Summary
TheResident Evilfranchise has a plethora of iconic main characters at its disposal, and each new entry only continues to add more to the roster. But while Ethan Winters is generally liked by fans, he admittedly doesn’t hold the same sort of reverence asResident Evil’s legacy heroes, who have appeared throughoutResident Evilhistory, being a highlight of the experience every time. Though Chris Redfield and Leon Kennedy have had the most screen time in recent years, Jill Valentine is still an integral piece of the puzzle.
First introduced in the veryfirstResident Evilgame in 1996, Jill Valentine has popped up time and time again across the entireResident Evilfranchise, appearing as a playable protagonist in three big entries. With theResident Evil 3Remake, Jill Valentine has seen a resurgence in recent years, and that resurgence has led to her prominent appearance in the new animatedResident Evil: Death Islandmovie. But while it’s great to see Jill Valentine get such a large role in the movie,Death Islanddoes have one big issue that needs to be fixed with Jill’s next video game appearance.
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Jill’s Next Resident Evil Design Needs to be More Realistic Than Death Island
Releasing on VOD on July 25,Resident Evil: Death Islandlooks like a silly, but extremely fun romp that takesAvengers: InfinityWars' “bringing the band back together” premise, and applies it to theResident Evilfranchise, seeing all the classic protagonists meeting up to slay some infected. But whileDeath Islandlooks like a good time, there’s one big, noticeable issue that’s already obvious, and that’s how Jill Valentine looks.
Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfieldboth appear inResident Evil: Death Island, and both have been suitably aged up for the movie’s time setting. Taking place 17 years after the first game, it’s only natural that the series' original characters would be starting to age quite visibly now, with some characters hitting their early 40s by this point. In the movie, both Leon and Chris' character models have received some clear tweaks to show their older age, including more wrinkles on Leon’s face, and a character model for Chris that looks like a blend of hisResident Evil 5andResident Evil Villagemodels. But these changes don’t carry over to Jill Valentine at all.
InResident Evil: Death Island, Jill Valentinelooks exactly how she does in theResident Evil 3 Remake, with practically the same character model being used. In some moments of the movie, Jill is even wearing the same outfit as the one in the game, along with the exact same hairstyle. According to the canon, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are both 23 years old duringResident Evil 1, making them 40 years old by the time ofResident Evil: Death Island. While Chris looks it, Jill certainly does not, and it’s an extremely odd choice.
According toDeath Island’s creators, Jill Valentine has been made to look deliberately younger because when she wasinfected with the T-Virus, her aging process was slowed. While this is a fine explanation on paper, it doesn’t really seem all that relevant to the widerResident Eviluniverse, and introducing this concept makes it seem more as though Capcom just wants to keep its women characters looking young and attractive. That’s especially obvious when fans look at Claire and Rebecca’s models in the movie, both of whom are also strangely young, despite canonically being in their 30s.
When Jill makes her inevitable next appearance in theResident Evilfranchise, she needs to show at least some signs of aging. Fans like Jill for her character, and the nextResident Evilgame needs to shine the spotlight back on that.
