Main Characters
Francis Algornon West
The hero of the Willamette outbreak of 2006 and the world's deadliest photojournalist. He's covered wars, y'know. The years since Willamette have been hard on him as he drifts in and out of fame and the trauma from the things he's witnessed in the mall wear him down even further.
As of 2021, he teaches a photography class in a Coloradan university, being especially close to one of his pupils, Vick Chu. On September 4th, 2021, Vick drives him back to Willamette against his will, hoping to investigate the rumors of inhumane research going on in a facility there. Upon investigating, Frank only wants to grab the story and get out while Vick tries liberating the place first upon discovering the sheer cruelty. Vick's outburst causes both of them to go on the run, with Frank's involvement getting most if not all of the press and forces him into (barely) hiding.
ZDC Colonel Brad Park tracks him down in January of 2022 and forces him back into the game to investigate the new outbreak there. Frank is cynical and hesitant until he learns that Vick is involved, finally convincing him to do what he does best.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: He survives the zombies pulling him off the helicopter in the ending, but he gets infected and becomes an Evo Zombie in Frank Rising.
- Blood Knight: As traumatized as he is by the original Willamette outbreak, he seems to have the time of his life killing zombies.
- Broken Ace: All of the shit he's been through ever since Willamette has made him lose his taste for photojournalism. It takes Vick and Brad telling him to get over himself for him to get back in the game.
- Character Development: He starts off as a very immature, rude, salty old man which he plays up to hide his crippling trauma and self-loathing. After enough time spent in the once-again-overrun Willamette, he learns to let more people in and expose the truth for the good of humanity instead of just getting money and fame.
- Cringe Comedy: This is where most of his humor falls into. Sometimes even he himself is aware that his quips fall flat on a knife.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Even though he becomes a zombie complete with glowing eyes and a deathly palor, Frank still remains the same heroic journalist that he was as a human. He also gets some creepy zombie abilities (such as devouring both zombies and humans, along with superhuman strength) to match.
- Deadpan Snarker: He's even snarkier than in Off the Record, which is a non-canonical, intentional Flanderization of his character. It's not always funny though, as even the other characters (and himself) will point out.
- Defrosting Ice King: It takes a while but Frank eventually gets over himself and opens himself up to people who only want to help him.
- Dude, Not Funny!: He is constantly getting this reaction from other people, namely Vick and Brad, for his nonstop "wise"-cracking.
- Elite Zombie: Becomes an Evo Zombie in Frank Rising, gaining the ability to vomit acid, stun enemies with loud shouts, immunity to pain and enhanced strength and speed.
- Expy:
- Intentionally or not, Frank in this game resembles the on-screen adaptation of Negan Smith. He even wields a barbed baseball bat which resembles Lucille.
- He also greatly resembles Ash Williams by this point in the series. Like Ash, he started out as a pretty serious character with very little quips, gradually became snarkier with each sequel, and by this game and Ash vs. Evil Dead, they are old, cynical manchildren who only act that way to cope with their immense trauma and self-loathing.
- Fan Disservice: When wearing Morrigan or Lilith's costumes or using the former or Cammy's powers, all three are attractive women, Cammy wearing a form fitting leotard and both Morrigan and Lilith are Succubi meant to ooze sex appeal. Frank on the other hand is a 52 year old man, no guesses how he ends up looking in their clothes.
- Formerly Fat: He's much more trim than he was in the first two games.
- Freudian Excuse: He's become so much more of an asshole because the government keeps burying their involvement in the outbreaks and dismissing him publicly as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Speaking of, all of the horrific things he bore witness to in Willamette undoubtedly left some scars on his consciousness.
- Grumpy Old Man: He starts off this way, acting very cynical and rude to anyone he meets. He eventually grows a heart again.
- Healing Factor: After he reanimates from his fatal mauling in Frank Rising, he can regenerate health by eating other zombies and is implied to work in a passive way, as he doesn’t seem to suffer from any of the major decomposition and degeneration as the other zombies.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Frank is all but forgotten, and when he is mentioned, it's in a less-than-positive light. His book about the Willamette incident is trashed as the ramblings of a conspiracy theorist, his evidence of the government's involvement is "debunked", he sucker-punched the President by mistake, and all his admirers are eccentric conspiracy theorists; hell, he got disinvited from a zombie convention in Willamette of all places. After getting caught sneaking around an Obscuris base in the prologue, Frank is subject to a months-long manhunt, apparently for the murder of military personnel.
- Horrifying Hero: Ends up as this in Frank Rising after becoming a zombie.
- Hunter of His Own Kind: He continues to fight the undead after becoming an Evo Zombie in Frank Rising.
- It Can Think: After reanimating as an Evo Zombie, he retains enough intelligence to strategize in his hunting, and after being treated by Blackburne, he mentally regains himself completely.
- Jaded Washout: Aside from his PTSD, his fame drying up due to the government discrediting his perfectly valid criticisms and proof of their involvement in zombie outbreaks has made him a cynical loser.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Willamette and the government's treatment of the outbreak has left him a cynical wreck. His Character Development involves him finally sucking it up and fighting for what's right again.
- Jerkass: His PTSD causes him to become much more crass and detached from most relationships with other people. Throughout the game, he is constantly making awful, tasteless jokes much to the chagrin of his peers.
- Manchild: Notably, he's even more childish than his intentional Flanderized self in Off the Record. He spends most of his screentime obsessed with mini-golf and making the most immature, crude jokes imaginable.
- Old Soldier: Downplayed as he's only 52, but age hasn't slowed him down a bit and he still very much kicks zombie ass.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: "Hank East"? Really? He also made no effort to grow out or shave his hair, perhaps grow out that Perma-Stubble, nothing.
- Picky People Eater: As a zombie, he starts out indiscriminately feasting on people, but settles for consuming other zombies after regaining his sentience.
- Sad Clown: Frank has become a pessimistic wisecracker who often tries to defuse tension with comedy. This is because of his PTSD from the Willamette outbreak and how he never received any meaningful compensation for his actions, his fame was short-lived and the secrets of the outbreak were buried and burned.
- Self-Deprecation: Sometimes Played for Laughs, sometimes Played for Drama. His nightmare in the prologue is stuffed with quotes and background imagery chastising him for being a failure.
- Serious Business: He loves playing mini-golf, which he seems to take very seriously. When he learns that Vick is taking him to Willamette, he seems more pissed at the fact that he isn't getting to play mini-golf than he is at being forced to return to the place that traumatized him so much.
- Technically-Living Zombie: Averted in Frank Rising, he is as dead as any other zombie, it's only his brain that works normally.
- What the Hell, Hero?: His peers constantly deride him for his apathy towards the awful things Obscuris is doing, and the outbreak in general.
- You Don't Look Like You: He just barely has a passing resemblance to the Frank West we know from the first two games. He is much slimmer when he was chubby in the original and outright fat in the sequel, he looks even younger than he did in the original game where he was in his late 30s, and his hairline is much better when he was damn near balding in 2. To be fair, almost every depiction of Frank West aside from his canon appearances looks a bit off.
- Zombie Puke Attack: Is able to vomit acid after turning in Frank Rising.
Vick Chu
- Portrayed by: Karen David
A student in Frank's class, she drags him out of retirement to investigate what eventually develops into the second Willamette outbreak.
- Action Girl: By the time Frank gets involved in the plot, Vick has already been on the ground in post-outbreak Willamette for a couple of weeks.
- Broken Pedestal: At the start of Dead Rising 4, Vic's an ardent admirer of Frank and his reputation as the man who blew the lid off of the Willamette Incident. By the time their exploration of the research base is done, she sees him as nothing more than a Jerkass who is only interested in the money that can be made off the story and promptly abandons him.
- Rebuilt Pedestal: By the end of the game, the two are at least trying to make amends with one another, enough that Frank is concerned when Vick is knocked out by Calder, and the two agree to work together to break the story.
- Expy: She's a young, Asian-American aspiring photojournalist who just so happens to be the protégé and sidekick of Frank West, much like Rebecca Chang. She also serves as one to her mentor Frank himself, back in the original outbreak of 2006, when he was just as much of a hotheaded Intrepid Reporter as she is.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Constantly thinks Frank is out for his own wellbeing. While this claim is partially true, he still has enough of a conscience to do what's right and help people while likewise trying to prevent more outbreaks from happening again. And yet she believes Obscuris is in the right for what they did because the people attacked them...when said people were defending themselves from their attacks. As you can see, Vick does not have the best grasp of judgement.
- Hypocrite: For all her talk that Frank only cares for himself, she ends up causing more harm to others, betrayed several survivors in her pursuit for the story and didn't save a single life while Frank saves dozens of them.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Despite their 30 year age difference, she and Frank seem to like hanging out outside of class. During the prologue, Frank believes he's going out to play minigolf with her.
- Intrepid Reporter: Like her mentor, she'll do just about anything to get to the truth.
- Lack of Empathy: She practically ignores the fact that Frank doesn't want to return to Willamette after everything that has happened to him there years ago.
- Karma Houdini: Doubles as Easily Forgiven since Frank doesn't seem to mind any of her Kick the Dog moments.
- Kick the Dog: Has a surprisingly large amount of them for such a heroic character.
- Abandons Frank at Obscuris' base in Willamette and leaves him to take the blame for their actions there.
- Betrays Hammond's group to Obscuris, despite the fact they've committed numerous war crimes. She later weekly gives a justification that Fontana gave a no kill order, which Frank finds ridiculous.
- Outright robs Frank West of his camera and photographs before destroying his access to the original information.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She's pretty much the one who kickstarts the plot of the game, tricking Frank into coming with her to a military facility. Frank, reluctantly, goes along with it with the condition that they get in, get the story, and get out. Unfortunately, seeing what the people of the facility do to the people they experiment on drives her to end up tripping an alarm, sending the place in high alert and leaving Frank behind. As such, Frank ends up framed for the whole mess and is sent on the run.
- Sanity Slippage: She's been in Willamette for a long time, and it's taken its toll.
- She Who Fights Monsters: She ends up resorting to the same tactics that Frank uses that disgusts her in her attempt at getting to the truth. She's somewhat aware of this and Frank points it out numerous times (usually when she's pointing a gun at his head).
- Although, unlike Frank, she's at least not greedy about it and genuinely wants to expose the story in order to tell others the truth. But ironically, despite not being even remotely greedy in her quest to uncover the story, she is arguably (ethically) even worse than Frank in terms of tactics, because she temporarily works with Obscuris (the Big Bads of this game), lets Obscuris murder innocent people, holds a character at gunpoint just to get the camera, and even throws flashbangs at said character as he is chasing her, not caring that if the flashbangs explode near him he would both likely be stunned for a period of time as well as rendered easily visible to the zombies, giving them a great opening to attack and most likely devour him too.
- Verges on Black-and-White Insanity at times since she's of the belief Frank doesn't care about exposing Obscuris at all, despite the fact it doesn't matter whether a person exposes the story for a big, fat paycheck or for idealism.
- Tomboyish Name: It's probably short for Vicky, but everyone just calls her Vick. Lampshaded early on, when one character says that she has a boy's name.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Becomes this mid-way through the story until she and Frank try to make amends.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: While wanting to do what's right, she's a bit naive in her pursuits and has a hard time seeing the real big picture of things until having to properly be spelled out for her.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: While she is right that Frank is only interested in Only in It for the Money, she's also believes that Frank will go as far to sell the zombie research to the highest bidder. Sure Frank is aiming to regain to his lost fame, he is not that greedy to the point of crossing moral grounds.
Colonel Brad Park
- Portrayed by: Steve Bacic
One of the heroes of the Los Perdidos outbreak. After the events of The Last Agent, he initially disowned the ZDC, but something seems to have worked out in the year since as he is now a commander. In January of 2022, he tracks down Frank West and informs him of the new outbreak in Willamette. It takes a lot of effort to talk him into it, but he finally reaches him once he informs him of Vick's presence. From then on, he acts as Frank's short-lived partner and Mission Control.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He's been promoted to Colonel since Los Perdidos.
- The Comically Serious: He is charmingly stoic and professional, which actually creates a funny contrast to Frank's groanworthy, childish quips. One of his first scenes has him watch silently as Frank constantly tries to escape his possible arrest and not much later, accidentally shows Frank his nudes.
- Frank: Sorry, had to stop for samosa.Brad: Samosa? Gonna be a long mission.
- Expy: A federal agent named "Brad" acts as Frank's on-and-off Lancer. Where have we heard that before?
- Heel–Face Turn: Not him, as he was always a good guy, but after he is granted a leadership position in the ZDC, it becomes a heroic agency.
- Mission Control: He shares his findings with Frank over the radio, and guides him towards some leads he finds.
- Mythology Gag: This wouldn't be the first time a government agent named Brad teamed up with Frank West.
- Not So Above It All: Has nudes of himself on his phone, one of which he accidentally
shows to Frank. - Previous Player-Character Cameo: He was the player character of Dead Rising 3: The Last Agent.
- Rank Up: Even after he seemingly shuns the ZDC for their involvement in the Los Perdidos outbreak, he becomes its commander.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Friendly, heroic, and the commander of the ZDC. The moment he learns of the second Willamette outbreak, he gets right on it. At the end of the game, he goes after the U.S. Government for covering up yet another outbreak.
- The Stoic: There's not a moment where he isn't steel-faced.
- Younger Than They Look: He seems to have prematurely aged since 3, which was only a year ago chronologically. In that game, he looked about his age of 44, maybe even younger than that. In this game, his hair and newly-grown mustache are now completely grayed.
Multiplayer Characters
Four able-bodied survivors from the West Ridge militia who carry out field operations on Kylie Hammond's behalf. In story mode, they work with Hammond directly. Statistically, they're identical aside from their starting equipment.
Isaac Tremaine
Before the outbreak, Isaac was a butcher and a poet. He's now one of the West Ridge militia's lieutenants.
- The Big Guy: Isaac begins multiplayer matches with a sledgehammer.
- The Casanova: He's quite a hit with the ladies. He pitches his pickup lines to the others in multiplayer, and tries to give Conner advice on dating.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Frank's dossier on Isaac mentions that even he thinks Isaac is sort of dreamy.
- Hidden Depths: Sort of the opposite....this must be the apocalypse, because you Ragna-rock my world.
- Nice Guy: He's specifically in this to save and rebuild Willamette, and says as much in multiplayer.
Jessa Yetsuda
An angry, foul-mouthed mechanic and gamer nerd with an affinity for firearms.
- Berserk Button: Do not interrupt her playthrough of a video game. Ever.
- Blood Knight: Her multiplayer description mentions her bloodlust, and it's made clear when you play as her that she's having at least some fun with the zombie apocalypse. Frank's description of her in the Persons of Interest file says you shouldn't "bring guns to a Jessa fight."
- Gamer Chick
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's really abrasive at times, but ultimately, she wants to help out. Frank's dossier even comments on her attitude.
- Lady Swears-a-Lot
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Spawns with a shotgun.
- Skewed Priorities: Seems to care more about her video game playthrough then the utter chaotic situation that is the zombie outbreak.
- Wrench Wench
Connor McMann
The first survivor Brad and Frank meet upon arrival in Willamette, Connor is a hipster from Portland. He was employed at the Willamette Memorial Mall as a bartender at the hotel.
- Blood Knight: He stayed hidden in the Virago Hotel until he ran into Frank and Brad, but afterward, lights out to join the West Ridge militia, specifically because he wants to kill more of Obscuris's mercenaries.
- Butt-Monkey: Nobody on the team takes him seriously. Hammond usually just relegates him to "water duty" or some other mundane job. The other player characters are also quick to put him down.
- Combat Medic: Connor begins multiplayer matches with a Spray 'n' Pray, which lets him heal other players at a distance. He's otherwise statistically identical to everyone else.
- Cowardly Lion: He's scared shitless of everything around him, and his battle cries are mostly just him panicking, despite being identical to the other character's statistically.
- Dare to Be Badass: He came to Willamette to get better at surviving, and signs up with Tom's militia specifically because he wants to be a hero.
- Insistent Terminology: He was a mixologist, not a "bartender."
- Lethal Chef: According to his job interview, which can be found on a cell phone in the hotel, his trademark cocktail involved infusing vodka with a tater tot and ketchup. The recipes for his other drinks that he shares with the others don't sound very appetizing either.
- Only Sane Man: He really just wants to focus on finishing the missions, and has to constantly remind the others that it's more important than video games or pickup lines.
Jordan Maxwell
A British explosives expert, Jordan moved to America for "adventure." She's Hammond's second-in-command.
- Badass in Distress: In Chapter 5, you can rescue her after Tom's remaining men capture her and Hammond. Jordan spends the entire time threatening to tear her captors limb from limb.
- Mad Bomber: A cheerful, friendly woman who is in America specifically because it is easier to get explosives there.
Supporting Characters
Kylie Jane Hammond
Hammond was Willamette's chief civil engineer before the outbreak. Now, she's Tom Pickton's second-in-command and a legend among Willamette's survivors.
- Action Girl: You can find several cell phones that contain survivors discussing her actions. Hammond has saved a lot of people during the outbreak, and her reputation enticed many more to join the West Ridge militia. The survivors regard her like she's a superhero.
- Badass Bookworm: Was the town's chief engineer pre-apocalypse, but post apocalypse is enough of a badass to be a second-in-command of the town militia and someone able to fight on par with Frank West.
- Crazy-Prepared: She survives what Frank thought was a fatal fall because she had a grappling hook on her. Apparently she never leaves home without one.
- Eye Scream: Her split from Tom leaves her injured. She spends the rest of the game with a bandage over her left eye.
- Mission Control: For multiplayer mode.
- Nice Girl: Is very straightforward and helpful toward Frank, and seems to be this way toward the characters in multiplayer as well.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Is second-in-command of the militia, but is willing to work with Frank and gives him the benefit of the doubt based on the fact that he was a survivor of the original apocalypse with no manipulation or tricks.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Dies holding the line so Frank can get the cure in one of the endings to Frank Rising.
Tom Pickton
The high-strung leader of the West Ridge militia, Tom is (barely) in charge of the only organized civilian group in post-outbreak Willamette. Before the outbreak, he ran a dairy farm on the west side of town.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Tries to plead and bargain with Hammond before she kills him.Tom Pickton: Wait, wait, Kylie! Wait! Just a second, I — I was just trying to protect you. Y'all my people, you needed my protection. [...] Y-y-you don't understand! Look — a father, he has to make choices for his children. Sometimes--
- Ax-Crazy: He comes off as slightly nuts when Frank meets him for the first time, but he's the head of a civilian militia that's regularly fighting with a group of well-supplied mercenaries, so it might be excusable. ...And then Frank finds his hidden office.
- Bad Boss: If you spend a lot of time around Tom's militia members, you can get the idea that nobody actually much likes Tom, but they regard him as their best possible shot at survival, even if he is crazy. You can eavesdrop on a couple of conversations as you infiltrate the ranch to rescue Hammond that make this even clearer.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Tries to be a major person of interest in the apocalypse, but ultimately, he is an annoying footnote to Frank's scoop, as Frank has already learned about Calder by the time he crosses paths with Tom.
- Crazy Survivalist: For a theoretically peaceful dairy farmer, Tom's got a lot of stockpiled goods and weapons. One of Hammond's audio logs goes into her theory on Tom: he moved to Willamette specifically because he thought another outbreak would happen there sooner or later, at which point he planned to rule the remaining survivors like a king. He isn't worried about scarcity; he's just using supply theft as a handy excuse to purge dissenting voices.
- Disney Villain Death: Kicked off of a high ledge by Hammond.
- Flunky Boss: When he fights you, he mostly just stays back and takes potshots at you while his minions fight you.
- A God Am I: Refers to himself as the people's "lord" quite often, especially when he and his Cultists are preparing to execute Hammond like they have so many others. By the time Frank and he come to blows, his God Complex is made abundantly clear.
- Walking Spoiler: You can figure this out well ahead of time if you go on a collectible spree, but Tom is encouraging the Masked Cultists and using them to eliminate people who question his leadership.
Darcy
Paula's "head apostle," a.k.a. blogger and field reporter, Darcy is a big fan of Frank's. He's already on the ground in Willamette when Frank gets there, exploring and investigating the cause of the outbreak.
- All Love Is Unrequited: He clearly has a huge crush on Paula, who doesn't seem to return his feelings, brushing off his claim to be her boyfriend without much thought.
- Butt-Monkey: A couple of different, moderately embarrassing things happen to him over the course of the game. First he gets captured by Obscuris, and only Vick's intervention saves him from a bullet; then Frank "rescues" him, but leaves him tied up so Frank can continue his investigation.
- Hero-Worshipper: He's probably Frank's biggest fan, and is clearly trying desperately to be his sidekick and/or follow in his footsteps.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: He's trying very hard to channel his hero, Frank, but doesn't do a very good job and more often than not gets into trouble Frank has to get him out of.
- Intrepid Reporter: He wants to be, anyway. Surviving the outbreak on his own gets him some points.
- Loony Fan: Him and Paula are a wee-bit obsessed with the legendary Frank West.
- Squee: Basically his reaction to meeting Frank.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Seems to vanish from the game after being left behind by Frank in the military base, though Paula does make mention of him later.
- He and Paula make a final blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in the story mode, as two of the survivors that Connor is defending after Hammond gets captured by Tom. They won't say anything unless you walk right up to them.
Paula
The host of "The Undead Gospel of Paula," a podcast that serves the "community" of remaining uninfected civilians in occupied Willamette, Paula regards herself as a sort of freelance journalist. Once Frank meets her, she works as a sort of journalistic mission control, pointing him towards additional cases and fights with Maniacs.
- Hero-Worshipper: To Frank, him being the "savior of Willamette" and an experienced zombie killer.
- Intrepid Reporter: She does most of her work through Darcy and another "apostle" named Cory, but Paula's not above going into the field herself.
- In-Universe Scrappy: Only to Frank. She has a decent online following with her podcast and Darcy has a not-so-subtle crush on her, but Frank finds her a bit annoying, if only for her fanaticism.
- Loony Fan: Downplayed compared to Darcy. She's also a huge fan of Frank to the point where he finds it annoying but doesn't try as hard as Darcy.
- Mission Control: Tries to be this, giving Frank intel on optional fights and cases, but he shuts her out at every turn.
- Sassy Black Woman: Paula affects a very different, fire-and-brimstone persona when she's doing her podcast, which she freely admits to Frank when they meet. It's something she thinks her listeners expect, plus it's fun for her. The real Paula is much more restrained.
Blackburne
The head scientist behind Obscuris's efforts in Willamette.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: She appears briefly in the introductory level, where she's conducting extremely unethical research.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Starts out as Obscuris' Mad Scientist, then sells them out to Frank in exchange for him getting her out of town alive. She helps once after Frank is infected, realizing he is the "Perfect Zombie" Barnaby was trying to create. She then then sells Frank and Hammond out to Obscuris, offering to continue Barnaby's research if they provide her with Frank's body.
- Only Sane Man: Very wisely chooses to sell out her employers to Frank and get the hell out of town as soon as humanly possible.
Maniacs
- "You know, it's not a real apocalypse without at least a few whackjobs."
Maniacs are optional bosses that can be encountered throughout the world: think the Psychopaths from other titles in the series. The crucial difference, however, is that each of of them command a posse of equally insane followers. Maniacs also generally have a mission or investigation you must complete before you can challenge them.
In General
- Elite Mook: Followers of the Maniacs are usually beefier versions of hostile survivors, wielding unique weapons.
- Flunky Boss: Each of them are backed up by a group of similarly-dressed and equally crazy goons.
- Gang of Hats: Each possesses particularly noticeable gimmicks and lead their own small band of looters and killers who dress up to emphasize the theme. Sadistic Claus is aided by Christmas elves, Grim Gobbler leads football players, etc.
- No Name Given: With the possible exception of Queen Sandra, we don't really know their real names, as most use some form of alias or reference to their past life/current madness in lieu of an actual name.
- Optional Boss: They are only encountered in sidequests that you follow up on, with the exception of Sandra.
Queen Sandra
A "knight" held up in the medieval-themed section of the mall. She and her posse of knights act like they came right out of medieval times. Sandra herself wields a flaming sword, which Frank can learn to make for himself after her defeat.
- Flaming Sword: Queen Sandra's signature weapon.
- I Shall Taunt You: Frank uses this trope to anger her men into opening the gate to her lair for him.
- Medieval Morons: All of her followers clearly don't know a lick about knighthood.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: See I Shall Taunt You above.
- Took a Level in Badass: The July 2017 patch made her notably tougher, granting her increased health and immunity to the stun effect of Frank's kick attack.
- Warm-Up Boss: Sandra herself is very slow, and doesn't have a whole lot of health. Her mooks are also pretty weak, wielding melee weapons that are easily outclassed by Frank's combos.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Dies trying to prevent Frank from passing through her territory.
Sadistic Claus
A Mall Santa that snapped during the outbreak. He and his elf helpers have rigged a Christmas tree farm with deadly traps, and attempt to kill any poor sap who wanders in. This includes Frank.
- Area of Effect: In a later update, he trades out the Electric Axe for a new weapon, the Toy Sack, which gives him a powerful area-of-effect explosion attack.
- Ax-Crazy: Probably the craziest and most sadistic of the Maniacs.
- Bad Santa: Not the cheeriest of fellows, that's for sure.
- Mall Santa: Sadistic Claus was this prior to the zombie outbreak.
- No-Sell: He and his mooks don't respond to elemental damage.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Sadistic Claus does this, mostly in an attempt to unsettle Frank.
- Serial Killer: He and his helpers have shades of this. Paula tells Frank that the bodies of their victims are stuffed with gifts and goodies and sent to other survivors.
- Shock and Awe: His Electric Axe allows him to manipulate electricity.
- Villain Teleportation: The way the lights are rigged make it look like Claus and his merry mooks can do this, but it's all just an illusion.
Sibyle
A Maniac who wants to learn how to tame zombies and has captured multiple specimens for her experiments.
- Acid Attack: She uses the Acid Maul and throwable acid flasks to battle Frank.
- Hazmat Suit: Wears a full-body suit with gas mask, colored green and red to match the festive season.
Captain Black Fridaybeard
Originally a performer in the Pirates Voyage show in the Caribbean Cove, the actors playing the captain and his crew have snapped and now command a group of equally insane performers dressed like sharks. Fridaybeard and his crew of pirates make their victims walk off the plank of the pirate stage, after which his followers devour their remains.
- Cool Sword: Puns aside, his weapon of choice is a very nice and very overpowered Ice Sword.
- Dressed to Plunder: Fridaybeard and all of his followers (sans the sharks) are dressed as stereotypical pirates.
- Early-Bird Cameo: If you explore Caribbean Cove during chapter 1, you can overhear a pre-recorded ad for Fridaybeard's routine that plays over the speaker system. It's surprisingly long, and the actor playing Black Fridaybeard is audibly bored with it from the start.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The "sharks", which are really people dressed like them.
- Large Ham: Fridaybeard is by far the hammiest of the Maniacs.
- Mascot: Captain Black Fridaybeard was the mascot of the Mall's Black Friday sale.
- Talk Like a Pirate: As a part of his gimmick.
- Walk the Plank: The fate of his victims.
The Grim Gobbler
A high school athlete that has taken to wearing a turkey mascot costume and holed up with a group of football players in the gymnasium of an old school. Frank stumbles upon them having some kind of rally and ends up being the latest target of this group of former bullies.
- Jerk Jock: He and all of his followers are this. He openly refers to having beaten up on weaker kids since he was a child.
- Mascot: Appears to have once been the high school mascot, and is only ever seen wearing the costume.
- Social Darwinist: Operates on a philosophy similar to this if his rant to his followers is to be believed.
Cult Leader
An extremely familiar-looking guy who's set up shop at a motel. Him and his raincoat and green mask-clad followers worship a bunch of mannequins. Frank walks in on one of their sermons, which leads to them attacking him.
- The Bus Came Back: After sixteen (in-universe) years of silence, the raincoat-clad True Eye cult resurfaces during the second outbreak of Willamette. Frank is not amused by their presence.
- Flunky Boss: The Cult Leader himself won't directly attack Frank, just screaming gibberish about his God (or whatever the hell he worships) and letting his followers do all the fighting.
- No Name Given: The Cult Leader isn't given a name.
- Power Fist: Wears a pair of powered gauntlets as his weapons.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To Sean and his cultists from the first game.
Scare King
The last Maniac in the game, he's set up shop in an isolated barn in West Ridge. He ambushes Frank by setting the barn on fire, then attempting to scare him to death by attacking with an army of minions in pumpkin heads.
- Becoming the Mask: After his death, Paula discovers he was a drama teacher before the outbreak. Frank isn't happy, or particularly amused.
- Large Ham: Gives Black Fridaybeard a run for his money in this department, as he really gets into the role of a supernatural villain.
- No Name Given: We never do learn his real name, and he is only referred to as "Scare King" or the high school drama teacher.
- No-Sell: Is unaffected by fire attacks.
- Playing with Fire: Uses a Fire Starter in the battle against him.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Speaks in this manner during his fight with Frank.
Antagonists
Commander Fontana
The no-nonsense leader of Obscuris.
- Berserk Button: She rewards loyalty and expects it, but shows absolutely no mercy to deserters, as evidenced by the mystery of the same name. She feeds one of her privates to a zombie as a method of torturing information out of her.
- A Father to His Men: Tries to direct her soldiers away from fighting Calder moments before her death, and is otherwise generous and very straightforward to her men.
- Heroic Sacrifice: "Heroic" is ambiguous, but she tells her backup to retreat, then charges at Calder with a live grenade in hand in an attempt to take him out. It doesn't work.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Comes across as very blunt and to-the-point, but is reasonable enough and treats prisoners rather well.
- Pet the Dog: Upon capturing Darcy, she orders him to be bathed and fed before being fully taken away. This seems to be a case of Pragmatic Villainy, as she realizes that having her men execute civilians in front of a member of the press probably isn't a good idea.
Lance Corporal Calder
An Obscuris operative who was accidentally infected with an old strain of the "zombism" parasite, Calder used one of Barnaby's old machines in an attempt to cure himself. It didn't work, and the result was an intelligent, utterly insane zombie who's still wearing an Exo Suit.
- Ax-Crazy: Whatever kept him from totally losing his intelligence wasn't so kind to his marbles.
- Big Bad: Calder is behind almost everything in the game and started the second Willamette outbreak.
- Climax Boss: While there are a few small fights against hordes of zombies after the final fight with Calder in Kiichiro Plaza, the story reaches its climax during said encounter.
- Final Boss: He is the last maniac that you fight in the game.
- Gone Horribly Right: Dr. Barnaby's machine was supposed to halt the loss of higher brain functions, decay, and hunger, resulting in an effectively immortal man. What he didn't expect was that the resulting "man" would be able to take a grenade point-blank to the face without flinching and regenerate when absorbing electricity. Calder not only proved to be completely insane and bloodthirsty, but also nearly indestructible and uncontainable.
- The Heavy: Much of the plot after the prologue was kicked off by him; Obscuris's operations within the city are to capture and contain him and the data he carries, which is also the driving motive behind Frank tracking him. He is also the cause of the outbreak, as he's been wandering in the sewers of Willamette all this time carrying the old strain of the parasite.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Is finally done in by Frank wearing an Electric Exo-Suit, after spending the entire fight draining electricity to heal himself and using his own Exo-Suit to get an advantage.
- Humans Are Bastards: After his zombification, he develops the belief that humans have grown relentlessly selfish, violent and destructive due to being at the top of the world's food chain for millennia. Calder also comes to see zombies as the new predators at the top of the that food chain, seeing them as necessary checks to humanity's pride. When he is finally defeated by Frank, Calder laments that humans will continue to be at the top of the chain and thus their selfishness will continue to destroy the world. His words contribute to Frank's decision to make amends with Vick.Calder: ... as the maggot into the vole... as the vole into the rat... rat into fox... fox into wolf... On and on and on, the great unmaking of the chain. Where then goes the man? He stays. Lives. Kills. Burns. Poisons the sea. Tears down the sky. Old age may claim him, but soon, even that he will defeat. We are made of killers. These hands took as men. But now, we give back.Calder, last words: Now... nothing will take the man. The chain... remains...
- It Can Think: Despite Calder's horrific state, he's still fully sapient, though insane.
- Monster Lord: He is able to issue commands to other intelligent zombies, and Frank even calls him the "Zombie Lord".
- Super Prototype: Calder is the first of the intelligent zombies, likely because he was created via the machine preserving his sapience. The evolved zombies made from Obscuris's experiments do have heightened intelligence, but seems only to be enough to understand that Calder is their superior and obey rudimentary commands while Calder can form tactical plans as well as operate machinery (and produce his own religious philosophy to boot). In addition, whether due to the exosuit or due to Calder being created by the machine, he can take hits that would pulverize a lesser zombie.
- Walking Spoiler: Calder's identity, actions, and motivations are a complete mystery for much of the game, and learning about them is one of Frank's primary goals.
Capcom Heroes costumes
Classic Frank
It's the hero of Willamette as he appeared during his first romp in Willamette! Armed with an array of items that can be found in many stores, Frank brings his own brand of zombie extermination to Capcom Heroes! Also up his sleeve are a pistol for long-range engagements, jars with Queen wasps for clearing out large swaths of zombies, and his trusty camera that can stun his enemies.
X
The greatest creation of the famed roboticist Dr. Thomas Light, X is an intelligent robot who has dedicated himself to protecting humanity from the threat of mechanical Mavericks. With the X costume, Frank can throw bombs to blast zombies from range, as well as take them out at range with his X-Buster (which can be charged up to devastating effect!).
Ryu
Ryu is a wandering martial artist dedicated to improving himself through combat, traveling the world to test his might against the strongest fighters he can find. With the Ryu costume, Frank can take on zombies with deadly martial arts techniques, including the ki-charged Hadouken and the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku hurricane kick.
Dante
The son of a human woman and the legendary demon lord Sparda, Dante is a half-demon dedicated to protecting humanity from the forces of darkness through his mercenary outfit, Devil May Cry. With the Dante costume, Frank can fight the zombies in style, slicing through them with the Rebellion sword, riddling them with holes with the twin guns Ebony & Ivory, and vaporizing them with Pandora's Box.
Cammy White
Originally created as a female clone of the evil M.Bison, Cammy rebelled against her creator and helps to keep the peace as a member of the British special forces Delta Red. With the Cammy costume, Frank can blitz zombies with a combination of guns, grenades, and deadly martial arts, including the undead-bashing Spiral Arrow.
Viewtiful Joe
Joe was just an average joe until he was sucked into Movieland, where he became the stylish superhero Viewtiful Joe in order to save his girlfriend and the world. With the Viewtiful Joe costume, Frank can leverage stylish weapons against the undead, including Voomerangs and Shocking Pink bombs for long-ranged attacks, and a devastating SLOW shockwave special.
Mech-Zangief
The criminal organization Shadaloo created Mech-Zangief as a robotic weapon to use against Russia's famous Red Cyclone professional wrestler. With the Mech-Zangief costume, Frank can use Zangief's professional wrestling skills against the undead, hitting them at range with the Banishing Flat, knocking them around with the Double Lariat, and slamming them into next Saturday night with the Spinning Cyclone.
M.Bison
The leader of the wicked Shadaloo syndicate, M.Bison is a megalomaniacal madman with only one desire: total global domination. With the M.Bison costume, Frank can harness the evil dictator's Psycho Power, blasting zombies with Psycho Reflect, clearing them out with shockwaves, and blowing a path through them with Psycho Crusher.
Adam MacIntyre
Adam was just an ordinary clown who was working at the Willamette Shopping Center on the fateful day of the zombie outbreak, snapping under the atrocities he witnessed and becoming a full-blown psychopath. With the Adam costume, Frank can use his old clowny nemesis's dual chainsaws to carve a swath through zombies, in conjunction with throwing knives and explosive balloons.
Sir Arthur
When the forces of the netherrealm abducted the fair Princess, the valiant knight Sir Arthur rose to save the day. With the Arthur costume, Frank can also harness the knight's determination, weapons, and magic might. Hack through zombies with his hatchet, light them up with flasks of holy water, run them through with lances, and call upon thunder to strike them down.
Bass
Created by the nefarious Dr. Albert Wily to be Mega Man's equal, Bass is an arrogant but tenacious robot determined to prove himself superior. With the Bass costume, Frank can use the weapons of Mega Man's dark counterpart, blasting them with the Bass Buster, slicing through them with the Metal Blade, and blowing them away with the Rekkoha technique.
Morrigan Aensland
Morrigan is destined to rule over the demon realm of Makai as queen, but she is more interested in meddling with humans for amusement than tending to her duties. With the Morrigan costume, Frank can use the succubus's supernatural skills to fight the undead hoards. Knock zombies skyward with her launcher attack, blow them away with Soul Fist, and light them up like fireworks with Finishing Shower.
Sissel
Sissel is a supernatural detective who died in the line of duty, but whose immortal soul still pursues the truth. With the Sissel costume, Frank can conjure the ghostly gumshoe's powers to summon a variety of objects to weaponize against zombies, from washing machines and assault rifles to torrents of mundane items.
Zombie Frank
Oh no! Frank's a zombie! But not even undeath can keep our hero down! With the Zombie Frank costume, Frank can leap through the air to tackle his enemies, spit acid, roar to keep zombies at bay, and even eat his enemies to restore health.
Jill Valentine
Jill is a member of S.T.A.R.S, a special police unit that got tied up in the undead goings-on in Raccoon City. With the Jill Valentine costume, Frank can use the master of lockpicking's arsenal to reduce zombies to gibble sandwiches, including a combat knife, the Samurai Edge pistol, grenades, and a rocket launcher.
Amaterasu
When ancient Nippon was threatened by darkness, the sun goddess Amaterasu descended as a wolf to set things right. With the Amaterasu costume, Frank can use the kami's Divine Instruments to bring holy retribution to the undead, bashing them with the Divine Retribution reflector and striking them with the Celestial Brush.
Akuma
The supreme master of the fist, Akuma is a martial artist who gave himself to the dark power of the Satsui no Hadou, now living only to face down other fighters in duels to the death. With the Akuma costume, Frank can also make the power of the Satsui no Hadou his own. Burn zombies to the ground with the Shakunetsu Hadouken, then send them straight to hell with the Shun Goku Satsu.
