Resident Evil's Umbrella Corporation is a secret and elusive organization responsible for the viruses that caused the zombie and mutant outbreaks in the game series. Most gamers who've played one of the Resident Evil installments still get chills when they see the iconic red and black umbrella.
However, iconic doesn't always hold up to scrutiny. From a story perspective, Umbrella Corporation is also responsible for most of the franchises' shortcomings. So much so, critics often praise games like Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 7:Biohazard for diverting their stories away from the Umbrella Corporation. This is because most of the games' stories don't make sense.
8 Are Biological Weapons Really The Best Way To Make Money?
Umbrella Corporation began developing bioweapon viruses following the real-world Biological Weapons Convention of 1975. Militaries around the world reached out to Umbrella Corp. and asked them to create viral bioweapons, which they agreed to do for a hefty sum of cash.
The T-virus was created from one of these initiatives, which ended up killing a large majority of Umbrella Corporation workers and forced the organization into bankruptcy in the early 2000s. Wouldn't stock market manipulation be an easier way to make money? It'd certainly cause fewer deaths and war crimes.
7 Created Eugenic Mutants To Worship Founders
Umbrella Corporation's true goal was to create human mutants that ruled the world. This was known as Project W or the Wesker Plan. Dr. Spencer of the Umbrella Corporation believed the human race was weak and wanted a utopia of intellectuals. To deal with this issue, he decided the best thing to do was adopt hundreds of children around the world and then inject thirteen of them with a virus. This killed all but two of them.
In the end, only one ended up with superhuman abilities: Albert Wesker. The project was ultimately a failure, meaning Dr. Spencer wasted forty years and hundreds of children's lives to accidentally create a genocidal madman.
6 The Umbrella Corp. Cured Death Itself... And Then Sold It For Money
The T-Virus was originally developed to reanimate dead cells. In fact, it was an anticipated miracle cure. However, when a side effect of the virus reanimated bodies and turned them into cannibals, Umbrella Corporation did what any reasonable scientific company would do: sold it to various militaries instead of improving the cure. Umbrella Corporation could have put a stop to death if it continued with positive intentions. But no, they sold out for cash and almost ended the world multiple times.
5 Why Doesn't Anyone Find These Giant Laboratories?
This is something Umbrella Corporation needs to explain. Capcom is trying to tell gamers that a giant corporation can build multiple facilities around the world and nobody would know they're there "because they're deep underground." Why wouldn't even one person have a clue? Surely someone would find the construction strange? Do all the scientists live five-thousand feet underground and never leave? Is everyone just willingly blind to it? And it's not like there's only one of them: there are hundreds of these facilities across the globe. Yet, everyone is shocked when they find out a facility lies beneath their city.
4 Sending Out Mutants To Kill Targets?
As any gamer who's played Resident Evil 2 or 3 knows Mr.X and Nemesis are terrifying. They provide some of the most heart-pounding moments in gaming, and yet, they don't make any sense.
Why not send in a normal SWAT team to kill Leon, Claire, or Jill? Were uncontrollable, indestructive mutants really the best way? Didn't Umbrella realize how much damage they'd cause by doing that? And aren't they worried about someone else seeing a giant mutant wandering around the city? Their presence just creates more questions. Like, what happens after they kill their target? Does Umbrella really think they can control these mutants?
3 How Many Secret Projects Can One Organization Have?
Umbrella Corporation has more money than they know what to do with. And what do they do with this money? Spend it on secret projects. They have more secret projects on the go than anyone could possibly imagine.
Let's be real, every Resident Evil game is basically "Uh-oh, X character just stumbled on Umbrella Corporation's secret project number ABC123." For a company that's bankrupt and defunct, why do characters keep stumbling on conspiracies? Didn't this company do anything else?
2 Why Does Every Corporation Have A Secret Task Force Team?
On a more general note, it seems every biomedical company in the Resident Evil series has a secret task force. Umbrella alone had four: Umbrella Security Service, Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service, Monitors, and Umbrella Trashsweepers. And with the release of Umbrella Corp., there are apparently at least ten organizations with Secret Task Force Teams trying to uncover Umbrella's secrets. These include Suntech Samurai Co., Suntech Ninja Co., Medvedev, Sheng-Ya Pharmaceutical, Aeolus Edge East, Aeolus Edge West, Tenenti Inc., Saurian Corporation, Akembe Chemical, and Rashid-Sahir Industries. Why does every company have a secret military task force? Is it just normal business practice?
1 Who Comes Up With Their Brand Names?
On a more light-hearted note, Umbrella Corporation has some strange product names. Maybe it's a matter of taste, but for their many brands of aspirin and pain relief, they have various product names such as Adravil, Sasprin, Uspirim, Aqua Cure, and a personal favorite: Raccoonefin. Two of those names add an extra letter to real-life products like Advil or Asprin, which is practically plagiarism. That's like creating a comic book article website and calling it CBRA. At least Raccoonefin is a play on the city Umbrella Corporation operates in. The others are just lazy.