Umbrella Corporation
 |
| File:Umbrella Corporation logo.gif | |
| Company type | Fictional corporation and laboratory |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1968 |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
Key people | Ozwell E. Spencer James Marcus Edward Ashford |
| Products | Pharmacy products Bio-Organic weapons |
Umbrella Corporation is a fictional bioengineering pharmaceutical company appearing in the Resident Evil series of survival horror games. It is a major international player in a number of markets including pharmaceuticals, medical hardware, defense, and computers along with more clandestine operations utilizing genetic engineering and bio weapons. The company also has a more public face, producing cosmetics and consumer products.
One of Umbrella's subsidiaries is a private military company with a highly-trained security force capable of rescue, reconnaissance, and para-military operations. The corporation utilizes the force to secure and protect its assets and high profile employees.
History
Formation
The Umbrella Corporation was founded by Ozwell E. Spencer in 1968. Dr. James Marcus and Lord Edward Ashford were also involved in the formation of the company, but they were far more interested in the potential uses of the "Progenitor Virus", a new type of virus the three men had discovered during their research on the Ebola virus.
When Ashford died in 1968, Spencer was able to largely sideline Marcus at the corporation's Raccoon City facilities while he maintained control over the company for the next thirty years. Soon Umbrella had multiple research facilities and various research being done on various bioweapon viruses - T-Virus, Nemesis parasite et al - but it was the Arklay Research Facility that became the most prominent together with nearby Arklay Training Facility, which was used to train Umbrella personnel and also contained laboratory installation. However, it was noted by researcher Albert Wesker that the military potential of the T-Virus would never make up for the cost of research & production, and that the Arklay facility seemed to be deliberately placed in an area where any leak would cause an uncontrollable outbreak.
Spencer eventually grew distrustful of Marcus, as he was worried that the scientist, who had recently started to make comeback with his research project, might danger his position as the Umbrella's key figure. Spencer arranged for his assassination by Wesker and William Birkin. Birkin would subsequently take over all of Marcus' research.
Outbreaks
Ten years after Marcus' assassination, however, a disaster struck the Umbrella Corporation. Despite having seemingly been killed, Marcus came back to life. Marcus exacted his revenge on Spencer and Umbrella by releasing the T-Virus into the Arklay facilities, turning the personnel into zombies and leaving the facilities in complete chaos, allowing dangerous research specimens to escape into the surrounding area.
Birkin and Wesker used this as a diversion for their own plans to leave Umbrella, taking their research with them. Wesker, having formed Raccoon Police Department's (R.P.D.) elite S.T.A.R.S. two years earlier, would develop a plan to lure the unit to the Arklay Research Facility to obtain battle data from the conflict that would follow with the S.T.A.R.S. members and various Bio-Organic Weapons (B.O.W.). Of the two S.T.A.R.S. teams, the first to be deployed was Bravo Team, and it was Bravo Team's Rebecca Chambers's and Billy Coen's intervention that eventually stopped Marcus' plans for revenge within the Arklay Training Facility, resulting in the facility's destruction.
Bravo Team was followed by Alpha Team. Both teams suffered heavy losses while battling the B.O.W.s, losing many of their comrades. In the end, one of Umbrella's most prominent B.O.W.s, the Tyrant, was released, resulting in unforeseen side-effects for Wesker, both the laboratory and the rampaging Tyrant being destroyed by S.T.A.R.S.
Wesker was forced to go into hiding for a number of months, using his operative Ada Wong to carry out his objectives, including the recovery of Birkin's ultimate creation, the G-Virus. Several months after the Arklay incident, William Birkin finally perfected the viral strain that he'd been toiling to achieve since obtaining Marcus' research so many years earlier, the G-Virus. Birkin planned to use the virus to force the Umbrella Corporation into allowing him onto their executive board, refusing to hand over the virus otherwise.
Umbrella deployed its U.S.F.U. in a bid to steal a G-virus sample from Birkin. Although Birkin was mortally wounded in the ensuing conflict, and the G-Virus was successfully recovered by Umbrella, he was able to inject the G-Virus into his own body and kill most of the team before it could make its escape.
This event was directly responsible for unleashing the T-Virus on Raccoon City. While the Arklay incident had been relatively isolated and concealed from the public, and Umbrella's control over key government and law enforcement personnel had ensured that any record of what had occurred could be safely swept into obscurity, they were now faced with an entire city infected with the T-Virus and a trail leading directly back to the Umbrella Corporation.
Decline
Umbrella's fortunes failed to improve after the Raccoon City incident. The US government was forced to take extreme measures to ensure the spread of the T-Virus was stopped. "Mission: Code XX" was approved for immediate deployment, and Raccoon City was annihilated by a nuclear missile strike. Despite the apparent disastrous effects this would bring for the Umbrella, Ozwell E. Spencer used his immense wealth and assets in an attempt to cover up the catastrophe as the result of a government conspiracy.[1] Because most of the evidence of Umbrella's involvement had been destroyed by the nuclear strike, Umbrella managed to drag out the legal proceedings. Witnesses like Yoko Suzuki were called to testify against the company, but Umbrella still managed to evade conviction and endure for another five years.
Shortly after the Raccoon City incident, the US government began a formal investigation of Umbrella's business practices. Several further disasters virtually ensured Umbrella's eventual collapse. On Sheena Island, an Umbrella senior executive, Vincent Goldman, unleashed the T-Virus on its citizens in a bid to cover up his business on the island that had not been accepted by Umbrella's executive board, and emerge as the sole survivor of the incident, bringing vital research data regarding the new Tyrant project with him. However, an undercover investigator Ark Thompson, operating on behalf of Leon S. Kennedy, a survivor of the Raccoon City incident, succeeded in stopping Goldman's plans, resulting in his death and the loss of data regarding the new Tyrant type; Hypnos T-Type. Thompson survived the incident along with two local children.
Shortly afterwards, Claire Redfield, sister of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team member Chris Redfield and also a survivor of the Raccoon City incident, broke into Umbrella's Paris facilities in search of her brother. She was captured and sent to Umbrella's facility on Rockfort Island. While there, she witnessed Albert Wesker attack the island in search of the T-Veronica Virus, another derivative of the T-Virus. Escaping the island, she found herself trapped at the South Pole Facility, where Edward Ashford's granddaughter, Alexia Ashford, awoke from a self-induced coma with a desire to establish a new order. Alexia was killed, and the South Pole Facility destroyed by Chris and Claire Redfield.
The end
Due to the series of disasters plaguing the company, and the ongoing legal proceedings against them, Umbrella's stock prices plummeted. By the early 21st century, the Umbrella Corporation's financial ruin was nearly absolute, but the corporation was not finished yet. Umbrella retained one last major stronghold, a main base of operations located in southern Russia. Following Spencer's disappearance, this nightmarish facility was placed under the leadership of Sergei Vladimir, and now housed the U.M.F.-013, a supercomputer containing all of the company's data.
In 2003, Umbrella's stronghold came under attack both by special forces troops led by Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, as well as Albert Wesker. While the special forces secured the facility and destroyed the Talos project, Wesker infiltrated the facility and assassinated Sergei Vladimir, stealing all the data from the U.M.F.-013. Wesker then turned incriminating data over to the prosecutors working against Umbrella, and testified. Five years after Raccoon City's destruction, Umbrella was finally found guilty on all charges of its involvement in that massacre and an international manhunt was begun to bring Ozwell E. Spencer to justice.
One year later, Wesker revealed that he has plans to rebuild Umbrella.
Company motto and slogan
- In Resident Evil Zero, Umbrella's 'employee pledge' is stated as "Obedience breeds discipline, discipline breeds unity, unity breeds power, power is life."
- In the teaser trailer for Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the slogan is stated as "Our business is life itself."
- In a trailer for The Umbrella Chronicles, an advertisement bears the slogan "Nothing is impossible."
- In the opening sequence of The Umbrella Chronicles, the slogan is "Preserving the health of the people".
Products
In the video game, a contributing factor to Umbrella's success is their non-lethal commercial products. Such products include:
- Adravil: An apparently ibuprofen-based analgesic. May be an analogy of the real drug Advil.
- Safsprin: Another of Umbrella's three main public products. Aspirin based, it can be used as treatment for various common, daily illnesses.
- Uspirim: Another Umbrella Aspirin-based product, introduced in Alyssa Ashcroft's good ending in Resident Evil: Outbreak.
- Aqua Cure: Umbrella's crowning public achievement, Aqua Cure is an ointment used on open wounds.
- Regenerate: is a skin care product (and registered trademark) of the Umbrella Corporation (motto: Our business is life itself), using the T-Virus to reanimate dead cells and make you more youthful looking. It is only featured in the movie trilogy and is thus non-canon.
- Valifin: A non-canon medication mentioned in the novelization Resident Evil: Zero Hour by S.D. Perry, Valifin is a pediatric heart medication that has a side-effect of renal failure.
- Computers: In many Resident Evils are Umbrella computers, varying from office to home computers.
Though these are not necessarily manufactured by Umbrella themselves. Hundreds of other products ranging from computer software to weapons to drinks and foods to botany products to medical and cosmetics products, have been released to the public from the Umbrella Corp.
Manufactured firearms
- Sporting Int. Magnum Custom Edition A weapon inheriting features from the Colt M1911-A1 and the IMI Desert Eagle. Chambered in .50 Action Express. Appears in Resident Evil 0.
- Incinerator Unit A weapon that uses some parts of the Colt M4A1 Carbine and fires a long range flame. Appears in Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2.
- Semi-Automatic Anti-Tank Rifle A large rifle used to destroy light armored vehicles. Appears in Resident Evil, Resident Evil 0.
- Spark Shot A gun that fires electric shocks to control experimental animals. Appears in Resident Evil 2.
- Mine Thrower A gun with specialized bullets that will either detonate if something pass near them, or attach themselves to a creature. Appears in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
- Elite Python A modification for a Colt Python .357 Magnum made by Umbrella.
- Linear Launcher A Shoulder-Mounted cannon that fires an extremely powerful blast of plasma. Appears in Resident Evil Code Veronica X.
- Charged Particle Rifle A gun that charges particles with negative or positive shocks that can electrocute living things or deactivate electric shields and damage electric artifacts due to the electro-magnetic pulse emitted by it. Appears in Resident Evil Dead Aim.
There are many other products seen briefly throughout all of the Resident Evil games including soft drinks, cosmetics, and firearms.
Known facilities
North America
- Arklay Research Facility: A research facility located in Raccoon Forest, camouflaged by a mansion designed by George Trevor for Ozwell E. Spencer. Umbrella conducted most of its T-Virus experiments there, including the creation of the Tyrant. The facility was destroyed in 1998 after a localized T-Virus Outbreak.
- Umbrella Research Center: Also known as the Management Training Facility, this building was managed by James Marcus for the purpose of training future Umbrella employees. It was officially closed down in 1978, though Marcus continued his research there until his assassination in 1988. An investigative unit was sent in 1998 to inspect the facility for reopening purposes. It was destroyed by William Birkin.
- Chicago Research Facility: The facility John, Ada Wong's deceased boyfriend, worked for before transferring to Arklay Research Facility. William Birkin used to visit this branch to conduct a monthly training seminar.
- Raccoon City Underground Laboratory: A facility established during the late 1980s for the sole purpose of William Birkin's G-Virus project. It can only be entered through a cable car system within Raccoon City's sewers, and is also connected to the Management Training Facility.
- Disposal Facility: A facility hidden within an abandoned factory in Raccoon City, used to chemically destroy dead and unusable specimens. Potent contributor to the release of the virus into the city.
- Raccoon City Hospital: Umbrella maintained a small laboratory in the basement of the city hospital. This lab contained MA-124 Hunters in containment tanks, as well as equipment capable of synthesizing a vaccine against the T-Virus.
- Classified Research and Testing Facility: Located in the area of what used to be Raccoon City, this facility was built after the area was destroyed and gated off. Not much is known about this facility. But what is known is that Umbrella conducts testing and research there and monitors the gated area and surrounding area for any possible biohazard threats or trespassers. The facility is inaccessible to all means of transportation except helicopter, and is built on a steel boom in the crater.
Other
- Umbrella Russian Branch: Umbrella's last stronghold, located in the Caucasus region, in the south of Russia. On the surface, it appears to be a government-operated chemical processing plant, but it was taken over by Umbrella after the fall of the Soviet Union and maintained as a front. Umbrella built facilities beneath the surface to perform viral and B.O.W. research. It became Umbrella's main base of operations following the company's public fall from grace, and housed the U.M.F.-103, the supercomputer containing all of Umbrella's research and assets - the summation of the company on one disk. It was here that Umbrella continued its horrifying research and development under the command of Sergei Vladimir all the way until 2003. One of this base's most notable accomplishments was the completion of the Talos, the most sophisticated bio-organic weapon ever developed by Umbrella.
- Sheena Island: A small European island privately owned by Umbrella. It housed a community of researchers working for the company and was secretly the site of a Tyrant Plant which was mass-producing the T-103 models (Mr. Xs).
- Umbrella Medical, Paris: Claire Redfield infiltrates this facility briefly, only to be captured by its chief of security, Rodrigo Juan Raval. Later, Morpheus Duvall steals a vial of experimental T-Virus from this facility.
- Umbrella Europe Sixth Laboratory: The facility responsible for the creation of the NE-T parasitic organism that allowed for the production of the Nemesis.
- Rockfort Island: A solitary island which served as the site of Alfred Ashford's private residence and palace after he purchased the land and drove the villagers out. It also housed an "inescapable" prison camp, a military training facility for the Umbrella Special Forces Unit (including a lab used to create BOWs) and an airport.
- Umbrella Antarctic Facility: A facility established by Alexander Ashford for his Code: Veronica project. Later, Alexia Ashford, an offspring of the project, used the facility for her T-Veronica(and subsequent T-Alexia) research.
- Umbrella Atlantic Facility: A waste disposal facility on an unnamed island in the Atlantic Ocean. It was to this facility that Umbrella sent some of its worst failed experiments to be disposed of, but for unknown reasons the facility shut down. It was used as a base of operations by renegade Umbrella executive Morpheus D. Duvall.
- Umbrella UK Computing: Apparently a Computing base for Umbrella, closed off in shame of Umbrella's Raccoon City disaster.
Paramilitary units
Throughout the Resident Evil series, several Umbrella-owned paramilitary units were introduced, driving the plot and providing new enemies and allies.
Umbrella Special Forces Unit
The Umbrella Special Forces Unit were first introduced in Resident Evil 2. U.S.F.U. Alpha Team attempted to steal a sample of the G-Virus, causing the city-wide outbreak in the game. Delta Team appeared in the prequel Resident Evil Zero; Delta Team was sent in to blow up the Ecliptic Express after the trouble occurred, but was overwhelmed by the leeches and wiped out. Delta Team was under the direct command of Wesker and Birkin.
Other games give further background for the Umbrella Special Forces. According to Code: Veronica, U.S.F.U. agents are trained at the Rockfort Island facility.
One of the more notable members of the U.S.F.U., HUNK, appears first in a minigame in Resident Evil 2, where he is given the mission of retrieving the G-virus from the research facility under Raccoon City. Canonically, he is the only survivor of his squad's mission.
U.S.F.U. agents are always depicted in solid-color gray fatigues, wearing protective vests and gas masks. They report directly to the highest ranking officers in Umbrella. Unlike the U.B.C.S. which performs more visible missions such as rescuing civilians, this unit maintains total secrecy and a small size.
Umbrella Security Service
The Umbrella Security Service, or U.S.S, was introduced in the Resident Evil Outbreak series. They are typically depicted as wearing the same uniform as the U.S.F.U., which leads to confusion concerning whether the two are one and the same. However, unlike the USFU, the USS is not tasked with top-secret missions and focuses more on asset protection, employee evacuation and so on. They appear to handle the same tasks that the U.B.C.S. are supposedly used to deal with. Except in the U.S.S.' case, they are not deemed expendable. In Resident Evil Outbreak File 2, a lone rogue member of the U.S.S., Rodriguez, manages to steal the Nyx prototype, supposedly in a bid to sell it off.
Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service
The Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service, or U.B.C.S., was introduced in Resident Evil 3. Numerous squads of UBCS soldiers are deployed to Raccoon City, supposedly to search for survivors and to help contain the zombie epidemic. In fact, they were deployed so that Umbrella could gain reliable combat data regarding their biological weapons—a fact known only to their supervisors. One of their members, Carlos Oliveira, is a main character in the game. UBCS members are also depicted in Resident Evil Outbreak and The Umbrella Chronicles.
The UBCS was founded by former Soviet Colonel Sergei Vladimir. The service is mainly composed of "nightmen", mostly former mercenaries and war criminals recruited by Umbrella and trained to deal with "problems caused by illegal products." Their uniform consists of tactical vests, green shirts and tan or creme-colored slacks. They are usually armed with M4 carbines.
Monitor
The highly secretive Monitor organization was first brought to light by documents in The Umbrella Chronicles. Monitor is an internal espionage organization within Umbrella meant to monitor suspicious activity among its own employees. Operatives are usually placed throughout the corporation and maintain the image of normal employees in order to help them conduct their spy activities. Several Monitor agents were placed among the U.B.C.S., one of whom was Nicholai Ginovaef. Their orders range from spying on fellow employees and destroying evidence to cleanup operations, including assassinations if required.
Umbrella Trashsweepers Unit
Resident Evil: Survivor includes a special force of shock troopers known as the Umbrella Trashsweepers, also known as the Undertakers or Cleaners. Cleaners appear to have uniforms similar to those of Umbrella's Special Forces Unit, with kevlar vests, gas masks, and gray BDUs. However, despite their human appearance, with the exception of the unit's commanding officer all members of the unit are a type of B.O.W. They are incapable of speech, emit screeching sound when wounded and when they are killed, they dissolve into green ichor. Their role is to destroy all evidence of a viral outbreak, including survivors. They are described as "robotic special forces troops" which dissolve when killed so as not to leave evidence of their existence.