Ada Wong

• 1. Introduction

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  Ada Wong was mentioned by name in Capcom's original Resident Evil in 1996, before she had a face, a voice, or a role. Designer Kazunori Kadoi supplied the name, and he later admitted he proposed it randomly and without much thought. That offhand choice grew into one of the series' most persistent figures. Ada Wong is the pseudonym of a Chinese-American spy and mercenary, and her real name and her life before espionage remain unknown. Why does a woman paid to steal biological weapons keep turning on the people who hire her? And why do critics who admire her intelligence still argue over how the games draw her?

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• 2. Linda Becomes Ada

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  Before she was a spy, the character was a researcher named Linda. In an early prototype of Resident Evil 2, Linda worked for the Umbrella Corporation and was tasked with retrieving the G-virus.

  That prototype was discarded, and work on Resident Evil 2 began again. Director Hideki Kamiya then decided Ada deserved to be a full character, and he invited Kadoi to a meeting to discuss her.

  Writer Noboru Sugimura gave the discarded Linda role to Ada. He rewrote her as an enigmatic corporate spy, a change intended to tie the sequel's story back to the first game.

  Artists Isao Ohishi and Ryoji Shimogama designed her appearance for the finished game. Their work would be altered, and sometimes replaced, in later remakes.

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• 3. Jobs and Betrayals

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  In Resident Evil 2, released in 1998, an unnamed organization hires Ada to steal the G-virus mutagen from Umbrella. The pharmaceutical company is responsible for a zombie outbreak in the fictional American metropolitan area of Raccoon City.

  Beneath the city, in Umbrella's underground biological warfare laboratory, the scientist Annette Birkin exposes Ada as a mercenary. By then Ada has allied with rookie police officer Leon S. Kennedy to reach the lab. Though severely wounded, she helps him destroy the T-103 Tyrant. She escapes before a nuclear strike destroys Raccoon City as part of a U.S. government cover-up.

  A rural Spanish village is the setting for her return in Resident Evil 4 in 2005. Albert Wesker sends her to retrieve a sample of the mind-controlling Las Plagas parasite from the Los Iluminados cult. There she meets Leon, who is trying to rescue Ashley Graham, the U.S. president's daughter, after the cult abducted her. Ada helps Leon kill the cult's leader, Osmund Saddler. Then she takes the sample from Leon and flies away in a helicopter.

  By Resident Evil 6 in 2012, her target is a man from her past. National Security Advisor Derek C. Simmons is a former associate who is obsessed with her. Ada discovers that he has transformed his assistant, Carla Radames, into her doppelgänger. She kills Carla, helps Leon defeat Simmons, and destroys the lab where the clone was created. Then she accepts a new assignment.

  Leon is present in all three of these jobs, and the developers held firm views about how close the two should become.

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• 4. Ada and Leon

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  In Resident Evil 2, Ada and Leon develop an ambiguous romance as they keep saving each other's lives.

  For the 2019 remake, the creative team felt that the bond had progressed too quickly in the original, so they spent more time developing it. Executive producer Jun Takeuchi suggested that the kiss between the two happen earlier. Kamiya believed that this choice "makes Ada feel more manipulative of Leon".

  The PlayStation 2 release of Resident Evil 4 took longer to develop than expected. Instead of simply porting the game from the GameCube, the team decided to add new material. Producer Masachika Kawata felt that Ada deserved "to really stand out", given her minimal screen time in the main campaign. He developed "Separate Ways", a scenario in which she is the playable character. It retells the main game's events from her perspective and highlights her relationship with Leon. On its title screen, Ada strikes a pose inspired by the poster of the 1990 film La Femme Nikita.

  In Resident Evil 6, players unlock Ada only after finishing the game's three main campaigns. Executive producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi believed this strengthened her ambiguity and made her scenario "more enjoyable". He explained that "one of the themes of Ada's story is a lone spy working in secret".

  Not every game found room for her. In Resident Evil Requiem, set for 2026, director Koshi Nakanishi said she was absent because "there weren't really many opportunities for her to appear, or rather, there weren't any scenes where it was necessary." Producer Masato Kumazawa added that the team wanted to add a character. But they were already satisfied with the story of Leon and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Grace Ashcroft.

  What Ada wears has changed from one release to the next, beginning with a red dress.

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• 5. Wardrobe Changes

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  Designer Yōsuke Yamagata created the Resident Evil 6 outfit of a red blouse and black leather pants. It was inspired by a design that had been rejected for Resident Evil 4.

  In the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2, a beige trench coat initially covers the red dress Ada wore in the original version. Kadoi said the coat was a more "realistic" and "believable" look for a spy.

  The 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4 went further. Her red side-split dress and choker from the original game gave way to a red woolly jumper and a leather harness.

  Resident Evil Village in 2021 was meant to bring her back in disguise, as a mysterious masked figure in a plague doctor outfit. She would have helped the protagonist, Ethan Winters. She was cut from the game because of "conflicting scenarios".

  Cut or not, she was already turning up in far more places than the numbered games.

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• 6. Beyond the Main Games

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  Resident Evil: Damnation, an adult animated film from 2012, shows Ada posing as an agent of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance. She infiltrates the Eastern Slav Republic to obtain a sample of the Las Plagas parasite used in the country's civil war.

  Her live-action debut came in Resident Evil: Retribution, also in 2012. It was the fifth film in director Paul W. S. Anderson's series. There she is a former Umbrella agent who joins Alice, a character created specifically for the films, to escape an underwater Umbrella facility.

  Radio Osaka broadcast a series of Resident Evil 2 radio dramas in 1999, written by Capcom screenwriters. One was titled Ikiteita Onna Spy Ada, which means The Female Spy Ada Lives. Suleputer later released the collection on two CDs as Biohazard 2 Drama Album. Set after the events of the game, the dramas follow Ada's mission to retrieve Sherry Birkin's pendant, which holds the G-virus sample, from the Umbrella enforcer HUNK.

  Bandai's Resident Evil Deck Building Card Game in 2011 and Steamforged Games' Resident Evil 2: The Board Game in 2017 both feature her. So do action figures, figurines, statues, plushies, and t-shirts.

  Two of those films cast different actresses in the role, and many more performers have given her a voice.

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• 7. Voices and Faces

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  Sally Cahill voiced Ada for her first appearance in Resident Evil 2. She returned to the role in Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. Megan Hollingshead voiced her in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, and Courtenay Taylor took over in Operation Raccoon City, Resident Evil 6, and Damnation.

  Michelle Lee provided Ada's motion capture in Resident Evil 6. Jolene Andersen supplied both the voice and the motion capture for the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2.

  Lily Gao portrayed Ada in the live-action film Welcome to Raccoon City. She then provided the voice and motion capture for the 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4.

  Chinese actress Li Bingbing played Ada in Retribution. Cahill dubbed her in English and Junko Minagawa did so in Japanese. Li promoted the movie locally for its various audiences, attended premiere screenings, and gave interviews for media coverage.

  Gao's work on the 2023 remake would soon draw loud reactions from fans.

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• 8. Heroine or Stereotype

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  Journalists from The Guardian and Larry Hester of Complex praised Ada's beauty and intelligence, and her tendency to be "numerous steps ahead of everyone else". Academic writer Jenny Platz argued that Ada shows gender fluidity. She combines "strength and intelligence", traits usually linked to men, with "beauty and poise". Lara Crigger of The Escapist called her a "strong feminist role model".

  Scholar Andrei Nae observed that Resident Evil 4 borrows heavily from film noir. In that genre, women are either "submissive", like Ashley Graham, or femmes fatales who challenge male authority. Most noir femmes fatales eventually give in to the male hero, who here would be Leon. Ada stays outside the "ambit of the male protagonist's authority". For Nae, that challenges both gender and genre conventions.

  Nae also argued that Ada's Chinese-American identity makes her accentuated sexuality fit Orientalist clichés of East-Asian erotic femininity. Harri Chan of Polygon praised how Ada suits the "schlocky action-movie energy" of Resident Evil 4. But Chan said the portrayal follows the stereotypical "Dragon Lady" trope and offers no other path for growth.

  Critics of Resident Evil 4 have pointed to cinematics that dwell on her slit dress and body. They note that the dress is unrealistic and unsuitable for combat, and they say the focus was meant to appeal to male audiences. In Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, Anita Sarkeesian criticized the outfit, especially the high heels worn in combat. Esther MacCallum-Stewart replied that the series' female characters have unique qualities and alternate combat attire that avoids pandering to the male gaze. Stephanie Jennings wrote in Feminism In Play that Ada's chapter in Resident Evil 6 offers a "transgressive gender performance that effectively critiques and condemns traditional patriarchal power structures". She added that Ada is one of the series' few multiracial characters, which shows the intersectional potential of the feminine gaze. In her view, the limited exploration of Ada's racial identity undermines that potential.

  Fans criticized Lily Gao's vocal performance in the 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4, and the game was review bombed. Jade King of TheGamer called Ada the worst part of the game. Michael McWhertor of Polygon found the dialogue unnatural. He wondered whether Gao had been misdirected in an attempt to give Ada a "cool" personality that set her apart from Leon. Gao deactivated her Instagram comments and hid most of her posts after she was harassed online. She later answered her critics: "My Ada is a survivor. She is unpredictable, resilient, and absolutely not a stereotype."

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