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Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City features a shocking mid-credits scene that sets the course for the film franchise.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, in theaters now.
While Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City faithfully adapts the overarching plot of the first two video games in the Resident Evil franchise, one major change from the original source material is its depiction of Albert Wesker. The primary antagonist in a number of games in the franchise, Wesker is as unrepentantly evil as they come. Welcome to Raccoon City offers a more sympathetic portrait of a man forced to turn against his friends, betraying them to the sinister Umbrella Corporation, only to be gunned down by his partner on the Raccoon City Police Department Jill Valentine. And while Wesker appears dead by the time the closing credits begin to roll, a mid-credits scene sets him up for a fresh start with a fan-favorite character by his side.
Welcome to Raccoon City‘s mid-credits scene has Wesker come to life in a bodybag, evoking the opening sequence to 2002’s Resident Evil enhanced remake on the GameCube. As Wesker claws his way out of the bodybag and gasps for breath as he acclimates to his second shot at life, he is greeted by none other than Ada Wong. Clad in her signature red dress that she wore during her debut in 1998’s Resident Evil 2 and its own enhanced remake in 2019, Ada introduces herself and informs Wesker that he has been resurrected by a mysterious benefactor to continue his mission, as the traitorous police officer tacitly finds himself back in the employ of someone with a nefarious agenda.
The big twist in the original Resident Evil video game was that Wesker was secretly working for the Umbrella Corporation all along, betraying his team to keep Umbrella’s true activities under wraps as the S.T.A.R.S. Team investigated the Spencer Mansion. This suggests that Wesker was brought back to life by Umbrella, similar to how he was in the original video game after he was killed by the genetic monstrosity the Tyrant, and that there is someone farther up the food chain in Umbrella than Wesker; by the events of 2000’s Resident Evil Code: Veronica through his eventual demise in 2009’s Resident Evil 5, Wesker was very much his own boss carrying out a plot to forcibly trigger the next step in human evolution in his twisted image.
The idea that Ada resurrects Wesker and tasks him with his continuing assignment from Umbrella not only repositions Ada as a more antagonistic figure but also inverts her dynamic with Wesker. The video game Resident Evil 2 saw Ada recovering the G-virus for an unknown figure, revealed to be Wesker in 2005’s Resident Evil 4 as he had her recover the Plagas virus for him and eliminate any witnesses, including Leon S. Kennedy. While Ada succeeded in recovering both viruses, she quietly disobeyed Wesker’s orders by sparing Leon in both instances, eventually moving on to become a free agent by the events of 2012’s Resident Evil 6. Welcome to Raccoon City has Ada working for whoever wants Wesker back alive while giving him orders through a pager on his person at all times.
With several of the police officers he betrayed still alive and ready to expose the truth about the Umbrella Corporation, Albert Wesker may be set for a rematch against his former friends, now with Ada Wong at his side. And with the identity of those who have been ordered Wesker all along and given him his second lease on life, the mid-credit sequence asks more questions than it resolves as it sets up Welcome to Raccoon City for a potential sequel.
To witness Wesker’s return, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is in theaters now.
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