The villains in Resident Evil often end up being a core part of the game, as their motivations and previous actions dictate the kinds of threats that the protagonists are going to be facing throughout their—often horrifying—journey. Beyond Albert Wesker and various pharmaceutical companies, there aren’t that many villains who end up returning in multiple games. However, there are quite a few characters and some organizations you meet throughout the series who have either never been mentioned again after their appearance or who have more potential returning as a villain, even if that wasn’t their original role when they appeared.
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As a series, Resident Evil has a bad habit of discarding characters and simply not using them to their full potential. While recent games in the main series have shifted to keeping their focus on a smaller scale, it’s not surprising that their stories and characters have been more contained within that scale as well. RE7 and RE8 told the story of the Winters, and now RE9 is moving onto Grace’s story. Still, there’s potential in characters that have been left behind, and it would be great to see them again in the future.
1. Natalia Korda – Resident Evil Revelations 2
Natalia is one of the four main protagonists in the second game of the Revelations spin-off series. She acts as Barry’s partner while he’s searching for Moira, having ended up on the island and as part of Alex’s experiment herself through bad luck. While she’s limited in terms of actual combat, she’s able to see invisible monsters and point them out for Barry to attack. In the end, Barry adopts Natalia, but she’s then left with a cliffhanger as you see her potential for becoming a villain at the end of the game’s true ending.
As part of Alex’s experiment, Natalia ended up being noticed because she was infected by the virus, and it should’ve been triggered, but she showed no signs of changing. This leads to Alex attempting to transfer her consciousness into Natalia with the goal of taking over her body in the pursuit of immortality. The Little Miss DLC implies that this transfer had some impact on Natalia, as she sees what seems to be a little Alex Wesker, and the true ending hints at the possibility that Alex’s transfer worked, meaning she could return as a villain in Natalia’s body.
2. Manuela Hidalgo – Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles
Manuela is from the rail shooter spin-off game The Darkside Chronicles. She’s the daughter of Leon’s target, Javier, and reveals that she’s been infected with the t-Veronica Virus for the sake of curing her of the degenerative disease that her mother had, which would end her life early if left untreated. Javier used his influence and manpower to infect Manuela with t-Veronica, which would usually require a 15-year stasis or treatment with antiretroviral drugs to stabilize the virus and Manuela’s condition, effectively curing her with the benefits of t-Veronica.
However, Javier didn’t have access to the treatments needed for that 15-year period for stabilization, so he had to monitor Manuela’s organs and kidnap girls her age to use as a source of organs to transplant as needed to keep Manuela alive as the virus impacted her internally. In the good ending, Manuela is taken into government custody and monitored. Since you don’t know the long-term impacts of infection from the t-Veronica Virus, it’s possible that Manuela could be used as a unique and powerful villain in the future, even if her original nature doesn’t fit with the acts of a villain.
3. Ada Wong – Multiple Resident Evil Games
Ada Wong is a recurring character who’s best described as self-serving. She’s not exactly a villain, but she’s not exactly a hero either. Instead, she works with whatever side feels like a better bet to her. Her clearest stance is in Resident Evil 6 when she actively works against Simmons and Neo Umbrella.
With this in mind, it’s believable that Ada could be a villain in a future RE game based on the circumstances she finds herself in the middle of. She shows that she has some moral compass, especially when she helps Leon without there being any real benefit for her in doing so. Therefore, the right motivations could lead to Ada being a villain.
4. Lisa Trevor – Resident Evil
Lisa Trevor is one of Umbrella’s early experiments, and you encounter her in the first Resident Evil. What’s interesting is that the Stalker enemy in the RE9 demo bears a striking resemblance to Lisa, which could indicate that there’s some kind of connection between these characters. If you view Umbrella Chronicles as being canon, then Lisa would presumably be dead. However, it would also be possible that she would be retrieved by Neo Umbrella or another group that tries to benefit from Umbrella’s original experiments with bioweapons.
Due to her adaptations to the viruses in her, Lisa would be a terrifying enemy to face when you don’t have the ability to restrain her instead of defeating her, like you do in the first Resident Evil. She regained some of her intelligence from Birkin’s experiments, so she isn’t mindless, and she has both super strength and regenerative abilities. If she isn’t restrained, she would make for a tough enemy to fight.
5. Jake Muller – Resident Evil 6
Jake is Sherry’s partner in her Resident Evil 6 campaign, and he’s the son of Albert Wesker. Sherry seeks him out because he ends up being immune to the c-Virus, and Sherry is working with the government to find somebody like him in order to use his natural immunity in the creation of a vaccine. Jake is basically meant to be the opposite of Wesker, being made into the hero of humanity due to his relation to Wesker rather than bringing its destruction.
Considering the Wesker family, it would make sense to see Jake repurposed as a villain, especially with the various remakes being made and changing games while keeping their essence. It might even be interesting. However, his existence overall doesn’t make the most sense when you consider the nature of his father, who seemed more concerned about his own creation of Uroboros instead of the children. It wouldn’t be surprising if he simply never makes another appearance.
6. The Family/Neo Umbrella – Resident Evil 6
The Family and Neo Umbrella are the two main organizations behind the events of RE6. Carla’s death made Neo Umbrella defunct, but she surely wasn’t the only person who was part of the organization, so it would be easy to write in a reason for them to return. The biggest change would need to be in the group’s overall goal, which was world destruction, since it’s a rather broad objective. So, a new leader who saw Carla’s failures could take the group in a new direction, kickstarting their position as a future villain.
You also have The Family, from which Neo Umbrella was created. The age of The Family isn’t known, but the lore says that it was established before the Revolutionary War, so it’s been around for a long time. While Simmons is dead, there’s no indication that The Family has been eradicated, and instead it seems like the other members were prepared enough to save themselves and sacrifice Simmons. They’re secretive, but it wouldn’t be impossible for them to appear again, as their main goal is basically to maintain global stability for their own needs.
7. The Connections – Resident Evil 7/8
The Connections is the crime syndicate that Mia Winters secretly worked for in the years prior to the events of Resident Evil 7, which is the reason that she ended up missing and in the Bakers’ household. They were originally working with Miranda, who gave them Mold and helped with their research in exchange for their help in finding a way to resurrect Miranda’s daughter, Eva. This research led to the creation of Eveline.
While Eveline was both a success and a failure depending on how you look at it, The Connections continue to exist even after her demise. This group is the entire reason that Miranda even knew about Rose Winters, leading to the events of Resident Evil 8. There’s no indication that they aren’t actively working on other projects with bioweapons, meaning they could return at any time.
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