If we are talking about Resident Evil, we cannot help but mention one of the main factors that have made this saga the phenomenon that it has been becoming for a long time: Umbrella Corporation, the pharmaceutical corporation and the main villain of the story. Initially billed as a pharmaceutical giant focused on human experimentation and eugenics, Umbrella Corporation has played a pivotal role in the 25-year history of Resident Evil story as the main antagonist and his role in the success of the saga is indisputable. But, since this conglomerate has experienced endless changes and transformations, we want to tell you who the Umbrella Corporation really is and the role it played in Raccoon City.
Who is Umbrella Corporation from Resident Evil? Raccoon City Villain Rise and Fall:
1.- Spencer, Marcus and Ashford: the origins of the Umbrella Corporation
The multinational Umbrella Corporation was a conglomerate of companies with branches in the pharmaceutical, food, transport, industrial and tourist industries, whose field of action spanned from 1980 to the early 2000s. umbrella was founded by doctors Oswell Spencer, James Marcus and Edward Ashfordin their university days, who, guided by a divine idea of changing the world, through human improvement through DNA mutation, began to investigate how to make it a reality.
These investigations led Marcus to travel to Africa and find what would be the origin of everything: the plant Ascension to the Sun, from which the Progenitor virus; a virus capable of changing human RNA, giving people inhuman abilities and the origin of all the other viruses in the saga. Virus whose history we know in Resident Evil 5.
The Umbrella Corporation logo comes from the symbol of the Four Founding Houses of the people of Eastern Europe and whose united emblems take the form of an umbrella (Resident Evil Village).
Although all three came from wealthy families, they needed much more funding to be able to grow the flower in the United States and extract its healing properties. So to expand his experiments and get more funding, Spencer, with Ashford’s help, founded the Umbrella corporation; a pharmaceutical company oriented mainly to develop weapons and experiments from the Progenitor Virus and sell them to the North American army.
His first big project was Virus T Project (1960s), on which each worked separately. Little by little, Spencer began to distrust his associates, while forking the work of the Umbrella Corporation; he not only created his own laboratory in the Arklay Mountains (Resident Evil), but also hired the prodigious Albert Wesker (with whom he would develop the Wesker Project. Resident Evil and Resident Evil 5) and William Birkin (creator of the G Virus). Finally, his distrust and power reached such a limit that he ended up promoting and participating in the Ashford and Marcus deaths.
After getting all the umbrella corporation power, Spencer made sure to capitalize on it even more. He managed to open numerous laboratories worldwide, ensured the supply of the Progenitor Virus and continued to expand the projects he worked on, highlighting the Hunter Project, the Tyrant Project or the creation of the Nemesis T-Type.
These are the 6 Tyrant that appear in Raccoon City
2.- The fall of the Umbrella Corporation in Raccoon City: bankruptcy and resurrection
However, everything was cut short with the Raccoon City STARS investigation of the Arklay Mountains facility (May 1998) and with the murders that occurred there. This situation marked the first great fall of the Umbrella Corporation and the beginning of the end: it not only meant the first great Albert Wesker’s ruling, by not ending the surviving STARS and eliminating the evidence of what happened, but also triggered the destruction of such important projects as Queen Leech (Resident Evil 0) or T-001 (Resident Evil). To which was added the infiltration into Umbrella of the mercenary Ada Wonghired by her rival company to obtain all available information and kill her.
The Arklay Mountains disaster was only the beginning of what would become the end for the Umbrella Corporation. Virus T managed to escape from the facilities and contaminate the water that reached Raccoon City (September-October 1998); eventually causing the city disaster we know from Resident Evil 2, 3 and Outbreak and that it would end with the destruction of the city. After this catastrophe, Umbrella continued its activities, but to the loss of Raccoon City it had to add those of the Rockfort Islands (Resident Evil Code: Veronica) and Sheena (Resident Evil: Survivor).
The 6 Resident Evil games that take place in Raccoon City
Finally, in 2003, the United States Government succeeded in carrying out Umbrella Corporation on trial, declaring him guilty of the previously occurred incidents and of serious crimes against humanity, finally causing the company to declare bankruptcy. Finally, Albert Wesker ended Spencer’s life (Resident Evil 5) and Umbrella transformed into Blue Umbrella; born from the rebuilding of the original Umbrella after the trial and dedicated to taking down BOWs (Resident Evil 7: Biohazard).
Umbrella Corporation had offices throughout the world. Although the most prominent was NEST in Raccoon City, it also made an appearance on Rockfort Island (Resident Evil Code: Veronica), the Atlantic Ocean and Africa. Specifically, the headquarters this last headquarters would be reused by Albert Wesker and TRICELL, Inc. after it disappeared, to develop the Uroboros Virus (Resident Evil 5).
3.- Umbrella Corporation appearances in other media
The giant Umbrella Corporation has played (and continues to play) a fundamental role as Raccoon City Villain, although its appearance has not been limited to games. The saga of films directed by Paul WS Anderson recovers the essential role of the Umbrella Corporation as an antagonist and attributes to it the great milestones that we find in the games: its role as a pharmaceutical giant and the creation of Virus T and Virus T-Nemesis, in addition to the destruction of the city.
However, it also offers some changes. Thus, The Hive becomes its main underground installation (instead of the classic NEST) and the Alice Project, consisting of physically modifying the agent Alice Abernathy (Milla Jovovich) and endowing her with superhuman powers, is her main work. Is umbrella version shows Red Queen, the most powerful computer in the company, which also enjoys its own autonomy and who reappears in Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.
As a nod to the cinematic universe, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles features an AI called the Red Queen. A White Queen is also mentioned, although she does not appear in the game.
As a node to the film universe, #Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles features an Umbrella computer AI called “Red Queen”. There is also a “White Queen”, although it is only mentioned and does not feature in the game. pic.twitter.com/9tOp4cbYkW
— Resident Evil Facts (@ResiFacts) September 14, 2019
Netflix’s Resident Evil (2022) offers, in essence, the same version of the Umbrella Corporation as the world’s leading pharmaceutical company, but radically changing its essence and goals. In this non-canon version, the company is led by Evelyn Marcus, daughter of the founder of Umbrella, who hopes to harness the potential of the T-Virus to cure major diseases worldwide, such as depression or anxiety. However, it is Albert Wesker who warns him of the virus’ side effects, taking on a more heroic role than his video game counterpart.
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