Albert Wesker

Project W

Short for Project Wesker, Project-W was set up by Ozwell E. Spencer in an effort to create a race of genetically superior humans that would look up to Spencer as a god and do his bidding. Named Project Wesker after a high ranking Umbrella official at the time, the first part of the plan was to kidnap several hundred children born to parents with above average intelligence. Then the children would be indoctrinated to the whims of Spencer while being trained to get them in superior physical condition. Then the children were administered with the Progenitor Virus. The survival rate was incredibly low and the remaining children were then monitored secretly for the rest of their lives.

Early Life

Before the events of any Resident Evil games, Albert Wesker worked for the Umbrella Corporation. Joining at 18 years old, working under James Marcus, and alongside William Birkin, Wesker was deemed to be something of a prodigy in the Management Training Division. When that division was shut down in 1978, Wesker and Birkin were transferred to the Arklay Research Facility on the outskirts of Raccoon City. Here they worked on the T-Virus for 13 years with their research peaking in 1988 with the creation of the Tyrant. Shortly after this, Wesker and Birkin were ordered to assassinate their mentor, James Marcus, and take all his research for themselves. This, along with Birkin's development of the G-Virus by mutating Lisa Trevor, cause Wesker to lose faith in his team and transferred to the Umbrella Intelligence Bureau in 1991. 5 years later, Wesker formed the Raccoon City branch of the S.T.A.R.S. acting as both leader and captain of the Alpha Team. Trained to be the best of the best, the S.T.A.R.S. were dispatched to the Arklay Mountains in 1998 to investigate what was believed to be a series of cult murders.

Resident Evil Zero

Though no longer a part of the Umbrella Corporation's staff, Wesker was allowed into the facility beneath Raccoon City's sewers by William Birkin to help him monitor an outbreak aboard a train that both men had personal stake in. The two men sent in a small task force to clean up the train, and are seen through the course of the game in short cutscenes. At the end of the game, Wesker decided that it was time to abandon Umbrella. He is given an experimental virus by Birkin, and proceeds to begin his plan of luring the S.T.A.R.S. into the Spencer Mansion in effort to collect combat data on Umbrella's bio-weapons.

Resident Evil

After assisting his team in escaping the infected canine infested Raccoon Forest, Wesker led them into the Spencer Mansion, which was supposed to have been abandoned. The rest of the team was surprised by how well kept the mansion was, seemingly untouched by time and obviously not as vacant as they had believed. Wesker on the other hand, had known full well that the mansion had been actively used for research on Umbrella's biological weapons for decades, and proceeds to break himself away from the other S.T.A.R.S. Wesker takes this opportunity to inject himself with the experimental virus given to him by Birkin.

Both impressed and dismayed by the S.T.A.R.S. progress against Umbrella's bio-weapons, Wesker forcefully enlists the aid of S.T.A.R.S. Operative and all-around family man Barry Burton by telling him that his family was being held captive by Umbrella, and would be executed if his every instruction wasn't followed. Barry reluctantly follows Wesker's directions.

Wesker's plans go well despite the S.T.A.R.S. progress, at least until Bravo team Captain Enrico Marini discovers a document linking Wesker to Umbrella. With Enrico and Barry being best friends, and Jill Valentine keeping her watchful eye over his new faithful lapdog, Wesker is forced to nearly reveal himself and put a bullet in Enrico before darting into the shadows.

Wesker is encountered only twice more during the game, found on the cabin grounds being attacked by infected insects and finally at the end of the game, where it revealed to the rest of the S.T.A.R.S. that Wesker isn't exactly serving their best interests. Obviously outnumbered by his former team mates, Wesker releases the Tyrant. Under different circumstances, Wesker is either knocked unconscious by the Tyrant or impaled by him. If he is impaled, it is alluded that the Tyrant activates the self-destruct mechanism within the lab. If he is knocked unconscious, his body can be found next to the self-destruction mechanism shortly after it is activated.

Either way, it is assumed that he is killed in the explosion. Instead, Wesker reanimates with super-human strength and agility thanks to the virus provided by William Birkin, and is able to escape the Spencer Mansion before it is destroyed.

The Aftermath

Using this as the perfect chance to disappear, Wesker went underground and joined Umbrella's rival, The Agency, in a high ranking position. During the confusion caused by the outbreak, Wesker hired Ada Wong to sneak into Raccoon City and steal the last remaining G-Virus sample from his former partner William Birkin's daughter, Sherry. However, the operation was a disaster and the virus ended up in the hands of H.U.N.K., an Umbrella Mercenary. Not taking no for an answer, Wesker retaliated by locking Sherry in a secret facility under the belief that she knew more about the G-Virus than was believed.

Resident Evil: Code Veronica

While spying on Umbrella, Wesker learned of the development of a new strain of T-Virus, known as the T-Veronica virus, created by Alexia Ashford on the remote Rockfort Island Facility. While the location of the island was deemed a secret to everyone outside of Umbrella, Wesker managed to launch an armed assault on the island along with others from The Agency. While the attack was a success, Alexia managed to flee to the Antarctic Research Facility. In hot pursuit, Wesker arrives at the facility and almost immediately runs into his old S.T.A.R.S. subordinate and foe, Chris Redfield who is shocked to see him alive and more powerful than ever. Here, it comes to light that to survive the Tyrant in 1998, Wesker injected himself with an early sample of the G-Virus which while giving him super strength and agility, has removed any semblance of conscience and has made him exceptionally driven in his quest to eliminate the S.T.A.R.S., Umbrella and maybe even the world. It should be noted that while it is believed that Chris and Wesker are the hero and villain of the Resident Evil universe, all stemming from the Spencer Mansion Incident, in the first Resident Evil game, it is Jill's scenario which is canonical meaning that Chris never faced Wesker in the Mansion, rather he was locked up in the jail cell while Jill was out fighting.

While on the island, Wesker tried to use his powers to take down Alexia Ashford but she used her own T-Veronica mutations and fought back, sending him reeling. Again, not accepting defeat, Wesker instead got his sample of the virus from the body of Steve Burnside. However, while doing so, Chris had set off the island's self-destruct timer and while attempting to escape, runs into Wesker. Convincing him to let his sister go in exchange for one potentially final showdown, the two brawl as the island crumbles around them. Using his superior abilities, Wesker dominates Chris, however, getting cocky, he gives Chris enough time to leap up and reach a lever, dropping many iron girders on top of him. Relatively unphased, Wesker climbs back to his feet and vows revenge on Chris, who is now on the other side of an impenetrable wall of fire. Chris soon escapes and the Facility is destroyed, leaving many to believe that Wesker had been killed again.

The Umbrella Chronicles

In 2003, two years after the events of Code: Veronica, Wesker broke into the Russian Umbrella Facility in order to steal all the information he could from the Red Queen A.I., however, while in the Facility, he was attacked by Sergei Vladimir and his army of bio weapons. Taking them all out swiftly, Wesker then faced Vladimir who had mutated into a variation of the T-003 Tyrants that he had been developing for Umbrella, however, he too was destroyed by Wesker.

Resident Evil 4

Using the information he stole from the Russian base, Wesker managed to get the Umbrella Corporation liquidated. While this may have looked like Wesker's plan from the start, it had always been his intention to destroy Umbrella and then rebuild it as he saw fit rather than how Ozwell E. Spencer wanted things done and so, to do so, Wesker got in contact with the S Corporation. Very little is known about S Corp. besides that they have come to the forefront of the pharmaceutical industry since the collapse of Umbrella. Knowing that Wesker was up to something, The Agency sent Ada Wong to act as his operative during his brief affiliation with Los Illuminados and to supply him with a decoy sample of Las Plagas. While the plan worked flawlessly, Wesker was aware of the sample being a fake and sought the virus through other channels.

Finding Spencer

Still unsure of Spencer's intentions regarding B.O.W.s, Wesker spent a lot of time and money searching for the whereabouts of Spencer, who hadn't been seen since the collapse of Umbrella several years previous. Eventually tracking him down to a remote castle, Wesker was surprised to find that Spencer was expecting him. Spencer told Wesker about his upbringing in Project W and that after all the advanced training and monitoring, the final stage of the project was to return to Spencer and accept him for the god he believed himself to be, however, Wesker was only survivor. Distraught, Wesker realizes the only thing stopping him from taking over from Spencer as a god in control of a new race of superhumans was Ozwell himself and so Wesker kills the old man by punching through his chest.

However, with Ozwell not even dead for more than a moment, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine burst in and attempt to take Wesker down. Wesker is more than a match for both of them and almost finishes Chris off for good. However, before he can, Jill charges at him, knocking them both Wesker and herself out the window and off the cliff. Neither his or Jill's body was recovered but both survived. Wesker held Jill captive, experimenting on her in cryo freeze to make her into an ally against Chris, eventually using the P30 strain of the Progenitor Virus to control her.

Meanwhile, Wesker continued in his development of B.O.W.s, working with the Tricell Pharmaceutical Company to reopen the Umbrella's African facility, he now had access to the Progenitor Virus and, using Tricell's amassed resources and funds, created Uroboros: A virus with the capability of destroying every living being on the planet save for a select few who would use the virus to evolve into the next form of humanity. However, the virus was too poisonous and killed 100% of the test subjects. A surprising cure came soon from the cells of Jill Valentine whose body had developed several powerful antibodies in order to combat all the T-Virus she was exposed to during her time in Raccoon City. Using these antibodies, Wesker modified Uroboros and used B.O.W. smuggler, Ricardo Irving, to sell them on the black market in Africa.

Resident Evil 5

Working in partnership with the CEO of Tricell's Africa Division, Excella Gionne, Wesker spends most of Resident Evil 5 harvesting the flowers used by Umbrella in the 60s and 70s to make the Progenitor Virus and use this to generate enough Uroboros to take over the world. Stocking the virus in missiles, Wesker planned on using a stealth jet to fire the virus high enough into the atmosphere that it would dissipate in a wide enough cloud to engulf the planet.

However, Chris and his new partner, Sheva Alomar, acting on behalf of the B.S.A.A. found the lab where Wesker was working and took on both him and the infected Jill Valentine. Wesker spares 7 minutes to take the new team on before leaving Jill to continue the fight while he goes and finishes his plan. The B.S.A.A. team manage to survive and free Jill from Wesker's control and follow him to the tanker where his jet is hidden. Believing Chris and Sheva to be too close, Wesker turns on Excella, infecting her with Uroboros, turning her into a massive bioweapon. This gives him enough time to finish stocking the plane and prepare for takeoff.

Chris and Sheva manage to catch up with Wesker and start to fight. However, Wesker gets cocky and catches a rocket in mid-air giving Chris enough time to shoot it, causing enough damage to Wesker that Chris and Sheva have time to double team him and inject him with the serum to overdose him, making him as weak as a normal human. In his weakened state, Wesker flees to his jet and takes off. Chris and Sheva just manage to climb aboard and inside, they manage to fight Wesker off and open the underside of the jet, causing it to decompress and crash into a volcano.

Rather than killing Wesker off, it simple agitates him into infecting himself with Uroboros, turning him into a monster, reminiscent of the Tyrant from the original game. In his mutated state, he chases Sheva round the edge of the lava pool before encountering Chris and Sheva head on. Together, they manage to overpower him again and throw him into the molten lava below. Still not defeated, Wesker flings one of his tentacles up at the rescue helicopter in an attempt to pull it down into the volcano, but he is finally destroyed with a twin shot from the B.S.A.A.'s RPGs.

Film Appearances

While absent from the first two installments of the Resident Evil film trilogy, Wesker appeared in the third film, Extinction, played by Irish actor Jason O'Mara. In the film, he is the chairman of Umbrella and while he is physically absent throughout the film, he is regularly seen through hologram from his Tokyo office.

Wesker is the primary antagonist of Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth film in the franchise. He was played by Shawn Roberts.

The Novels

Albert Wesker makes appearances in three of the Resident Evil series of novels by S.D. Perry.

Zero Hour

Based on the video game Resident Evil Zero, Albert Wesker's point-of-view is occasionally referenced along-side colleague William Birkin as the monitor the progress of the T-Virus infection spread through the Arklay Mountains by Dr. Marcus. Near the end of the novel, Wesker retreats from Umbrella's secret facility beneath Raccoon in an effort to lead the S.T.A.R.S. into Raccoon Forest and complete the job tasked to him by "the boys at White."

The Umbrella Conspiracy

Based on the first game in the series, Wesker appears in the first of the Resident Evil novels as the suave commander of the Raccoon City branch of the Special Tactics and Rescue Service. It is revealed early on that Wesker is truly an Umbrella operative, working for a division of the giant pharmaceutical corporation known as White Umbrella. Sent to destroy any and all evidence linking the Spencer Estate incident to Umbrella, Wesker's point-of-view is often used throughout the course of the novel, giving some insight into what exactly he was up to during the video game's plot. Wesker is depicted as a control freak that is only interested in the money that awaits him for successful destruction of the evidence and the collection of combat data for White Umbrella's bio-weapons.

As in the video game, Wesker is fatally wounded by the Tyrant and is ultimately the cause of the self-destruct mechanism within the Spencer Estate being activated.

Code: Veronica

Wesker returns for a minimal amount of time in the novel adaptation of Resident Evil Code: Veronica, appearing briefly to confront former teammate Chris Redfield and later Alexia Ashford, a confrontation from which he quickly flees, despite his incredible super-human strength and agility. Unlike the video game series, in which Wesker is resurrected with his newfound powers after his death by an experimental virus attained from William Birkin, Wesker in the novelization has been resurrected by series villain Trent and augmented with his abilities.

As the novel was released before the release of Resident Evil Code: Veronica X, the showdown between Chris and Wesker was not present in the story.

Other Appearances

Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds

Wesker appears as a playable character along side with Chris and Jill from Resident Evil.Wesker teams up with Doctor to conquer both Marvel and Capcom world.Wesker appears made zombie clones of marvel super heroes while they were buisy fighting against Galactus

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3

Wesker reappears in this sequel with Nemesis a new Resident Evil character to the game.