The Arcadia was a ship owned and operated by the Umbrella Corporation in Paul W. S. Anderson's Resident Evil film franchise. Disguised as a simple freight ship, the Arcadia was actually a mobile research laboratory where Umbrella conducted research on the T-Virus and engineered biological weapons.
History[]
Five years into the Global T-Virus Pandemic, Umbrella were using the Arcadia to conduct experiments on survivors of the global disaster. The ship sailed the waters of North America transmitting a signal that lured survivors toward it, promising food and sanctuary from the infection. Survivors who were able to answer the call were soon captured and imprisoned aboard the ship where Umbrella subjected them to horrific experimentation, using many of the bodies they obtained as bases for bio-weapons such as the Axe Man.
After the destruction of Umbrella Headquarters in Tokyo, Albert Wesker had relocated to the Arcadia. Having undergone T-virus mutation himself, Wesker had developed a craving for living human flesh and began feeding on members of Arcadia's crew. Most of the crew abandoned ship as a result, leaving Wesker to run the ship by himself. In order to regain control of himself and eliminate his compulsion to feed on human flesh, Wesker attempted to track down Alice, whom had adapted to the T-virus on a cellular level, and planned to lure her to the Arcadia so he could devour her, theorizing that ingesting her superior DNA would allow him to regain control.
Wesker tracked Alice to the ruined city of Los Angeles and broadcast the Arcadia's radio signal calling in survivors. He deployed an Axe Man bio-weapon to break into the fortified Citadel Correctional Facility where a number of survivors had taken refuge. Though Alice would kill the Axe Man, countless Undead swarmed into the prison, forcing Alice and the Redfield siblings to flee. The trio arrive at the Arcadia only to find the ship deserted, but the presence of the Umbrella logo on a set of blast doors inside the ship causes Alice to realise that Arcadia is a trap. Opening the blast doors, Alice enters a clean, white laboratory containing numerous specimen pods. Inside the pods are human captives, some of whom Alice recognised as members of Claire Redfield's convoy of survivors from Nevada.
Alice, Claire and Chris encounter Wesker inside the laboratory, guarded by a pair of mutant dogs. Wesker reveals his plan to Alice before attacking her and the Redfield siblings, demonstrating his new superhuman powers. Alice and her friends make short work of Wesker's dogs, but Wesker himself proves extremely difficult to defeat, using his superhuman speed and agility to dodge their bullets. When Wesker lunges at Alice in an attempt to feed on her, that is when the heroes manage to land their shots. Wesker's accelerated healing allows him to recover from a barrage of point blank shots, even regenerate his brain and skull. While Alice and the Redfields are busy freeing prisoners from their stasis tubes, Wesker attempts to escape on a helicopter and remotely destroy the Arcadia with its self-destruct charge. However, Alice had found and removed the charge before fighting Wesker, planting it on his escape craft in the event that he tried to flee. Wesker discovered the active charge mid-flight and managed to abandon his aircraft just before detonation.
With Wesker gone, Alice took control of the Arcadia's communications systems and sent out a message offering sanctuary from the infection to any survivors. However, no one would answer this call, save for a fleet of Umbrella aircraft commanded by Jill Valentine, who by then was being controlled by the Red Queen. The armada of Umbrella aircraft opened fire on the Arcadia, killing most of the freed prisoners. Those that survived were taken prisoner by Umbrella's troops before the Arcadia was sunk.