Brian Irons

Prime universe
(Capcom's primary storyline)

For other iterations of this character, see Brian Irons (disambiguation).

Brian Irons
jp name	ブライアン・アイアンズ
Biographical information
Race/Nationality:	Caucasian/American
Occupation:	R.P.D. Chief of Police
Status:	Deceased
Biological information
Sex:	Male
Other Information
First appearance:	Resident Evil 2 (1998)
Last appearance:	Resident Evil 2 (2019)
Voice:	Gary Krawford (RE2) Jean-Benoît Blanc (DC) Sid Carton (RE2 Remake) Akio Hirose (Japanese; RE2 Remake)
Modelled after (Model):	John Owens (RE2 Remake)
Mocap:	Sid Carton (RE2 Remake)

"Sherry!? I've been looking everywhere for you Sherry...Brave little girl to leave her house in the middle of this mess... " — Irons after confronting Sherry Birkin and Claire Redfield at the Parking Garage of the Raccoon Police Station

Brian Irons (ブライアン・アイアンズ, Buraian Aianzu) was a police officer who served as its last Chief of Police for the Raccoon Police Department in 1998. Financially-corrupt, he had intimate knowledge of the Umbrella Corporation's research in Raccoon City and received bribes to keep them from being investigated. He was killed by Dr. William Birkin during the Raccoon City Destruction Incident.

Biography

Early life

Irons was known to have attended university. He was put under psychiatric examination after two incidents in which he was accused of violent aggression and sexual assault towards female students. Due to his excellent academic performance, the incidents were not investigated.

Chief of Police

Irons became Chief of Police at the Raccoon Police Department and began receiving bribes from Dr. William Birkin to keep Umbrella's biological weapons research in the area a secret. In exchange for his silence, Irons attended briefings on the 6th and 16th of every month. At some point, Irons was in charge of the Raccoon City Orphanage, where children were experimented on by Umbrella.

In May 1998, the t-Virus contaminated the Arklay Laboratory and infected dogs and Zombies escaped and killed hikers and suburban families. Irons was invited to emergency meetings repeatedly over June and July. The news that Umbrella was unable to halt the spread of the virus took its toll on him and resulted in angry and violent outbursts, evidenced by descriptions of him from the sewer manager. On July 9, the R.P.D. put up road blocks to the Arklay Mountains on his orders. Soon it became clear to Umbrella that Irons could not halt a S.T.A.R.S. investigation of the mysterious deaths any longer, and the unit was sent into Raccoon Forest to investigate on July 23. Two days later, the Bravo Team was decimated to all but one while four returned from Alpha Team. As Umbrella had expected all of S.T.A.R.S. to perish in their "X-Day" scenario, this posed a risk to the company. Birkin renewed pressure on Irons to keep S.T.A.R.S. quiet, such as having a police team keep them under surveillance to prevent them investigating the chemical plant. S.T.A.R.S. was disbanded by Irons to make it harder for their investigation. On August 16, Irons came in late for his scheduled meeting with Birkin, visibly stressed. The sewer manager's attempt to cheer him up backfired and Irons took his gun out, threatening to shoot the man.

In September 1998, Irons was alerted by Birkin as a mission into the city by Umbrella agents to steal the G-Virus.

Sometime between August and September, Irons apparently murdered eight blonde females aged 18 to 23.

Raccoon City Destruction Incident (1998 Version)

On September 23, Irons was alerted to the leak of the t-Virus into the city's water supply. Overcome with this news, Irons finally broke down mentally. Believing himself to be infected, he began giving confusing orders to the police officers to ensure that the entire precinct was unable to defend itself adequately against Zombie attacks. One such order was for the weapons to be relocated to various caches around the precinct, aware that the Zombies would soon render those caches unreachable, as well as spreading ammunition and other supplies around the station. On September 26, Irons decided to take a more direct approach and shoot people on sight, killing one officer named Ed. [1] When Michael Warren, the city's mayor, fled town, Irons hunted down and abducted his daughter, claiming to Claire that he was supposed to be protecting her. He ultimately killed her on the night of September 29, wishing to remove her organs and stuff her as a taxidermy display. Claire Redfield, sister of S.T.A.R.S. officer Chris Redfield, entered Irons' office shortly after the murder to investigate her last scream. There, Irons shook off the murder as an overzealous attempt to prevent an already infected person from transforming into a Zombie and taught Claire that destruction or removal of the brain was the only way to ensure their death. When Claire left, Irons dragged the body into a secret compartment leading to a private chamber within the RPD's Basement.

A while later, Irons would be attacked by a further-mutated William Birkin, being implanted with a G-Embyro and unconcious. Claire herself later discovered the room and found Irons hiding inside. There, he admitted his relationship with Umbrella and expressed his anger, feeling betrayed by the city's destruction. While cornering Claire with the intent of ensuring she perish with him, he also obliged her request for further information by revealing what he knew about the G-Virus, and also made clear that the girl Claire encountered, Sherry, was the daughter of the virus' creator, William Birkin. Within seconds, the G-Embryo erupted from his chest and nearly severed Irons' entire body in half, ending his life in excrutiating pain.

Raccoon City Destruction Incident (2019 Version)

On September 23, Irons was alerted to the leak of the t-Virus into the city's water supply. Overcome with this news, Irons finally broke down mentally. Believing himself to be infected, he began giving confusing orders to the police officers to ensure that the entire precinct died with him. One such order was for the weapons to be relocated to various caches around the precinct, aware that the zombies would soon render those caches unreachable. On September 26, Irons decided to take a more direct approach and shoot people on sight, killing one officer named Ed.

When Michael Warren, the city's mayor who was also accepted bribes from Umbrella, fled town, Irons hunted down and abducted his daughter, Katherine Warren. He ultimately killed her on the night of September 29, wishing to remove her organs and stored her body for dissection at the orphanage. Irons returned to the police station some time afterwards and encountered Claire Redfield, sister of S.T.A.R.S. member Chris Redfield, and Sherry Birkin, daughter of William Birkin, in the parking. Seeking to obtain Sherry's pendant, Iron's drew his revolver on them and told Sherry to tie Claire's hands and demanded her to come with him or he will shoot Claire. Irons took Sherry out of the parking lot and closed the gates before Claire could catch up to him after freeing herself from her binds. Irons locked Sherry in a bedroom in the orphanage and called Claire in the telephone demanding her to meet with him, and to bring Sherry's pendant that she dropped in the parking lot.

"G" embryo bursts out of Irons chest.

Later, Irons finds Sherry attempting to escape by taking his keys. He approached Sherry but she retaliated, burning Irons' face with a jar of acid. He pursued her, as Sherry hid, locking the door to prevent her escape whilst antagonising her. In the middle of searching, he takes a break to clean his face in the bathroom, not knowing that he left his keys in the bathroom door's lock, allowing Sherry to take them. Irons noticed Sherry fleeing with the keys she stole from him unlocking the door to downstairs. Sherry attempted to use Irons' keys to unlock the doors to the outside but they were chained on the other side, forcing her to hide in Irons' room. Irons found Sherry, but was interrupted by Birkin who implanted a G embryo into his mouth. When Claire arrived in the orphanage, Irons grabbed her, telling Claire it was all her fault that she took so long, before the embryo bursts out of his chest, killing him instantly.

Personality 

Irons was shown to have an uneasy relationship with people within his own police force as well as members of the press. His criminal history was found out through a fax sent to Chris Redfield that was found by his sister Claire Redfield in the S.T.A.R.S. office. In his diary, he mentioned that Edward's pained expression when he shot him in the back was "positively exquisite" and "beautiful," suggesting that Irons was also extremely sadistic and a likely psychopath. He was also extremely selfish, obsessive, and possibly deranged to an unhealthy degree, which was best showcased in how he attempted to ensure the city died with him, even going out of his way to sabotage police efforts to evacuate the civilians and also hiding greatly needed supplies, all because he became paranoid that he had been infected with the t-Virus. Similarly, he also had a severe lack of control over his temper, or for the matter, his sanity.

This was best demonstrated when he was tasked with going to the sewers on August 16, when he threatened to shoot the Umbrella-affiliated manager in charge of the sewers simply for trying to tell a joke with the chief. This short temper and apparent insanity was similarly demonstrated when Claire encountered him just prior to his death, where, when she asked him to calm down and tell her what happened, Irons angrily told her to shut up and proceeded to threateningly point his gun at her while ranting angrily that she can't ever understand what happened.Ben Bertolucci was able to intercept letters from Umbrella to Irons showing the connection between the two. 

The remake shows that in addition to being a serial killer, Brian Irons was also willing to harm children, or at least allow Umbrella to experiment on them. In addition, after he kidnapped Sherry Birkin in the hopes of obtaining an antidote to the G-Virus, he intended to cause her harm after she scalded his face with his bottle of sulfuric acid.

In Resident Evil Outbreak File #2, Irons was implied to drink on the job or at the very least keep a secret stash of alcohol on hand. A bottle of liquor belonging to him was found in the east office of the police station during "desperate times". In addition, a file found during the "outbreak" scenario of Resident Evil Outbreak as well as the presence of human skulls in his taxidermy room implied that Irons was a serial killer and killed at least eight women whose profiles resembled that of Mayor Warren's daughter sometime between the Mansion Incident and the Raccoon City Destruction Incident.

Taste in the Arts

Irons was a collector of fine art, and used his bribes from Umbrella to purchase a variety of artwork including paintings and statues. His secretary's diary shows that he had leered when he received the painting of the nude woman being hanged. He uses this painting as well as a statue to hide the Virgin Heart jewels as well as other "keys" to progress through the various hidden areas of the police station. His secretary had accidentally leaned into one such statue, which set him off. Whether this was over the protection of his secrets or the safety of the artwork is unknown.

Irons was a taxidermist by hobby earlier in life and was ready to stuff the mayor's daughter and display her as a trophy. His office was full of stuffed animals including bears, eagles, a raccoon, and others. A file found during "end of the road" in Resident Evil Outbreak file #2 also strongly suggests that not only does he auction off several taxidermied animals from the defunct Rams museum off the books and illegally, but that some of his auctions involved stuffed endangered species members.

Quotes

Resident Evil 2 (2019)

• "Sherry!?"
• "I've been looking everywhere for you, Sherry..."
• "Brave little girl to leave your house in the middle of this mess..."
• "On the ground, hands behind your head."
• "On the ground. Now!"
• "Sherry, tie her hands."
• "Shut up. Tie her."
• "OK then. You tie her up now, or she dies."
• "Child endangerment, for starters."
• "Sherry, come here."
• "None of your fucking business."
• "Sherry, get over here!"
• "What's your name?"
• "What's your fucking name!?"
• "Sherry, you come with me now or say goodbye to Claire!"
• "Absolutely."
• "Don't tell me how to do my job!"
• "Obviously, nobody taught you manners! We'll fix that."
• "Oh yes, we will."
• "Good to see you again, Claire." (Over the phone)
• "We've got unfinished business." (Over the phone)
• "Don't waste my fucking time! Bring me the pendant or Sherry dies!" (Over the phone)
• "Do you want the girl to die?" (Over the phone)
• "The orphanage." (Over the phone)
• "In the neighborhood. You'll find it."
• "...For now."
• "Stupid kid. If you just hadn't dropped that fucking thing, I could let you go..."
• "Don't worry, Sherry. It'll be all over soon."
• "Where you going, Sherry?"
• "I told you to stay put."
• "You need to learn to listen!"
• "Time to teach some manners!"
• "You little bitch...!"
• "You're gonna pay for this...!"
• "OH...You little shit!"
• "You are gonna be so fucking sorry!"
• "Game over, Sherry!" (Only if he catches Sherry)
• "You are gonna wish you were dead!" (Only if he catches Sherry)
• "You stupid bitch...that's a dead end!"
• "It's all over now...! Door's locked!"
• "Where are you!? Show yourself!"
• "I know you're in here!"
• "The longer it takes me to find you, the worse it's gonna be!"
• "Little bitch's gotta be here somewhere...!"
• "Urrrgh... Goddammit!"
• "Sonofabitch...!"
• "This is your last fucking chance! Show yourself- NOW!"
• "Ahh.. FUCK! IT BURNS!"
• "Where the fuck is my key!?"
• "I see you!" (Only if he sees Sherry or after Sherry steals the key from the door)
• "Nice try, Sherry." (Only if Sherry attempts to open the Orphanage door with the key and fails)
• "I'm coming in Sherry!"
• "Get over here, you little bitch!"
• "The game... is... over!"
• "Now you're in trouble!"
• "Your fault...!"
• "Took too long!"
• "Damn you, William!" *screams*

Further Notes

• In an act of censorship, the English localization of Darkside Chronicles establishes in a file Irons as having a wife, and he has a criminal past regarding domestic violence. The Japanese script for the same file instead describes his criminal past as being two cases of rape or sexual assault. The same file was also censored in Umbrella Chronicles as well.
• In the scene where Brian Irons relays everything he knows about the G-Virus while threatening Claire in his taxidermy room, the localization erroneously inferred that the T-00 (referred to as "that monster that is tearing apart the precinct") was created by the G-Virus and that it was the ultimate bio-weapon when Brian Irons was explaining its properties to Claire. In the original script, he instead commented that the virus has the ability to rapidly advance human evolution without even mentioning the T-00.
• Brian Irons made a cameo appearance in the Mini-Game, The Mercenaries - Operation: Mad Jackal in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. You meet him at the end of the mini game when you manage to get into the Warehouse Save Room, the end point of the mini-game where he beckons a woman to deliver a briefcase that presumably contained the player's payment. His face is hidden by shadows when the player meets him, though.
• In the prototype version of Resident Evil 2 (known as Resident Evil 1.5), Irons was originally intended to be an ally to the player, as opposed to him being an antagonist which he was in the final version of the game. He was injured (apparently he was bitten by zombies) and was laying down on a couch as a result of his wounds. Eventually he sacrificed himself, allowing the players to escape from an imminent death.
• Brian Irons' signature is seen in the ID cards of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine in the first Resident Evil game and its remake.
• His death is different in Leon A, Claire B: He is pulled in the trap door by the mutated Birkin. His screams are heard as Claire listens. When Claire approaches the trap door, the mutilated top half of his corpse flies out of the trap door and lands on the floor. This version of his demise was later used for the WildStorm interpretation of the character.
• The other death scenario is when a mutated Birkin inserts an embryo in Brian's body and the player listens to his screams before entering the room, when inside the room Brian seems to be fine but after a few seconds a G embryo bursts out of his chest and escapes down the ladder to be confronted later by Claire.
• In Darkside Chronicles, Brian Irons had a brief appearance in the level Memories of a Lost City, where he encounters Claire Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy, and Sherry Birkin. He is seen with a blonde cadaver in a white dress (implied to be the Mayor's daughter) and voicing his intentions to stuff her. Kennedy then recognizes Irons, with Claire asking how he knew him. Irons then accuses them of being after the G-virus due to their snooping around. He then notices Sherry and recognizes her as William Birkin's daughter, although he is interrupted mid-sentence by painful spasms, knocking over the cadaver he had earlier been working on and weakly asking for help as it was not supposed to happen as "G" emerged from his body.
• The seventh clue of Inserted Evil leads to a collection of documents relating to Chief Irons; including a complaint by his secretary, a statement by Irons addressing the complaint (and a more strongly-worded rough draft which implicated Umbrella), a report by Umbrella detailing Irons's increasingly erratic behavior, ultimately recommending that Umbrella has to take action to ensure secrecy.
• In the original, after Irons killed the mayor's daughter, Claire Redfield entered his office shortly after the murder. There, Irons shook off the murder as an overzealous attempt to prevent an already infected person from transforming into a zombie and taught Claire that destruction or removal of the brain was the only way to ensure their death. When Claire left, Irons dragged the body into a secret compartment leading to private basement. Claire later found the compartment and found Irons hiding inside. There, he admitted his relationship with Umbrella and expressed his anger, feeling betrayed by the city's destruction. While cornering Claire with the intent of ensuring she died with him, he also obliged her request by revealing what he knew about the G-Virus, and also made clear that the girl Claire encountered, Sherry, was the daughter of the virus' discoverer. Within seconds he was killed by the very G-Virus he had helped Birkin protect.

Gallery

Irons with a Desert Eagle.

Irons pointing a gun at Claire

Sources

Notes

References