James Marcus
James Marcus is the
antagonist of
Resident Evil 0. He is one of the founders of the
Umbrella Corporation along with
Ozwell E. Spencer and Edward Ashford and the first head of the Umbrella Management Training Facility (also known as the Umbrella Research Center) in the
Arklay Mountains, where
William Birkin and other Umbrella researchers began their career. He disappears from the public eye ten years prior to the events of the game.
Born in
1918, he was an academic friend of Spencer during their college years and the two graduated from the same university in
1939. Years later, in
1967, the two and their friend, Edward Ashford, discovered a new virus known as the
Progenitor (also known as the Mother Virus, or Founder Virus), which served as the foundation of Umbrella during the following year. In August of
1968, Marcus was appointed as the general manager of the management training facility and was put in charge of the company's creative output, leaving the financial duties to Spencer himself. However, Marcus often got into arguments with Spencer (who considered Marcus' experiments with Progenitor to be a waste of the company's funding) and attempted to increase his own influence within the company in order to take Spencer's power away.
Around the late
1970s, he created the
Tyrant Virus by combining
leech DNA with Progenitor. During this time, he was a mentor to both
Albert Wesker and
William Birkin, who were trainees in the Facility. He used animals test subjects for his research, resulting in the creations of three of the company's original
B.O.W.s (Bio-Organic Weapons). He had planned on introducing the T-Virus to the board of directors, but his research ended up being stolen by Spencer's men and the T-Virus project was transferred to the
Arklay Research Facility after the training facility was closed down.
During the
1980s, Marcus continued his research within the facility's hidden underground lab, using animals as test subjects for the T-Virus, resulting in the creation of the Eliminators, Plague Crawlers and Lurkers. He decided that
mammals were the best hosts for the T-Virus and began using human test subjects. No less than twenty trainees were victims of Marcus' experiments. Marcus' experiment remained under wraps until
1988. After the T-Virus Project in the Arklay Research Facility reached its Third Phase (the creation of the
Tyrant), Spencer ordered Marcus' most trusted apprentices, Wesker and Birkin, to assassinate him.
Wesker and Birkin, along with the Umbrella Special Forces Unit, stormed Marcus' lab and shot him. Around the time of his death, Marcus was experimenting on his
Queen Leech and when he was left for dead, the Queen entered his body and combined with his DNA. The resulting creature acquired Marcus' memories and ideals, as well as his likeness during his youth, essentially being nothing more than a revived Marcus himself. The Queen Leech controlled the other T-Virus-infected leeches, including certain
shoals of leeches that formed humanoid forms resembling the elderly Marcus (much like how the Queen mimicked the Young Marcus) known as
Marcus mimics or
Leechmen, but none of them possessed the same type of intelligence as the Queen Leech.
In
1998, the revived Marcus had the T-Virus leaked in the Arklay Research Facility, as well as in the Management Training Facility, the latter of which was being inspected by an investigative unit to reopen the place. Afterwards, he attacked the Ecliptic Express (Umbrella's private train for employees) in the Arklay Mountains with his leeches, turning the passengers and crewmen into zombies in a matter of minutes (due to the high amount of the T-Virus in his leeches). He also attacked the two members of the Umbrella Special Forces Unit Delta Team that were sent by Wesker and Birkin on the train.
S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team operative
Rebecca Chambers and convicted war criminal
Billy Coen encountered several creatures and Marcus mimics during their search of the train and training facility. Marcus was using a surveillance room in the facility to monitor their actions and also sent a video threat to have his revenge on Wesker and Birkin for their betrayal. Eventually, Rebecca and Billy confronted Marcus in a waste treatment plant located underneath the Underground Research Facility. The two fought against Marcus after mutating into his Queen Leech form, first in the Boiler Room of the factory (in its first form) and then, at the heliport (in its second form). In the second confrontation, the Queen Leech showed complete invulnerability to firearms, but was evidently weak against
ultraviolet rays. Ultimately, Rebecca and Billy destroyed the Queen Leech by opening the heliport's roof hatch, exposing the creature to sunlight firing a single magnum round into it.He is in a small easter egg in Resident Evil 4. You can see a portrait of him in Salazar's Castle
