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The Umbrella Corporation (also known as Umbrella, Inc.) (傘株式会社) is a fictional biotech megacorp company set in the Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan) videogame series. It operates ruthlessly as 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 bioweaponry.
A subsidiary of Umbrella operates as a private military company. This division of the corporation maintains a highly trained security force capable of rescue, reconnaissance, and para-military operations. They use a variety of vehicles, including HUMVEEs. Complementing this security force is an air wing, which maintains a fleet of AV-8B Harrier VTOL jump jets, Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, C-130 water-landing capable cargo planes, CH-46 Sea Knight cargo helicopters for transporting B.O.W.s, Hughes H-6 "Little Bird" attack helicopters. The corporation utilizes these resources in order to secure and protect its assets, as well as its high profile employees.
History of Umbrella
Formation
The Umbrella Corporation was founded by Lord Ozwell E. Spencer, a man descended from the British Royal Family, in the 1960s. Two other people were prominently involved in the conception of Umbrella, Dr. James Marcus and Sir Edward Ashford, although it is apparent that Spencer was the driving force behind the formation of the company as Marcus and Ashford were far more interested in the potential uses of the newly-discovered Progenitor Virus. When Ashford died in 1968, Spencer was able to largely sideline Marcus at the Raccoon City facilities while he maintained control over the company for the next thirty years. Spencer would eventually grow distrustful of Marcus, worried that his research would allow the scientist to eventually supplant him as Umbrella's CEO.Lord Spencer arranged for the assassination of Dr. Marcus, a task that was duly carried out by two of Marcus' most brilliant and ambitious assistants, William Birkin and Albert Wesker. Birkin would subsequently take over all of Marcus' research, including the studies on the Progenitor Virus. Ten years later, Marcus was completely restored by the Queen Leech (see James Marcus for more information regarding this event). Marcus would exact his revenge on Spencer and Umbrella by releasing the T-Virus into the Arklay Research Facility's water supply, turning the facility personnel into zombies and leaving the laboratory and mansion in complete chaos, allowing for the team's extremely 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 City's elite S.T.A.R.S. unit two years previous, would develop a plan to lure the team to the Spencer Mansion to obtain battle data from the conflict that would surely follow. Spencer Mansion had been constructed above the actual laboratory to conceal it from negative interests such as the government and local populace, and was now crawling with infected researchers and experiments wandering its halls. Although the Tyrant was deployed, resulting in unforseen side-effects for Wesker, both the laboratory and the rampaging Tyrant were destroyed by S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team before making its escape back to Raccoon City with a single Bravo Team survivor.
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, but then changed his plans when he found that selling it directly to the U.S. Government would prove far more profitable. Umbrella deployed its elite U.S.S. team (a para-military black-operations unit created for Umbrella's most clandestine purposes) in a desperate bid to stop Birkin from handing over his ultimate creation. 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 devastate most of the team before it could make its escape. This event would be indirectly 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. This would prove exceedingly difficult, even for Umbrella, to make simply disappear.
Decline and Collapse
Umbrella's fortunes failed to improve after the Raccoon City incident. The U.S. Government was forced to take extreme measures to ensure the spread of the T-Virus was stopped for good. Mission Code XX was approved for immediate deployment, and Raccoon City was annihilated via an air-to-surface surgical missile strike. Contrary to popular belief, there was no cover-up following the incident. After escaping to the city limits with the USS Rodrigez and her fellow Umbrella researcher Linda, Yoko Suzuki's amnesia finally lifted, and all of the evil deeds she had witnessed and helped Umbrella keep secret came flooding back. With her newly regained memories, Yoko decided it was time the world was told the truth, and that doing so would start her down a better path. Linda and Yoko were brought forward as key witnesses to Umbrella's atrocities in the Supreme Court, and all was made known.Shortly after the Raccoon City incident, the U.S. Government suspended Umbrella's market trading pending an investigation into their business practices. While this investigation must have already provided Umbrella with severe financial problems, several further disasters virtually ensured their eventual collapse. On Sheena Island, undercover investigator, Ark Thompson, operating on behalf of Leon S. Kennedy, succeeded in destroying Umbrella's Tyrant production plant after Umbrella's senior executive assigned to the island unleashed the T-Virus on its citizens. Shortly afterwards, when Claire Redfield broke into Umbrella's Paris facilities in search of her brother, she was captured and sent to Umbrella's illegal prison camp on Rockfort Island. While there, she witnessed Albert Wesker attack the island in search of the T-Veronica Virus, another relative of the now infamous 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. With the destruction of Sheena Island, Rockfort Island and the South Pole Facility, most of Umbrella's illegitimate operations had been shut down. This, combined with the loss of so many of Umbrella's research and security personnel throughout each of the disastrous incidents, left Umbrella with little chance of reforming said operations or regaining the years of research lost thus far.
With trading suspended, Umbrella's shares quickly collapsed, and the company was virtually bankrupt. Umbrella became largely fragmented, with power struggles between senior executives becoming a constant occurrence. The U.S. STRATCOM was mainly involved in clean-up operations, such as the theft of the T/G-Virus by former Umbrella executive in R&D, Morpheus D. Duvall, and his plans to create a new order based around his obsessive ideals of 'beauty'. By the early 21st century, the Umbrella Corporation's bankruptcy was absolute, and the U.S. government had completed the process of fully dismantling the remnants of the organization. However, in Resident Evil 4, it was revealed that Albert Wesker's grand scheme involves the resurrection of the Umbrella Corporation.
Umbrella in the 'Evil Company' Archetype
Though Umbrella was portrayed as a stereotypical "evil megacorporation", similar to Weyland-Yutani from the Alien series, it was later given an elaborate backstory and presence stretching back to the turn of the century in Veronica. On the other hand, the same game greatly bolstered the concept of an omnipotent corporation, introducing the company's private prison island. And while some of the zombie outbreaks seen in the Resident Evil series are caused by staggering incompetence and rogue operatives rather than overt maliciousness, Capcom has also stated that some viral outbreaks were indeed to test its effectiveness. It is also noteworthy that in Resident Evil 3, the corporation released Nemesis with the sole intent of tracking down and murdering all surviving S.T.A.R.S. members; and in Resident Evil 2, T-103 Tyrant was dispathed with a similar mission (murder all credible witnesses to Umbrella's guilt and recovering the G-virus), various other T-103 tyrants where released in the city to test them against the US military.
Capcom themselves appeared to realize the increasing improbability of the cliché premise (and the pitfalls of sticking to it), and thus Resident Evil 4 saw Umbrella's swift downfall, explained away in one or two sentences and not really mentioned since. This has been interpreted as Capcom sending the message that the evil megacorp is a "thing of the past" for the evolved series.
Nevertheless, examples of Umbrella's inability to control outbreaks resulting in pandemonium include:
- Resident Evil 0, which dealt with the outbreak caused by James Marcus in revenge for his 'death' at the hands of Umbrella.
- Resident Evil, which dealt with the members of S.T.A.R.S. being used as cannon fodder to gather battle data about the performances of bio-weapons and irregular mutants.
- Resident Evil 2, Nemesis and the Outbreak series, which show what happened after an ostensibly failed attempt (the Umbrella operative HUNK eventually delivered the virus) made by Umbrella Special Forces Unit to recover the G-Virus from William Birkin.
- Survivor, where Vincent Goldman releases the virus to eradicate the population of Sheena Island and any evidence against his own actions.
- Dead Aim, where a rogue scientist, Morpheus D. Duvall, stole samples of Umbrella's prototype viruses, unleashed some of them aboard a luxury cruiser, property of Umbrella, and used several others to threaten the U.S. and China.
Company Motto & Slogan
- In Resident Evil Zero, the Umbrella's 'employee pledge' is stated as being "Obedience Breeds Discipline, Discipline Breeds Unity, Unity Breeds Power, Power is Life". It is unknown if this is the motto for the public or if it is used purely within the company, due to its ominous sound.
- In the 2002 film Resident Evil, Umbrella's slogan is "Umbrella Sheltering Your Family".
- In the 2004 film Apocalypse, Umbrella's slogan is "Our Business is Life Itself."
Products
A contributing factor to Umbrella's success were their non-lethal commercial products. Such products include:
- Adravil: An apparently ibuprofen-based analgesic. May be an analog 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 Outbreak.
- Aqua Cure: Umbrella's crowning public achievement, Aqua Cure is an ointment used on open wounds that made the company famous worldwide. It is considered to be Umbrella's primary public product and is very effective. Most likely the recurring item First Aid Spray that appears throughout the series. It is assumed that the T-Virus is used on this product to reaccommodate the damaged cells, though no side-effect has been shown from this product.
- Valifin: A non-canon medication mentioned in the novelization Zero Hour by S.D. Perry, Valifin is a pediatric heart medication that has a side-effect of renal failure.
- Regenerate: A non-canon product mentioned in the Apocalypse, Regenerate is a skincare product that uses the T-Virus to reanimate dead skin cells, making the user appear younger.
- Return: A non-canon weight pill mentioned in promotions for the second movie. This pill boasts the ability to burn up to 30 pounds per pill. Developed using the T-Virus.
Manufactured Firearms
- Sporting Int. Magnum Custom Edition A mix between a Desert Eagle and a Colt45 and uses 50AE rounds. Appears in Resident Evil 0.
- Incinerator Unit A gun that uses some parts of the Colt M4A1 Carbine and fires a long range flame that can burn things easly. Appears in 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 detonate if something pass near them, or attach themselves to a creature. Appears in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, and Resident Evil 4.
- Elite Python A modification for a Colt Python made by Umbrella.
- Linear Launcher A Shoulder-Mounted cannon that fires 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 somebody or deactivate electric shields and damage electric artifacts due to the EMP emited by it. Appears in Resident Evil Dead Aim.
Other Products
There are also a multitude of 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.
- 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.
- Unnnamed 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 Corporate Headquarters: A large facility used to test the combat capabilities of BOWs. An experimental serum was developed there to combat the T-Virus.
- 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 Hive (movie continuity Only): A secret underground lab located beneath the streets of Raccoon City. This facility is noted to conduct experiments on viral weaponry. When the T-Virus escapes through the air ducts a super computer (known as the Red Queen) shuts down the facility trapping anyone within.
- Umbrella Medical Facility (movie continuity Only): A research facility located outside of possibly Chicago. The facility is known to experiment on animals and possibly humans. 3 weeks after the t-virus outbreak in Raccoon City, Umbrella began testing a new virus on their first human subject Alice.
Other
- 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 X's).
- Umbrella Medical, Paris: The headquarters of Umbrella in Europe. Claire Redfield infiltrates this facility briefly, only to be captured by its chief of security, Rodrigo Juan Raval.
- 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 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.
Paramilitary units
The Umbrella Corporation owned two different private paramilitary units, each established for a different purpose.
Umbrella Special Forces Unit/ Umbrella Security Service
The Umbrella Special Forces Unit (also known as the Umbrella Security Service) specialize in dealing against corporate terrorism and VIP abductions. Their members were trained in Umbrella's own Military Training Facilities. Their operatives wear black chemical protection suits with bulletproof vests and gas masks that protect against viral outbreaks. Some of the weapons they use include the H&K MP5 sub-machine gun, revolvers chambered in .44 Magnum, survival knives, M79 grenade launchers, AT4 anti-tank recoilless rifles and the FIM 92 STINGER anti-aircraft missile launcher.Delta Team
Delta Team is comprised of only two members, which were sent by Wesker and William Birkin to recover the Ecliptic Express, but were killed by Marcus' leeches.Alpha Team
Alpha Team is comprised of at least six members, including HUNK. Alpha Team was given orders by Christine Henri and Ozwell E. Spencer to steal the G-Virus from Birkin. However, the mission went horrible when Birkin transformed himself with G and only HUNK managed to survive and complete his mission. Other, lone operatives, such as Rodriguez, have also been depicted.Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service
The second unit was the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service, comprised of former war criminals and mercenaries trained to handle "accidental" viral outbreaks, their suits are tactical, bulletproof vest, green shirts and cream white pants. Guns used by them are M9 pistols, M67 hand grenades, H&K MP5 Navy submachineguns, scoped COLT M4A1 Carbines , SIGPro handguns, H&K PSG1 Sniper Rifles with lasers and the Umbrella Prototype Mine Throwers.
Umbrella Trashsweepers
A group of special ops shock troopers trained to execute some of Umbrella's most critical missions during viral outbreaks. They were colloquially known as "Cleaners" or "Undertakers". At least one group consisting of dozens of armed members exists and it was sent on a mission to Sheena Island to eliminate any survivors of an outbreak that occurred in there. This unit uses hazmat protection attire similar to that of the USFU but with no bulletproof armours so they can have more agility and carry H&K MP5 Sub-machineguns. No other squad of this paramilitary group is known (save the one involved on the Sheena Island incident).Other uses of the term "umbrella corporation"
- An umbrella corporation is an agency which supports several member organizations, usual working in a specific program area. http://www.umbrellacorporation.com
- Citigroup, the largest financial firm in the world, is an umbrella corporation in terms of the definition of the phrase and the fact that its logo is a red umbrella, originally from the firm's roots in the Travelers Group.
- Umbrella and its UBCS logo shares a nearly identical design to that of the shoulder sleeve insignia patch for the U.S. Eighth Army.
Umbrella Corporation in other media
Resident Evil
In the 2002 film Resident Evil, Umbrella is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. It is also one of several leading suppliers of the viral weaponry to the United States Army. Unknown to Umbrella's employee's, profits are generated by sales of the t-virus and conduction of genetic research and modification. During the 2002 viral outbreak in one of Umbrella's secret underground laboratory in Raccoon City known as The Hive. The Red Queen sealed off the complex and went homicidal by gassing everyone in the complex with Halon. When Umbrella received the news, they sent a division of special operatives to investigate the facility. When the operatives failed to respond, Umbrella began quarantine procedures around the one of two emergency entrances into facility (Spencer Mansion). When two survivors Alice and Matt Addison emerged from the mansion, both were seized and taken into Raccoon City Hospital to under go blood tests and analysis. Matt Addison was taken away by William Birkin and placed into the Nemesis program. Umbrella began preparations in sending a specialised team to re-open the facility.Resident Evil: Apocalypse
In the 2004 film Apocalypse, Umbrella is shown as mega corporation that runs the majority of Raccoon City. Upon sending a team to re-open The Hive, Umbrella scientists accessed entry into the facility via the city's emergency entrance. When managing to gain entrance, the scientists were attacked by zombies. When Umbrella officials in Raccoon City heard of the incident, they arranged an evacuation plan to escort out important scientists and employees. One of several familes that are aranged to be evacuated are the Ashford's. Dr. Charles Ashford is one of Umbrella's highest priority scientist whom worked in the development process of the t-virus. Once the t-virus had reached the city gates the Umbrella Corporation sealed all exits out of the city, to contain the virus.Resident Evil: Extinction
(The following is merely based on especulation and updates about the film) In the upcoming film, Umbrella has lost control of the T-Virus oubreak that was believed to be eradicated and it has spread through the world. Few humans survive and form up communities based on caravans to move away of a hazardous zone if necessary. Umbrella now gives shelter to its employees and clients, but in one way or another to make harm. The company is also being prosecuted by an independent caravan led by Alice to stop their hideous doings. Whether the Umbrella Corporation still has the global economic wealth it once had is unknown.
"Umbrella Corporation"