Matt Addison

Matthew "Matt" Addison is a fictional environmentalist and a central character in the Resident Evil film series. He was introduced in the 2002 movie, Resident Evil, where he was played by actor Eric Mabius. The character was literally resurrected for the film's 2004 sequel, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, where he had mutated into the B.O.W. known as Nemesis. In this film, the character was rendered using computer graphic imaging, but was also played by actor Matthew G. Taylor.

The Hive incident
Matt Addison was an anti-corruption activist who focused his attention towards exposing illegal activities within the ranks of corporate America. Driven by great ambition, Addison decided to go after the biggest commercial entity of them all - the Umbrella Corporation. With his history however, Matt knew that he could never hope to infiltrate the company directly. Instead, he turned to his sister, Lisa, who was already working as a researcher at one of Umbrella's top-secret genetics laboratories in Raccoon City, known as the Hive. Matt knew that Lisa had been conspiring with another Umbrella official to bring the company down, but when Matt lost contact with her, he went to investigate.

Posing as an officer for the Raccoon City Police Department, he went to the mansion safe house located above the access tunnels to the Hive. Moments after arriving, the mansion was besieged by members of the Umbrella Security Service, who arrived in response to a contamination crisis taking place at the Hive. The only other person in attendance was a woman named Alice, who was assigned to guard the mansion, but was suffering from memory loss as a side effect of nerve gas pumped through the house by the Hive's artificial intelligence, the Red Queen. The U.S.S. were quick to apprehend Addison, having no idea who he was or why he was there. When they checked his I.D., they could not find any record of him, but Addison claimed that he had just transferred to the R.P.D. and his file likely hadn't been updated yet. Matt was handcuffed and forced to accompany Alice and the rest of the unit into the Hive. Along the way, the discovered another amnesiac staff member, Spence Parks.

When they reached the Hive, the group ventured in the direction of the Red Queen Chamber, which brought them through Dining hall B. This actually turned out to be a storage facility housing the lab's most dangerous Bio Organic Weapon (B.O.W.) specimens. The group quickly discovered that the personnel of the Hive had been infected by the T-Virus, which had turned them into monstrous flesh-eating zombies. A horde of zombies made their way into the dining hall, surrounding the group. As the commandos fought against the undead, Matt picked up the keys to the handcuffs, which had fallen from the belt of a soldier named Rain Ocampo. Scrambling backwards, he tried to simultaneously undo his handcuffs, while also defending himself from attacking zombies. Addison managed to free himself, and get to a safe area in the Hive away from the monsters.

At a time when things had calmed down slightly, Matt confided in Alice, telling her about how her sister had been working with someone within Umbrella to steal a sample of the T-Virus, which they intended to use to expose the company's genetic experiments. Given the abrupt failure of the entire plan, Matt deduced that Lisa might have trusted the wrong person. As Alice's memory began to return, she realized that she was the one whom Lisa was working with. Matt was enraged at first, accusing Alice of betraying his sister. Without all of her memories, she could not determine whether she had planned on betraying her or not.

Later, Matt managed to get access to some of the offices. He found Lisa's desk, but before he could inspect further, his sister, now a zombie, approached him. Matt was momentarily stunned and unable to move as Lisa lunged for him. Fortunately, Alice arrived right on time, and clubbed Lisa across the back of the head with a blunt object, killing her. When it was later revealed that it was actually Alice's faux husband and partner, Spence Parks, who had betrayed Umbrella, Matt realized that Alice was truly working to help Lisa take down the company.

The threat level to the group intensified dramatically, as they not only had the zombies to worry about, but also the Red Queen's defense systems, as well as a mutant creature called a licker. After narrowly evading death at every turn, Alice and Matt managed to secure a case containing the antivirus and board the Alexa-5000 train back to the mansion. While en route, the licker attached itself to the train and swiped its giant claws through the side, lacerating Matt's left arm. Alice succeeded in destroying the licker and they both made it back to the mansion. They were the only survivors of the entire incident.

Alice prepared to administer the antivirus to Matt to heal him from the infected claw marks, but she was too late. The infected tissue had already begun to mutate. At that moment, Umbrella scientists donning Hazmat suits burst into the foyer of the mansion. They took Matt upon a stretcher with instructions to initiate him in the Nemesis Program.

Notes & Trivia

 * The character is unique to the continuity of the Resident Evil film series and does not have a counterpart in the video game series by Capcom. However, Matt's mutated form, Nemesis, is a staple of the video game series.


 * Matt Addison is the only character from Resident Evil who is fully identified by both first and last name.


 * It is possible that Matt Addison may not be his real name. While it is known that he had crafted forged credentials identifying him as a member of the Raccoon City Police Department, it is unclear whether or not he had assumed an alias. As such, it also remains unclear whether his sister's last name is also Addison.


 * As with the regular T-Virus infectees, the Nemesis B.O.W. is capable of maintaining some small measure of memory, as first implied by the Red Queen artificial intelligence. It is this trace memory that enabled the Nemesis to side with Alice and Jill Valentine against Umbrella Security Service forces.


 * Scenes of Matt Addison from Resident Evil were recapped for the opening prologue to Resident Evil: Apocalypse. However, actor Eric Mabius was not involved in the production of this film.


 * Matt Addison is one of two main characters from Resident Evil to survive to the end of the film. The other is Alice.


 * Playing the role of the Nemesis Addison is Matthew G. Taylor's sixth film role (not counting television movies).