis in various ways.

The information within this analysis can be found in the following sections:

Part 1

1. History
2. T-virus Effects
3. T-virus Parasite Theory
4. Anti-Virus
5. Undead

4. Sources and Note on Canon

This is part three of Virus Analysis: Anderson.

Evolved Humans

The ability of the T-virus to strengthen the cells of human hosts enabled it to cure almost any disease, but only when it was modified and applied to a specific treatment or drug. A person could potentially have every bodily function strengthened by the virus simultaneously, to not only cure and resist disease but to also enhance the natural effects and abilities of the body – a sort of evolution. The virus’ necrosis side effect and its unstable mutations usually prevented this, as injection of the pure strain of the T-virus resulted in cellular breakdown in almost every case. But if a host was able to suppress the negative symptoms of the virus, artificial human evolution could be obtained.

A super-human state could potentially be achieved by regulating the activity of the T-virus in a host. This was done through calculated usage of the Anti-Virus, or by using natural antibodies. A strain of the T-virus altered using said agents could also potentially grant an evolved state to hosts. Umbrella performed multiple experiments to produce such a state in humans, both to discover human immortality and to create intelligent, humanoid soldiers with exemplary combat abilities (The Final Chapter novelization). It is unknown if any of the superhumans created with the T-virus continued to age.

This section covers each human host that managed to reach a state of apparent evolution. Nemesis could technically also fit into this category, although many of his abilities and his mental state were the result of laboratory modifications and he had no remaining humanity aside from a sliver of consciousness.

Alice

WARNING: PROJECT ALICE OUT OF CONTAINMENT

Project Alice was a clone of Alicia Marcus created by Umbrella and Alexander Isaacs. Her DNA was “tweaked” in order to avoid her developing progeria like the woman she was based on. She was given false memories of working in the United States Department of the Treasury before being scouted by Umbrella (first three novelizations), which began to fade over time (The Final Chapter novelization). Project Alice was given the name “Alice Abernathy” and placed as head of security for the Hive.

Alice was placed in the Nemesis Program following the Hive incident. She was injected with the T-virus, but instead of experiencing extreme physical mutations she maintained her human form and only developed positive symptoms. Because of her unique results no or limited cybernetic augmentations were used on her. This could have been in order to continue to maintain her human appearance, which the Matt Nemesis lacked anyway. Her dosage of virus was increased to monumental levels once it was known she was reacting favorably. The research surrounding Alice evolved into an offshoot of the Nemesis Program, simply referred to as Project: Alice.

After using her newfound abilities to escape the deathtrap that Raccoon City had become, Alice was once again captured by Umbrella. Project: Alice was further advanced, and Umbrella performed genetic modifications on her body. They strengthened her abilities further, which she used to escape custody. Umbrella continued to monitor Alice using cybernetic attachments made to her while she was asleep. This included the ability to monitor her vision remotely in the same way Nemesis’ vision was and using a remote connection to an Umbrella satellite to remain aware of her position on the planet. Alice avoided the satellites as well as the use of the full extent of her powers to avoid detection. Albert Wesker eventually injected Alice with a serum that eliminated most of her powers.

In 2012, the Red Queen recruited Alice and helped her recover the airborne Anti-Virus. Once released, this Anti-Virus destroyed the last of her cells infected with the T-virus, making her fully human once more.

Alice afterwards settled down in the ruins Raccoon City with the Red Queen and a clone named Becky (The Final Chapter novelization). At this point in time, Alice was only ten years old.

Alicia Marcus

Alice “bonded” with the virus on a cellular level, unlike any other host. She “adapted” and “changed” the virus itself due to her possessing extremely unique DNA. This DNA allowed her immune system to produce antibodies that could weaken certain aspects of the virus without outright destroying it. The virus inside of her changed when it integrated with her DNA and became less lethal as a result. Alice was able to resist necrosis and cellular breakdown while taking almost full advantage of the strengthening effects of the virus: to “fully realize her powers”, as put by Wesker. Her mutations were described as being more along the lines of “evolution” than simple single-generation mutation, as her abilities could be seen as being a progression of the human state. She achieved in five days the equivalent of five million years of evolution.

Alice’s compatibility with the virus could have been a result of her genetic programming. The exact purpose of “Project Alice” at the time of her cloning was never stated; but going by what the project later entailed it may have been an attempt to create a host capable of bonding with the T-virus. It is possible no host was capable of perfectly suppressing the negative symptoms of the virus, and so Umbrella instead created a host “from scratch” that could. It may also be that since the virus was created with Alicia Marcus in mind, a clone with her genetic structure but without her illness would be capable of taking full advantage of the virus. Clones made of Alice herself lacked her abilities when injected with the T-virus (at least at first), likely due to flaws arising as a result of cloning someone who was already a clone.

Despite the widespread enhancements the virus afforded Alice, most of her cells remained uninfected, as she was left in a living, albeit weakened state once the infected cells were purged from her body.

Like Matt, when Alice first transformed, she experienced unimaginable pain as the virus mutated her cells. Alice went through similar pain when she was cured (Afterlife), infected again (Retribution), cured again (The Final Chapter novelization), and then cured fully by the perfected Anti-Virus (The Final Chapter).

Something was shown to move underneath her skin as her mutations progressed, causing a rippling effect on the surface of her body. This was seen on Matt when he mutated as well. This could have been tentacle growths like those that emerged from the scratches on Matt’s arm, which Alice managed to suppress and absorb or keep buried within her body.

While Alice remained the same on the outside, internally she was described as being “identical” to Nemesis. All of Alice’s natural abilities and traits were enhanced. This included her speed, strength, agility, senses, and healing. As her mutations progressed, she became more and more powerful. Following the second set of experiments performed on her by Umbrella at San Fransico (Extinction novelization), her mental and physical powers developed “at a geometric rate”.

Alice was already athletic and an excellent fighter prior to her infection, which was only accentuated afterwards. She could break the bones and snap the necks of Undead and humans alike with a single punch or kick. She did this with such speed that she managed to kill four Undead before Jill Valentine was able to finish performing a single punch. She managed to send a pew attached to the floor flying with a kick and did the same when she kicked Nemesis in the face, who was much larger than Alice was. She could hold back Nemesis physically for a short time with her arms as well, although not for very long. Alice was able to break through a metal door by diving head-first into it, albeit after it had been weakened by her Uzis. She smashed a gravestone to pieces by slamming an Undead’s head against it. She managed to break into an elevator by destroying the bottom using nothing but momentum-fueled kicks. On one occasion a martial arts instructor was able to temporarily incapacitate Alice in a fight, but she was not able to actually harm her (Extinction novelization).

Alice Fighting

One of Alice’s main physical attacks was a palm strike to the face of her enemies. The force she used when striking her opponents with her palm was enough to break the nose and “send bone shards to the brain”. This move was usually fatal, although some of her opponents did survive it.

When angry, Alice’s strength was even greater due to her expending extra energy. All of this strength was acquired without her muscles appearing to grow at all, and Alice’s figure was very thin. This suggests that her muscle composition was improved directly, with some of her natural tissue replaced or covered with a strengthened, high-density alternative.

While Alice’s strength was described as being inferior to that of Nemesis in general, she was faster than him (Apocalypse novelization). She was able to jump over the eight-foot-tall Nemesis, run up alongside flat surfaces, and generally move faster than any normal human. Her ability to grab a falling gun after dropping it but before it hit the floor was also attributed to her enhanced speed in The Final Chapter novelization. In the Retribution novelization, Alice noted that if she still had her powers at that point, she would be able to reach a window that was located 30 feet above her.

Her enhanced reflexes were so great that she was able to expertly drive a motorcycle through a window straight into a Licker. Her shooting skills were unmatched by anyone – she could accurately shoot someone through a tent, and hit an Undead in-between the eyes with a crossbow bolt from over a mile away (Extinction screenplay). When aiming a firearm, her heightened awareness and reflexes made her targets appear to move in slow motion (The Final Chapter novelization) She could also perfectly still herself and stop herself instantly even when running with incredible momentum.

Alice could jump high into the air or outrun gunfire

Alice’s improved eyesight made her perception of details clearer. Her vision of colors was sharper, and shapes were more distinct to her. She could see farther as well (Apocalypse novelization).

Alice’s hearing was more acute and sensitive. She could hear another person’s heartbeat from a distance, in addition to her own. High-pitched or loud noises would actually hurt her, but the sound of guns or a motorcycle did not (Apocalypse novelization). This could be attributed to whether or not Alice was expecting the sound, which would mean she could focus on or ignore certain sounds to her own benefit. Even when a sound was completely inaudible even to her, Alice could still sometimes “hear” it by feeling vibrations in her skull (Extinction novelization).

As her infection progressed Alice’s sense of pain became less impactful on her. She could acknowledge the pain of broken bones on an intellectual level, without actually being debilitated by it. The sensation created by thousands of volts of electricity from a taser being fired at her bare flesh was described as being ticklish (Apocalypse novelization). Alice was still affected by temperature however and shivered from being suspended in a cold nutrient bath. While her sense of pain was eventually lessened to the point that it became “irrelevant”, she could still acknowledge an equivalent sensation and so she was not in danger of accidentally putting herself in harm's way like someone who has congenital analgesia. Despite this, Alice could experience intense pain if her body was damaged to an extreme extent.

Alice barely felt pain.

Due to Umbrella’s tinkering with her mind, Alice even managed to develop mental abilities (“psionic powers”) not seen in any natural organism. These mind powers manifested themselves in many different ways and represented either profound changes to the brain or the unlocking and accentuating of abilities already hidden in the mind. This could be seen as the superior outcome of the virus mutating the brain, with a failed outcome resulting in brain damage (Undead) or unnecessary expansion (Lickers). Her mind was generally described as being faster and better than any human’s. When she was predicted to lose her memories, she managed to quickly reclaim them due to this (Apocalypse novelization). Her psionic powers only increased over time, yet she rarely used them by the events of Extinction, not only in order to avoid detection by Umbrella but also because these abilities frightened her (Extinction novelization).

Using her mind powers required Alice to enter into a sort of trance state, which required intense concentration. When in this state her pupils would dilate. In The Final Chapter novelization Alice was unable to aid her friends when she was deep in this trance state, as she was incapable of breaking free from it until she used her powers to their extent. In a screenplay for Extinction Alice’s psionic powers were attributed to a part of her mind that only existed in the subconscious – a “dark part of herself” - which could indicate this aspect of the mind is hidden in all humans and is only elucidated by the T-virus. In this screenplay her psionic trance state was compared to REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement, the state of sleep in which the brain is most highly active and in which the sleeper dreams). Intense emotions such as anger could help Alice remain in this trance state (The Final Chapter novelization). These concepts align well with how the T-virus affects the minds of normal Undead.

Alice’s most noticeable psionic ability was telekinesis, which is the ability to move and manipulate objects with the mind. This ability even manifested itself when she had intense nightmares while in REM sleep, albeit unfocused, putting those around her in danger of environmental hazards that she subconsciously created. As described in the novelization for The Final Chapter, Alice created invisible threads and tendrils of energy that extended from her body. These threads were an extension of Alice’s consciousness and could become tangible (although invisible) when she willed it. Her psionic energy could be used to wrap around, squeeze, and throw large objects, create barriers that could repel hazards, and be used as an expulsion of force that destroyed or pushed back anything and everything in front of her. Alice could “feel” this energy and manipulate it by concentrating on it. The threads could sense her surroundings as well, as if they had sensory organs. This energy would dissipate when her concentration was broken.

This Afterlife concept art of Alice's powers is by Rob McCallum.

The more dramatic and widespread this psionic energy was the more pain it created in Alice’s head – the strain it created at the base of her skull was described as feeling like an ice pick was stabbing her, which would eventually spread to the rest of her skull. It caused her to sweat and to hear a buzzing sound that increased in pitch gradually. As she continued to use this energy her body would begin to convulse as if an “electric current shot through every muscle” (The Final Chapter novelization). In a screenplay for Extinction, it would also cause her nose to bleed. Even after she broke concentration, she still retained a headache. The amount of effort it required for Alice to use the full extent of this power required superhuman effort, which is part of the reason for this strain.

Alice could kill a person simply by willing it to be so. On one occasion she gave a man a brain aneurysm, causing him to bleed from the eyes, ears, and nose before he died. This man was said to have something “slice” through his mind, which if literal would mean Alice tore his brain apart with her psionic energy. According to Alice herself in The Final Chapter novelization she could at one point crush a person into a “tiny compressed cube”. Alice almost never killed a person this way directly with her powers, which could mean that they were unreliable, required too much effort on her part, or only worked when she was at her peak mentally.

Alice giving a man a brain aneurysm.

Alice was able to manipulate fires as well using a sort of pyrokinesis. While she could only ignite a small spark with her psionic energy she could expand and intensify existing flames. Alice could even guide a flame through the air with great precision, likely by “holding” it in her psionic tendrils. She did this to kill thousands of infected crows (with no effect being had on the fire she conjured by the desert winds) and to cover the surface of the Melange in fire. While asleep Alice also accidentally manipulated and spread her campfire. Using this ability caused Alice even more stress than her other powers and on one occasion even made her lose consciousness. When battling the Melange with a wave of fire she moved her hands, directing the fire like a conductor. This could have just been her subconsciously following her body along with the machinations in her mind. Unless a fire she created spread onto something flammable, the fires Alice created would extinguish the moment she broke concentration.

Alice’s “instincts” were also said to be enhanced. She had a perfect understanding of details in her environment that none of her natural senses could possibly perceive on their own. She could tell how many people surrounded her following an ambush and could even tell when someone behind her was looking at her and what expression was on their face (Apocalypse novelization). It is unknown if this awareness was due to a combination of all her enhanced senses working together or a result of her mind powers; or, most likely, a combination of both. In The Final Chapter novelization, her mental energy threads were described as being able to “probe” and “sense” her surroundings. Her environmental and situational awareness combined with her instincts allowed her to enter into a sort of trance on the battlefield. In this trance she displayed perfect motions without needing to think about what she was doing.

Alice could also sense when other infected were nearby (Apocalypse novelization), such as Undead, Lickers, and Angela Ashford. She could tell what kind of creature it was that she sensed and she could tell if a person was or was not infected. This was also likely a result of mind powers; but these were not unique to Alice. All infected seemed to share this ability. However, if Undead were killed (along with the virus inside of them) or “hiding” (what this means is open to interpretation) she was incapable of sensing them (Extinction novelization).

After being experimented on in San Francisco Alice’s instincts and mind powers became great enough that she displayed what seemed to be close to omniscience. Alice could tell the name of a person, who they knew, and the situations surrounding that person’s life just by looking at them. In fact, she displayed this ability without even seeing the person, and could detect any “active mind” in an area. Alice could also know what location she was in and the details within and without that location - like knowing Angela was in a parking lot (Apocalypse novelization). She could also sense the movements of satellites all the way from outer space (Extinction). In a screenplay for Afterlife Alice could even “see” the past experiences of others from their point-of-view simply by being in proximity to where these experiences took place - for example, she witnessed Wesker killing a person in the past from Wesker’s own eyes.

How Alice achieved this level of awareness is unknown, even taking possible mind powers like telepathy into account. It may have been a combination of a variety of different, near-miraculous powers all working simultaneously. The idea Alice had telepathy is strengthened by the fact she was able to receive mental messages from Angela. It may be her mental energy threads were capable of not only extending from her own consciousness, but of bleeding into the consciousness' of others.

Alice hesitating to kill a man as she reads his mind, learning of his family and personal life.

Alice’s psionic powers could also “reach through” electronics (Apocalypse). She could reach into a surveillance camera to “see” a person in front of a connected monitor, and even interact with said person using her telepathy and telekinesis. She could do this through a monitor to affect a person displayed on a camera as well, and across extreme distances (The Final Chapter novelization). Alice could also affect the actual electronics to some extent: on one occasion she caused all of the monitors in a security station to display only a single image picked up by a single camera. On another occasion she caused an Umbrella satellite that was controlling her to break down by burning out a single microchip. It could be that the nature of Alice’s mental abilities was electrical, or at the very least that her psionic energy could interact with electric currents somehow. This is supported by the White Queen sensing Alice’s Alpha and Beta brainwaves when she used her psionic powers.

In the novelization for Extinction Alice used her powers to control whether or not she dreamed. She was able to give herself a good night's sleep just by willing it to be so.

Alice’s vitality was also far greater. She could survive punches from Nemesis, being thrown against concrete, and being impaled – twice – by helicopter debris. Even after being hit by a psionic blast from the Tyrant – which should have splintered her splintered bones and liquified her internal organs (Extinction screenplay) – she was still able to cling onto life. When Alice was injured, she could rapidly heal almost any damage done to her in time. Her internal and external organs could perfectly mend themselves without leaving scars or bruises, and broken fingers mended themselves within an hour (after she bent them back into the correct position). She could completely heal from bullet wounds in only several hours. On one occasion Alice even seemed to “die”, only to come back to life several weeks later. Even Alice’s hair regrew faster when cut, although for some reason it would not grow back beyond the length of the rest of her hair.

Alice seemingly died after being impaled and heavily burned in a helicopter crash. She later recovered completely.

After being experimented on in San Fransisco Alice’s healing became even faster and was described as “instantaneous”. She did not even feel the need to wear a helmet when driving a motorcycle at high speeds, as she realized even a severe crash would not significantly affect her (Extinction novelization). In an Extinction screenplay she was able to survive a massive explosion created by a gas tanker blowing up. While she was covered in burns, she did not need salve and was seemingly impervious to infection, implying her immune system was improved. In the same screenplay she was also resistant to sedation, with “enough sedatives in her to tranquilize a horse” not being enough to even dull her senses.

Despite this, head trauma could still cause Alice to lose consciousness (the primary cause of psychical-trauma-created blackouts is the brain hitting the skull, something even Alice’s vitality could not protect her from). The scar Alice had on her left shoulder did not heal, likely due to its existing before she was infected.

Alice’s healing required no outside energy. In fact, she seemed to be completely freed from the need to absorb any nutrition, similar to how Undead did not need to feed to survive. Her body would not even take in nutrients when they were artificially applied to her. Umbrella scientists described this as if she was “sucking energy out of thin air”, yet even then Alice was suspended in liquid. This also allowed Alice to continue fighting and running for long periods of time without exhausting herself. Umbrella staff monitoring data on her body noted that in the midst of battle, Alice’s heartbeat, respiration, and EEG remained the same as they were when she wasn’t exerting herself (Extinction novelization). When she was severely injured, used the full extent of her psionic powers, or after she spent “superhuman effort”, she would eventually begin to experience fatigue, which could imply there was a limit to how much of her mysterious energy she could obtain at once. It is not known if Alice still needed to breathe or if that need was merely lessened, as despite her ability to derive energy seemingly out of nowhere she could lose consciousness from being choked (Extinction novelization).

Early Concept for Alice Extinction Costume
Source: Joseph A. Porro Costume Designer

Like most infected, Alice was ignored by the Undead. When she was in the way of potential food Undead would potentially attack her, but only long enough to get her out of the way. Lickers still attacked her, but this was likely done in self-defense. Years following the onset of the global T-virus outbreak Alice began to be attacked by Undead creatures regardless of the fact she was still infected. This was likely due to changes in the Undead themselves, or more specifically to the virus they carried: The T-virus mutated quickly in the wild, and so the virus Alice carried was no longer “recognized” by Undead as being the same (as Undead were explicitly stated to sense the virus itself).

Despite her near-biological perfection, Alice had a number of limits and faults:

Alice recognized that the virus would kill her if she was infected by an Undead (The Final Chapter novelization), at least after she lost most of her powers. It would seem that the secondary form of the virus was lethal even to Alice.

In The Final Chapter novelization, Alice claimed that she felt “her humanity slipping away more and more” prior to the events of Afterlife, and that she was afraid that she would eventually become a monster. It may be that she only managed to delay the drastic mutations that turned live hosts into inhuman monsters and that over time her body would begin to change. This is supported by multiple sources claiming that her powers were constantly increasing, which would imply the virus was still in the process of changing her. It is also possible that Alice’s virus was simply mutating over time, similar to how the virus within the Undead changed over time, and that her antibodies were becoming less and less effective against it. For this reason, Alice was actually grateful when Wesker injected her with a cure in Afterlife, and furious with him when he infected her again at the end of Retribution.

During her time spent in Umbrella captivity in San Fransisco, Alice was implanted with a device inside of her skull. This device could be used to manipulate Alice’s central nervous system when it received commands (a “control signal”) from Umbrella, issued either by a satellite link or by verbal commands from Isaacs (Extinction novelization). When active, this implant caused most of Alice’s eye to change into the Umbrella corporation logo (creating an electronic buzz as it did so). It would appear that this implant was essentially the same kind of device used to control Nemesis, albeit improved or modified. Like Nemesis’ implant, it gave Umbrella remote access to Alice’s vision, sent them data on her body (such as her heartbeat, breathing, and electrical signals), could send orders directly into her brain, and caused her to follow an extremely specific, literal-minded set of programming. Unlike Nemesis, Alice managed to completely resist Umbrella’s memory wipe, allowing her to consciously resist control with the full extent of her mind, which was also enhanced by the virus. Due to the improved nature of the implant Alice could not completely overcome control, but she could resist to a considerable extent. When she was controlled, Umbrella could cause her to become immobilized, control her behavior, and even feed her lines for her to speak. Alice possibly removed this implant following the events of Extinction or found a way to deactivate it permanently in Isaac’s laboratory, as she was no longer able to be controlled by Umbrella after this. It is also possible that her implants could only be manipulated by codes known only to Sam Isaacs, the knowledge of which died with him in Extinction.

Umbrella put implants in Alice's skull. The Umbrella logo was projected over her iris, and she had an electronic heads-up-display. Umbrella used these implants to monitor and control Alice via satellite.

When Alice was partially cured by Wesker in Afterlife, the T-virus still remained in her body. It was mainly inert (The Final Chapter novelization) but still granted Alice some enhanced abilities. While her vitality was much lower than it was in her superhuman state, Alice was still able to almost completely heal from broken bones sustained in her fight with Bad Rain in mere days (Retribution novelization). In a screenplay for Afterlife Alice retained some of her psionic abilities, but they were severely limited due to the remaining Anti-Virus in her system.

When Alice was cured, she also appeared to lose many of the enhanced abilities she obtained from the genetic modifications that were performed on her in San Fransico. When Alice was infected again at the White House her abilities were fully restored to the point they were at after she was modified. This may mean the enhancements Isaac’s team made to Alice required the T-virus in her system to “power” them somehow. Or it may be Isaac only modified the virus inside of Alice and that when Wesker infected her he used the same strain she carried before.

Alice’s clone “sisters” were able to develop psionic abilities as well (Afterlife), although not at first (Extinction novelization). As clones in general were stated to have a “natural” psionic link (Retribution novelization, although Alice was shown to communicate with her clones telepathically as early as the Extinction novelization) it may be that Alice “gave” her abilities to them, or that she merely trained them in the year between Extinction and Afterlife. One clone displayed telekinetic powers exceeding those of even the Tyrant. Alice’s clones did not share her remarkable recovery ability and could be killed by gunshots to the body.

Angela Ashford

Nine-year-old Angela Ashford inherited a degenerative nerve condition from her father Charles. Angela was born with somewhat atrophied legs and was doomed to progressively lose the ability to walk as she aged. When Angela was younger, she had to use crutches and eventually would need a wheelchair. Her father performed T-virus experiments using his position at Umbrella in the hopes of using it to cure Angela. While his own condition proved to be too advanced to treat (Apocalypse novelization) he succeeded in effectively treating Angela, but at a price.

Angela was strengthened by the T-virus in a manner similar to Alice. But while Alice adapted thanks to her unique DNA Angela adapted only through the use of the Anti-Virus. By administering regular doses of the antidote, the progression of the T-virus was kept at a minimum. This allowed Angela’s muscles and nerves to be restored by the promoted cellular growth and strengthening while avoiding the excessive mutations. Angela’s use of the Anti-Virus to overcome adverse mutation was essentially the artificial alternative to Alice using her own, natural antibodies to weaken the virus.

Marks on Angela's skin where she regularly injected herself with the Anti-Virus.

If Angela’s virus was ever fully purged by the Anti-Virus, Angela would become ill again. This was because the virus did not eliminate her disease - it simply counteracted its symptoms. Alice seems to imply that Angela was given a massive dose of the T-virus, so that the Anti-Virus would not fully destroy her infection (unless she took too much at once). It may also be that the unique strain Angela carried was not completely susceptible to the Anti-Virus and was only slowed by it.

Like Alice, Angela was ignored by the Undead due to them recognizing her as a T-virus mutant (Apocalypse novelization). Angela also had some enhanced sensory abilities and mind powers. Like other hosts she could tell who was infected (she could sense that the Undead were created by the same virus she took). She could tell that Alice was alive after a helicopter crash and could locate her after Alice was captured by Umbrella. She even demonstrated telepathy: she woke Alice from her sedation by speaking to her telepathically.

If Angela also had enhanced strength, speed, or agility, she never demonstrated it. Her possibly lacking these abilities could have been due to one or multiple of the following possibilities:

1. Her adolescent body was not able to support the extensive mutations.

2. Her lack of adaptive DNA limited her.

3. Her disease counteracted any advancements.

4. Her infection was not strong enough because of the Anti-Virus.

5. Her strain of the virus was not capable of granting these abilities.

It is also possible that Angela had these abilities and simply did not use them. Angela survived being in an SUV crash that killed two adult men. Her survival is partially attributed to her wearing her seat belt (Apocalypse novelization), but it could also imply she had regenerative powers to some degree. Angela was also extremely intelligent for a 9-year-old and while this could be attributed to the virus, she was also the daughter of an extreme genius.

Angela's "lunchbox" contained Anti-Virus samples

It was later revealed in the Extinction novelization that, while helping survivors at Purdue university in West Lafayette, Indiana, Alice’s mind was taken control of by Umbrella. She took Angela with her to an Umbrella facility in Detroit. It was there revealed by Sam Isaacs that Angela’s strain of the T-virus was different than the one which was used to create the hordes of Undead swarming the planet. The virus had mutated significantly in the wild, and she was infected with one of the first strains of the virus, prior to weaponization. This, combined with her lack of natural antibodies, rendered her useless as a potential test subject for Umbrella’s cure research. As such, Isaacs had her executed by Alice.

In an older Extinction screenplay, Angela was instead killed by gunfire in a shootout between Umbrella forces and Umbrella resistance fighters.

Tyrant

The “Tyrant Program” (named in the Extinction novelization) was a project led by a clone of Alexander Isaacs (called “Sam Isaacs” and “J. Isaacs”). It appeared to have been a separate project to the Nemesis Program, but with a very similar goal – the creation of super humans or super soldiers using the power of the T-virus. When Major Cain ordered Isaacs to prioritize Nemesis research over his other projects, the Tyrant Program was aborted while it was still in a nascent phase. Despite this, Alice was seen as the best hope for the success of both the Nemesis and Tyrant programs, and Isaacs secretly continued research towards the completion of the latter (Extinction novelization).

After Issacs discovered that the Super Undead created by using antibodies from the blood of Alice clones made efficient soldiers, he diverted the Undead domestication experiments towards the completion of the Tyrant Program instead. A serum was prepared for this purpose.

When Isaacs was bitten by a Super Undead, he attempted to administer the Anti-Virus to himself, to no avail. As the Super Undead strain of the virus was strengthened by the blood of Alice, the Anti-Virus proved ineffective. Instead, in a last-ditch effort to save his own life, Issacs completed the Tyrant Program using himself as a subject. By injecting himself with many Anti-Virus samples (over seven) he survived the transformation caused by the strengthened strain, becoming a sort of adapter to the virus, similar to how Angela Ashford adapted. His state could be described as a fusion of the states of Nemesis and Alice, becoming both a super human and a monster (this description was also given for him in the novelization for Retribution). Due to being created by the same strain as Super Undead, he was also described as being an “expanded, crazy version of the Super Undead”. He referred to himself as “Tyrant” in token of him apparently being the accomplishment of his own research (Extinction novelization).

Immediately before his transformation, Isaacs was seemingly shot dead by his former-subordinate, Slater. He swiftly rose back up to his feet, and according to Isaacs he was “already dead” (Extinction screenplay). If taken literally, this line could imply he was able to resurrect after being technically killed, or that his state was essentially Undead.

As an adapter, Isaacs had strength, speed, regeneration, vitality and mind powers that all exceeded the abilities of Alice herself due to the strength of his strain. He easily dominated her in one-on-one combat, matching each of her powers and overcoming them all. In a screenplay for Extinction, it was said that Alice had an edge in regard to speed, although this did not seem to translate into the film and novel. When Alice became winded, he was able to catch her fists in his hands and crush her fingers. Like Nemesis his size belied his ability to stealthily move in the dark, with him darting around in the shadows too quickly for Alice to know what direction he was in (similar to the Bloodshot). He was agile enough to transverse air vents. It was implied by the location of bloodstains that he was even able to drag bodies into vents along with him.

The Tyrant could regenerate from almost any wound instantaneously. When a two-feet-long shard of glass cut clean through his bones and muscles and opened up an artery, the bleeding stopped after only several seconds and the wound closed moments later. Wounds that did not sever arteries almost didn't bleed at all. The Tyrant had an extremely high pain tolerance; when his shoulder/entire arm was dislocated, he was not deterred in the slightest. When he forced his bones back into place so that they could heal he felt no pain at all, unlike Alice in Apocalypse. If anything, the sensation seemed “pleasurable to him” (Extinction screenplay). Considering the Axe Men also possibly mutilated their own bodies, it may be that T-virus infection could cause some disorder in the neurochemical pathways used for the sensations of pain and pleasure. Only his appendages being severed caused the Tyrant any considerable pain, which were instantly healed regardless.

Isaacs’ senses were also enhanced, as he purposefully smashed all of the light fixtures in his environment, giving him a visual advantage against his more light-dependent opponents (Extinction screenplay). The psionic blast ability Isaacs had was twice as intense as the one used by Alice (Extinction screenplay), and he used it without exhausting himself.

Despite his abilities exceeding those of Alice, Isaacs, like Nemesis, did suffer from physical mutations that altered his appearance. Like Super Undead, his excessive regeneration lead to the development of boils and unnatural growths across the surface of his skin. The press kit for Extinction described his mutation as another organism expanding from inside his body outward, at least in regard to appearance. This could have been due to him being shot immediately before his transformation began, with the T-virus attempting to heal him by causing rapid cellular division, leading to cancerous-like tissue.

At first, Isaacs’ transformation was relatively minimal. Something inhuman was said to slither beneath his shirt around his chest (where Slater shot him), similar to the movements seen under the skin of Alice and Matt. Isaacs then grew three tentacles from his hand, which he used to kill Slater and the surrounding guards. In the film these tentacles were red and seemed to be a mutated form of his fingers. In the novelization for Extinction, Isaacs’ tentacles were instead described as being green, growing from both of his arms, and being dozens in number, while in the screenplay they were simply described as being scaley. In both the screenplay and novel, his tentacles sprouted from within his arm, which split open (like the Adjules’ heads), causing his fingers to “peel back like fleshy petals”.

After his transformation progressed, most of the Tyrant’s body was covered in highly mutated tissue; yet most of the right side of his face remained intact. This could have been due to the Anti-Virus holding back the infection enough to preserve part of his face. His mutated eye appeared to lose its pupil, likely a result of necrosis like that seen in Undead eyes. His mutated flesh was enlarged, leading to his skin stretching and tearing, like Licker skin. He was naked from the waist up to accommodate these developments. Part of his brain was partially exposed, likely a result of the same brain expansion seen in Lickers. His ribs were enlarged and pushed against his skin, and his heart also appeared to expand to the point that it emerged from the center of his chest. This could have given him an expanded cardiovascular system. Slater was said to shoot Isaacs in the heart (Extinction novelization), which could be what lead to this development.

In a screenplay for Extinction, both of his eyes were glazed. His body was described as “impossibly muscular – the kind of definition only a crazed body builder on a suicidal diet of steroids could achieve”. His “mutation was rippling beneath the skin”, his “muscles were literally growing and bulging”, and over time he was “becoming less human before her [Alice’s] eyes”.

Like Lickers, Isaacs nails grew into sharp claws. These claws were strong enough to easily pierce flesh, bone, and body armor. The nails on his right hand were especially long. Five tentacles could sprout from the fingers on his right hand, which were tipped with his long, sharp nails. They could retract and be controlled with the same dexterity at which a Licker could control its tongue but were even longer. Severed tentacles would not only regrow instantly, but two new ones could grow from a single stump like the heads of the mythical Hydra.

Isaacs intelligence was left entirely intact post-transformation and he retained all of his previous skills, being able to even partially reprogram the White Queen. Despite this, it appeared that he may have still been susceptible to the cravings for uninfected flesh that most other hosts succumbed to. This is suggested by his bloodstained teeth (called “the blood of his victims” in an Extinction screenplay), and his organizing the corpses of his human victims into a neat pile. None of the corpses he apparently devoured were shown to reanimate as Undead, which could have been due to him also breaking their necks. Isaacs often roared and growled like an animal, and his gaze was described as “crazed” and his laughter as “inhuman/insane”. This could imply the virus increased his overall aggression, which supports the idea he devoured human flesh. The voice of Isaacs also deepened, like the voice of Nemesis or the Axe Men. According to a screenplay he was becoming less and less human over time, with his intelligence becoming more and more warped. This could indicate that he was only able to retain his partially human form temporarily, or only by devouring fresh DNA like Wesker.

Alice was only able to kill the Tyrant by tricking him into a recreation of the laser corridor that was within the Hive. Isaacs was literally cubed into hundreds of pieces by the diagonal laser beam grid, making regeneration impossible even for him.

Monster Issacs’ game counterpart would be the original Tyrant from the first Resident Evil game. While not called by that name in the film itself, he was named “Tyrant” by the press kit, novelization, and screenplay for Extinction.

Albert Wesker

Albert Wesker (not to be confused with the video game version of the character) was a former US Marine (Extinction novelization), the second hand-man and enforcer for Alexander Isaacs, and the acting Umbrella Chairman while his master was in cryosleep. Wesker gained powers from the “empowering variant of the T-virus" (Retribution novelization). He injected himself with the virus after the onset of the T-virus pandemic (The Final Chapter novelization), and according to an Afterlife screenplay, he did so after the events of Extinction. After Alice announced her plan to attack the Tokyo facility with an army of clones, it is likely Wesker that injected himself with the virus in preparation for this attack.

There are several possible reasons as to why Wesker gained powers from the virus without turning into a monster:

1. He had DNA making him a partial adapter (not a full one like Alice, as even he admitted that her DNA was superior; but likely greater than Matt, as he retained his human form; this could have made him a sort of genetic middle ground between the two). As Wesker was not a clone, he was technically a more “natural” adapter to the virus than Alice was.

2. He used the Anti-Virus to regulate the T-virus in his body like Angela did.

3. He used the Tyrant research and the Alice-enhanced Anti-Virus to his advantage. After the death of the Extinction clone of Isaacs, Wesker had all of his research transferred to the Tokyo facility to be completed under Wesker’s supervision. It may be that Wesker used this research to transform himself into a more stable version of the Tyrant, with more similarities to Alice due to the serum with her blood being perfected.

The T-virus gave Wesker many abilities that either matched or even surpassed those of Alice. He was considered one of the strongest T-virus mutants (The Final Chapter novelization). He had increased strength, which gave him an iron-like grip and allowed him to easily best any human in hand-to-hand combat. As was the case with Alice, his enhanced strength did not seem to affect his overall muscle mass. In a screenplay for Afterlife, Wesker’s naked upper torso was described as being “almost impossibly muscular and powerful”.

Wesker’s speed was so great that he could move faster than the processing speed of the human eye, making his movement a blur when he dashed. The reason he was so much faster than Alice could have been due to his reaction to the virus being unique, him being experimented on by Umbrella (likely using what was learned during Project: Alice), or even due to cybernetic enhancements like those used by Alexander Isaacs.

Wesker’s sense of awareness and reflexes were enhanced to a degree comparable to Alice’s. This combined with his speed allowed him to dodge bullets at point-blank range. When shooting at targets time seemed to slow down for him (The Final Chapter novelization) and his accuracy was great enough that he performed headshots on moving targets above himself. He was able to sense Alice was sneaking up behind him. Wesker afterwards addressed her as being the “real” Alice and not a clone, possibly indicating his senses allowed him to identify her. He seemed to not possess telekinesis; or if he did, it was not nearly as powerful as the psionic powers used by Alice, as he needed her powers to defeat a rival (The Final Chapter novelization).

Wesker’s enhanced tissue could withstand extreme trauma and his regenerative abilities supplemented this to the point that he was nearly immortal. While there was a slight delay before the healing process began for him, once it did begin it was nearly instantaneous. Dozens of bullet wounds across his body could be healed within minutes. Like Alice in an Extinction screenplay, Wesker could survive being engulfed in intense explosions relatively unscathed. His leg bones, when broken, could correct themselves and heal as he continued to walk (Afterlife screenplay) while Alice had to set her bones herself. It would seem that Wesker’s regenerative abilities allowed him to even come back to life if he died, by his own admission. When he was stabbed in the brain, he seemingly died for several moments before pulling the knife out of his head. When part of his head was blown off by a shotgun blast, with much of the rest of his head left hollow, Wesker seemed to die again; then he suddenly started gasping for air, presumably meaning his lungs and other organs had stopped and were capable of restarting.

Despite his vitality Wesker did feel pain and could even be momentarily stunned by being stabbed in the leg. He also could feel temperature, although he usually felt too warm (“almost feverish”) due to “the T-virus surging throughout his system” (The Final Chapter novelization).

While Wesker appeared to retain his human form, his body was unstable due to him not fully bonding with the virus. He became a “half-insane monster who could barely control his abilities” (Retribution novelization) and was considered an inhuman aberration by some within Umbrella (The Final Chapter novelization). His eyes mutated into a form resembling the eyes of a reptile, with slit pupils. The reason for this mutation could be random. Slit eyes grant greater night vision, and so it may have been the result of his eyes evolving. They produced a faint red glow which would increase in intensity at times. According to a screenplay for Afterlife, the intensity of this glow had a direct correlation to his adrenaline. Wesker’s eye mutations were not immediately noticeable due to him constantly wearing black sunglasses.

The virus “constantly fought” Wesker “for control”. What this meant exactly is unknown; but Wesker pondered the possibility that the virus had a mind of its own. Wesker seemed to imply that this instability came after he was killed (when his aircraft crashed into Mount Fuji) and resurrected by the virus. It may be that in order to heal Wesker, the activity of the virus increased in his body, and that after he was restored the increased activity did not return to normal.

In the Retribution and The Final Chapter novels, it was stated that if Wesker lost control of his virus he would mutate uncontrollably in a manner similar to other live hosts. He would become a “misshapen, savage mutant” if this happened, which would attack anyone in sight. It is possible Wesker would mutate in a manner similar to the Tyrant, especially if his virus was derived from the same experiment. Symptoms of his beginning to lose control included an increase in temperature and an itching sensation all over his body.

According to The Final Chapter novelization and implied in Afterlife, Wesker fought the virus inside of him and kept physical mutations at bay through his own, superhuman willpower. He had to maintain a constant state of concentration in order to maintain “his body’s cellular stability”. Extreme emotions like anger could break this concentration, causing him to lose control of his virus and mutate. When Wesker began to lose concentration, his skin would break out into small patches of rough, deformed, gray flesh, and the surface of his skin rippled in a manner similar to the skin of Matt, Alice, and the Tyrant. At this time his temperature would increase to such a degree that his skin would bubble, and his blood would feel as if it was boiling in his veins. This heat may have been due to the increased virus activity, or due to the heat generated by his cells mutating rapidly.

If Wesker managed to regain his composure before his virus went totally out of control (which he was able to do by breathing regularly and twitching his head from side to side), minor mutations could actually be reverted. Because of his state of concentration, combined with his natural personality, Wesker always maintained an “icy façade", showing an almost complete lack of emotion. He possessed an “inhuman stillness”, and his manner was so controlled that he almost seemed like a machine to the Red Queen AI itself.

Besides concentration, Wesker’s control over his virus relied his being fed on “fresh DNA”. Consuming uninfected human flesh either kept the virus “satisfied” or gave him the energy or even biomass to perform some biological function. As Wesker’s stomach “twisted in hunger” at the sight of human blood, with the virus “threatening to take control of his body” (The Final Chapter novelization), it would seem the former possibility is most likely. Wesker noted that he may have been able to gain full, permanent control by consuming Alice, as she had “stronger” DNA. She was capable of producing antibodies that could suppress the damaging effects and excessive mutations caused by the virus, an ability that Wesker likely wanted to acquire by absorbing “some key part of her DNA” (Retribution novelization).

Concept art for the corpses drained by Wesker at the Arcadia, by Rob MacCallum.

While Wesker’s healing abilities were seemingly unlimited, excessive regeneration required him to utilize his virus in a way that threatened his molecular cohesion, in the same way his form was threatened if he transformed his body too much. Feeding was necessary while healing in order to prevent his virus from going out of control in the process. It is implied that he devoured Bennett Sinclair for this purpose (or he temporarily became feral due to his virus going out of control and devoured Sinclair for this reason; it is implied that Wesker may have been feeding on Sinclair beforehand as well, as he was noticeable paled and sickly-looking due to blood loss). He devoured the body of Cardoza in order to regrow his head when it was destroyed and even tried to absorb Alicia Marcus (whose genetic material was damaged by progeria and therefore of limited use) when he was severely injured (The Final Chapter novelization).

According to the Retribution and The Final Chapter novelizations, Wesker’s unstable physical state could actually be used to his advantage. Wesker had the unique ability to allow himself to mutate back and forth. He also had the ability to control how he mutated and to rearrange his anatomy as he saw fit. According to The Final Chapter novelization: “He had to be very careful about using his metamorphic capabilities, which had grown considerably over the years, or else he might lose molecular cohesion entirely.” It is possible that Alice also had this ability, and that his transfigurable body had more to do with his powers than with his instability. Alice would not have used this ability herself, as she mainly resented what she had become and wanted to remain as human as possible.

In Afterlife, it was shown that Wesker could grow mandibles from his mouth similar to those seen on Majini Undead, but far larger and darker in color. This supports the idea that the Majini Undead mutation was an inherent ability of the T-virus. Alternatively, Wesker could have been infected with the Majini strain of the virus. At first his mandibles took on a form similar in appearance to four insect limbs, and eventually grew to the point that each mandible was twice the length of a human head. Each of the four mandibles were forked, with each end having its own, enormous tooth. The central teeth were also more pronounced. In order for the enlarged form of the mandibles to fit outside of his mouth, his jaw became elastic (Retribution novelization), although the force/pressure of their emergence still caused the skin around his mouth to become bruised. The mandibles could shrink in order to fit back into his mouth. If the mandibles were meant to be his mutated tongue (as Majini mandibles were called their “tongues”), then it may be that his mandibles were capable of transforming back into a normal tongue so that he could continue to speak.

Wesker seemed to use these mandibles to feed on his human victims. Several corpses seen on the Arcadia were shown to be drained of blood (likely a leftover from the screenplay's leech plot; see below), which could mean his mandibles were primarily used to suck fluids out of his prey. Wesker’s mandibles may even have been a symptom of his virus going out of control and turning him feral, as in this state he made monstrous screeching sounds and did not dodge gunfire.

Wesker's mandibles.

In the Retribution novelization, it was stated that Wesker could also cause his body to swell and his muscles to bulge when he transformed.

In The Final Chapter novelization, Wesker could sprout a mottled tentacle from his index finger, similar in function to the tentacles of the Tyrant and in appearance to the ones used by the Melange. As this tentacle lengthened, the tip sharpened into a lethal point. Wesker used this tentacle to essentially kill Jill Valentine and it was strong enough to hold up her body when it impaled her eye socket and scrambled her brains.

In The Final Chapter novelization, Wesker was said to use the near-complete control he had over his own body to spread his brain throughout his entire body. He also created multiple chemical backups of his memory that were stored in different organs. When Dania Cardoza used a prototype sonic disruptor to obliterate Wesker’s entire head, the flesh sealed over his open neck and his body remained alive. He rose to his feet and retained all of his coordination, spatial awareness, and perception of Cardoza. He even retained the ability to talk, “using a vertical seam-like mouth that ran from his throat to his navel”. This mouth was lined with white teeth that had “the sharpness and efficiency of a guillotine blade”. Wesker used these teeth to bite off Cardoza’s head, then to consume the rest of her body and the remains of his own head. When Wesker noticed a stray piece of his brain matter, he licked it up using an elongated serpent’s tongue.

When Alicia Marcus fired Wesker from the Umbrella Corporation, the Red Queen was enabled to act against him. The AI dropped a heavy blast door onto Wesker that caught him off-guard. The door crushed his right leg and pinned him in place. Wesker was unable to heal himself and bled out on the floor, at which point the entire Hive was destroyed, completely obliterating his body. In The Final Chapter novelization, it was explained that Wesker’s blood flowed away from him in multiple rivulets, “fleeing his dying body like rats escaping a sinking ship”. This blood was driven by “T-virus-infused cells”. Due to this loss of genetic material, Wesker’s biology was rendered too unstable for him to shift forms, as “the strain on [his] system would tear [him] apart”. Absorbing fresh DNA would allow him to redress this issue and heal, but Wesker was incapable of doing so due to being pinned by the blast door. When he died of blood loss, Wesker’s “mutated genetic structure began to break down”. This caused him to liquify in a matter similar to Melange.

The “cells that had once been Wesker’s blood” fled miles underneath the ruins of the Hive and “squeezed into almost microscopic fissures of rock”. These cells were capable of sensing whenever the airborne Anti-Virus would dissipate from the surface air and planned to make their way upwards when it did in order to regenerate or infect a new host.

Why exactly Wesker’s blood left him depends on if it was driven by the T-virus, or by Weser himself:

1. If the blood was driven by the T-virus, then it would prove Wesker’s theory that the T-virus somehow had intelligence and was fighting him for control. When Wesker lost concentration due to the pain of his leg being crushed, the T-Cells broke free from his control and fled his body.

2. If the blood was driven by Wesker, then it is likely a result of Wesker keeping multiple chemical backups of his memory throughout his body. This would possibly allow him to survive on a microscopic level. In this case, Wesker may have deliberately sent his blood out in order to escape his fate once his main body was trapped.

Leech Wesker

Wesker’s fate and eventual biological status were very different in a particular screenplay for Afterlife. After crashing his aircraft into Mount Fuji, Wesker’s body was impaled on a twisted piece of bulkhead, which punched clean through his ribcage. His skin was burnt away, and his body was scorched and blackened. Alice then killed Wesker by snapping his neck with a kick. At this point, forest leeches crawled all over Wesker’s corpse to feed on his blood. When the leeches bored into his flesh, Wesker’s mutant tissue sucked back at the leeches. His flesh opened up and absorbed all of the leeches and his body meshed with their genetic material, allowing Wesker to heal from his injuries.

Wesker’s skin took on a slimy, glistening texture as a result. His sclerae (the whites of the eyes) became a “cloudy glistening blackness”, making his eyes completely black. The genetic material provided by the leeches proved to be “too strong” for Wesker, and this material constantly battled his own for dominance. Wesker needed to consume untainted human DNA in order to revert to a human form, but this was only temporary. Eventually the leech DNA would “regain control”, causing his body to continue to degenerate into a “Brundle-leech”-like abomination (in reference to "Brundle-fly" from David Cronenberg's The Fly). Wesker sought to consume the “strong” DNA possessed by Alice in order to strike a genetic balance.

When Wesker fed on humans, his mouth opened unnaturally wide and transformed into a “leech-like maw filled with razor sharp teeth”. He used a “retractable proboscis for draining the lifeblood from his victims” in place of Majini mandibles. This proboscis covered his victims in circular welts that were four inches in length using dozens of teeth and sucked them completely dry of blood.

When Wesker was progressively transformed by the leech DNA over time, parts of his body, like his left forearm, would become “bulbous and misshapen”, and reform into a human form while he rested, sometime after he fed. The mutated parts would leave behind mucus/slime on whatever surface they came in contact with, and Wesker left trails of this slime wherever he went. Black, leech-like forms would move from beneath his skin, as if living leeches were living inside of his body. These forms would leave ripples in Wesker’s skin as the leech DNA fought for control of his body. This was likely meant to be a result of Wesker’s blood and/or insides forming into leech-like creatures. When he grabbed shards of glass to use as weapons, “his black hands [seemed] to ooze forward and wrap around the shards”, with him being “oblivious to the pain”.

When Wesker was killed twice more he revived each time, with the leech DNA taking further control over his form each time he did. When his head was blown off by Claire Redfield, his blood, brain, and skull transformed into multiple leech-like slugs that crawled back to his body, slithered into the correct position, then transformed back into Wesker’s head. After feeding on Bennet Sinclair in order to heal himself, Wesker turned his entire body into a black, gelatinous liquid. This liquid allowed him to escape a sealed room by seeping through the edges of the door. This liquid then turned into hundreds of leeches, which then assembled back into a humanoid form. At this point, Wesker was rebuilt into a “hideous, malformed caricature” of his “once handsome” self. He was afterwards completely destroyed by a battlefield nuke that Alice had stowed on his aircraft.

This version of Wesker was likely meant to be an adaption of the Queen Leech and Mimicry Marcus monsters from Resident Evil 0. Uroboros from Resident Evil 5, a game that Afterlife drew from heavily, may also have been an influence.

Alexander Isaacs

Doctor Alexander Roland Isaacs was the mastermind behind the Umbrella Corporation, the development of the T-virus and the monsters it spawned, and the pandemic that nearly destroyed the human race. He spent almost the entire duration of the pandemic in crysosleep, awaiting the end of the “cleansing operation”, while leaving the company in the hands of Albert Wesker and clones of himself. Wesker awakened Isaacs prematurely when Alice managed to overcome the Hive’s defenses in 2012, and he engaged Alice in a final battle before he was eventually killed.

Prior to entering cryosleep, Isaacs received various “bio-implants” (The Final Chapter novelization), or “technological upgrades”, transforming him into a cyborg. While Isaacs was technically not mutated in the strict, biological sense and was not altered by any sort of pathogen, he was also not entirely “human” and reached a state remarkably similar to that of Alice and Wesker. He is included in this analysis for the sake of being thorough.

In the Retribution novelization, Umbrella was said to be experimenting with “biological and electronic enhancements” on people prior to Hive incident. As the T-virus was not able to grant superhuman abilities to anyone without also destroying their physical form or robbing them of their intelligence and humanity, bio-implants that could replicate the results of bonding with the virus were attractive. Bio-implants were also used in conjunction with viral mutants, such as Nemesis. The purpose of Project Alice may have been to find a way to overcome the faults of the virus, yet in the meantime Isaacs transformed the inside of his body with machines. This gave him many of the advantages of a superhuman without the problems that virus hosts like Wesker obtained.

Isaacs’ strength was “inhuman” (The Final Chapter novelization) due to his implants. He could easily crack bone, wood, and marble with his blows, lift adult humans, and send his opponents flying through the air with punches. He could seemingly control how hard he hit, as he went from toying with Alice to actively trying to kill her while seemingly using the same amount of effort. It may be that he could increase or decrease the efficiency of his implants at will to avoid causing damage to his surroundings or others by accident. When he used the implants in his legs (The Final Chapter novelization) he could dash forward at a speed comparable to that of Wesker. The implants that granted these physical capabilities could have involved bionic bones or synthetic muscles.

When Alice attempted to strike a nerve bundle in Isaacs’ arm, her blow had no impact (The Final Chapter novelization), which could mean his nerve tissue was replaced. It may be that Isaacs was implanted with an artificial alternative to normal nerves which allowed his cybernetics to receive signals from his brain/control implants. It may be that only the areas most sensitive to blows were augmented or that the artificial nerves merely supplemented his natural ones. It may also be that Isaacs’ entire arms were replaced with prosthetics. His legs were not replaced however, at least on the outside, as he screamed and bled when Alice stabbed one of them; in the novelization it was specifically stated that his legs contained the implants and were not implants themselves.

Isaacs reacted to being stabbed, punched, and kicked. He gasped for air when Alice hit him in the throat. Yet as the fight between Alice and Isaacs progressed, he became less and less responsive to pain. This could have been due to adrenaline or possibly even some artificial alternative provided by his implants. It is also possible that his implants could administer pain relievers to his system when he was injured.

Isaacs, like many of Umbrella’s experiments, had a HUD projected onto his retinas, which was actually visible (albeit backwards) from the outside of the eye. This HUD was fed information from computer software either remotely connected to Isaacs or, more likely, implanted into his skull. This software was capable of analyzing anything within Isaacs’ field of vision in a manner similar to the computers connected to Nemesis – the software could analyze guns and faces in order to give contextual information to Isaacs’ HUD. Isaacs’ computer was even capable of identifying Claire Redfield, a person unaffiliated with and unrelated to Umbrella. In a screenplay for Extinction, it was stated that Umbrella was monitoring and creating profiles on all humans who survived the apocalypse. It may be that Isaacs’ software was pulling its information from a database containing these profiles.

Isaac's augmented eyeball and heads-up-display

Isaacs’ implants included “predictive combat software”. This software was capable giving Isaacs a predictive ability similar to the enhanced awareness Alice had when she was infected with the T-virus. This implant worked by “gathering, calculating, and analyzing data with unimaginable speed as his senses assessed the environment” (The Final Chapter novelization). The computer was capable of identifying any potential threats to Isaacs and could actually predict their behavior (possibly taking into account information like database profiles of threats). This data was used to create, in real-time, virtual simulations of any outcome his computer could predict in a combat scenario. These simulations were presented to Isaacs on graphics displayed on his HUD and gave him a visual indication of every possible course of action he could take and the probability of his success in each. It is unknown if this software acted at all times or if Isaacs had to manually activate it.

Isaacs was also capable of shifting into a “hyper-awareness mode” (The Final Chapter novelization). This altered his perception and reaction times to the point that time seemed to slow down for him. While in this state, Isaacs could almost instantly assess the simulations created by his predictive software, allowing him to instantly make decisions and perform actions that had the greatest chance of succeeding. This shift in awareness, combined with Isaacs’ enhanced speed, also allowed him to avoid and counter most attacks, including incoming gunfire.

Isaacs enhanced senses/software allowed him to determine if a person had died (The Final Chapter novelization), possibly by picking up the sound of the person’s heartbeat.

Isaacs’ implants also allowed him to remotely interface with Hive elevators and security without physically interacting with anything or even speaking. This combined with his ability to control his own implants implied that Isaacs had some kind of control program linked to his brain in such a way that he could operate his bio-implants in the same way in which one would operate one’s own limbs.

If Isaacs sustained life-threatening injuries, he had a sort of life support system that could keep him alive. This software monitored Isaacs’ vitals and provided a percentage that estimated how healthy Isaacs was at any given time. If Issacs was near death, causing his implants to fail and his organs to stop, the life support software could cause his systems to “reboot”. When Isaacs experienced clinical death, his life support system would reboot his body using “emergency power” (The Final Chapter novelization), the meaning of which is debatable, and would force him awake. It could restart Isaacs’ heart if it stopped, stop bleeding, and even repair damage to his body (which could possibly have been accomplished through the use of nanomachines repairing his cells). When his life support system was active, various information relating to Isaacs’ bodily functions and overall status were displayed on his HUD, including his heart rate and, oddly enough, a DNA helix.

While Isaacs’ implants made him nearly unstoppable for a human being, he had several weaknesses, all of which were described in The Final Chapter novelization:

Isaacs’ cybernetic parts could not give him battle experience, which Alice noted was one area in which she had an advantage over him in.

Despite his enhanced awareness, if Isaacs was stunned by blows in combat he would divert his attention away from his implants, causing him to overlook warnings given by his predictive software.

While Isaacs could predict most of his opponents’ behavior, one could catch him off guard by improvising and behaving in an unorthodox way. Alice was able to temporarily keep Isaacs on the defensive and even stay ahead of him in battle by feigning attacks and performing unexpected maneuvers. Alice even allowed Isaacs to slice off three of her fingers using the Hive’s laser defense system so that she could replace the airborne Anti-Virus sample in his pocket with an active grenade. Isaacs predictive software was incapable of anticipating this sort of self-sacrifice.

Isaacs’ life support system, while extremely effective, could be overstrained. In the novelization, after Alice blew a hole “the size of a dinner plate in his abdomen”, Isaacs gained the appearance of a specter. His eyes were glazed, and his skin was pale, indicating he was on the verge of dying. It may be that his implants would have eventually fully restored his eyes and complexion over time. Only minutes later Isaacs was attacked by his own clone, who stabbed him five times in the back, between the shoulder blades. This excessive strain in such a short period of time caused his systems to fail, leading to his life support to cease and his body to finally die.

Las Plagas

The Las Plagas parasite was a bioweapon seemingly developed late into the T-virus pandemic. It was an adaption of the parasite by the same name from the video game series, first introduced in Resident Evil 4. “Las Plagas” is Spanish for “The Pests”. It is often called “the Las Plagas” even though the “the” is redundant.

The exact origin of Las Plagas is unknown, as are the mechanisms by which it worked. It is not even known if it was exclusively a parasitic animal as multiple sources identify it as being a virus (Retribution screenplay, novelization, and interviews). As such, this section of the analysis relies heavily on speculation and theories, while drawing from any and all information available.

If Las Plagas was exclusively an animal, then these are some potential explanations as to its origins:

1. It may have been a giant form of the T-virus, which itself may have been a unicell parasite rather than an actual virus (see “T-virus as a parasite theory” section). This would explain why Las Plagas was called both a virus and a parasite. By making the T-Cell parasite larger, Umbrella could increase its complexity and intelligence and make modifications to its biology easier.

2. It may have been like the NE-α from the video games – an artificial parasite engineered with the T-virus by Umbrella.

3. It may have been a natural parasite modified by the T-virus. Perhaps an Undead became a host to the parasite naturally, which subsequently became infected and developed traits desirable in a weapon. At this point Umbrella would harvest the parasite after observing it then modify it to become a practical bioweapon. It may even be that Majini Undead were actually all infected with the progenitor of this parasite, with their mandibles being a part of the parasite. However, this would only work if Wesker also infected himself with it, perhaps to further enhance his abilities like Bad Rain did (see below).

The primary effect of Las Plagas was the strengthening of the natural abilities of a host. In the screenplay and novelization for Retribution, Las Plagas hosts all had glowing, fiery-red eyes, regardless of whether or not they were Undead or “human”. This supports the above possibility that Wesker may have also injected himself with Las Plagas. The smaller type of the Infector bioweapon also had glowing red eyes, and so this could simply be a common line of mutation with the T-virus. Las Plagas was known to only create two kinds of creatures: Las Plagas Undead, and superhuman-like creatures, as seen with Bad Rain.

Las Plagas was often called a virus in reference to Las Plagas Undead, and a parasite when in reference to Bad Rain. With this in mind, it may be that the “Las Plagas virus” and “Las Plagas parasite” were two different mutagens entirely. Las Plagas Undead abilities were also said to vary depending on “the strength of the infection” (Retribution screenplay and novelization), a description which fits a virus better than it would a parasite. The mutagen Bad Rain injected herself with on the other hand was actually shown to be a parasite. Las Plagas Undead were also shown to attack Bad Rain, which further supports the idea that they were created by two different mutagens. It may be that Las Plagas started off as a variant viral strain of the T-virus and was enlarged and enhanced to create the Las Plagas parasite.

It is also possible that the terms “virus” and “parasite” were meant to be interchangeable, as a virus can be used to refer to any corrupting influence in a non-technical sense. This idea supports the T-virus parasite theory, as it would mean that the T-virus may not be a literal virus at all.

All of these possibilities are best kept in mind in the following sections.

Las Plagas Parasite

The Las Plagas parasite inside an injector

The Las Plagas parasite was approximately the size of a human pinky finger. Despite this, it was able to fit through a tiny needle and swim through the human bloodstream. It may be the “high-tech syringe” used to contain the parasite broke down its body into its base components immediately before it entered the needle, with the parasite reforming itself within the bloodstream. It may also be that the parasite could compress its body in order to squeeze itself into the host and through the bloodstream.

The parasite had four legs and a tail to help it swim through blood, which would be especially necessary if it was injected into the coagulated, stagnant blood of an Undead host. The parasite would probably eventually attach itself to the central nervous system either by fusing with the brain or the spinal column. It is unknown if the parasite would grow any further inside of the host, and Las Plagas probably could not survive outside of a host body.

Las Plagas had tentacles which extended from the front of their bodies, like many T-virus hosts, possibly for hacking into the nervous system. The parasite made chittering noises, similar to T-virus T-Cells.

How Las Plagas enhanced a host is unknown. It may be that the parasite form infected the host with the T-virus, or rather with a specialized strain of it, causing cellular changes. Some parasitoid wasps do naturally use viruses to manipulate their hosts. Las Plagas could also possibly use their connection to the central nervous system to regulate the release of natural hormones to promote muscle development. In human hosts they could possibly send chemicals to numb pain receptors. The parasite itself played an active role in regeneration of the host somehow. The parasite could have also been capable of performing some kind of horizontal gene transfer with the host.

Las Plagas Undead

Las Plagas Undead (alternatively called “Plague Soldiers” by Luthor West, in reference to the meaning behind “plaga” (plague) and the function of Las Plagas Undead as soldiers; Retribution novelization) were an experimental, weaponized form of the Undead. They were being tested in Umbrella Prime and were used in Moscow Scenario 12B. Plague Soldiers were presumably created by injecting Las Plagas (be it a virus or a parasite) into normal Undead.

In order to fit the aesthetic of the Moscow test floor, Las Plagas Undead were typically dressed in tattered Russian military uniforms. Like many old Undead, their skin was extremely pale, they had sunken features, and their teeth were rotten. Some also had missing lips. This indicates that either Las Plagas did not prevent the decay of exterior parts or that the Undead they were created from were already in the more advanced stages of decay. In the Retribution novelization, the Plague Soldiers were described as not looking like Undead or like humans, with only minor rotting and glowing red eyes. Plague Soldiers have never been depicted with mandibles and so it is unknown if they were based on or at all related to Majini Undead.

Las Plagas Undead had the strength, speed, and fine motor control of Majini Undead and Super Undead. Their overall abilities depended on the strength of their infection. In the novelization for Retribution, the strength of the chainsaw-wielding Plague Soldier made it capable of easily sawing Tony in half. They were able to rapidly swim to the surface after Umbrella Prime was flooded but could not break through the ice covering the surface of the water.

Like all other Undead, Plague Soldiers could only be killed by destroying the brain or by wholly breaking the neck. Unlike normal Undead, Plague Soldiers may have felt pain to some degree – they stumbled when shot at, and one even buckled when Luthor kicked it in the groin. Plague Soldiers submerged in freezing water or set on fire did not seem to react to it, which could indicate they were not affected by temperature or at least were not totally debilitated by it.

Las Plagas Undead demonstrated human-like intelligence and behavior. They could operate a wide variety of weapons such as heavy machine guns, shotguns, rocket launchers, and even chainsaws. They could also drive pickup and flatbed trucks and motorcycles. While their motor control and reflexes were great enough to allow them to point and shoot, they still lacked the coordination to make precise shots. Plague Soldiers often opted to cover an enemy-held area in a maelstrom of bullets instead. They were capable of driving and shooting at the same time. They either could not talk or simply had no interest in doing so, and still made Undead-like growling noises.

Plague Soldiers did practice self-preservation, although to a limited degree – one used a chainsaw as a shield (Retribution novelization), and they even attempted to outrun a raging torrent of water. Regardless they did not show fear when confronted by the enemy and would calmly face a hailstorm of weapons’ fire if it meant eventually killing their adversaries.

While Super Undead effectiveness was restrained by their extreme bouts of anger, Plague Soldiers had no such weakness, although this also made them less ferocious on the battlefield. They did display some emotion and would smile in anticipation of battle. Plague Soldiers retained a desire for human flesh, although it was either partially restrained or rendered irrelevant by outside means of control. While they would often march forward with a human-like gait, they would also lunge and jump at prey like normal Undead when feeding.

It is unknown if Umbrella was able to control Las Plagas Undead or if they were simply released from captivity into a controlled environment. They were shown to attack an Umbrella operative, although this was after they were submerged in water and left for dead. This may have caused the Plague Soldiers to prioritize their survival instincts and to revert back to mindlessly devouring human flesh. If Umbrella could control them, then it may be that Umbrella used sounds imperceptible to the human ear that the Las Plagas parasite (if that is what the Plague Soldiers were infected with) was responsive to, similar to their video game counterparts. It may also be that Las Plagas simply enhanced Undead intelligence rather than actually controlling them. The intelligence and slightly subdued instincts of Las Plagas Undead could have allowed Umbrella to train them in the same way one would train a domesticated animal. It may even be that Umbrella used avatar implants to control the Plague Soldiers (which may have been short-circuited by the water they were eventually submerged in).

Las Plagas Undead cooperated with one another in combat to a degree unheard of in other Undead types. They were also capable of making coordinated group decisions instantly without speaking, like simultaneously ceasing their fire. It may be that they were simply responding to orders given by Umbrella, issued using electronic implants or special soundwaves. Or, as Luthor West theorized, they may have had some kind of telepathic connection, allowing them to communicate using psionic abilities like those used by humans evolved with the T-virus (Retribution novelization). If this was the case, it may even be this was somehow how Umbrella managed to control them – by replicating the electronic signals created by psychic brains using machines and feeding them into Plague Soldiers remotely.

At first, Plague Soldiers were incapable of adapting on the battlefield, while practicing very little in the way of self-preservation. They were even described as “dim-witted” (Retribution novelization). During an attack against Leon’s strike team, they just fired blindly in the team’s general direction when their numbers and Undead-vitality could have allowed them to easily advance and overwhelm the group. Despite this, the Plague Soldiers attacking Leon’s team eventually did begin to operate tactically – they began to flank the group, advance in waves, tactically retreat, create distractions, and seek cover from enemy fire. This could have been due to commands issued by Umbrella, as when Jill Valentine ordered one of her troopers to “make sure they died”, he issued some new command to the Plague Soldiers using his tactical glasses (Retribution novelization). It may also be the soldiers lacked any combat experience before engaging the strike team and were actually learning to fight more effectively on the spot.

The chainsaw-wielding Plague Soldier smiles

The Undead-vitality, possible telepathic abilities, and cheap creation of Las Plagas Undead made them somewhat preferable over using human clones in combat for Umbrella, at least in theory. They were still at an experimental stage in development and were all seemingly destroyed when Umbrella Prime was flooded.

If the Las Plagas used to create the Plague Soldiers was a virus like Leon and Sergei indicated (Retribution novelization and screenplay), it may have actually been an improved form of the Super Undead strain developed by Sam Isaacs using the blood of Alice clones. If Plague Soldiers were infected with a parasite, then the same possibility exists – the Super Undead strain could have simply been used to develop the parasite instead. The purpose of Umbrella Prime was also said to have shifted towards “controlling the biohazard”, which was the same purpose behind Isaacs’ experiments with Super Undead. Wesker was said to have transferred all of Isaacs’ data to the Tokyo facility at the end of Extinction, and he could have sent this data to Umbrella Prime afterwards. Or Umbrella Prime continued the experiments once the Tokyo facility was destroyed in Afterlife. It may even simply be that Umbrella facilities the world over became solely focused on the same goal – domestication and improvement of the Undead for use as manual labor and/or soldiers. Las Plagas being related to the Alice serum would explain their intelligence, strength, telepathic abilities, and even them possibly feeling some degree of pain, as the enhanced regenerative potential of their strain would cause some of the damaging symptoms of the virus to be reversed. The exact nature of this regeneration could have been related to reason Bad Rain essentially became immortal (see the section below).

If they were injected with a parasite, then their intelligence could actually have come from the parasite itself – Las Plagas may simply bypass the Undead brain and control the body itself. If the T-virus was really an intelligent parasite that controlled the corpses it infected, then increasing the size of the parasite in the Las Plagas type would likely increase the intelligence of the parasite and its human-puppet as well.

It may also be that the viral form of Las Plagas turns human hosts into Undead, and that Plague Soldiers were created using human hosts. This is supported by claims that the Las Plagas Undead “retained” their intelligence and memories – if they were Undead that became smarter following their infection with Las Plagas, they would regain intelligence, not retain it.

In the novelization for Retribution, Alice pondered what Umbrella’s future goal could be, which is very interesting with Las Plagas in mind:

What was Umbrella up to, now? It had destroyed civilization. Perhaps now it wanted to create a warped caricature of civilization. Maybe it wanted to use the T-virus to create an alternate humanity. New levels of class distinction, perhaps. At the bottom rung would be the controlled Undead. At the top, mutated, virus-warped superhumans. And in between, everyone else.

As Umbrella was later shown to possess an airborne Anti-Virus that was going to destroy all Undead anyway, it may be that the Las Plagas Undead were only meant to aid Umbrella in its attacks against the last organized groups humanity had to offer.

Las Plagas Rain

An Umbrella-controlled clone of Rain Ocampo (“Bad Rain”) injected herself with Las Plagas and developed superhuman abilities. Bad Rain could actually fit just as well under the “Evolved Humans” section of this analysis. Her superiority over Las Plagas Undead may have been due to:

1. Her form of Las Plagas being a parasite, which was more effective than the viral form used in Las Plagas Undead.

2. The fact that she was not Undead, which allowed her undamaged body to reap the full benefits of Las Plagas. Her living cells would still contain an ample supply of ATP, allowing Las Plagas to promote cellular division and thus new mutations. Her fully functioning brain could also still produce and distribute hormones using her still running bloodstream.

3. Her infection being “stronger”, going off a line from the novelization and screenplay claiming that the abilities Las Plagas granted were dependent of infection strength. This could be interpreted as meaning her Las Plagas was an advanced type. Her abilities were based on those possessed by Osmund Saddler from Resident Evil 4, and his abilities were granted by an improved version of Las Plagas called the “Dominant Plaga”; this supports the idea that Bad Rain was infected with an improved version of Las Plagas.

Bad Rain performs her lethal palm strike attack.

According to The Final Chapter novelization, Bad Rain “injected herself with the Las Plagas virus, increasing her strength, speed, and durability tenfold”. This would presumably support the idea that “virus” and “parasite” are meant to be synonymous with each other.

The mutated form of Bad Rain was given an assortment of names in the Retribution novelization: The Rain creature, Rain mutant, Rain thing, the Las Plagas monster, and the Las Plagas horror. The novelization also referred to her as both a “she” and an “it” (and, on one odd occasion, a “he”).

Bad Rain retained all of her intelligence as well as her human form following her infection with Las Plagas. As Umbrella struggled to create any human super soldiers with the virus at the time of the onset of the pandemic, this would seemingly represent a major breakthrough for the company. It may be that Bad Rain’s humanoid state was only temporary, or that her body would prove to be unstable in a matter similar to Wesker. If Las Plagas Undead were an improved form of Super Undead, then Bad Rain and any mutant like her could be seen as an improved form of the Tyrant. Whether or not human hosts would be controllable like Las Plagas Undead possibly were is unknown, as Bad Rain was already subservient to Umbrella prior to her infecting herself.

Rain’s appearance and behavior following her infection in the Retribution screenplay and novel were much more monstrous in comparison to her depiction in the film. Upon injecting herself with the parasite in these depictions, her whole body contorted. Her body was described as swollen, splitting her clothing at the seams. This was likely a result of enlarged muscle mass, which would enhance her strength and possibly even provide some form of buffer between her organs and gunfire. Like Las Plagas Undead in these depictions, Rain’s eyes glowed red. Over time, Rain’s body continued to swell in size and her eyes glowed brighter, which supports the above idea that her mutation was only just beginning and that her retaining her human form in the film was only temporary. Her veins bulged and throbbed across her entire body. This could have been due to inflammation, or even the parasite growing within her. She howled and roared like a typical monster yet retained the ability to talk.

Rain’s strength was greatly enhanced by the parasite. She was capable of easily besting Leon Kennedy and Luthor West in hand-to-hand combat, despite being outnumbered by the two men. Her blows would send the men flying through the air and she broke the fingers in Leon’s hand by catching his fist and squeezing his hand. Similar to the palm strike often used by Alice when she was superhuman herself, Bad Rain often used an open-hand palm-strike directed at the chest of her enemies. The precision and power of this strike made it a death blow on most occasions. Bad Rain would put all of her mass into the strike, with the sheer impact of the blow sending a shockwave that would shatter the ribcage, pulverize the lungs and other organs, and stop the heart (Retribution novelization and screenplay). When someone did manage to survive this blow, they would be left in a critical, near-incapacitated state regardless.

In the novelization and screenplay for Retribution, Bad Rain’s speed was increased as well. She was described as being too fast to avoid or accurately shoot at, with “lightning” speed presumably similar to that of Wesker. In the movie, Bad Rain was quick-moving but no faster than a physically fit human.

Rain’s most impressive quality following infection was that she became seemingly indestructible. She hardly reacted to any physical blows, including being hit in the skull with a fire extinguisher. Even when Leon and Luthor emptied the clips of their weapons into her body, Rain was only stunned. At least four of these bullets even pierced Rain’s head, including her forehead, and yet she only winced in pain and managed to stay on her feet. And all of this occured only seconds after she injected herself with the parasite. When Luthor hit Rain with a clenched knuckle, he appeared to harm his hand, which would imply her body was hardened to the point that her tissue was nearly impervious to damage. Even when her body was damaged, it was completely healed near-instantaneously. Bullet wounds created on Rain’s body disappeared within moments. In the novelization for Retribution, when Luthor broke Rain’s skull completely open with an extinguisher, her head was immediately repaired. The parasite was said to rebuild her skull from within in this instance, indicating the parasite itself was able to rebuild her body faster than it could be efficiently damaged. As such Rain did not even bother to avoid being shot at (Retribution screenplay), although she did make some effort to block melee attacks.

Bad Rain had the unique ability to expel any bullets fired into her from her body. The bullets would noticeably move underneath her skin to her extremities until they burst from the tips of her fingers. The ripped-open fingertips would immediately heal and seal shut afterwards. It may be that Las Plagas itself pushed them out of her, which could imply that the parasite had grown throughout her body. In the novelization for Retribution, some of the bullets Rain expelled came out through her mouth as well.

Bad Rain is showered in bullets, and then ejects them from her body.

Luthor and Alice thought that if they could obliterate Rain’s brain quickly enough, they could manage to kill her before the parasite managed to heal her (Retribution novelization), although they failed to achieve this. Instead, Alice shot the ice underneath Rain’s feet, causing her to be submerged in the freezing ocean water. Bad Rain was then surrounded and presumably devoured by countless Las Plagas Undead that had fled Umbrella Prime after it was destroyed. In the screenplay and novel, it was revealed that Bad Rain actually survived this ordeal but couldn’t stop herself from sinking. She continued to walk slowly along the ocean floor, 27 fathoms undersea, despite being half-frozen with ice along her arms, driven by her desire to fulfill her threat to Alice that she would return and seek vengeance. If the airborne Anti-Virus that was shortly thereafter released affected Las Plagas infected, then it presumably killed Bad Rain once and for all.

Submarine Las Plagas

In the Retribution novelization, an Umbrella submarine housed a group of Las Plagas-infected. These types were called “regular soldier types that Umbrella had been experimenting with”, and “not the powerful kind”, in contrast to the more powerful Bad Rain. It is unknown if these creatures were meant to be live hosts to Las Plagas or Las Plagas Undead, or even something in between. They were kept in suspended animation by freezing them solid, making them safe to transport to locations where Umbrella desired to deploy them. These soldiers thawed and attacked several humans that were using the submarine but were all destroyed before they could leave the vessel.

These soldiers, at one point simply called “Las Plagas”, had similar features to Bad Rain, despite being explicitly described as a different type of mutation. They had swollen bodies that were too big for their clothing, veiny faces, and glowing red eyes. Their eyes blinked, unlike normal Undead. They had the intelligence and coordination to climb ladders. They were “amazingly strong” and could not only break through a locked submarine trapdoor, bending it on its hinges, but could cause piles of heavy items covering it to explode upwards in a single push.

Head wounds from handguns had no effect on the soldiers, and it was stated that high-caliber weapons would be needed to destroy them. When on fire they shrieked, showing that they did feel pain to some degree. When the soldiers were killed, their eyes stopped glowing.

If these soldiers were Las Plagas Undead, then it may be that they were a perfected type, with the Moscow Plague Soldiers being the prototypes of these soldiers. If they were live hosts, then it may be that Bad Rain injected herself with an advanced type that made her stronger than they were.

Scarab

A “Scarab” (also called an “electronic restraint” in an Afterlife screenplay) was an Umbrella-made, robotic device with spider-like legs that could plant itself onto the chests of humans and control them. Based on how it operated and its appearance late in the franchise, it would seem that the Scarab was a modified version of the control device implanted into the skulls of Alice and Nemesis. While both of those individuals were able to retain memories and resist control, the Scarab managed to eliminate these control faults. The surveillance Umbrella made of Nemesis and Alice likely allowed them to perfect the control device and mass produce it.

Years into the global T-virus outbreak, once the Scarab was seemingly created, one of each such device was implanted onto almost all Umbrella personnel (some technicians and researchers were spared this fate). This was likely done to ensure the remaining personnel outside of Umbrella High Command did not rebel once Umbrella began to cull the remainder of the human race. Umbrella also used Scarabs to pacify test subjects they stored on the Arcadia. Former S.T.A.R.S. officer Jill Valentine was implanted with a Scarab device and forced to become the head of security at Umbrella Prime. By the events of The Final Chapter, Umbrella personnel were no longer implanted with Scarabs. This may imply that only the personnel of Umbrella Prime were implanted, either due to the experimental nature of the device, limits in their mass production and/or distribution in the post-apocalyptic world, or due to Prime being a fully “automated” facility run by the Red Queen, and thus leaving no room for human error.

Scarabs were approximately four inches long and had four, sharp legs (“talons”; Afterlife screenplay) that they used to grab onto the chests of human hosts. Their outer shell was made of steel (Afterlife screenplay) and/or titanium (Retribution novelization), but their individual parts could be easily separated and destroyed by gunfire. In the center of the device was a red, glass container housing many of its internal components (“electronic guts”) as well as some kind of drug. A Scarab would inject this drug into a host using four retractable needles (its “fangs”, or “drug infuser”) located under the device. These needles also served as the point where a Scarab managed to “hack” into the central nervous system of a host. In an Afterlife screenplay, the Scarab instead used its “talons” to inject the drug. The glass part of a Scarab would release a red glow from internal lights when the Scarab was actively issuing orders, displaying a HUD, or otherwise impacting the host’s mind.

A Scarab could be planted on or underneath a host’s clothing. They had a major fault in that they were not overly difficult to pry off. A detached Scarab was autonomous. It was piloted either by an onboard AI or the Red Queen, and could quickly run, flip itself around, and leap using complicated servos in the legs. A detached Scarab would be capable of “sensing” its former host somehow and would attempt to immediately reattach itself. Even when attached to a host, a Scarab would shift and react to being touched as if it were alive. An inactive Scarab with its internal components removed could still be held onto a host, indicating the legs would automatically clamp onto a host regardless of whether or not its AI was functioning (Retribution novelization). Small, bloody marks would be left on the chest where the Scarab attached its legs and its fangs if it was removed.

The drug released by the Scarab constantly repressed memories in a subject. While past attempts at destroying memories in Nemesis and Alice proved to be only temporary or incomplete, the Scarab managed to keep memories at bay constantly by injecting the host with the drug. The Scarab managed to somehow monitor the thoughts of a subject and worked to actively suppress memories whenever they began to crop up (Retribution novelization). It did the same thing for the subject’s personality, rendering the host a blank slate for the Scarab to impress its programming onto. Because of this hosts generally looked “robotic and empty eyed” (Retribution novelization).

The drug the Scarab used seemed to be metabolized from the body rather quickly, and its effects were only temporary, so a subject could begin to regain memories and free will immediately following the removal of a Scarab. The period it took for a person liberated from a Scarab to regain their memories was extremely inconsistent, as Claire Redfield took days to recover her memories whereas Jill recovered hers in mere minutes. The symptom of temporary memory loss that is recovered at a random time period is shared with the nerve gas used in the Looking Glass House. This could imply a connection between the drug and the gas in some capacity. Extended exposure to the drug may have caused some sort of damage to hair follicles as Jill Valentine’s hair became blonde when she was under the device’s control.

In a screenplay for Afterlife, the drug used by the Scarab was a clear blue liquid. In this depiction the hosts of a Scarab would go through severe withdrawal symptoms once the drug left their bodies. Hosts in withdrawal would experience fever and intense pain that led to convulsions throughout the body. The effects of withdrawal combined with memory loss would send the host into a state of confusion and distress, where they would become prone to violent, unpredictable mood swings. After some days passed, the drug would be fully cleansed from the host’s system, and at this time the host’s memories would gradually return. In the final version of Afterlife and in Retribution, the only symptom that persisted beyond drug removal was memory loss, although the host would enter a state of shock once the Scarab was removed, sending them into convulsions and leaving them in a weakened state, likely due to its connection to the central nervous system.

Besides sending chemicals into the body, the Scarab also interfaced directly with the brain and eyeballs. It used this to presumably manipulate the fragile mind of the amnesiac host. A Scarab seemed to have a sort of local AI that was capable of making split-second decisions and relay orders to the host as circumstances changed. As most Scarabs were controlled by the Red Queen, it may be that the Queen simply operated the onboard systems of Scarabs itself. A Scarab could regulate the thoughts of a host in real time by monitoring the brain.

When the Scarab was used as a mere “restraint” for test subjects, it simply caused them to lose consciousness. If the host was not monitored or placed in stasis in this state, they could awaken in a state of confusion and possibly become violent. This was seen with Claire Redfield.

When a Scarab was used to control an active host’s behavior, their personality was manipulated depending on the context of their orders. When the host was inactive, the Scarab would put them into a passive, “neutral state”, where the host was content to sit down and stare at the ground like a machine powered down. In this state, the host experienced a sense of peace and contentment (Retribution novelization). When given orders, the host would experience a sort of “hot stimulation” (Retribution novelization), causing them to jump to attention. The host would actually gasp for air when they were “activated”, which could be due to them being placed in a low respiratory state while in their neutral state. The host, once active, would fulfil their orders with ruthless efficiency. Hosts, despite having their memories and personality suppressed, could still display emotion. In hosts used as soldiers, this usually manifested itself in sadistic behavior, as the Scarab influenced every aspect of the mind to make the host an ideal soldier. The intelligence of a host was not affected by the Scarab, and they could still reason, adapt, and even make independent decisions so long as it was in-line with what the Scarab wanted from them.

The host’s exact mental state was better elaborated on in the novelization for Retribution: A host became servile to Umbrella and the Scarab itself, seeking to please them. The host would become enamored with Umbrella’s “grand design”. The Scarab would “speak” to the host mentally, although this could simply be the way the host mind would interpret its orders. Hosts were also programmed to never touch their Scarab. Whenever the drug failed to completely suppress “renegade” thoughts and feelings, they would manifest themselves to the host as a sort of vague intuition. This is comparable to Nemesis, who regularly heard the thoughts of Matt’s residual consciousness (Apocalypse novelization). Unlike Nemesis, the Scarab could detect and fight these impulses. The Scarab would send a pulse that could “mute” residual memories and would “assure” the host that were not to question the will of Umbrella. If the host entertained these thoughts or began to form new ones that contradicted the Scarab’s directives, the Scarab would send an electric shock to the host, which felt like “a bee sting inside of [the host’s] skull”. If the host continued to resist control and entertain rogue thoughts regularly, they would be recycled in a bio-vat, where the body would be harvested of amino acids, proteins, and “other fundamentals” for the sake of cloning a replacement. The hosts were made aware of this, and it motivated them to suppress and ignore any feelings that the Scarab missed themselves.

Like the control devices used on Nemesis and Alice, a Scarab could project a HUD onto the retinas of a host, with the pupil dilating and changing into an Umbrella shape in the process (like Alice’s eyes when her control device was active, further supporting a connection). Either the eyes of such a person were also replaced with artificial ones powered by the Scarab, the drugs injected into the subject caused mutagenic changes to the eyes, or the change in shape was somehow caused by the Scarab projecting images through the natural eye. In The Final Chapter, Alicia Marcus was shown to use a clear, liquid-like contact lens to form a neural interface with a computer. It may be that Scarab hosts were also given such a contact lens. This could apply to the eyes of Alice as well.

The Scarab HUD covered the host’s vision in a red filter and was capable of scanning individual faces and zooming in like a camera. Orders issued by the Scarab were displayed in text on the HUD, in addition to being fed to the brain directly. When a Scarab HUD was in “tactical view”, it displayed a target’s threat level, the host’s bodily condition, and a radar that was able to track targets and display them as dots (this may have been how a Scarab was able to sense its host even when detached). Like with previous Umbrella control implants, remote users were able to monitor the vision of a Scarab host. This worked in reverse as well – the Red Queen was able to send security footage picked up by cameras and feed them directly into the eyes of a Scarab host.

Jill's Umbrella eyes, and her POV

Jill Valentine’s Scarab also included predictive combat software (Retribution novelization) like that used by Alexander Isaacs, albeit somewhat inferior. Umbrella was known to keep their most advanced technology a secret while only putting outdated tech on the open market (Genesis novelization); this practice could have extended to Isaacs and the rest of the company itself, with him keeping the most advanced version of the predictive technology to himself. The Scarab also allowed Jill to focus in battle, due to the near-absolute control it had over her brain. According to the Retribution novelization, while Jill was in combat:

The fight had been carried out almost as much by the scarab as by her own brain and body. She was in hyper-sync with the object, its impulses and flow of data making her like a ballet dancer in sync with music.

Jill Valentine’s Scarab may also have influenced her brain’s production of natural hormones, like adrenaline. This is supported by the immense strength possessed by Jill, who was able to lift Alice with a single arm and send her flying into the air with a kick. This was also supported by a readout on Jill’s HUD in the Retribution novelization, which said “ADRENALINE SURGE – 150%”. In a screenplay for Retribution, Jill was also said to be fast enough to dodge bullets. In The Final Chapter novelization, it was said that thanks to the technology employed by the Scarab, Jill’s speed and strength were both enhanced beyond the level of a human being.

Like the bio-implants used by Isaacs, Jill’s Scarab also allowed her to wirelessly interface with electronics simply by looking at them. She did this to start a snowcat’s wheels, intending to use them to execute Alice.

The game counterpart to the Scarab device is the P30 injector. Since the P30 drug was related to the Progenitor Virus, the Scarab drug may have been derived from the T-virus. The use of these devices by Umbrella supports the idea that Las Plagas did not actually control the behavior of hosts, otherwise they would be used instead.

Avatar Implant

Dania Cardoza of the Umbrella Corporation developed an offshoot of the Scarab device referred to as an “avatar implant”. This device was created specifically in order to control Undead and other monsters created by the T-virus. It may be that the software that allowed Scarabs to interface with the nervous system of a human host did not work on the heavily damaged and mutated systems of the Undead. If Las Plagas were capable of controlling Undead hosts, then it may be that avatar implants were either cheaper to produce, a separate project in another Umbrella facility, or simply more reliable.

Avatar implants were much smaller in size than Scarabs. They were about the size of a quarter (over 4 times smaller than a normal Scarab). Avatar implants were implanted behind the right ear of Undead hosts instead of on the chest. Having such a direct access point to the brain itself would likely aid the device when controlling an Undead. They also worked on Undead dogs, Lickers, Uber-Lickers, Axe Men, Giant Spiders, (possibly) Infectors, and on many other kinds of monsters.

Creatures controlled by avatar implants could be directed towards a desired target. When the person controlling the implants remotely “deactivated” them, it actually put any affected hosts into a passive state, similar to Scarab hosts that were in a neutral state. Passive hosts would look towards their controller as if awaiting commands.

Due to being in a prototype stage, an avatar implant’s usefulness was limited – the strain it created on its host tended to burn out the nervous system in only a few hours, the control it exerted over bioweapons was limited, and its signal range was unreliable (likely due to its smaller size). This made it generally inferior to the internal control devices normally used on Umbrella bioweapons. The main advantage of avatar implants was that they would be much easier to implant on “wild” Undead, especially if they were capable of independent movement like their larger Scarab counterparts. They could be used to gather all of the Undead in an area and move them towards a specific target, which they would overwhelm due to their combined numbers. After their period of viability was over, the implanted creatures would all be killed by their devices, which would leave an area unoccupied and ready for Umbrella to take over. Avatar implants were most useful in the creation of a Melange, as they would bring the base “components” for the monster in close proximity to each other and to the Melange’s target.

If the avatar implant was given time to be perfected, it would have allowed Umbrella to implant and control any of the infected creatures that were overrunning the planet indefinitely. This would result in the culmination of the company’s domestication research and would render Umbrella virtually unstoppable.

Avatar implants were only ever mentioned in the novelization for The Final Chapter.

Sources and Note on Canon

The Resident Evil film series and its related media belongs to Sony, Constantine Films, and CAPCOM.

Sources for the Nemesis and Afterlife art:

https://robmccallumart.com/creatures

https://robmccallumart.com/resident-evil-afterlife

Sources for The Final Chapter art:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/DZZbE

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/2mGDa

Source for the pictures of Resident Evil props:

YourProps.com

Images taken from the Biohazard 2 Movie Data File were scanned by RELive.

Screenshots for the first film, Apocalypse, and Retribution were taken by BSAArklay. BSAArklay also made many edits to improve the visuals of this analysis.

The novelizations of the Anderson Resident Evil films were all consulted for the sake of this analysis. There are minor contradictions in the books, but they are for the most part meticulous and accurate. Even if one were to consider each separate book to be non-canon to the film universe, the inclusion of novel information in this analysis could be justified in that this editorial is meant to cover every aspect relating to viruses and monsters that fall under the umbrella (no pun intended) of Anderson lore. The same can be said for unused scripts. Information exclusive the novels and scripts are always followed by a source in parenthesis. For example: “Nemesis perceived the thoughts of Matt (Apocalypse novelization)”.

In short, while movie lore takes precedence, any information from officially licensed media that is meant to expand on the films is included as well.

All references to the “Progenitor Cell” come from the novelization for The Final Chapter. All other information regarding the origin of the virus comes from the films themselves. The facility Alice was experimented on for the second time being in San Fransico comes from the novels – in the films, the location of this facility is left anonymous.

Anderson Virus Analysis III