With nearly 30 years of storytelling to its name, Resident Evil has given birth to no shortage of memorable characters. While the forces of light feature gaming icons such as Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, and the sagacious Leon Kennedy, they are equalled if not surpassed by the glut of evildoers that stand in their way.

Any ranking of the best villains is bound to come down to personal preference, but I owe it to this franchise to give it my all and stretch my brain to its limits. Some of their positions will come as no surprise, though one or two may strike you as odd or even startling.

I welcome all debate on this wonderful, weird world of zombies, mutants and the occasional large moth, so please, sound off in the comments with your own opinions as we set a course for true malice. I myself am prone to pivoting on a whim, so a convincing argument could be just the ticket needed for someone to challenge their fate and improve their spot.

Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado… Here is EZIYODA’s itchy, tasty, and all too sweet ranking of Resident Evil villains.

30. Jack Norman

Resident Evil: Revelations

“I’m always disgusted by what you Americans can dream up.”

For some reason, Resident Evil: Revelations seems determined to tell a circuitous, complicated story of espionage and double agents. This is much to its own detriment, and by the time you’ve reached Dr. Jack Norman, the game’s final boss and figurehead of the terrorist group Il Veltro, you might have forgotten who exactly he was in the first place.

A charismatic leader with a disdain for humanity’s decadence, he has the good sense to contaminate the planet’s water source as a means of spreading the t-Abyss Virus. Why he doesn’t actually go through with this, and instead injects himself to set up a frustrating battle, I’m not entirely clear.

Sorry, Jack. Not only are you more forgettable than the legends who bear your name — lagging far behind Jack Baker, Jack Krauser, and the owner of Jack’s Bar in Raccoon City — but you’re also a contender for the most dissatisfying end boss, as well. At the very least, you did terrorise, to a degree.

29. Derek C. Simmons

Resident Evil 6

“Do you want to live? Then beg! Beg for your life!”

Derek Simmons serves as an interesting testament to the shifting landscape of gaming narratives. As a villain, he is technically quite utilitarian; he’s smug and conniving, pulling the strings behind the scenes from start to finish. Were he present in, say, Resident Evil 1 through to 3, he’d fit the bill fairly well.

The issue is that, by 2012, we expected more of our antagonists, and doubly so for a character who would be positioned as the head honcho. Throughout the course of Resident Evil 6, you will lock horns with Simmons multiple times across various campaigns, with his body mutating into more and more obscene forms. Though this is nothing new for this series, there is no rhyme or reason to them beyond simply looking interesting, as he goes from centaur thing to dinosaur thing to enormous fly… thing.

These battles are protracted to the point of grating, and the simple fact of the matter is that Simmons was never engaging enough to care about in the first place. He’s merely some authority figure with shady intentions, paper thin in his characterisation and overwrought in his presence.

28. Excella Gionne

Resident Evil 5

“My vision and his combined, now made a reality.”

Based on her lowly ranking in this list, you can anticipate that Excella Gionne isn’t exactly one of the major players in Resident Evil 5. Indeed, her obsession with Wesker allows her to be easily manipulated, exploited, and in the end, mutated. With that being said, alongside her cohort Ricardo Irving, she represents a demographic that had been under-catered to in RE up to that point: the dastardly criminal looking to benefit from the bioweapon menace.

As a seductive temptress with an exotic accent, Excella is the pure Bond villain prototype, and stands out as a character with untapped narrative potential. Should an RE5 remake eventuate — which is really just a matter of time at this point — giving her more shade and depth could see her bumped up a few rungs on the ladder.

For now, she’s a basement dwelling puppet for more compelling antagonists, but she’s still worthy of a mention when it’s all said and done. You can inject me any day, mommy.

27. Queen Leech

Resident Evil 0

“Now I will have my revenge on Umbrella, and the world will burn in an inferno of hate!”

If we’re talking straight-up weirdness in the echelons of Resident Evil, the Queen Leech here is easily taking the cake. And then covering it in slime.

At one point, Dr. James Marcus was a talented virologist who served as one of the co-founders of the nefarious Umbrella Pharmaceuticals, but his underhanded methodology would lead to his ousting from the company, followed by his ousting from the mortal coil at the hands of Umbrella’s security cronies.

Despite this, his work would live on, quite literally, assimilating itself with his brain cells to birth the Queen Leech. Sporting Marcus’ appearance, this abomination would spread its goopy minions across the plains — effectively “opera singing for harm” — as it took up the mantle of its fallen creator to make humanity suffer.

The Queen Leech would falter under the combined forces of Rebecca Chambers, Billy Coen and the sun, for some reason, sealing its fate and relegating it to the bottom tier of RE villains. Still, nothing hits quite like seeing a bootleg Sephiroth belting their heart out from a mountaintop while innocent people shriek in terror.

26. Jill Valentine

Resident Evil 5

“Chr… Chris…”

Were this a ranking of Resident Evil heroes, Jill Valentine would be vying for the top position. In RE5, however, she would have to settle for a much more inglorious role; that of brainwashed Wesker pawn.

With her slinky jumpsuit and unrecognisable blonde hair (explained only through optional in-game lore), this is amongst my least favourite Jill aesthetics, though conceptually, the idea of having the first two RE protagonists face off each other is an exciting one. In practice, it’s silly and exaggerated, but that’s par for the course with this silly and exaggerated game.

In my opinion, Jill is actually a more interesting villain before we learn of her true identity. Her face hidden behind a plague doctor mask, she operates calmly and clinically as a thorn in Chris’ side through the early stages. She’s a better right-hand man to Wesker than both Excella and Irving combined, but by the time of the final encounter, she’s reduced to a snarling, animalistic madwoman.

Once again, there’s a lot of meat left on the bone for this idea, and I eagerly await a remake’s interpretation of a Jill sandwich gone rotten.

25. Dimitrescu Daughters

Resident Evil Village

“Trying to work up my appetite, are you?”

Considering that the demented trio of adopted daughters are a little hard to differentiate, I’ve seen fit to rank them as a whole for the purposes of this list. Rest assured, their conservative placing in these rankings isn’t so much a besmirching as an acknowledgement of their on-screen brevity.

Trust me, I’ve seen the Google search suggestion of “Dimitrescu Daughters x Male Reader” come across my radar enough times to know how popular they are.

Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela encounter Ethan Winters during his raid of Castle Dimitrescu, each coming across as completely unhinged and yet uncomfortably attractive. They all mock him during their boss encounters, and then bite the dust fairly easily when exposed to their greatest weakness (a brisk winter breeze).

Based on what little we get to see of them, they’re trumped by the Four Lords and Miranda herself, but their designs are exceptional, and they absolutely make their mark in their limited airtime. Take note of that design remark, as it will likely pop up multiple times when discussing the remaining villains of Resident Evil Village…

24. Lord Saddler

Resident Evil 4

“I am Osmund Saddler. The speaker for our Lord.”

With the amount of memorable villains on offer in Resident Evil 4, the deviant cult leader Osmund Saddler tends to be overlooked for the most part.

Operating largely from the shadows until the final act, Saddler lacks the exaggerated personality of Ramón Salazar and Jack Krauser. What he offers instead is a more subdued, calculating disposition, applying his influence with unnerving calm as he works to infest the world with Las Plagas.

This isn’t a franchise necessarily known for its subtlety, so Saddler comes across as more muted than nuanced. He most definitely got a glow-up in the 2023 remake, especially where his dreadful final form is considered.

Leon Kennedy is one of the series’ most outgoing heroes, so it stands to reason that his coming out party as a survival horror superstar should be completed against a worthy foe. RE4 Remake Saddler’s “holy body” absolutely qualifies as worthy, in my book.

23. Alex Wesker

Resident Evil: Revelations 2

“Fear what you become, and become what you fear.”

For more reasons than I can count, Alex Wesker will always be condemned to live in the shadows of her adopted brother. Save a playable cameo in the non-canon asymmetrical multiplayer entry, Resident Evil Resistance, Alex was a one-and-done antagonist whose ambition closely mirrored Albert’s.

She too wanted to become a superhuman, though her methods involving the t-Phobos virus yielded much less favourable results. Her body mutated in a hideous fashion, morphing her into a troll-like figure who would shamble about in robes to conceal her deformity.

By the final encounter, she was not a towering, impressive menace like the Uroboros-infused Albert, but a grossly distorted creature that barely resembled a human at all. Time and time again, she failed in glorious fashion, and in her final moments, her physical appearance rivalled the sick perversion of her mind.

Although Alex Wesker won’t come up in many conversations for the finest members of RE’s gallery of rogues, you have to give her credit for her efforts. Not only was a surviving Wesker sibling a great twist, but her visage is definitely amongst the series’ most chilling sights to behold.

22. Donna Beneviento & Angie

Resident Evil Village

“Please, won’t you stay with me — forever?”

House Beneviento is, without a doubt, the single most frightening segment of Resident Evil Village. Between its macabre decorations of disassembled mannequins and the ever-present threat of a malformed, ravenous baby, it truly does the heavy lifting to deliver the horror in an otherwise action-skewed game.

It’s important to note, however, that it’s not so much the veritable puppet master and her tittering companion that make this area so haunting. Donna rarely speaks, what with her crippling anxiety and all, and Angie scarcely puts up a fight when you finally get her in your grasp.

So yeah, they rank lower than her cohorts in the Four Lords, but that’s more of a testament to the remaining members than a slight on these wacky customers. The way Angie giggles and prods Ethan’s restrained body makes for a great first impression, perfectly fitting the “possessed doll” trope.

Were they more heavily featured in their own eponymous household, this sinister pair would likely have ranked much higher. Thanks for the memories, at least!

21. Ricardo Irving

Resident Evil 5

“Oh I’m not like them. I’m a businessman with standards.”

As garish as many of these villains would become, there’s at least a level of intrigue assigned to their personality. Some are badass, while others are duplicitous or cunning. Our boy Ricardo, however? He’s just an unscrupulous piece of shit, a bottom feeder who is in no way aspirational.

Possessing all of the charm of a sleazy used car salesman, Irving acts solely to satiate his own greed. He’s a black market dealer completely in over his head, desperate to bolster his bottom line and, ideally, stay alive while he watches the insanity unfold around him.

In his final gambit to best the BSAA, Irving makes the ultimate sacrifice, injecting himself with the very bioweapon he had been hawking. Alas, his cohort Excella Gionne didn’t even think him worth the good stuff, turning him into a nasty piece of malicious liquorice.

Nobody will mourn the demise of the pathetic Mr. Irving, and ultimately his role was only to further the agendas of more powerful foes. But you know what? I cannot shake the notion that he looks exactly like me, and for this reason alone, I will always have time for this pesky little prick.

20. Carla Radames

Resident Evil 6

“Hell will rise and chaos will reign!”

Obsession is a common theme amongst RE antagonists, and yet for my money, Carla Radames’ is perhaps the most tragic.

A former virologist with Neo Umbrella, Carla would undergo torturous experimentation under the supervision of Derek Simmons. Simmons was obsessed with creating his own personal Ada Wong, and his prodigy was little more than a tool to make this dream a reality.

While it would appear the project was a success (I’m sure we’d all like to look more like Ada Wong), Carla’s psyche would become warped and unstable. Convinced that she was in fact the real Ada, her infection would eventually create one of the franchise’s most disgusting transformations.

Going from sultry Ada form to nasty ship blob form? That’s a fate nobody deserves, least of all someone who just wanted to make her boo proud of her. I’m sorry I had to shoot you in the face until you were dead, Carla, but I hope you’re in a better place now.

19. Eveline

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

“He doesn’t want to be my daddy? Then he can die.”

By the time you’re ready to face off against Resident Evil 7’s big bad, the pint-sized bioweapon Eveline, you will have already dealt with the Baker family and Mia Winters. For this reason alone, she could be considered something of a diminishing return.

She is fabulous in her own right, giving us the “evil little girl” archetype that has become so indelible in Japanese horror, and the way she’ll appear from out of nowhere can give you quite the jolt. She just suffers from being compared to some truly unique foes, and as such, isn’t able to make quite as much of an impact.

Compounding matters further, she has been portrayed as nigh unstoppable up to this point, toying with her prey and bending the will of thousands with her powers. Once Ethan approaches her with the serum in-hand, she puts up little resistance, and even her towering final form is easy work for the Albert-01 handgun.

In the end, she’s kind of… sad, I guess. Just like Carla, she wanted to be loved, and just like Carla, she turns into an enormous yucky face thing. It’s no wonder they’re both in fairly modest territory for these rankings.

18. Mother Miranda

Resident Evil Village

“My desires will be fulfilled!”

Trying to work out where to slot Miranda in these rankings is a tricky bit of business. On the one hand, she isn’t that much more spectacular on a personality front than Saddler or Eveline. On the other hand, her design is divine, and taking her out is much more satisfying.

This is why she sits somewhere in the middle of these rankings. She’s not exactly hot stuff, but she definitely surpasses some of the more dubious final bosses we’ve already addressed so far.

Where Miranda really excels is in symbolism. Just like Ethan, she is desperate to save her daughter, though in her case it is to revive her deceased infant, and in Rose she has finally found a suitable vessel after years of failure.

Ethan won’t let anything in the village stop him from retrieving his child, nor did Miranda spare a single soul in her maddened attempts. It’s two very contrasting angles to the same dilemma, coming to a head in the only way it ever could have; with death and destruction consuming them both.

I wouldn’t claim that Miranda is the perfect villain. I could be convinced that she was the perfect villain for Resident Evil Village, however, and that’s a pretty good title to claim.

17. Salvatore Moreau

Resident Evil Village

“Don’t be cruel! It’s not fair!”

Resident Evil has had plenty of cowering, snivelling foes over the years. Those little assholes with punchable faces matched by their punchable personalities. None are quite as striking as poor old Salvatore Moreau, however, who you could almost feel sorry for. Almost.

Condemned to a lifetime of misery, he was hit harder by the Cadou parasite than others, shifting into a creature that barely even resembles a human anymore. Despite this punishing result and being deemed a failure (too much water, 7.8), he idolizes Mother Miranda in a maddened state, grateful that she has bestowed upon him such a lofty position in her mutant militia.

He’s clearly the least mentally equipped for the job, and it isn’t until he succumbs completely to the infection that he poses much of a threat. In this sense, he’s a parallel to someone like Ricardo Irving, but I just can’t shake that appalling visage from my mind.

Moreau is anything but likeable, and yet somehow beguiling in his pure repugnance. Universally, the Four Lords ought to be celebrated for their design; it makes taking them out one by one all that much more satisfying.

16. T-00

Resident Evil 2

(no quote available, though that mean mugging speaks volumes)

Resident Evil 2 remains the crown jewel in the zombified crown for many pundits, and it’s plain to see why: it took everything that made the original so compelling, and then put it on steroids.

Case in point, our second go-round with the Tyrant bioweapon, T-00. Known amongst the western fandom as Mr. X — though I’m more inclined to call him Max to add that personal touch — he was the very first stalker foe for the franchise, a staple that would resurface a few times thereafter.

This took our terror to unprecedented levels. Sure, bosses would routinely follow us around their pre-ordained arena, but this felt different. Personal. This was an enemy out to get us, and no amount of heavy artillery could take it down.

It draws a fascinating parallel to the other antagonist of RE2, Dr. Birkin; a man who lost his humanity in pursuit of his work, rendering him into a fearsome monster. For T-00, who never had humanity in the first place, it remains unfettered and unstoppable, even after the point where it has morphed into the menacing Super Tyrant.

15. Karl Heisenberg

REsident Evil Village

“So now it’s time for the beautiful, blood-soaked grand finale! Haha!”

In Ethan Winters’ mission to rescue his daughter, Karl Heisenberg is the last of the Four Lords to stand in his way, and not coincidentally he poses the greatest threat. Possessing telekinetic powers that would make even Magneto sit up and take notice, this dapper gent isn’t quite so keen on his position as one of Miranda’s Four Lords.

He’s intent on overthrowing the lady of the land, and isn’t afraid to sacrifice countless lives in order to do so. This makes him a rather captivating point of difference from your average RE baddie; technically, his goals are aligned with Ethan’s, and he even offers an olive branch for the pair to work in tandem. The issue, of course, are his ruthless methods — not least of which including weaponising the very daughter Ethan has been struggling to rescue.

In this sense, Heisenberg isn’t exactly an antihero. But he definitely does offer a point of difference that doesn’t contradict with his sleazy demeanour. He plays a greater role than the other Four Lords as well, acting as both Ethan’s first and last encounter with the ensemble, and overall just makes for a memorable presence in a game that is already overflowing with them.

Heisenberg is everything that Simmons wasn’t, and stands as a good example of how to make a villain more than just a bland stereotype.

14. Jack Krauser

Resident Evil 4

“Ready to die, rookie?”

Former U.S. soldier turned power-hungry Saddler lackey Jack Krauser is something of an interesting case in the crowded field of Resident Evil 4 villains. Serving as Leon’s rival, Krauser is the penultimate boss before our fated bout against Osmund himself.

He’s an absolute tank, and likely serves as the game’s most challenging boss battle. That being said, we’re only introduced to him over the course of this game, taking the wind out of their showdown. His backstory of being a comrade who was tainted by the horrors of war is serviceable enough, and amplified by the later spinoff, The Darkside Chronicles. Without it, though, he’s just kind of a physical specimen who growls the word “rookie” a lot.

The fantabulous remake elevates his character quite significantly by letting him deal the fatal blow to Luis Serra, with whom you may have grown quite fond of. As the phrase goes, show, don’t tell; and now we know this guy is someone not to be trifled with.

13. Brian Irons

Resident Evil 2

“You are gonna be so fucking sorry!”

Being the biggest asshole in a franchise isn’t exactly an award to be proud of, but it’s most definitely the distinction that Brian Irons holds.

The hitherto Chief of the Raccoon City Police Department, Irons was involved in all kinds of shady activities long before the populace fell to the t-Virus. A violent, unpleasant man embroiled in every manner of corruption you could think of, Irons was always looking out for number one (himself), while engaging in his many vices.

Everything kind of blows up in his face once the zombies overtake the town, however he’s not about to go down without a slew of collateral damage, holding Sherry Birkin hostage and indirectly sending countless subordinates to their graves.

Hilariously, the stealth section of Resident Evil 2’s remake that had you navigating the helpless Sherry around the orphanage to escape Irons’ sight was perhaps the game’s most memorable moment for me. Little set my hair on end quite as much as hearing him wheeze “I see you” before closing in to snag me.

12. Lucas Baker

REsident Evil 7: Biohazard

“This is going to be fun. Just you wait.”

As previously noted on EZIYODA, each of the Bakers offers a different perspective of horror, and Lucas Baker is unique in the series thanks to his perverse delight in inflicting suffering. Instead of getting into the thick of things, his preference is to toy with his victims through a series of cruel games and booby traps.

He’s got the Jigsaw act down pat, only without possessing the requisite set of morals — just ask the toasty corpse of Clancy Jarvis. He relishes in mocking his targets in front of a camera, and special mention must be made of Jesse Pimentel’s performance here. He’s so wired, so unhinged: the intellect of a genius combined with the paranoia of a crackhead.

I must admit, I found his absence from the main campaign’s concluding chapters to be quite surprising — disappointing even, considering the salt mines were riddled with his trademark explosives. We would at least learn of his fate as part of the Not a Hero DLC; whether this was a worthy send-off may vary depending on whether you feel Ethan deserved to exact his revenge personally.

11. Lady Dimitrescu

Resident Evil Village

“Ugh, just another simple little manthing.”

Yes, you read correctly: the most popular character to emerge from Resident Evil 8 has failed to crack the top 10. In much the same vein as Donna, this primarily comes down to her relatively toned down presence in-game.

To wit, Alcina Dimitrescu is a masterclass of character design and performance, deftly crafted by theatre maestro Maggie Robertson. She takes the stalker template and applies it in a form that is appealing to thine eye; we’ve all surely made a joke or two that getting caught might not be so bad after all.

The flaw, however, is that Village is not as insular as the other games with a stalker enemy. Whereas Resident Evil 2, 3, and 7 had you returning to their patrol area multiple times, Castle Dimitrescu is an isolated section of a much larger adventure. Before too long, you’ve felled monster mommy and her brood, ready to move onto the next task.

With all that being said, she still maintains a respectable ranking by virtue of her fabulous personality. She draws you in with her allure, flashing a seductive grin one moment and bearing her fangs the next. I’m not really big on recycling deceased villains, but I wouldn’t mind seeing her brought back in a more central role somehow.

10. Mia Winters

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

“All I can say is that if you get this… Stay away.”

Once again, we dip into the well of “not quite villains” with the duplicitous Mia Winters, a woman with a spotty track record of trustworthiness who is at the very least willing to atone for her misdeeds.

Considering there is an entire section of gameplay dedicated to her battling against Eveline in an effort to rescue her husband, she’s more good than bad. And yet, it is those early game moments where she is swinging a chainsaw in our direction that makes her so unforgettable.

As not only the first boss of Resident Evil 7 but in fact the first enemy, it hinges on Mia to make for a memorable scare, and holy shit does she deliver on that front. Watching her become tainted before our very eyes, snarling and shrieking as she rips us apart with whatever she can get her hands on… these are the things that make RE7 one of the franchise’s best.

Though she would take a significant backseat in Village, we already had an inbuilt distrust for her that set red flags up for her behaviour. Would she turn once again, victim to Eveline’s madness? Or was something even more nefarious in store? This sense of continuity was what made RE8’s narrative so gripping.

9. Father Bitores Méndez

Resident Evil 4

“Just remember if you become unpleasant to our eyes, you’ll face severe consequences.”

Call Saddler the head honcho all you want, Bitores here will forever be entrenched as the big cheese.

Each of RE4’s sections contained their own major boss fight, and Bitores does not disappoint as the first up to the plate. He’s not just a leadoff hitter who will get on base, he’ll crush some dingers and then your goddamn face with his bare hands.

Leon’s extraction mission in rural Spain is going relatively smoothly up until the point where he comes face to chest with this hulking brute, who shrugs off his attacks before yeeting him across the room. He isn’t a traditional stalker enemy in the sense of Nemesis or the T-00 before him, though he fits the mould as an unstoppable, unyielding force.

Once he’s cornered, he allows the Plagas infection to mutate him into a wicked, skeletal form with tendrils sharp enough to kill. Our reward was a satisfying showdown in the abattoir, as well as a glass eye to remind us of the fun times we’d shared together. Here’s looking at you, big guy.

8. Nicholai Ginovaef

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

“Prekrasnaya! But you were not good enough!”

By and large, Resident Evil villains are defined by the maddening scope of their schemes; they’re often either looking to rule with an iron fist, or so corrupted by a virus that their brains are hardwired solely for murder.

Nicholai marches to the beat of his own drum, motivated solely by self-gain. Not only does this allow him to operate ruthlessly behind the scenes — extracting valuable intel and resources to be sold off to the highest bidder — it also adds a level of tension, as you’re unclear what motivations he truly holds.

He plays second banana to the eponymous Nemesis as far as RE3 pecking order goes, but for someone as covert and sneaky as he is, that suits him perfectly fine. Why cause all kinds of a ruckus when he can do his dirty work discretely in the background?

There is a certain intensity to Nicholai that other characters on this list lack, and I think that comes down to his focus and intelligence. At no point does he become some kind of snarling beast, and he instead confronts Jill with methodical focus. It’s not as scary in a conventional sense, and yet, you’ll soon fear for your life once you’re in his crosshairs.

7. Lisa Trevor

Resident Evil (2002)

“Mo…ther…”

By now, I’ve sung so many praises for 2002’s Resident Evil remake that I could release a double album. I cannot be effusive enough in my adoration, and innovations such as the introduction of Lisa Trevor are chief amongst my rationale.

Originally intended to be a story element in the PS1 original, Lisa would eventually find a role as one of the cruellest results of bioengineering. Captured and experimented on from childhood, her body and mind would be reduced into twisted deterioration, yielding a hooded monster in search of her long lost mother.

Once you’re cornered by Lisa in that dank cabin, your first instinct may be to pull out your strongest weapons and unload every round. But she can only be slowed, not stopped. The only way you’ll be free of her is by reuniting her with that which she seeks, allowing her to slink off into the darkness from whence she came.

…Let’s just forget the movie interpretation, OK?

6. Marguerite Baker

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

“There are known unknowns here, and you’ve not paid fucking attention.”

Of all the Bakers, the vile Marguerite is easily the scariest for me. For the first time, our tormentors looked like real, evil people — albeit warped to the point where they have begun to resemble something rather un-human.

Flashing a smile that only a mother could love, Marguerite flips from 0 to 100 on a dime, unleashing a foul mouth and even fouler temper whenever she is displeased. I never thought I’d hear the word ‘cocksucker’ in a Resident Evil game, but she most certainly proved me wrong there.

In her final encounter, Marguerite undergoes your usual monstrous transformation, and though she maintains much of her original appearance, this somehow manages to make her even more grotesque. Sporting a bulging sac overflowing with bugs and long, spindly limbs with which to snatch up her prey, Monster-ite is the stuff of nightmares.

When I first laid eyes on the key art for Resident Evil 7 — the one depicting that scene — it was this lovely lady who most drew me in, so terribly pleased with herself. She is a masterstroke in character design, and I’m so thankful she invited me into her loving home.

5. Dr. William Birkin

Resident Evil 2

“Sorry, but I won’t just hand over my life’s work…”

How best would one follow up the scheming virologist Albert Wesker from RE1? Why, by presenting us with his one-time colleague, William Birkin.

Where Wesker was always prepared to crush people on his path to success, Birkin was driven into a corner, obsessed with his work to the point of madness and unwilling to accept the changing landscape around him. His magnum opus, of course, was the G-Virus, so he was essentially pleased with turning people into zombies, but I’m not here to yuck his yum.

Of course, raising your firearm at a nerdy scientist wasn’t exactly going to make for riveting content (unless your name is Martinez), and so, we would see Birkin’s physical and mental descent throughout the course of the game. His early mutation, sporting a large, glaring eyeball from his shoulder, is about as indelible an image as there is in Resident Evil’s long history.

He’s not exactly a sympathetic figure, as a selfish man who put his research ahead of his family in the same manner that would eventually cost his wife her life, but he wasn’t evil purely for evil’s sake. That was just a little bit different, and it makes for a fascinating piece of lore to admire and blow to smithereens.

4. Ramón Salazar

Resident Evil 4

“DIE YOU WORM!”

If you are seeking the quintessential barometer of Resident Evil campiness, you need look no further than Señor Salazar, the 8th count of Valdelobos.

This diminutive creep is the lord and ruler of his own personal palace of hell, and he revels in riddling your path with all kinds of traps and unpleasant encounters. He prefers to do this from as far away as possible, mocking you in a snivelling tone while growing increasingly frustrated with your continued survival.

The back-and-forth banter he trades with Leon Kennedy through RE4’s castle section is absolutely iconic, with such banger moments including their exchange regarding a first-class script, and another involving his infamous right hand.

Like all micromanaging miscreants, eventually Salazar too must rise to the occasion by duelling directly with Leon, and depending on which edition of the game you’re playing, this will result in quite disparate experiences. Don’t worry, he’ll still yuk it up until the very end, so feel free to shut him up with a well-timed golden egg directly down his gabbling gullet.

3. Jack Baker

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

“Groovy.”

Resident Evil 7 sees the franchise making a celebrated return to its survival horror roots. Despite this, the central antagonist, Jack Baker, is such a wild character, he would just as easily fit in one of the more action-skewed entries.

As the first of the three Bakers to hunt Ethan down directly, Jack makes the biggest impact both literally and figuratively, crashing through walls and hurling japes at you with all of the tact of a tipsy Leon Kennedy. Jack isn’t the scariest boss in RE7 — quite the contrary, his charming personality and exaggerated assaults make him almost endearing. But he is the straw that stirs the drink here in Dulvey Parish.

Laugh at his antics all you like, he is still an imposing figure who will mess you up if he gets his hands on you. The new first-person perspective renders his stalking segments much more tense than his contemporaries, and though his final mutation is more off-putting than frightening, just when you think he’s done, he’s got one last twist up his sleeve.

As seen in Ethan’s discussion with him through the Molded, Jack is in fact a good man who lost himself under Eveline’s influence. He speaks to the camera calmly, even sympathetically, before begging us to save his family. I hadn’t anticipated that the man who tried to decapitate me with a giant pair of scissors would turn out to be one of the franchise’s most layered characters, but here we are.

2. Nemesis T-Type

Resident evil 3: Nemesis

“S.T.A.R.S..”

Across nearly three decades of eldritch horrors, no single bioweapon has ever had quite the cultural impact of the souped-up T-103 variant, Nemesis.

A singleminded killer with a bevy of weapons and a killer right hook, this bad boy singlehandedly elevated RE3 to the revered position it holds today: a smaller budget sequel with finely crafted mechanics that would make it stand on equal footing with its predecessors.

While mindlessly growling its lone objective in a guttural voice, the Nemesis would rampage through Raccoon City, eviscerating poor old Brad Vickers in one continuity and otherwise terrorising Jill Valentine in all instances. Its design is a flawless mishmash of exposed flesh and bad intentions, and the franchise-altering way it would doggedly pursue the player throughout various scenes made us rethink survival horror.

Indeed, short of one noteworthy blond megalomaniac (no prizes for guessing who that is), can any RE villain really come close to the notoriety of Nemesis? It is to Jill what Wesker is to Chris, and only one man has ever had a masterplan flawless enough to escape its grasp.

1. Albert Wesker

Resident Evil

“The right to be a god… That right is now mine.”

Oh come on, as if it was ever going to be anyone else. Wesker is as much Resident Evil as Chris, Leon, or a whole plate of Jill sandwiches. This is despite being presumed dead in his debut, and only appearing in a handful of games since then.

When we first meet Albert Wesker, he is our presumed ally; the calm, steely nerved captain of the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team with whom we cross paths at various intervals during the investigation. When it’s revealed that he is in fact a double agent entangled with the Umbrella Corporation, his true intention is revealed — to unleash the ultimate life form, Tyrant!

Though it ends up backfiring and Wesker skewered through the tummy, he ultimately survives as a result of the t-Virus strain flowing through his veins. With his wicked machinations laid bare, the too-cool-for-school turncoat descends further into machiavellian madman; practically a moustache-twirling despot whose every uttered word is a veritable meme.

Perhaps even more than his heroic counterparts, Wesker is the true distillation of what Resident Evil is all about: overt melodrama and dizzyingly high stakes, presented as bombastically as possible. While his time on this earth was ended when his plot armour dried up, he made an impact that cannot be understated… Complete global saturation!!