If you’ve played the Resident Evil 2 remake, you’re well acquainted with Mr. X. Umbrella’s unrelenting Tyrant chases you through multiple parts of the game, and at times his ability to pursue you seems to border on the supernatural. At several points in the game he appears to be dead finally but somehow comes back no worse for the wear.
If you look at several factors, plus the original Resident Evil 2‘s lore, it becomes evident that Mr. X isn’t supernatural at all. The reason he can be everywhere is that there are multiple Tyrant units deployed to Raccoon City. The remake doesn’t come out and show it on screen, but read on below to see why the Mr. X in the sewers and labs might not be the same one you faced down in the RPD.
There were multiple Tyrant T-103s shown in the original RE2 and RE3
The biggest piece of evidence we have to correlate the theory there are multiple Tyrants in Resident Evil 2 remake is that more than one was shown in the original Resident Evil 2 and again in Resident Evil 3. While Mr. X just appears in the remake, in the original we see a cutscene showing a helicopter with six capsules towed beneath it. The aircraft drops one of the capsules through the roof of the second floor east wing of the RPD and a T-103 steps out.
In Resident Evil 3 we see the fate of the remaining five T-103s that were carried under the helicopter. They were deployed against US Special Forces at the Dead Factory, the setting for the final fight against Nemesis. You can see their corpses during the final battle, and it seems all five and whatever soldiers were there managed to wipe each other out.
However, since the canon has changed in subtle ways, it’s entirely possible that the story has been changed to where Umbrella has dedicated more than one Mr. X unit to chasing down the G-Virus and killing any survivors of the RPD. Since Chief Irons’ involvement with Umbrella has deepened in the plot of RE2 remake, with him being director of an orphanage Umbrella uses to cultivate test subjects, it’s likely Umbrella has more to lose if anyone from the RPD survives. This means it’s likely that Umbrella is dedicating more resources towards making sure its secrets don’t get out.
Mr. X obviously dies at least once during Resident Evil 2 remake before Leon’s battle with the Super Tyrant
There are two points during Resident Evil 2 remake before Leon’s final battle with the mutated Mr. X that he seems to be killed. Once during Leon’s campaign and once during Claire’s, T-103 sustains an amount of damage that at the very least incapacitates him on-screen.
In Leon’s scenario, as Leon and Ada are attempting to leave the RPD via the parking garage exit, Mr. X bursts through a wall and snatches Leon. Ada comes to his rescue by driving a SWAT van into the Tyrant. Even after that, Mr. X continues to struggle, and so Ada detonates the van with what appears to be high-explosives (likely C4). After the van explodes, Mr. X stops moving.
We see Mr. X incur a ton of damage in Claire’s scenario as well. After escaping the orphanage, he follows Claire and Sherry into the secret passageway beneath the orphanage. When he corners the two after they enter an elevator, William Birkin appears and rips almost the entirety of the Tyrant’s midsection out with his claws.
Both of the above incidents inflict enough damage to where the Tyrant can no longer pursue its quarry, at least for the time being. I believe, though, that the injuries Mr. X sustained in both situations were fatal. The reason being, that when you see him again, later on, there is no indicator that he was ever damaged. His trenchcoat isn’t tattered or singed, and his body isn’t ravaged in any way.
While his injuries in the garage could somewhat be explained away, there’s no way he took the hit from Birkin and came out unscathed. At the very least, his trenchcoat was ripped, so even if Mr. X had some sort of super healing where he could regenerate his whole stomach area and spine, his clothing wouldn’t appear perfect later on.
It’s the only way he could keep up with Claire and Leon
In Resident Evil 2 remake, Raccoon City is tore up from the floor up. Roads have caved in, zombies seem even thicker than the original, and getting around is mostly done through a series of secret passageways beneath the RPD. While Tyrant has his speedy moments, he’s seen as methodical, steady, and slow in his travels. Additionally, though he’s very strong, he’s still limited to the physical realm. He can’t teleport, and it’s highly unlikely Umbrella has some secret Tyrant-only passageways.
So, it’s odd that somehow Mr. X is always somewhere in the wing. He’s able to chase you all over the RPD, sometimes seemingly teleporting to your location. He manages to appear in the sewers to track Ada when you have control of her, and also be in the orphanage pursuing Sherry and Claire at roughly the same time.
Also, it just makes sense, especially in the remake where Mr. X’s mission seems to be more geared around killing survivors than recovering the G-Virus. If you want to hunt down an unknown number of survivors, then you’re going to send more than one entity to do so.
Mr. X is part of Capcom’s DLC plans for Resident Evil 2 remake
Given how memorable the cutscene where the T-103 drops into the RPD from the original is, it seems like a purposeful omission to skip over any mention of Mr. X’s origin entirely. Since the game has released Capcom has revealed it’ll be releasing three stories as DLC. Each of the Ghost Survivors stories will focus on a character that may or may not have survived the Raccoon City incident.
One thing Capcom hasn’t mentioned is whether or not these stories will contain elements of canon. If so, it’s entirely possible we could see how Mr. X entered the RPD for the first time or proof of multiple Tyrants.
Given that the T-103 is so mysterious in the Resident Evil 2 remake, it’s a possibility that we’ll see a future DLC centered around his origins. RE2 remake has sold incredibly well, so I have high hopes that Capcom will capitalize on this and show us some of what was going on behind the scenes during the game, including the truth behind Mr. X.
For now, though, this is just a theory. It’s entirely possible I could be wrong, and Capcom just decided to leave Mr. X ambiguous for the sake of making him more intimidating. However, I highly doubt that Capcom was blindsided for just how popular the character is among fans, and the developers likely have something in mind to flesh out his story.
