Dr. Zander Rice (X-Men Movies)

"My goal is not to end mutant kind. It is to control it."

- Dr. Zander Rice starting to confess his plans to Wolverine Dr. Zander Rice is the head of Essex Corp., and the main antagonist of the 2017 Marvel superhero film Logan. He is the tyrannical and ruthless leader and employer of The Reavers, and the one behind Project: Transigen.

He was portrayed by Richard E. Grant who also played Barkis Bittern.

Background
His father, Dale Rice, originally founded Essex Corp. After he was killed by The Wolverine, his son, Zander took over the company. He signed a project, named "Project: Transigen", whose purpose was to capture and control the mutants.

He later hired on the ex-military mercenaries, the Reavers, led by Donald Pierce, as a private security force for his company.

He kidnapped mutant children, including The Wolverine's biological daughter, Laura Kinney or X-23. Some of the children who participated in the program have even been born in The Alkali Facility. However, Laura had betrayed him, and had tried to massacre the facility. Gabriela also helped many mutant kids, including Laura, to escape. A while after that, he decided to recapture Laura and program her to be the new Weapon X.

X-Men: Apocalypse
A younger Dr. Zander Rice is seen with glasses, entering The Alkali Facility and creating X-24/The Weapon X.

Using Caliban
"My name is Dr. Rice. But you can call me Zander if you like."

- Dr. Zander Rice introducing himself to Caliban.

Dr. Zander Rice sends Pierce and his men to recapture Laura, and kill whoever stands in his way, mostly The Wolverine. He comes out of his helicopter to fetch his incoming prisoner, Caliban. He injected and tortured Caliban, so he could find Laura's location and recapture her. He and the Reavers came at night to Will Munson's house. Dr. Rice sent X-24 to kill Charles Xavier and recover Laura. Zander's attack has caused the deaths of Will Munson and his family. Zander tried to get Caliban to control the mutants, however, instead, he took control of X-24, and caused him to kill a few of Zander's soldiers. Caliban then threw two grenades, and bombed Zander's van. Zander later returned to his base to plan a strategy while the Reavers took care of X-24 and Donald Pierce. He then receives reports from Pierce about the whereabouts of the mutant kids.

Final Battle
"I have started to realize, we can start affecting what we eat and drink. To use these powers, affect ourselves."

- Dr. Zander revealing his scheme to Wolverine.

He and the Reavers later go to stop the mutants from crossing the border into Canada. However, Logan notices Dr. Zander's attack and runs to save the mutant kids. Meanwhile, Dr. Rice and The Reavers chase after the mutant kids, almost managing to capture them all, until Logan enters the scene and starts tearing them down. Dr. Zander Rice reveals to Logan his plans to gain control of the mutants, and states that he does so in order continue the legacy of his father, and become rich. While speaking about his intentions to use the mutants and exploit their powers, an angered Logan kills him with a shot to the head.

Personality
He is an incredibly ruthless individual, who exploits mutants for money, and enslaves them in the name of his father. He enjoys hurting others, as he did on Caliban, when he and Donald Pierce have tortured him. Near the climax of the film, he admits he wants to enslave the mutant kids, and become rich by exploiting their powers and abilities.

Trivia

 * Like his father, Dr. Zander Rice was killed by Logan / The Wolverine.
 * Dr. Zander Rice is similar to Rufus Shinra from Final Fantasy VII: They are scientists who are also CEOs of scientific companies (Rufus: Shinra Inc, Zander Rice: Essex Corp), and inherited those companies from their fathers.