Summary
While everyone is well aware of the likes ofAlbert Weskerand William Birkin, there’s also a plethora of female villains who have appeared throughout theResident Evilseries and have made their mark on the franchise in one way or another. Capcom has been admired for creating some of gaming’s most iconic female protagonists throughout the years, but the same can be said for the villains, who often have a lot of charm and depth to their characters, which makes them a joy to watch on-screen.
Resident Evilvillains will very often run their mouths when coming face to face with the hero, but there are always a few smaller notes and files scattered around that usually reveal a much deeper and even sympathetic side to these antagonists, which helps in making them both memorable and intriguing. With that in mind, it’s time to take a look at the most iconic female villains ever seen in this beloved long-running survival horror franchise, and what exactly makes them so beloved.
Before Wesker appeared inResident Evil 5, it was Excella who played the role of the main antagonist, and it’s fair to say thather endless charisma and witty one-linersmake her pretty memorable as far as villains go. Despite not having any combat capabilities, Excella still constantly talks down to Chris whenever she sees him, mocking his obsession with Jill and dropping hints that Wesker is still alive, all in an attempt to get under his skin.
A lot of the files that can be found throughout the game also reveal that she’s pretty despicable as an individual, gladly selling off bioweapons to the highest bidder to fund more research on the deadly Progenitor Virus for her selfish greed. She doesn’t get too much screen time considering that multiple villains appear inResident Evil 5, but Excella’s quick wit and patronizing attitude still help her stand out.
Despite acting as a villain for much ofResident Evil 6, Carla has a very sad and distressing backstory that involves her becoming grossly mutated by Derek Simmons in an attempt to clone his one true love, Ada Wong. As a result,Simmons injected Carla with the C-Virusin an attempt to test out its DNA replication properties, turning the young and innocent woman into a doppelganger whom Simmons would gradually teach to act and talk like the real Ada Wong.
With that being said, Carla is much more ruthless than Ada, proving on numerous occasions that she’s more than willing to take out anyone who gets in the way of her plans, such as when she kills Chris' entire squad in Edonia, or when she infected an entire school of students in the Marhawa Desire companion piece. Despite not having a unique appearance, Carla is still a very dangerous individual whose harrowing backstory makes her quite fascinating as a character.
While Donna doesn’t show up physically for the majority ofResident Evil Village, she has one of the most compelling backstories of any villain in the series, which can be revealed byhunting down the documents around and outside her house. After the loss of her parents at a young age, Donna became very distant from the world around her and began using her doll Angie to speak for her whenever she was forced to interact with people.
Once she was taken in by Mother Miranda and injected with the Cadou, she grew to become much more malicious and started using mold-infected flowers to lure people into her house by using harrowing hallucinations. This is exactly what happened to Ethan, who is thrown through an emotional rollercoaster due to Donna’s unique and terrifying abilities.
Annette is quite a complex character as she doesn’t fit the typical villain archetype of wanting to cause chaos or destroy the world and everyone in it. Instead, she initially comes across as a scientist who’s simply obsessed with containing the outbreak of the T-Virus, but who also completely forgets about her daughter, who has been caught up inthe whole Raccoon City fiasco.
It eventually becomes clear that she’s much more sinister than she’s letting on, with files revealing that she was a willing participant in Umbrella’s schemes, and in the remake ofResident Evil 2, it’s even implied that she used the children as test subjects to perfect the virus. She’s an incredibly creepy and unnerving antagonist who does an excellent job of hiding her true malicious intentions and backstory.
Alex was a member of the Project Wesker eugenics program that was first mentioned inResident Evil 5and appears as the main antagonist ofthe secondRevelationsgame. While she does share a few similarities with Albert, especially her snarky and condescending personality, she’s also just as, if not more, merciless in her actions. After hearing about Albert’s death, Alex decides to speed up her T-Phobos research, abducting countless civilians, and even taking over an entire island just to take advantage of the impoverished residents to act as her guinea pigs.
Even when she realized that her life was coming to an end, Alex decided to unleash a horde of dangerous B.O.Ws onto the island, just to kill everyone who had conspired against her throughout the game. Alex even went as far as to abduct Korda, who was a child, so that she could instill her consciousness within the young girl, believing that because Korda had already experienced trauma in her life, she would be the perfect candidate, since she was incapable of feeling fear. Alex is an incredibly memorable and downright sickening villain who is among one of the most evil characters in the entire series, and that’s certainly saying something.
Marguerite is shown as being a sweet, caring, and considerate mother during the flashback intheDaughtersDLC, but in the main game ofResident Evil 7, she’s a sick and twisted version of her former self who is incredibly terrifying when she shows up. Ethan will eventually run into Marguerite when exploring her bug-infested out-house as she slowly wanders around the hallways while waving her lantern around to try and snuff the player out.
This already makes her incredibly unsettling, but things get much worse when she mutates during her boss fight, becoming a grotesque spider-like creature who is constantly scuttling around Ethan and randomly grabbing him when she sees an opportunity to attack. Similar to Jack, Marguerite becomes completely corrupted by Eveline’s influence, to the point where she transforms into an entirely different person by the time Ethan visits her.
Despite Alfred being the one who constantly tries to stop Claire in her tracks duringmost ofCode Veronica, it’s revealed a little later that there’s a much more evil and menacing villain who has been lurking behind the scenes, and that’s his twin sister Alexia. After waking up from a fifteen-year cryo-sleep, Alexia manages to gain full control of her unique virus, making her one of the rare villains in the series who can utilize her monstrous powers while still being fully aware of what she’s doing.
This immense strength made her an incredibly intimidating figure, with even Wesker shuddering at the sight of her being re-awakened. She also has an incredibly creative design after her mutations, especially when she’s able to turn her whole body on fire to burn down everything that stands in her way. Alexia is a fantastic villain who genuinely comes across as terrifying and immensely powerful, and it’s a frightening thought that her plan to be the “Queen Ant” of the world almost succeeded if not for the intervention of Chris and Claire.
1Alcina Dimitrescu
Dimitrescu’s Sophisticated Design And Terrifying Presence Makes Her Incredibly Memorable
There’s no doubt that Dimitrescu has one of the most unique and eye-catching designs in the entire series, with her gigantic stature giving her an extremely intimidating aura that makes her so terrifying as a stalker enemy. Her classy and sophisticated persona, mixed with her vampiric lust for blood, makes her such an intriguing villain who is the highlight of the Four Lords seen inVillage.
Despite how outlandish her appearance is, Capcom did an amazing job at revealing how exactly she became this way, with it eventually being revealed that she was once a 1950s jazz singer,which explains her spiffy fashion sense. Eventually, she was whisked away from her life of luxury by Mother Miranda, who forcibly injected her with the Cadou parasite that granted her immense strength and power, but also forced her to require fresh blood every few hours to survive. Dimitrescu is the most intriguing Lord in all ofResident Evil Village, and it didn’t take long for her to be considered iconic among fans of the series.
