Leon Scott Kennedy ( japanese : レオン・スコット・ケネディ, Hepburn : Reon Sukotto Kenedi ) is a fabricated character in the Resident Evil ( Biohazard in Japan ) horror franchise by Capcom. He debuted as one of the two playable characters of the 1998 television game Resident Evil 2, where he is a cub police officer for the Raccoon City Police Department ( R.P.D ) and late returns as a D.S.O Agent in Resident Evil 4. During the events of Resident Evil 2, Leon is a cub police officer who arrives in the doomed Raccoon City late for his first day on the job, only to confront a automaton outbreak first-hand. During the course of the game, he teams up with civilian survivor Claire Redfield, rescues the young Sherry Birkin, and is aided by the mysterious Ada Wong. Six years late, in Resident Evil 4, Leon returns as an agent for the U.S. union government, share of a special anti-Umbrella task storm, assigned to rescue the president ‘s daughter, Ashley Graham, from a baleful cult. In Resident Evil 6, he continues to work for the U.S. government and reunites with Ada and an adult Sherry.
Reading: Leon S. Kennedy – Wikipedia
He besides has featured in several other video games, and has a lead function in four CG animated installments : Resident Evil: Degeneration, Resident Evil: Damnation, Resident Evil: Vendetta, and Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, in which he is a extra agent for the government. Two films in the live-action film series have featured versions of Leon : Resident Evil: Retribution and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. Leon has been met with positive critical reception, and ranks systematically as a fan favorite quality in the franchise .
design and portrait [edit ]
Leon was created by Hideki Kamiya as a contrast to Chris Redfield from the master Resident Evil, who he felt was the “ blunt, tough-guy type ”. Though Kamiya admitted that while he was a sports fan of characters like Chris, as it had already been done, he opted to take Leon ‘s development in a different guidance. He was surprised at how popular Leon had become, praising his late development into a laid back quality for Resident Evil 4 and adding that he “ fell in love all over again ”. [ 8 ] Leon was created for Resident Evil 2 as the staff wanted to use a character who had no experience with terrifying situations in contrast to using returning protagonists. [ 9 ] While he was primitively designed as a veteran police military officer, he was changed to a cub after the original adaptation of Resident Evil 2 ( popularly known as “ Resident Evil 1.5 “ ) had been scrapped. [ 10 ] Leon ‘s purpose was inspired by the bloodhound of Capcom artist Isao Ohishi. [ 1 ] Elements from Leon ‘s backstory from the Resident Evil 2 manual indicate having had a split with a woman were based on Kamiya ‘s own liveliness. Kamiya far commented that the relationship Leon has with Ada is manipulative by the latter. [ 11 ] Leon was announced as Resident Evil 4 ‘s protagonist in November 2002. [ 12 ] As the game was developed, it was intended that Leon would be infected with the Progenitor virus. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] This concept was expanded upon in 2004, when Leon was meant to condense a bizarre disease in his contend against the plot ‘s enemies. [ 15 ] In a documentary explaining the creation of the crippled ‘s characters, it was stated that Leon was intended to “ look ruffianly, but besides cool ”. [ 16 ] His confront in Resident Evil 4 was modeled after the game ‘s animation department director Christian Duerre. [ 7 ] During the development of Resident Evil: Degeneration, producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi stated that he would like to make another bet on starring Leon as the main character. [ 17 ] Resident Evil 5 ‘s producer Jun Takeuchi said that the series ‘ fans “ would very love ” a video recording game featuring both Leon and Chris as the protagonists ascribable to their popularity, and at the lapp clock time, it would be “ reasonably dramatic ” if the two characters never met before the series would end. [ 18 ] Resident Evil 6 ‘s producer Kobayashi took a like to Leon and decided to include him in the game since “ he is central to the history ”. [ 19 ] Leon is voiced by Paul Haddad in Resident Evil 2. Paul Mercier takes the function in Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil: Degeneration and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. Mercier remembers being happy with the localizer, Shinsaku Ohara, and the team in the make of the game ever since its early demonstration. Despite initial issues in the induce of Resident Evil 4, Mercier was relieved his cultivate as Leon was not removed and besides felt joy when having the opportunity to work with director Ginny Mcswain. Nevertheless, Capcom requested Mercier to rerecord some lines because they felt Leon sounded besides honest-to-god for his age. While leon acts sarcastic in Resident Evil 4, he behaves cold in the first base CGI movie ; Mercier believes Capcom wanted to make a different aim on Leon when developing the movie. however, the actor expressed joy in the reach of the movie. For the prequel Darkside Chronicles, Mercier expressed difficulties in voicing the younger Leon while still understanding how different he was in this title due to hardships he faces. [ 20 ] Mercier was replaced by Matthew Mercer in Resident Evil 6 and Resident Evil: Damnation. Mercer described himself as a winnow and ally of Mercier and said that he felt honored to take over as the spokesperson of Leon In an consultation, he besides detailed his interpretation of Leon and talked about the changes being made to the quality. [ 21 ] In the Resident Evil 2 commercial directed by George A. Romero, Leon was portrayed by Brad Renfro. [ 2 ] About Johann Urb ‘s cast in Resident Evil: Retribution, the film ‘s manufacturer and director Paul W. S. Anderson said, “ You have no idea how difficult it is to find person with Leon Kennedy ‘s hair [ who ] has to be manfully and has to have these retentive bangs, ” [ 22 ] adding that “ if you put photographs of them side-by-side, it ‘s about like he was manufactured by Capcom. ” [ 23 ] Anderson said that the decision to include Leon and early game characters in the movie was “ fan-driven ”. Urb mentioned that he learned the television game Leon ‘s idiosyncrasy from watching clips posted on YouTube, commenting that “ he does n’t have a high spokesperson. I feel like he talks how I naturally talk, which is kind of dense. ” [ 23 ] Speaking about the relationship between Leon and Ada, Urb said : “ It ‘s kind of like Mulder and Scully and an X-Files character of distribute, where you ‘re waiting for it to happen, but it never does. possibly in the following one, I ‘m hoping. ” [ 24 ] To meet modern expectations of the remake, the team decided to alter some character designs to better match the more photorealistic set ; for model, Leon nobelium retentive wears boastfully shoulder pads, which were added to distinguish his original, low-polygon model. [ 25 ] His facial features were based on model Eduard Badaluta. [ 26 ]
Appearances [edit ]
In Resident Evil series [edit ]
Leon debuted in Resident Evil 2 ( 1998 ), as one of the game ‘s two protagonists aboard Claire Redfield. In the floor, he is a patrol policeman on his beginning day who arrives in the Midwestern United States town of Raccoon City precisely after a viral outbreak begins. He meets Claire by find as she is chased by zombies created by the T-virus. in concert, they flee towards the Raccoon City Police Department build but soon get break and go on their own ways. They finally meet again at the Umbrella Corporation underground research complex creditworthy for the viral outbreak. [ 27 ] Along the way, Leon teams-up with Ada Wong, a mysterious and charming charwoman finally revealed as a spy seeking a sample of the even more powerful G-virus. During the final confrontation against the apparently unstoppable T-103 tyrant that constantly pursues the characters, Ada tosses Leon ( or Claire, depending on the scenario ) a rocket catapult to destroy the animal. In the end, Leon faces and kills the grotesquely mutated Umbrella scientist William Birkin, and escapes from the self-destruct adeptness along with Claire and Birkin ‘s young daughter Sherry. [ 27 ] An epilogue obtained after completing Resident Evil 3: Nemesis ( 1999 ) reveals that Leon late joined the U.S. federal government. In Resident Evil – Code: Veronica ( 2000 ), Claire contacts Leon to relay information to her brother Chris while stuck on Rockfort Island. [ 27 ] Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles ( 2009 ) features re-imaginings of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil – Code Veronica ; it besides contains a new scenario set in 2002 that involves Leon and the soldier Jack Krauser on a mission to search for Javier Hidalgo, an ex-drug overlord who had been reported to do business with Umbrella. [ 28 ] Leon is the supporter of Resident Evil 4 ( 2005 ). In 2004, he is a special agent assigned to rescue the U.S. president of the united states ‘s daughter Ashley Graham who is being held somewhere in Europe. [ 29 ] Her kidnappers turn out to be partially of an evil fad known as Los Illuminados, [ 30 ] which has taken command of local anesthetic villagers using parasites known as Las Plagas. As Leon searches for Ashley, he is captured and injected with the leech. With aid from Ada Wong and the Illuminados research worker Luis Sera, Leon is able to remove Las Plagas from his consistency and to rescue Ashley while confronting the cult. At the orgasm of the game, Leon kills the cult leader Osmund Saddler, but is forced to give a Plagas sample to Ada, who escapes in a helicopter, leaving Leon and Ashley to escape on a vessel. [ 27 ] Leon is besides one of the protagonists in Resident Evil 6 ( 2012 ), aboard Chris Redfield, Jake Muller and Ada Wong. [ 27 ] [ 31 ] Capcom announced a reimagining of Resident Evil 2 at E3 2018 in June, and Leon was shown shooting a zombie and fall as a playable quality in Resident Evil 2 Remake ( 2019 ). [ 32 ] Leon besides appears in several non-canonical games in the series. He stars aboard Barry Burton in the Game Boy Color -only Resident Evil Gaiden ( 2001 ). [ 33 ] Along with Claire, Leon is one of two playable characters in the browser and mobile game Resident Evil: Zombie Busters. [ 34 ] In the third-person shooter Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City ( 2012 ) revisiting the Raccoon City incidental, the players control Umbrella operatives sent to kill any survivors, and sealed actions can lead to Leon ‘s death. [ 35 ] He is besides a actor character in the “ Heroes ” mode of this game [ 36 ] and is portrayed by the computer-animated film Leon face model, Jamisin Matthews. [ 37 ] Leon, along with Claire ‘s costume, appears in Resident Evil: Resistance ( 2020 ). [ 38 ]
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In films [edit ]
Leon teams up with Claire Redfield in the 2008 computer-animated film Resident Evil: Degeneration in ordain to stop another outbreak of the T-virus on American dirt. He returns in the sequel to Degeneration, Resident Evil: Damnation, [ 40 ] where he is sent to investigate the consumption of the Las Plagas during a civil war in Eastern Europe. Starting with Resident Evil: Degeneration, Capcom modeled the computer-animated Leon Kennedy after Jamisin Matthews. [ 41 ] Unlike the live-action film series, the inspire films are canonically set in the same universe as the game serial, serving as the prequels to Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6, respectively. A third computer-animated film starring Chris Redfield, Leon Kennedy and Rebecca Chambers was released in 2017. [ 42 ] Leon besides appears in the Netflix series Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, aboard with Claire. [ 43 ] In an interview, director Paul W. S. Anderson said that, if Resident Evil: Afterlife succeeds, he would do a fifth film and would like Leon to make an appearance in it. [ 44 ] Leon then appeared as a major fictional character in Resident Evil: Retribution ( 2012 ), “ poised to rumble with Bad Rain and the defected Jill Valentine ”. [ 24 ] The live-action version of Leon is leader of a mercantile group working for Albert Wesker who teams up with the film ‘s adaptation of Ada to fight Umbrella, save Alice and rescue Jill. At the end of the movie, he is one of the characters to survive. [ 45 ] In the boot film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City ( 2021 ), Leon was played by Avan Jogia. [ 46 ] His casting received criticism from fans as they insisted that the character looks “ inconsistent ”. [ 47 ] In reception to the backfire, Jogia deactivated his Instagram account. The most of viewers want to apologize actor for Resident Evil franchise fans for criticism to him and hope that Avan Jogia come back as Leon S. Kennedy in coming sequel .
other appearances [edit ]
Leon is featured in the 1998-1999 manhua Shēnghuà Wēijī 2 ( “ Biological crisis 2 ” ). [ 48 ] A romantic drollery recite of the floor of Resident Evil 2, centered on Leon, Claire and Ada, was released in the taiwanese two-issue amusing Èlíng Gǔbǎo II in 1999. [ 49 ] Leon besides appeared as a character in the Image Comics comic bible Resident Evil, including the novels Resident Evil: City of the Dead and Resident Evil: Underworld by S. D. Perry. [ 50 ] Leon appears as a solo unit of measurement playable character in Project X Zone 2. [ 51 ] He makes a special guest appearance as a intent in the Nintendo ‘s crossing video recording crippled Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. [ 52 ] Leon, along with Jill Valentine and Nemesis, appears as a playable characters in Dead by Daylight. [ 53 ] His Persistent Investigator and Impervious Agent skins were besides included. [ 54 ] Leon has besides appeared in an on-line multiplayer conflict royale crippled Knives Out at July 29 to August 12, 2021. [ 55 ] In August 2021, the attack operator Lion from Rainbow Six Siege received Leon Kennedy ‘s bark. [ 56 ]
reception [edit ]
From cub collar to Secret Service agent, few gaming characters have endured the Hell on Earth that Leon has witnessed across Resident Evil 2, RE4, and RE6. [ … ] Leon ’ s ability to keep calm and shoot carrion is indisputably a argue why he ‘s one of gaming ‘s most memorable protagonists. [ 57 ]
—Staff of GamesRadar in 2012
Since his appearance in Resident Evil 2, Leon has had a positive reception. In 2010, Nintendo Power listed him as their 14th darling Nintendo bet on bomber, stating that he went from a “ transfigure meter maid with a bad haircut ” to a tough guy. [ 58 ] In 2009, GameSpot chose him as one of the 64 characters to compete in their pate for the championship “ All Time Greatest Game Hero ”. [ 59 ] In a 2010 Famitsu poll, Leon was voted by readers as the 31st most popular video game fictional character in Japan. [ 60 ] In the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition from 2011, he was voted as the 36th best television game character. [ 61 ] In 2012, GamesRadar ranked him as the 11th most “ influential and badass ” hero in video recording games. [ 57 ] Empire besides included Leon on their list of the 50 greatest video game characters, ranking him 44th. [ 62 ] IGN ranked Leon as the best playable Resident Evil quality, writing Leon “ quickly became one of the most able characters in the series, matching Chris in hand-to-hand fight and being referred to as a brilliance by Ada. ” [ 63 ] In 2015, Logo TV ranked Leon as the eighth on their number of the sexiest male video game characters. [ 64 ] Tristan Jurkovich of TheGamer has claimed that Leon Kennedy was second gear of the best Resident Evil character of all time, and stated that “ Leon is a part of the two best regarded games in the franchise by fans. For the more classical style plot, Resident Evil 2 is where it ’ south at. ” [ 65 ] In 2021, Rachel Weber of GamesRadar ranked Leon as 24th of their “ 50 iconic video game characters. ” [ 66 ] IGN has featured Leon on the list of things they would like to see in Resident Evil 6, [ 67 ] calling him one of the two chief characters of the series along with Chris Redfield, [ 68 ] and describing him in the article about the best zombie fighters as the “ priggish hero ” of Resident Evil. [ 69 ] The IGN quality template made another comparison between Chris and Leon, calling the latter the “ settle ridicule clawing his manner up the ladder ”. [ 70 ] Aylon Herbet of Gameplanet wrote that if both Leon and Chris would share starring roles in a Resident Evil game it would be “ amazing ”, believing both of them to be the chief protagonists of the series. [ 71 ] In 2010, GameDaily predicted that Leon, along with Claire Redfield, would be the protagonist of the following independent Resident Evil title, citing the series ‘ pattern of alternating protagonists and Leon ‘s survive such appearance in Resident Evil 4. [ 72 ] In 2013, GamesRadar staff included Leon among the 30 best characters in the three decades of Capcom ‘s history, stating that “ he ’ sulfur been battling Chris Redfield for the acme spot as house physician Resident Evil lead, but to us there ’ s no contest between the aplomb, stylish Leon and the bullish Chris. ” [ 73 ] IGN besides repeatedly named him a character they wished to see in the crossing over fighting series Super Smash Bros., describing him an “ intimidate hero ”, a “ unique breed of arsenic kicker ” and one of the best things to happen to the Resident Evil series, [ 74 ] [ 75 ] aboard with GamingBolt and Screen Rant. [ 76 ] [ 77 ] GamesRadar described Leon ‘s Resident Evil 4 design as “ David Bowie piloting the Memphis Belle “, stating that, while it was appealing, the hairdo required modifications for encounters in the games. [ 78 ] In 2010, Game Informer chose Leon as one of the 20 Capcom characters they would like to see in a rumored crossover fighting bet on titled Namco Vs Capcom, his Namco equivalent being Nightmare from the Soul series : “ The only man with enough feel and courage to take out this mutate menace is none other than Leon S. Kennedy. We bet this fight ends with a rocket catapult. ” [ 79 ] In 2011, Ryan Woo of Complex ranked Leon among the fourth most stylish video recording game character, opining he is the best dressed person in the Resident Evil series, and “ Jill merely looks goofy in comparison. ” [ 80 ] in concert with Ada Wong, Leon was featured in The Inquirer ‘s 2007 list of the most memorable video bet on love teams. [ 81 ] In 2011, “ a highly disfunctional [ sic ] kinship ” between Leon and Ada was ranked the ninth top video crippled woo by James Hawkins of Joystick Division. [ 82 ] According to PlayStation Universe’ second Mike Harradence, “ we ‘ve seen Kennedy transition from a likable, wet-behind-the-ears, love-sick puppy to a wise-cracking, super smooth politics agent. ” [ 27 ] In 2012, Complex included him on a list of the 25 “ douchiest “ video game characters for “ his sarcastic and dark attitude in RE4 “, adding that, while Leon “ stepped it up in the series by maturing and becoming a true bomber ”, they “ enjoyed the game more when Leon did n’t speak. ” [ 83 ] The character was one of the childhood crushes of Kendra Beltran from MTV, who in 2013 wrote : “ I still ca n’t forget the rate my heart raced when my eyes set on Leon. I ‘m certain you felt and continue to feel the same. ” [ 84 ] In 2014, La Nueva España included the “ intelligent, quick-drawing and hard ” leon among the clear ten sexiest video plot characters of both genders, describing him as a “ reinforce concrete wall with a porcelain face. ” [ 85 ] In 2017, Rexly Peñaflorida of Tom’s Hardware included Leon among the best supporter characters in video games. [ 86 ] Cass Marshall of Polygon described Leon as a “ sexy side of its star topology ” on Resident Evil 2 remake, [ 87 ] while Ravi Sinha of GamingBolt considered the character ‘s design among the worst in video recording games, noting that the developers should have kept his original design. [ 88 ] In his analysis of Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, Daniel Quesada of HobbyConsolas has praised Leon ‘s design, peculiarly his hair’s-breadth, and said it was “ perfect, as we like it. ” [ 89 ]
trade [edit ]
diverse types of trade have been released based on Leon. In 2004, Capcom announced a series of outfits based on Leon ‘s clothe, called “ Leon ‘s collection ”. [ 90 ] other Leon merchandise include two action figures by Hot Toys, [ 91 ] [ 92 ] three action figures by NECA, [ 93 ] [ 94 ] [ 95 ] and more from several other manufacturers, including by Palisades Toys, [ 96 ] ToyBiz, [ 97 ] and Capcom itself. [ 98 ] On Halloween Horror Nights 2013 held at Universal Orlando, Leon was featured as one of two main characters in a haunted house called “ resident malefic : elude from Raccoon City ”, based on Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. [ 99 ] In 2020, a statue and figurine of Leon has been besides made, alongside with Claire. [ 100 ] [ 101 ] Capcom has released the 10 milliliter styled aroma of Leon in Japan, which are now on sale for ¥6380. [ 102 ] In 2021, Capcom and Kadoya collaborated to produce an official reproduction of Leon ‘s jacket from Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness. [ 103 ] Capcom has besides collaborated with Darkside Collectibles to develop a quarter-size Leon figurine based on his appearance in Resident Evil 4. [ 104 ]
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See besides [edit ]
Media related to Leon S. Kennedy at Wikimedia Commons