T-virus (RE films)

The T-virus is a highly potent and deadly viral weapon featured in the Resident Evil film series directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. Based on the virus of the same name from Capcom's Resident Evil games, the film version of the T-virus differs slightly in its origins and application.

Origin
The T-Virus was originally developed by James Marcus, one of the co-founders of the Umbrella Corporation. It was conceived with the best intentions in mind; Marcus believed it could cure any number of crippling diseases and had developed it to cure his own daughter Alicia, who was suffering a rare genetic disorder that caused her to physically age at an accelerated rate. By the time Alicia reached 25 years of age, she would have the body of a 90-year old, but she appeared to respond well to the T-virus which revived the dead and dying cells of the body.

After successfully curing Alicia, Umbrella used the T-virus to treat numerous individuals with seemingly incurable ailments. However, this miraculous cure would have horrifying side effects; in an incident in Europe, a child who had been treated with the T-virus suddenly died, but didn't stay dead. The child reanimated as a vicious undead creature that killed and fed upon the passengers of a cable car.

The first Undead incident was settled and covered up, but Marcus, being a compassionate man with a strong moral code, decided to discontinue all further research into the T-virus. His colleague, Dr. Alexander Isaacs, disagreed, and saw the T-virus could be extremely profitable when applied militarily. Before Marcus could shut down the T-virus project, Isaacs had his henchman Albert Wesker assassinate Marcus and covered up the assassination as an accident. With Marcus gone, Isaacs became the de facto leader of Umbrella and continued researching the T-virus as a biological weapon.

Description
"The virus is protean, changing from liquid to airborne to blood transmission, depending on its environment. It's almost impossible to kill."

- Red Queen from Resident Evil. Though initially intended to be used as a miracle cure due to its regenerative capabilities, the T-virus would be developed as a weapon by Umbrella who saw massive potential in its ability to quickly kill and reanimate its hosts. Upon infecting a host, the virus would destabilize the body's ability to produce new cells and slowly kill the existing cells as it spread. It would first attack the adrenal glands before spreading to the victim's spine, through which it would attack the pineal gland and the brain. Destruction of the pineal gland would kill the host, allowing the virus to settle in the brain and create a massive electrical charge, causing the body to reanimate. Individuals transformed by the T-virus are referred to as "Undead". They possess none of their former intelligence or humanity, essentially becoming mindless animals with an endless craving for living flesh.

The T-virus is protean in nature. Depending on the environment, it can shift from liquid to an airborne agent to a fluid-transmissible pathogen, making it extremely difficult to contain or destroy once released. In its liquid state, the T-virus appears as a cool-blue fluid, though when examined under a microscope the individual viral cells appear in the shape of the letter 'T', earning it its name.

The speed of infection varies depending on the immune system of each individual subject and can take minutes, hours or even days before an infected person turns Undead. It should also be noted that not all infected subjects turn Undead; the T-virus is capable of triggering unusual mutations in some subjects, transforming them into bizarre monsters or granting them superhuman abilities. The prime example of the latter is Alice, a clone of Alicia Marcus who gained enhanced strength, speed, reflexes and healing abilities after being injected with the virus.

Treatment
Though highly virulent, adaptive and destructive, the T-virus can be cured. When weaponizing the virus, Umbrella also developed an anti-virus capable of reversing the infection process. This anti-virus exists as a green fluidic serum that is to be injected into infected subjects shortly after the initial infection. The infectee stands a greater chance of recovery if the anti-virus is administered before showing symptoms, usually within the first few minutes of infection. While unconfirmed, it is believed that the anti-viral serum has no effect on those that have already become Undead.

During the Global T-virus Pandemic, Umbrella developed a new airborne anti-virus. When released, this antigen would be spread on the winds until it encompassed the Earth, killing any creature infected with the T-virus. Umbrella had planned to release the antigen after the remaining human settlements on the Earth's surface had been destroyed and then rebuild the world in their image after wiping out the virus. However, Alice managed to retrieve the anti-virus before this plan was fulfilled, releasing it into the air and killing off the Undead while their was still a human race to save. It would take years for the anti-virus to spread across the planet, but the end of the pandemic was inevitable.