  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, strong drug use, extremely traumatic themes, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
Brandon Bailey is a major antagonist in the Resident Evil franchise. A virologist and protégé of Dr. James Marcus, played a key role as one of the founding members of Umbrella Pharmaceuticals. However, like several others in the organization's early history, he was erased from its official records at the behest of CEO Oswell E. Spencer. Following his removal, Bailey went on to found The Connections, a powerful crime syndicate.
Biography[]
The exact date of Brandon Bailey's birth is unclear, though it is believed to be shortly before or during the Second World War, based on the assumption that he was of university age in the mid-1960s. He attended a Swiss university, where he studied virology under Dr. James Marcus, a well-connected professor with ties to a eugenics circle, a group that Bailey was subsequently invited to join. This eugenics circle included Dr. James Marcus, Lord Oswell E. Spencer, Dr. Edward Ashford, 5th Earl Ashford, his son Alexander, the future 6th Earl, as well as Dr. Lord Beardsley and Dr. Lord Henry. In 1966, Bailey joined Marcus and Spencer on a private expedition to West Africa in search of the Sonnentreppe, a plant believed to harbor a retrovirus with potential applications in eugenics. After discovering a series of caverns, they spent three months studying the flowers in the Garden of the Sun, enduring repeated attacks from local tribesmen. Their research confirmed the existence of the retrovirus, which they named "Progenitor" on December 3, 1966. The team returned to Europe the following day, bringing samples of the virus and seeds to cultivate the flowers in their laboratory.
Bailey's life underwent significant changes upon his return to Europe, though he initially remained unaware of this impact. Dr. Marcus faced ostracism from his university faculty after being accused of falsifying test results, compelling the entire eugenics circle to relocate their research to a private laboratory within Spencer's family estate. With limited funding from the Spencer Foundation, the group continued their work under strict confidentiality, bound by a sworn agreement to share their findings with no one outside the circle. The researchers confirmed Progenitor's remarkable ability to reverse cell lysis, a groundbreaking scientific achievement. However, they also discovered that the Sonnentreppe plant required specific environmental conditions to trigger viral production. Until these conditions were identified, collecting additional viral samples proved impossible. In March 1967, Spencer devised a plan to establish Umbrella Pharmaceuticals as a means to secure additional funding for their research. The eugenics circle agreed to divide the Progenitor samples among themselves to conduct parallel studies. Bailey collaborated with Marcus, while Alexander continued his work alongside his father.
Research on Progenitor remained limited for Marcus and Bailey, prompting them to plan another expedition to West Africa by April of the following year. Following Spencer's advice, they hired mercenaries to eliminate the Ndipaya tribe within the caverns and seize control of the Garden of the Sun. By August, they received confirmation of the operation's success, and Bailey departed for the expedition on August 20. This time, however, Marcus did not accompany him, as he had been assigned to teach at the company's boarding school in the United States. Unbeknownst to Bailey, this reassignment was part of a plot by Spencer to separate the two and seize his own power within the company.
Bailey arrived in early September to supervise the construction of a permanent research facility within the caverns, a project he was appointed to manage. This facility was intended to enable the industrial-scale production of Progenitor samples for distribution to the laboratories of Umbrella's founders. Without Marcus's presence, Bailey began to exhibit obsessive tendencies. Although the facility was completed in June 1969, Bailey deemed it inadequate and persistently demanded additional funding to expand its operations further. The facility's expansion quickly grew to three times its original size, necessitating the construction of an irrigation system to prevent the Sonnentreppe flowers from withering due to the environmental impact of the building on the garden. The Ndipaya tribe continued to pose a threat, prompting mercenaries to remain stationed at the site until they were eventually replaced by the Umbrella Security Service. To safeguard the project's secrecy, construction workers were dismissed upon completing various phases and subsequently eliminated. These alterations were finalized no earlier than 1970.
After the facility's construction, Bailey assembled a laboratory team to commence the extraction of Progenitor samples, alongside a secondary project aimed at identifying the precise environmental conditions required to trigger viral production. Throughout this period, Bailey maintained communication with Marcus, who kept him informed about his progress on the t-Virus Project. Over the course of two decades, Bailey dedicated himself to his research, and by the late 1980s, he successfully discovered the conditions needed to initiate viral production. Around this time, Bailey received the news of Marcus's death, unaware that Marcus had likely been murdered as part of Spencer's efforts to solidify his own authority. The news shattered Bailey, bringing an end to his two decades of relentless work as he fell into a deep depression. By the time the orders came in to shut down the facility in November 1998, Bailey had become a broken man, no longer caring about the years he had spent in pursuit of his research.
As Bailey prepared to leave, he resisted the temptation to simply retire and return home. Instead, he reached out to any remaining contacts he had, ultimately leading him to take control of The Connections, an organization based in Munich that aimed to challenge Umbrella's dominance in the bio-weapons industry. No longer concerned with the eugenics ideals of his former colleagues, Bailey shifted the group's focus toward creating and selling bio-weapons to other criminal organizations. The duration of this new career, however, remains unknown. Meanwhile, Spencer planned to eliminate the entire African lab team to keep the Progenitor virus a secret, and Albert Wesker conducted a global search for any remaining survivors before 2006. The BSAA, during their own investigation of The Connections, were unable to confirm Bailey's death, and as recently as 2017, they still considered the possibility that he may be alive.
