Albert Wesker

Albert Wesker (アルバート・ウェスカー) is a character in the Resident Evil franchise. Although portrayed as a supporting character in the first game, he was later established as the primary antagonist of the series; he usually manipulated story events behind-the-scenes and had a role in more games than the other main characters. The film version of Wesker is played by Jason O'Mara in Resident Evil: Extinction and Shawn Roberts in Resident Evil: Afterlife. Roberts will reprise the role of Wesker in Resident Evil: Retribution.

Resident Evil
Wesker made his first appearance as a non-playable character in the original Resident Evil game, assisting the player character against Lisa Trevor in the remake. In that game, he is the commanding officer of Alpha team of the Special Tactics And Rescue Service (STARS). It is eventually revealed that Wesker is a double agent working for the Umbrella Corporation; ordered by his superiors to lure the STARS into the Spencer mansion to be used as test subjects against the mutated creatures to gather battle data. Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and the others come to learn of Wesker's true motive, but after releasing the Tyrant monster, Wesker seemingly dies.

But this is part of an even bigger plan. In the special giveaway fictional documentary titled Wesker's Report, Wesker reveals that he survived his apparent death in the first game by injecting himself beforehand with an experimental virus, provided by his former Umbrella colleague William Birkin, that revived and augmented him with superhuman strength, speed and regeneration, but at the expense of his humanity. Wesker returned in Resident Evil Code: Veronica, augmented with superhuman powers and working for an unnamed secret organization against Umbrella. When Chris knocks his sunglasses off during a brief struggle, Wesker's cat-like eyes are seen for the first time. He confronts both Chris and Alexia and he took the corpse of Steve Burnside for tests. In the remake, Code: Veronica X, he briefly confronts Chris' younger sister Claire and nearly kills her in order to torment Chris, but is called away by his associates and thus chooses to spare her life.

Wesker then appeared alongside William Birkin in Resident Evil Zero, a prequel to the original game, and later in Resident Evil 4 as a conspirator manipulating events from behind the scenes, where he would issue orders to Ada Wong. He is also the main protagonist in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and a playable character in several of the game's scenarios, expanding upon events alluded to in early games, as well as his involvement in Umbrella's downfall after the events of Code: Veronica and his development in Resident Evil 4. In the end he kills Sergei Vladimir, a loyal Umbrella enforcer.

Wesker returns in Resident Evil 5 as the main antagonist conspiring with Tricell Pharmaceutical Company to create a potent virus called Uroboros which he ultimately plans to release into the Earth's atmosphere, ensuring complete global saturation. Before being killed by Wesker, Ozwell Spencer reveals that Wesker was the survivor of a genetic engineering experiment on children - Project Wesker. (It is implied in the RE5 DLC "Lost In Nightmares" that another Wesker, Alex, survived as well). Chris and Sheva Alomar prevent the worldwide infection and ultimately kill Wesker inside a volcano at the end of the game. Masachika Kawata, the game's producer, confirmed that Wesker perished in the game's finale.

Wesker appears in the spin-off title Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D as a playable character along with various other Resident Evil characters. Albert Wesker's voice is heard on the 15th anniversary special video narrating the events.

In other games
Wesker appears in the crossover fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds as a playable character and a key character in the game's plot, in which he joins forces with Doctor Doom as the two build an army of supervillains, attempting to merge the two dimensions in the hopes of conquering both.

He also makes a guest appearance as an unlockable skin in Lost Planet 2.

In film
Wesker's character was adapted for the 2007 live-action film Resident Evil: Extinction. Played by Jason O'Mara, this version of Wesker is the head of the Umbrella Corporation, as opposed to Wesker's role in the games as a renegade high-ranking Umbrella researcher. He runs Umbrella's operations from behind the scenes, holding meetings via hologram with his underground board of directors in Tokyo.

Shawn Roberts took over the role of Wesker in Resident Evil: Afterlife, where the character is closer to his Code Veronica and especially his Resident Evil 5 incarnations, complete with superhuman abilities and glowing red eyes; he even wears the same outfit as in the latter game. Wesker says some of his lines from the game as well.

Promotion and reception
An action figure of Wesker was released by Palisades Toys in 2002; two more were released by Hot Toys in 2009.

The character of Albert Wesker has been well-received by video game publications. In 2006, IGN ranked Wesker number three on their list of "10 Most Memorable Villains", claiming that "Res Evil fans know that whenever Wesker shows up, non-cannon zombie Wesker isn't far behind" and also ranked him as the 14th best video game villain in 2010. In 2008, GamePro ranked Wesker as the 40th most diabolical video game villain of all time. An IGN article from March 2010 titled "Big Boss of the Day: Resident Evil's Albert Wesker" that discussed his appearances across the franchise, comparing him with other video game villains including Bowser and Sephiroth as well commenting it is strange to have a Resident Evil without him. GameSpot featured him in the "All Time Greatest Game Villains" poll, where Wesker lost to Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda. In 2009, GamesRadar listed Wesker as one of the top seven characters who never stay dead, describing him as the "proverbial man behind the curtain" in the Resident Evil series. Similarly, 1UP.com also placed him number eight in their article "They is Risen" in response to his apparent resurrection in the Resident Evil series. GamesRadar gave praise to Wesker's death in Resident Evil 5 as it showed the character's strength due to the requirements to defeat him while D. C. Douglas's performance as the character also received positive comments during the self-bloopers from the series. On the other hand, 1UP.com also ranked him as the top thing in the series that Resident Evil 5 "could do without" prior to its release.