Resident Evil's notorious villain gave Chris Redfield a run for his money during all of their encounters. With superhuman strength, speed, intelligence, and a lust for power, Wesker was a cunning lethal foe who knows what he wants and has the brains to orchestrate covert operations for world domination.
Had it not been for Redfield, Wesker would have transformed the planet into his sinister vision. Like most well-loved villains, Wesker has a unique past that only makes him all the more imposing. The facts below will help players better understand the villain and perhaps even sympathize with him a bit.
Updated on October 15, 2022, by Jason Wojnar: Even though Wesker has been out of the picture as the main villain since Resident Evil 5, the character still remains a relevant force within the series. He is also just one of the most iconic villains in all of gaming. The character even comes back in the Netflix live-action series, showing that his legacy is far from gone. Because of his consistent prominence in the franchise, it is always an appropriate time to revisit an article like this and add more entries along with fleshing out key details. With Resident Evil consistently revisiting its past with remakes, there is always a chance the character will show up in a future game.
12 He And William Birkin Studied Together
Wesker was not the only important character in the franchise to be raised as a prodigy by spencer. He actually studied alongside William Birkin in his youth and the two worked together for years at Umbrella. The two eventually went their separate ways, however.
Birkin continued his research while Wesker went on to work for other agencies. Anybody who played Resident Evil 2, whether it be the original or remake, knows exactly what happened to William Birkin. He is responsible for the outbreak in Raccoon City after Umbrella tries to steal his research. He injects himself with the experimental G-Virus, forcing Claire and Leon to destroy him.
11 He Fought Lisa Trevor
Lisa Trevor was introduced as a major part of the Spencer Mansion incident in the Resident Evil remake. She has an incredibly tragic story. Her father was the architect who designed the mansion and the whole family was kidnapped by Spencer. Poor Lisa was the subject of brutal experiments.
Players are doing her a favor by putting her out of her misery. Those who never played Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles might not know that Wesker also fought the tragic monster. The bonus episode in this light-gun game details Wesker's escape from the mansion after the Tyrant almost kills him. Before he makes it out, he runs into Lisa Trevor and finishes her off once and for all.
10 Albert Wesker May Not Even Be His Real Name
Dr. Oswell Spencer started the Wesker Project, a Utopian ideal to create a race of gods that would replace humans in the next stage of evolution. Inheriting good genes from his parents made Wesker an ideal specimen. Thus, he was taken away at an early age to be molded by Spencer for the program. All of the selected children for the eugenics project were given the last name "Wesker."
From an early age, Albert displayed genius intelligence, superb physical fitness, and the ability to complete complicated tasks with high efficiency making him the perfect candidate for Umbrella. As evil as he is, this backstory gives him just a drop of sympathy. It doesn't make up for the severe destruction and evil he inflicts upon the world, though.
9 Graduated With A Ph.D. In Virology At Age Seventeen
Thanks to his intellect and the best education that money can buy, Wesker graduated with a doctorate in virology while still in his teenage years. This made him a prime candidate for Umbrella and he was one of few recruited to work in a special team of scientists to develop a serum to turn Dr. Oswell Spencer into a god. The T-virus, unfortunately, turned into something else. Wesker decided working for Dr. Spencer was a waste of time, and went rogue to run his own secret operations.
8 Faked His Death
Wesker allegedly was killed by the Tyrant that he unleashed against STARS, however, he had injected himself with a prototype virus beforehand which not only revived him, but also gave him super strength, speed, healing ability, and other powers, tricking everyone into thinking the virus killed him. With already having excellent combat skills, Wesker became even more deadly.
He continued to oversee operations behind the scenes and showed up as one of the antagonists of Code Veronica. In Resident Evil 4, he hired Ada Wong to retrieve the Las Plagas. He is more heavily featured in the Separate Ways campaign from subsequent re-releases of the legendary fourth entry. He shows up in a big way again in Resident Evil 5, where he was finally stopped once and for all by Chris Redfield in an epic grudge match.
7 Betrayed His Allies
As captain of the US Alpha team Special Tactics And Rescue Service, STARS, Chris Redfield was his best man, but Wesker was working undercover. He lured the STARS team and released Tyrant on the remaining other members to collect combat data. Later, for his Uroboros plan, British-Italian businesswoman Excella Gionne became his business partner in running Tricell.
Excella took an interest in Wesker, her flirting made it clear she wanted to be his queen in Resident Evil 5. Wesker, however, injected the Uroboros virus in her, turning the minor villain into a hideous freak show Chris and Sheva fight in a massive boss battle.
6 Worked As A Double Agent For Umbrella And Its Rivals
It's been established that Wesker was a child prodigy. He was hired and worked as a senior researcher who helped develop B.O.W. (Biological Organic Weapons) and the T-virus. He eventually left after questioning Oswell Spencer's motives for his projects.
He also worked as a spy in the US army and again for Umbrella's private military, but chose to betray them and gave embryo samples to a rival company in exchange for employment. Before the events of the debut Resident Evil, Wesker went back to Umbrella and was working undercover for them as a member of STARS, leading directly into the events of the title that started it all.
5 Did Business With A Drug Dealer
Javier Hidalgo was the drug lord of the Sacred Snakes cartel and a long-time customer of Umbrella. With its facilities destroyed and Wesker in control, he sold bio-weapons to Hidalgo who later became suspicious of the price surge in Russia. However, Wesker persuaded him to refrain from buying from Umbrella as their 3rd-party Asian broker was investigating him.
The drug dealer went berserk after his daughter ran away and unleashed the T-Veronica virus. Wesker stood by as the US counter team was dispatched and killed Hidalgo. This small chapter in Resident Evil history is depicted during one of the episodes of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, a light-gun game initially released on the Nintendo Wii before being ported to PS3.
4 Had An Illegitimate Son
Jake Muller was raised in Edonia, a fictional Eastern European country, by his mother. His father was none other than Albert Wesker. Muller later worked as a mercenary, concerned with whoever gave the highest bid with no consideration for morals.
He became a subject of interest by various parties since his blood contains antibodies for the C-virus thanks to his inherited genes. Unlike his father, Muller's morals eventually go towards the good side and he teams up with American agent Sherry Birkin, first introduced in Resident Evil 2, and Chris Redfield, the man who killed his father.
3 Believed He Was Saving The World
The best villains are the heroes of their own stories. As he told Chris: "Every day, humans come one step closer to self-destruction. I'm not destroying the world, I'm saving it!"
Wesker was originally supposed to help Dr. Spencer develop immortality to create a race of superior humans, but he defected and decided that he himself was the chosen one to become a god and rule the new world into the next stage of evolution. After discovering his origins from Oswell Spencer, Wesker violently disposed of the man who made him the villain he became.
2 Never Fought Leon Scott Kennedy
Despite their prominence in the franchise, Leon Kennedy and Albert Wesker have never encountered each other. The closest the two got to directly crossing paths was in Resident Evil 4 where Ada was in the villain's employ. Wesker originally ordered Wong to eliminate Kennedy, viewing him as nothing but a mere US government lap dog.
However, as things got messy, Wesker left Krauser to deal with Kennedy while instructing Wong to focus on her mission. Leon defeating Krauser surprised Wesker, who then chose to allow Leon to continue his lucky streak and fight Saddler so Wong would be able to steal the sample. The distraction worked, as Wong completed her mission but did not obey Wesker's order to kill Leon.
1 Had A Sister
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Dr. Alex Wesker was also a high-ranking employee of Umbrella Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Ozwell Spencer mentioned her as the brightest of all Wesker children. Like her brother, she betrays Dr. Spencer and Umbrella and tries her own hand at becoming a goddess and the next step in evolution. She ruled Zabytij island where its inhabitants worshiped her as a savior.
Here, she conducted her evil experiments which led to the events of Resident Evil: Revelation 2. After learning of her brother's death, she confiscated the Uroboros virus to use its power. She sent her private militia to capture Claire Redfield and others to be used as test subjects on her newly conquered Sushestvovanie Island as part of her "rebirth ceremony." Wesker's plan to obtain immortality was to transfer her consciousness into a new body which she successfully achieved with Natalia Korda.