Resident Evil: The Origin Story Of Mr. X

Resident Evil is one of the richest survival horror franchises on the market. Each title sticks to a specific set of rules, and every monster has a backstory. Granted, these usually boil down to "created in a lab with the t-Virus," but they still feature recorded histories, so you usually know why zombies are fighting alongside sharks and human-fly hybrids. However, no Resident Evil monster is as infamous as the Tyrant — or Mr. X.

Mr. X is the ultimate stalker. In the original Resident Evil 2, Mr. X hounds your every move during the "B Scenario" (i.e., your second playthrough with a different character), but in the remake, he is a much more constant threat. Despite his numerous appearances, Mr. X remains shrouded in mystery. Why is he in Raccoon City? What is his mission? Where did he buy a fedora in his size?

You could dig through countless in-game records to find the answers to these pressing questions, or you could read this article. The choice is yours.

Mr. X, officially known to Umbrella staff as T-00, is part of the T-103 line of Tyrants. T-103s are a more advanced model of Tyrant and based on the T-002. Most humans mutated by the t-Virus devolve into mindless, shambling zombies, but some transform into Tyrants. Early in the Tyrant Project, the Tyrant-to-zombie ratio was far from satisfactory, so Umbrella scientists developed a new strain of t-Virus that eventually resulted in the T-002. Not only was the T-002 stronger and more durable, but it retained most of its intelligence — a far cry from the mush-brained T-001.

After Umbrella higher ups deemed the T-002 a success, it was cloned, and the clone embryo was stashed in a lab underneath Racoon City. From there, improvements were made to create a new model with increased metabolism to provide rapid healing. Moreover, scientists fixed the T-002's Achilles' heel: free will. If left alone for too long, T-002s start to think independently, which is the last thing an evil organization needs from its bio organic weapons.

Once Umbrella scientists fixed the sentience problem — and developed "power limiters" to prevent healing factors from mutating out of control — they started mass producing T-103s, one of which was fated to become the legendary Mr. X.

On the fateful night of Sept. 29, 1998, Umbrella Colonel Sergei Vladimir air-dropped six T-103s into Raccoon City. Five were sent to eliminate an elite squad of soldiers known as the Delta Force, which resulted in mutually assured annihilation. The sixth T-103, dubbed T-00/Mr. X, was given two tasks: kill everyone inside the Racoon City Police Department and retrieve a G-Virus sample. Needless to say, it didn't succeed.

Unlike the other T-103s, which were sent on a seek and destroy mission, Mr. X's objectives involved covert operations — or as covert as you can get when you're seven feet tall and can deadlift a helicopter one-handed after being hit by one. To emphasize this, the game developers gave Mr. X a makeover. He's shorter than other Tyrants, making him appear more human (at least from a distance), and his fedora completes the disguise. Despite lacking free will, though, Mr. X is attached to his hat, since he angrily charges at you if you snipe it off his head. He barely flinches when you lob a grenade at his eyes, but Mr. X doesn't let anyone threaten his beloved accessory.