Ada Wong is the most enigmatic character in the Resident Evil franchise. She's also one of the most prominent ones and has made several appearances in mainline Resident Evil games and movies. Ada's sassy and unpredictable nature makes her stand out among other notable characters in the series, and as a result, it has made her a fan-favorite one.
Ada's character has significantly developed throughout the franchise's 25 years of history. Even though Ada's true motives remain a mystery, her side of the story is the missing piece of the puzzle of the various events that take place within the RE universe. Interestingly, Ada has made an appearance in every even-numbered mainline entry in the franchise since Resident Evil 2, and with Resident Evil 8 on the horizon, now seems like a good time to recap Ada's role throughout the franchise.
Resident Evil 2
Ada is mentioned in the first Resident Evil game in a letter from an Umbrella Corporation member John; however, she makes her first on-screen appearance in 1998's Resident Evil 2. In RE 2, Ada works as a spy for Umbrella's rival company and is sent on a mission coordinated by Albert Wesker to procure a sample of the Golgotha(G)-Virus.
Occasionally helping Leon along the way, Ada makes her way to the NEST laboratory and confronts scientist Dr. Annette Berkin, wife of Dr. William Berkin, responsible for creating the G-Virus. Regardless of the game's two scenarios, Ada successfully retrieves a tissue of the G-Virus-infested Dr. William Berkin to complete her mission.
In Resident: Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, a 2007 spin-off, a wounded Ada reports to Wesker about her progress and then escapes Racoon City via an Umbrella helicopter. By this time, it's clear that Ada doesn't trust Wesker, making her motives all the more mysterious.
Resident Evil 4
Six years after the events of the Racoon City, Ada crosses paths yet again with Leon while investigating the Las Plagas parasite in Spain. Still working for this alleged rival company and reporting to Wesker, Ada's task is to find Dr. Luis Sera. Ada saves Leon's life multiple times while searching for the "Dominant Species Plaga," all the while making it clear to Wesker that she does things her way. Eventually, Sera gets killed by Osmund Saddler who then takes away the Dominant species sample with him.
Ada gets captured while pursuing Saddler, and it's Leon who rescues her and kills Saddler with her help. Ada confronts Leon for the sample and escapes with it on a helicopter. However, instead of giving the dominant species sample to Wesker, she ends up handing him a relatively weak Recessive species Plaga to him, proving yet again that Ada doesn't trust Wesker.
The CGI movie, Resident Evil Damnation, fills in the gap between the events of RE 4 and RE 6. Ada and Leon cross paths yet again, but this time in the Eastern Slav Republic, where the Las Plagas is being used to fight a civil war. In it, she's captured by President Svetlana Belikova. After a narrow escape, Ada finds Belikova lab brimming with Dominant Plaga samples, from which she takes one for her employer, Derek C. Simmons, thus setting the premise for Resident Evil 6.
Resident Evil 6
Unlike other entries in the series, Ada doesn't play a passive role in Resident Evil 6, rather she's at the forefront of it all. She still works from the shadows, aiding Leon and his partner Helena Harper in stopping a global virus outbreak. Nine years after the events of the Las Plagas outbreak in Spain, Ada is once again involved, on a personal level, in a new C-Virus outbreak by National Security Advisor Derek C. Simmons when he creates a clone of her, Clara. She works for an organization called Neo Umbrella and is all set to cause a C-Virus outbreak in some of the major cities across the world.
Ada pursues Clara throughout the game, all the while avoiding the angry and vengeful group of BSAA members, including Chris Redfield, who mistakes Ada for Clara. After successfully taking out a mutated Clara, Ada joins Leon and Helena in China to kill Simmons as the city-wide outbreak of C-Virus continues. Ada's story arc ends after she finds and destroys Clara's lab in an impeccably cool fashion. She receives a call soon for another assignment which she accepts.
It's been nine years since Ada made an appearance in the Resident Evil games, and fans are curious to know what lies in store for her next. With Resident Evil 8 all set to bring back Chris, there is a possibility that other characters could return soon, including Ada. If anything, Ada will defintely return in Resident Evil 4 Remake that is currently rumored to be in development.
Resident Evil Village releases May 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.