Albert Wesker: the S.T.A.R.S. Captain Who Wanted to Be a God

Albert Wesker is the captain of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team who was secretly an Umbrella researcher, and who led his own team into the Spencer Mansion to test Umbrella's bioweapons on them. He came back from an apparent death with superhuman powers and spent the next eleven years trying to remake humanity, until Chris Redfield killed him in 2009. Capcom's official Resident Evil 0 profile lists him as 38 in 1998. He appears in Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil, CODE: Veronica, Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5, and his son carries his story into Resident Evil 6. (Resident Evil (1996); biohazard 0 official site; Resident Evil 5; Resident Evil 0; Resident Evil CODE: Veronica; Resident Evil 4 (2005); Resident Evil 6)

Umbrella and S.T.A.R.S. (before 1998)#

Wesker started as a researcher at Umbrella, working alongside William Birkin under the company's founder, Oswell E. Spencer. He moved from research into intelligence work for the company and became captain of S.T.A.R.S., the Raccoon City police's special unit, which put Umbrella's man in charge of the people most likely to uncover it. In July 1998, as the t-Virus leaked across the Arklay area, he and Birkin discussed the outbreak and Wesker's plan to leave the company. (Resident Evil 0; Resident Evil (1996))

The mansion (1998)#

Wesker led Alpha Team to the mansion and let the creatures there test his own officers, collecting combat data on Umbrella's bioweapons. He forced Barry Burton to help him by threatening Barry's family. In the lab, he revealed himself to Chris or Jill Valentine and released a Tyrant, which turned on him and ran him through. The survivors left him for dead as the mansion blew up. (Resident Evil (1996); Resident Evil (2002))

How Wesker survived#

Before the mansion incident, Birkin had given Wesker a new, experimental virus. When the Tyrant killed him, it brought him back. He woke with red, cat-like eyes, inhuman speed and strength, and a body that healed fast. Wesker told Chris all of this himself when they met again in Antarctica that December. (Resident Evil CODE: Veronica)

Rockfort, Antarctica and Russia (1998 to 2003)#

Back from the dead, Wesker joined a company competing with Umbrella. In December 1998 he sent his unit to attack Umbrella's prison on Rockfort Island to get the T-Veronica virus, then followed the trail to Umbrella's Antarctic base, where he fought Chris and escaped. In 2003 he slipped into Umbrella's last major base in Russia during a raid by Chris and Jill, and stole the company's research data as it fell. (Resident Evil CODE: Veronica; Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles)

Spain (2004)#

Wesker was the contact for Ada Wong and Jack Krauser when they went after the Las Plagas parasite in Spain. Ada outplayed him, keeping the real sample for her employer and handing Wesker a lesser one. (Resident Evil 4 (2005))

Spencer's estate (2006)#

Wesker went to the dying Spencer at his estate in Europe, and Spencer told him the truth. Wesker was one of the children Spencer had raised under the Wesker Project, a plan to create a new, superior humanity. Wesker killed him. When Chris and Jill arrived to arrest Spencer, Wesker beat them both, and Jill tackled him out of a window and over a cliff. He survived, and so, it turned out, did she. (Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares; Resident Evil 5)

Uroboros and death (2009)#

Spencer's dream became Wesker's own. Working with the drug company Tricell and its executive Excella Gionne, he developed Uroboros, a virus built from Umbrella's Progenitor virus research that would kill most of humanity and leave only the fit to survive. He used Jill, brainwashed with a drug and a device on her chest, as his bodyguard. He needed regular doses of a drug of his own to keep his virus stable. (Resident Evil 5)

In 2009 Chris and BSAA agent Sheva Alomar caught him in Africa, freed Jill and boarded his bomber before it could spread Uroboros around the world. Jill had told Chris that an overdose of Wesker's drug would kill him, and they injected him with it. Wesker infected himself with Uroboros and fought on after the bomber came down in a volcano, until Chris and Sheva finished him with rocket launchers as he rose from the lava. (Resident Evil 5)

Legacy#

Wesker had a son, Jake Muller, who grew up in Eastern Europe not knowing who his father was. Jake's blood carried antibodies that made him central to the C-Virus outbreak of 2013. (Resident Evil 6)

Resident Evil Requiem (2026) has a villain, Zeno, an operative of a group called the Connections, whose look and speed have drawn comparisons with Wesker. Wesker himself doesn't return. (Resident Evil Requiem)

Relationships#

• Chris Redfield. His subordinate in S.T.A.R.S. and his enemy for eleven years. Chris killed him. (Resident Evil (1996); Resident Evil 5)
• William Birkin. His fellow Umbrella researcher, and the source of the virus that saved him. (Resident Evil 0; Resident Evil CODE: Veronica)
• Oswell E. Spencer. The man who made him, and whom he killed. (Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares)
• Ada Wong. His agent, who played him. (Resident Evil 4 (2005))
• Jill Valentine. His captive and weapon for three years. (Resident Evil 5)

In the films#

In Paul W. S. Anderson's live-action series, Jason O'Mara played Wesker as an Umbrella chairman in Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), and Shawn Roberts took over for Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016). Tom Hopper played him in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) as a S.T.A.R.S. officer who betrays the team, with a mid-credits scene alongside Ada Wong. In Netflix's 2022 Resident Evil series, Lance Reddick played Albert Wesker as one of several clones and the father of two daughters. Wesker has no CG film. See Welcome to Raccoon City explained and the Netflix series. (Resident Evil: Extinction; Resident Evil: Afterlife; Resident Evil: Retribution; Resident Evil: The Final Chapter; Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City; Resident Evil (Netflix series))