Top 10 badass females in the Resident Evil franchise

The Resident Evil franchise has had its fair share of exceptional characters, but none more badass than the female cast.  No matter if they are from the video games, the movies, novels or side works — these women have excelled as some of the most memorable characters in the franchise.  That’s a heavy statement when you think of staple characters such as Chris Redfield, Wesker, and even Nemesis.  When these women possess prowess, killer instincts, zombie-killing aptitude, and simply rock good looks, it’s hard to forget these femme fatales.  Below you will find the top 10 most badass females in the Resident Evil franchise.  These ladies have survived horror and have strengthened the franchise as a whole with their robust talents.  After reading the list you will notice synergies and reoccurring characters intertwined with each other’s lives.  There are some women from the very beginning belonging to the original Resident Evil all the way to Resident Evil 6 and the newest movie, Resident Evil: Retribution.  Note, the opinion of order is my own.

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10. Rebecca Chambers

When you graduate from college at the age of 18 with a degree in biochemistry, the world is going to notice you.  Raccoon City’s own S.T.A.R.S. organization hired this prodigy as a rear security member and medic for Bravo Team.  Her first mission involved zombies, trains and mansions.  While timid around her fellow S.T.A.R.S. members, she proves to be skilled in both combat and medical assistance.  You have to give credit to the young girl for being a survivor as well — no one else from Bravo Team made it out.  This is one of those unique examples of the rookie living.  

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9. Helena Harper

This former CIA agent has had her fair share of disciplinary actions taken against her.  Bringing her own form of justice to the badge, she’s made some calls in the past that her superiors didn’t quite agree with — often acting out of emotion.  This got her removed from the CIA and into the United States Secret Service.  Good for her: discharging your weapon on zombies is highly recommended.  Bad for her: the president died.  Perhaps she isn’t the best secret service member either.  While having some zombie troubles along Leon Kennedy, the two work together in attempt to take down Simmons and make the world somewhat safer.  On top of all this, she has some really troubling family issues that Leon just got forced into. 

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8. Rain Ocampo

As a former Los Angeles Police Department member, Rain always had to prove that she was tough enough as a woman to make it.  Rain is stalwart and the best marksman on her Umbrella Special Forces team.  In the first Resident Evil film, she is bit by the first zombie they come across before they realize ‘zombies’ are a thing.  Being bit isn’t enough to stop Rain though; she’s tough up until the ‘turning’ point.  Even zombie Rain works the whole tough act into her character.  In Resident Evil: Retribution, she comes back despite her bad times in the first movie.  Not only does she come back once, but there are TWO of them!

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7. Karena “Lupo” LesProux

What happens when you mix a French family woman and a former Special Forces member?  The answer is Karena “Lupo” LesProux from Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.  After her husband turned abusive, Karena had to put him down with her bare hands.  The single mother thing didn’t work out for the former soldier, so she entered the private sector.  Once the Raccoon City outbreak occurred, Umbrella Corporation hired Karena to lead the U.S.S. Delta Team.  The “Wolf Mother” leads her team into the heart of Raccoon City in an attempt to clean up and destroy any evidence showing Umbrella was involved.  As the ‘assault’ member of the team, you know Lupo is one tough mother.

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6. Sheva Alomar

As a member of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), Sheva lends aid to Chris Redfield when he is sent on a mission to Africa.  Since Sheva knows the area, she is able to show Chris around while being a competent soldier as well.  When she was young, her parents died in an Umbrella-related accident which left a sour taste in her mouth.  Through joining a guerilla movement, she’s been fighting bioterrorism and Umbrella for most of her life.  Not only did Sheva and Chris defeat the Uroboros virus, they defeated Albert Wesker, which was nearly impossible at the time.

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5. Sherry Birkin

Similar to Sheva, Sherry’s life has been surrounded by Umbrella for nearly as long as she’s lived.  Then again, when your father is William Birkin, who helped invent early biological weapons for Umbrella, your life is a bit doomed to be unnatural.  Saved from her father by Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield as a child, Sherry always looked up to Claire on how to be a strong woman.  The experiments with the G-Virus inside her gave her incredibly fast regeneration abilities.  Simmons took care of the girl and used her special blood to crate the C-Virus.  She would later meet up with Jake Muller, son of Wesker, and those two would become a team in Resident Evil 6 — two youngsters with special blood and messed-up Umbrella parents.        

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4. Claire Redfield

As the sister of Chris Redfield, you KNOW she has some superhuman (non-enhanced) genes.  In Resident Evil 2, she’s looking for Chris, runs into Leon, comedy ensues (not really) and adventure happens.  After surviving the Raccoon City outbreak, she got involved in the Rockfort Island Incident.  After Chris joined the BSAA, she returned to Sherry for emotional support.  Of all the characters in Resident Evil, she is said to show the most emotion.  Stopping the G-Virus was the last known thing she did in the series.  She appears a bit more hardened in the movies than in the video games 

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3. Ada Wong

Good ol' mysterious Ada Wong.  Her entire existence is bathed in intrigue, espionage and treachery in the corporate world.  She often works for a rival company to Umbrella.  Ada became romantically involved with John Clemens to infiltrate Arklay Laboratory and steal research.   Wong and Kennedy worked together in discovering the G-Virus outbreak, despite Leon being used.  Ada became injured and was presumed to be dead.  There was some employment from Wesker here and there, which made things difficult for everyone.  The strength of her character in the Resident Evil series is her mystery.  While she clearly does actions to hurt you or make your life more difficult, she seems to be bread crumb feeding you the entire time or waiting for a critical moment to make things seem well again.

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2. Alice Abernathy

As the main protagonist in the Resident Evil movies, this woman gains enormous amounts of virus-enhanced power.  While she is introduced with amnesia, Alice wakes up in the shower with no memories inside the famed mansion.  Her early power gives the sense to know where other organisms are that are infected with the T-Virus and develops further to a form of telepathic powers.  After the bomb goes off that destroys Raccoon city, she is caught in the shock wave and presumed dead.  She wakes in a test tube, escapes and murders her way out.  She’s cloned, hates Wesker, losers her powers temporarily, regains them, survives the apocalypse etc, etc.

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1. Jill Valentine

Before the events in Raccoon City, Jill was a member of the US Army’s Delta Force where she disposed bombs.  After leaving the military, she worked for Raccoon City S.T.A.R.S.  Similar to Rebecca Chambers, Jill was the rear security for her S.T.A.R.S. team — but for the Alpha Team.  Jill, Chris, Barry and Wesker entered the mansion after the helicopter went down.  The relationship between Jill and Chris has always been close, and together they put an end to Umbrella at Caucasus Laboratory.  After Jill tackles Wekser out a cliff window to save Chris’ life, she disappeared and was believed to be killed-in-action.  Wesker, being the lovely ‘person’ that he is, knew the best way to get to Chris was through Jill.  So, he had her healed and attached a mind control scarab to her to do his bidding and to collect antibodies from her.  Eventually Chris and Sheva were able to free Jill from her mind control and save her.  Almost immediately after, she aided in the successful fight to defeat Wesker once and for all.  I’ll always think of Jill when I hear “Moonlight Sonata.”   

[Sourced: ResidentEvil.Wikia]