Leon S. Kennedy

Leon Scott Kennedy, an American of Italian descent, was introduced as one of two playable protagonists in Capcom's 1998 survival horror video game Resident Evil 2. Although Hideki Kamiya, the game's creative director, preferred "blunt, tough-guy type[s]", he created Leon as "someone with weaknesses" to differentiate him from Chris Redfield and move away from the first game's approach. Kamiya stated that Leon is named after the film Léon: The Professional (1994). In the first prototype of Resident Evil 2 (often called Resident Evil 1.5), Leon is depicted as a veteran Raccoon City police officer. Noboru Sugimura, who was hired to rewrite the story, reconceptualized Leon as a young, newly recruited officer, as he believed the existing character lacked depth and coherence. The artists Isao Ohishi and Ryoji Shimogama designed Leon's final in-game appearance. In the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2, Leon was redesigned to better match the game's more-photorealistic setting. For example, his large shoulder pads—originally used to visually emphasize his low‑polygon model—were removed. During the original Resident Evil 2, Leon develops an ambiguous romance with the mercenary and spy Ada Wong, and they repeatedly save each other's lives. For the remake, the creative team decided to spend more time on the two characters' interactions, because they felt the relationship in the 1998 original game progressed too quickly. Executive producer Jun Takeuchi suggested their kiss should occur earlier in the story to make Ada seem more manipulative of Leon. Hideki Kamiya was surprised by Leon's popularity and enjoyed his evolution into a "really cool looking guy" for Resident Evil 4, saying he "fell in love all over again". Designer Masaki Yamanaka said that the change was due to the experience he had gained since Resident Evil 2, explaining that although Leon kept his "coolness", he did not want him to be "too buffed out". Resident Evil 6s producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi liked Leon and decided to include him because "he [was] central to the story of the game". His blue, Chinese outfit is intended to look stylish and to contrast with Chris's military equipment. (FBI) agent Grace Ashcroft, was conceived to ensure the game would include slow-paced, horror-focused sections alongside faster-paced action sequences; this allowed the developers to show the differences in experience between Leon and Grace. According to Nakanishi, Leon's sequences could give players a sense of release following Grace's chapters. Nakanishi also stated that the purpose of showing Leon's wedding band at the end of Requiem was more to demonstrate that the character has "place to go home to" that he hoped players could imagine him spending peaceful moments in. Voice-over and live-action actors Paul Haddad voiced Leon for his initial appearance in Resident Evil 2. and Matthew Mercer in Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil: Damnation, Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Resident Evil: Vendetta and Resident Evil: Death Island. Jason Faunt performed Leon's motion capture in Resident Evil 6, Leon's facial features in Resident Evil 2 (2019), Resident Evil 4 (2023) and Resident Evil Requiem are based on those of the Romanian model Eduard Badaluta. and Avan Jogia in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. ==Appearances==

In the Resident Evil series {{video game timeline Resident Evil 2 takes place in 1998 in the fictional American location Raccoon City. Leon Scott Kennedy is a rookie police officer who arrives in the city just after the beginning of a zombie outbreak, for which the pharmaceutical company Umbrella Corporation is responsible. Leon meets Claire Redfield and they flee toward the Raccoon City Police Department building, but are separated after being overrun by zombies. As he explores the building, Leon meets Ada Wong, an FBI agent who wants to obtain a sample of the G-virus mutagen. While searching for the virus, Leon and Ada find an underground laboratory where they meet the Umbrella scientist Annette Birkin, who reveals Ada is a mercenary. Ada claims the G-virus but Birkin shoots her in the ensuing struggle and Ada seemingly falls to her death. Leon rejoins Claire, who has secured a train that leads to the surface and they, along with Birkin's young daughter Sherry Birkin, During the rescue mission, Leon runs into Ada, whom he has not seen since Raccoon City, At the game's climax, Leon kills the cult leader Osmund Saddler but is forced to give Ada a sample of the parasite. Ada escapes in a helicopter, leaving Leon and Ashley to escape on a jet ski. In 2013, President of the United States is preparing to publicly announce the events in Raccoon City. Before Leon can begin, the President is attacked by a bioweapon that turns him into a zombie, forcing Leon to kill him and leaving him accused of orchestrating both the attack and the assassination. Ada reveals that the true culprit is National Security Advisor Derek C. Simmons, the creator of "C-virus". Seeking to clear his name, Leon joins forces with Secret Service agent Helena Harper, and, together with Ada, they pursue Simmons to China, where they defeat him. Leon returns in Resident Evil Requiem (2026), set in 2026. Division of Security Operations (DSO), an elite U.S. federal counter-bioterrorism agency agents Leon and Sherry investigate the string of deaths connected to a new, unidentified bioweapon. Leon is sent to look into the disappearance of a police officer at the Wrenwood Hotel. He follows the antagonist Victor Gideon, a researcher with connections to Umbrella, to the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center after growing suspicious of him during that mission. Leon encounters Grace, who had just woken up in a different area of the clinic after being kidnapped while looking into the Wrenwood Hotel. Leon and Grace discover the chamber with "Elpis" samples when they infiltrate ARK, a research facility owned by Umbrella located beneath Raccoon City. Grace decides to release Elpis, which is revealed to be a antiviral for all viral-based bioweapons that was created by Spencer. She uses it to cure Leon before he kills Gideon. Leon and Grace are then rescued by the Hound Wolf Squad of the United Nations' Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), and a soldier passes Leon a message from their captain, Chris. Other appearances Leon S. Kennedy appears in several of the Resident Evil live-action film series. Leon is a major character in Paul W. S. Anderson's Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), in which he leads the Resistance and teams up with Alice to battle Umbrella. Anderson said he felt a lot of pressure to find an actor who was a convincing action hero and had a similar hairstyle. Leon also appears in the live-action reboot film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021). He returns in the sequel Resident Evil: Damnation (2012). A third animated film, Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017), features Chris, Leon, and Rebecca Chambers. Leon also appears with Claire in the Netflix series Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021); He is ordered to investigate an incident in the White House, where he encounters and kills zombies. He returns in the sequel Resident Evil: Death Island (2023). Leon is a playable character in several non-canonical Resident Evil games. He is one of two protagonists in Resident Evil Gaiden (2001) and appears in several Resident Evil mobile games. In Gaiden, Leon is ordered to investigate a cruise ship that is rumored to host Umbrella's latest experiments. He soon disappears and Barry Burton is sent to rescue him. He appears as a playable character in other games including Project X Zone 2 (2016), Dead by Daylight (2016), Teppen (2019), Puzzles & Survival (2023), and State of Survival (2023). Leon is an alternate skin for characters in games such as Rainbow Six Siege (2015), Knives Out (2017), Fortnite Battle Royale (2017), Monster Hunter: World (2018), PUBG Mobile (2018), ''Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (2019), Wuthering Waves (2024), and Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster (2024). Leon has a non-player character (NPC) cameo in Trick'N Snowboarder (1999), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), the Nintendo crossover video game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) as a Spirit power-up, Dying Light 2 (2022), and is referenced as a robot dressed as Leon in Astro Bot'' (2024). Leon features in novelizations of the films and games. Comic books based on the games were released, and Leon appears in Resident Evil: The Official Comic Magazine. Leon is a character in Bandai's Resident Evil Deck Building Card Game (2011) and Steamforged Games' Resident Evil 2: The Board Game (2017). The character was featured in Resident Evil-themed attractions at Universal Studios Japan and Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights. Leon's likeness has been used on figurines, outfits, statues, dioramas, gun replicas, standees, keychains, watches, and perfumes. In 2026, to celebrate the release of Requiem, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema introduced a Resident Evil–inspired menu featuring a dish called "Bingo! Fried Chicken". Staff members also celebrated with Leon cake after it sold 7 million copies in just two months. ==Critical reception==

Guinness World Records and several video game journalists named Leon S. Kennedy among the most iconic video game characters. Rachel Weber of GamesRadar+ described Leon as one of the greatest video game characters, praising his resilience and his ability to handle crises throughout the series. Magazines praised Leon as the most likable Resident Evil character. IGN editors described him as one of the best Resident Evil protagonists due to his everyman persona, and likened him to John McClane as "an ordinary guy who becomes extraordinary under adverse circumstances". They noted Leon is among the most-capable and composed characters in the series. Nintendo Power described his change as going from a "glorified meter maid with a bad haircut" to a tough guy, while Polygon's Harri Chan commended Leon for his "schlocky action-movie energy". In the book Immersion, Narrative, and Gender Crisis in Survival Horror Video Games, the academic Andrei Nae described Leon's persona as a hypermasculine and likened him to Ethan Thomas from Condemned: Criminal Origins, saying both characters are empowered to defeat their opponents in direct combat and reassert themselves as White, middle-class males. Nae stated their hypermasculinity is incomplete because neither of them can fully contain gender and class otherness, which is displayed through Leon's failure to bring Ada within the ambit of patriarchal control. Several lines from the game achieved enduring popularity; "Where's everyone going? Bingo?", a quip delivered by Leon when the villagers stop attacking him after church bells ring, and Leon makes his way to the church; and "I knew you'd be fine if you landed on your butt." Leon's characterization has been praised and is often recognized for his sex appeal. Fans lauded his appearance in Resident Evil 2 (2019) and Cass Marshall of Polygon said the remake "revives the sexy side of its star". According to Ana Diaz from Polygon, in Resident Evil 4 (2023) Leon's sex appeal inspired fans to make and share "thirsty" videos of the character on the video-sharing platform TikTok that resulted in thousands of fans who purposefully injured Leon during the game to hear his moans of pain, which they interpreted sexually; Ashley Bardhan of Kotaku noted a similar phenomenon for Leon in the game Dead by Daylight. Jennifer Culp of Polygon described Leon as attractive and said his "swoon-inducing crush effect" is not about his hair, but his "Boy Scout determination to see the mission safely concluded". Fans have praised Leon's reveal in Requiem, once more noting his attractiveness.{{cite news |last=Townsend |first=Verity |title=Leon Kennedy's new look for Resident Evil Requiem makes him a 'Hot Uncle' heartthrob among Japanese fans ==Notes==