Leon S. Kennedy (Resident Evil)

Leon Scott Kennedy (born 1977) is one of the main protagonists of the franchise. He teamed up with Chris' sister, Claire, to survive against the outbreak in Raccoon City. He was later trained and hired by the American government to find the president's daughter. In Resident Evil 6, he survived the C-Virus outbreak in Tall Oaks along with agent Helena Harper. He was framed with the murder of the president. He traveled to China to put a stop of Simmons' scheme and clear his name. 
Leon was voiced by the late (RE2), (; ; ), Christian Lanz (), Matthew Mercer (; ; ), and Nick Apostolides (; ; ).
In Japanese, he was voiced by and .
==Biography==
===Background===
Leon Scott Kennedy was born in 1977 to unnamed parents, being of American-Italian descent. Into adulthood, Leon graduated from the police academy and joined the Raccoon City Police Department, mainly due to the murders around the Arklay Mountains.
===Resident Evil 2===
After breaking up with his girlfriend (or getting a confusing phone call from the police department to not show up to work in the remake), Kennedy traveled to Arklay County a week after to start his first day. Reaching the county, he found Raccoon City in chaos as the citizens had turned into undead and the military and national guard trying to maintain control of the situation. Encountering another survivor named Claire Redfield, the two worked together to reach the police station until they were separated by a truck explosion. Inside the station, Kennedy discovered it riddled with zombies as well, but spoke with Lieutenant Marvin Branagh before the latter succumbed to his bite. During his investigation, Leon frequently battled against T-00, a T-series sent into the city to find the G-virus, and William Birkin, an Umbrella scientist who mutated himself with said virus.
In the stations' basement, Leon met Ada Wong, a spy for Umbrella's rival company, whom lied to the rookie that she was either an FBI agent or was looking for her boyfriend. After escaping from the station for good, Leon and Ada went into the sewers, where the two were injured during their exploration. Kennedy would continue despite his injury into the NEST, eventually learning of Wong's true goal. However, Ada failed as she was unable to obtain the G-virus, but decided to help Leon kill T-00 by giving him a rocket launcher before escaping. Reaching the train with Claire and Sherry Birkin, the two battled against the mutated Birkin one more time as the NEST laboratory and Raccoon City perished.
===STRATCOM===
After the incident, Leon was recruited by the United States government due to his experience in Raccoon, but the former didn't divulge information about Ada and Sherry. Kennedy agreed to join STRATCOM to protect Sherry from the government and received further training. 
===Darkside Chronicles===
Leon was sent to South America alongside Jack Krauser to find Javier Hidalgo, a drug lord who was in contact with a former Umbrella researcher. In the country, the two discover it has fallen to a T-virus outbreak and learned that he was using the t-Veronica virus to keep his daughter Manuela alive. After killing the drug lord, Kennedy and Krauser parted ways, with the latter being discharged due to his injury.
===Resident Evil 4===
In 2004, Leon was assigned to protect the newly elected President Graham's family. When the President's daughter, Ashley, was kidnapped by a mysterious cult, Leon's first mission under the new President was to find and rescue her. Intelligence was gathered and Leon infiltrated an isolated village in Spain where the kidnappers were located. Leon was dropped off by two Spanish cops and then asked one of the residents there if they had seen Ashley. The villager attempted to kill Leon which forced the specially-trained agent to eliminate him. Leon then became under attack by even more villagers including a chainsaw wielding one. 
He then continued his search for Ashley and then found a captive named Luis Sera, then encountered the Village Chief, Bitores Mendez, who had both Leon and Luis as captives. According to Luis, Ashley was held in the village's church, so once Leon was freed, he managed to break into the Church and found Ashley. The man behind this, Osmund Saddler, was also there and revealed himself and his plans to the two Americans. Saddler revealed that they were also infected with the Las Plagas, a parasite which controlled its host and obeyed the Control Plaga which Saddler had: Two cultists then forced Leon and Ashley to escape the church.
Leon managed to infiltrate a warehouse within the village and confronted Bitores Mendez, who transformed into a centipede-like monster. Leon managed to kill the corrupt chief and then stole his False Eye, which was the key out of the Village. Leon and Ashley escaped from the village and then were led to the nearby castle where more of the cultists were fought. The castle's owner, Ramon Salazar, confronted both Leon and Ashley, then introduced himself and his intentions. After fighting through the fortress, Ashley fell into one of the traps and the agent returned to the objectives for searching for her. 
Leon ran into Luis but also witnessed his death at the hands of Saddler. Leon then rescued Ashley again and infiltrated a hall but she was captured again by one of Salazar's Novistadors. Leon confronted Salazar at a tower where he informed Leon that Ashley was moved to an Island. Salazar then fused himself with the Queen Plaga and his remaining Verdugo bodyguard in an attempt to kill the agent, but Leon managed to finally kill the young castellan.
Leon encountered Ada Wong, who had survived the destruction of the Umbrella lab facility, again, and she helped him get to the island where Ashley was imprisoned where he encountered more enemies: Soldiers and the terrifying Regeneradores. Leon soon encountered Krauser within the island, who revealed that his betrayed Leon and was now working under Wesker, in an attempt to restore Umbrella. Leon encountered and killed U-3 (IT), and then encountered Krauser again and found out his arm was infected with Las Plagas, but still managed to defeat his former partner. 
Leon then rescued Ashley from Saddler himself with Ada's assistance and finally confronted Saddler, then saved Ada. Saddler was finally killed and the remaining survivors escaped the Island before it exploded.
===Resident Evil: Degeneration===
When a t-virus outbreak began at Harvardville Airport, Leon S. Kennedy was sent to investigate alongside two S.R.T. operatives, Angela Miller and Greg Glenn. After infiltrating by helicopter, Leon meets with Claire and reprimands Greg for his reckless shooting. They rescue Senator Ron Davis and fight their way to the exit of the terminal but Greg is infected by one of the zombie.
===Damnation===
A war brought towards the government corruption led by Svetlana Belikova, it's up to Leon, Alexander Kozachenko/Buddy and tamed Lickers beta put to stop to it and ending the warfare once and for all
===Resident Evil 6===
Leon and his new ally, Helena Harper, encounter the C-Virus infected zombies and other monsters such as Bloodshots, Whoppers and Shriekers. They head to the President but discover him transformed into one of the many zombies; they were then forced to take him out. Helena's younger sister, Deborah Harper, was also infected with the C-Virus and they were also forced to eliminate the monster she became. They find out Derek C. Simmons, the National Security Advisor, is responsible for the Virus's release and wish to hunt him down.
Leon and Helena encounter Chris Redfield and Piers Nivans who were about to gun down Carla Radames, the identity thief of Ada Wong and the one responsible for the deaths of Chris's soldiers and also the C-Virus release with Simmons. Leon stops them, believing her to be Ada and a key witness, although the two teams split up: Chris will go for Carla and Leon will go for Simmons.
Leon, Helena, Sherry Birkin and Jake Muller confront Simmons and become under attack by his men. Leon and Helena confront the infected Simmons on a train and witness his mutation. After a long battle with the monster, Simmons is finally killed.
Helena visited Deborah's grave but Leon, Hunnigan and other agents soon found her. Ready to face being taken into custody for what she was responsible for, Leon returned her gun to her and she was informed that she wasn't being arrested and was not to be held responsible for Simmons' crimes. Helena then gave Leon Ada's compact.
===Vendetta===
Leon appears as one of the two main protagonists (alongside Chris Redfield).
Leon was assigned a mission to stop the terrorists bomb in Washington D.C. However, he lost all of his units and survived. After his failed mission, Leon goes on a vacation drinking alcohol until Chris and Rebecca came to him as they needed his help and explained what happened in Chicago but also Learning about the zombies apocalypse again, he initially refused to join Chris and Rebecca to kill Glenn Arias until he changed his mind to team up with Chris to rescue Rebecca. They fought against the zombies and killed Arias. After Arias' death, Leon, Chris and Rebecca cured all infected people.
===Death Island===
==Other Media==
===Project X Zone 2===
Leon makes an appearance in Project X Zone 2. He is a supporting character for any of the playable characters.
===Dead by Daylight===
Leon, alongside Jill and The Nemesis appeared in the Resident Evil chapter for Dead by Daylight.
===Super Smash Bros.===
Leon appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a spirit first appearing in the "Oust Resident Evil!" event, he is a advanced primary shield spirit that increases the user's power on item throw. His spirit battle is a stamina battle on the Gerudo Valley stage against Fox McCloud who favors neutral specials and Villagers with only Fox has to be defeated to win.
==Personality==
At first, Leon was apparently a somewhat naive rookie police officer, with a strong sense of justice and duty. As his actions during the Raccoon City incident were curiously discovered, Leon was recruited and later became a Special Expert Agent due to the training he acquired under the hands of the US government. He is able to maintain his composure in most circumstances, making him more confident yet arrogant and cocky at times, Leon is very compassionate and objective.
Leon's friendly nature makes him quick to make friends. He immediately struck up a friendship with Claire Redfield in Raccoon, despite what happened. Leon also respects Jack Krauser, both as a soldier and a friend (or in remake's case, mentor), prior to his betrayal. Leon was very quick to make friends with Luis Sera and Mike, then becomes deeply saddened by their deaths. Also despite the fact that Helena Harper has told him that she is the culprit of the President's death, they quickly grow in confidence to the point of caring enormously for the welfare of each other. At the same time, Leon is very quick to stand up to people who endanger others. He is also quick to deduce riddles that are presented to him.
Leon has shown that he flirts with some of the women he meets, including Ingrid Hunnigan, who jokingly rejected his words on his mission to Spain saying that she is still "at work." They seem to be attracted to each other with Angela Miller. When Haley Peters almost fell next to a collapsed stairs in the presidential palace, Leon grabs her breasts by accident, she jokingly asked if he liked them and he replied "It's not a crime is it?" Also in the Tall Oaks incident, Leon holds Helena's arm when they fall into the sewers and stare into each other's eyes, but she looks away and tells him that she's fine. Later, he tells her that one of the reasons why he hadn't turned her over to the law was because "he had begun to like her", with the looks that each one gives each other could indicate some emotional affection between them.
Leon's relationship with Ada is very complicated, even though there is some kind of bond between the two and they both help each other every time the other needs it, Ada has no problem using Leon to achieve her own goals, however, Leon does not hold this against her. He mentions that Ada will always be "a part of him that he can't let go". Since the beginning of the incident in Raccoon City, Leon goes out of his way to try to protect Ada and repeatedly asking her if she's alright, to the point that Claire comes to suspect some sort of crush or simply that Leon is trying to impress Ada. Leon showed that he would give up his life to protect her, as when he hugs her to save her from the projectiles fired by Simmons's mutation, receiving them in the back.
It seems that Leon cares deeply about the people he rescues. He does his best to protect all of them despite not knowing them. He became Sherry Birkin's temporary guardian before being taken into the custody of the US government. During Operation Javier Leon he had a similar relationship with Manuela Hidalgo, doing everything possible to try to protect her. During his mission to save Ashley Graham, Leon took great personal risks multiple times to ensure her safety. Leon has shown that he comes and goes from being cold and focused to passionate in his missions. 
During the beginning of the incident in El Pueblo, Leon is dismissive of his police escorts for the most part and shows little consideration for anything except finding Ashley, however when the two officers' car falls down a ravine near Leaving the village, Leon says "No ...", then goes on saying "I hope the two officers are okay." when he investigates the scene of the incident, as well as when he finds one of the corpses and investigates it, he says that he should have gone with him. In the Harvardville incident, he acts in the same way, his main concern being the mission he was given. In the incident at Tall Oaks when his partner, Agent Helena Harper is attacked by the zombified President, Leon helps her, but scolds when she says she still can't believe what's going on, saying, "Well get used to that. They're them or us ... and they don't doubt it. ", although most likely he said this to keep Helena focused on what is happening and not let the crisis get in the way of her survival.
However, Leon also has a selective form of emotional attachment to the people he meets on these missions. During his mission in Spain, Leon becomes a little attached to Luis Sera and the helicopter pilot Mike, possibly because they were one of the few healthy people he could trust in his mission, to the point of greatly regretting their deaths. While at Harvardville, he acts flirtatiously towards Angela Miller, creating some tension. Leon dares to shoot the US President and long time friend Adam Benford after he transforms into a zombie, and he only does so when Benford attacks Helena. This is no doubt because Benford has had a substantial impact on Leon, being the one that brought him to the DSO to begin with. It is evident that they were close friends, with Benford telling Leon that he values their friendship, a few days before giving the speech. Seeing the evidence in the helicopter to get out of Lanshiang, Helena tells him she will prove her innocence, to which Leon responds by looking at her "Our innocence". Minutes later when they start to take off, Helena looks at Leon with a smile and he smiles back.
Leon cares about normal people and is willing to help even when in danger. After shooting the president, Leon and Helena find a man searching for his missing daughter. He asks Leon to help him find his daughter, and he agrees with no doubt, even after Helena tells Leon that there is not enough time, to which Leon quickly replies that they will find the time to search for her. When Leon and Helena desperately see two people holding "help" signs somewhere at Ivy University via security cameras, Leon quickly tells Helena to go with him to rescue the innocent, however Helena tells him that It's too late, Leon looks at the camera to see the two people killed by the zombies, though he looks away in frustration and pain. Also, during his fight with Chris, he tells Leon that he lost all his men because of the mysterious woman, however an angry Leon tells Chris that he lost more than 70,000 people, showing that he cares more for all the citizens who have lost their lives in Tall Oaks.
If his opening narration in remake version of Resident Evil 4 is to be believed, Leon's admirable traits being stemmed from desire to help people who trapped in situations not unlike his during Raccoon City Incident seriously. The ordeal became his drive to soldier on over the course of his training and early missions as U.S. Government agent seriously despite their apparent risks. Contrary to Dylan Blake's accusation on him in Death Island, he is also not always agree with his superiors' approach in dealing bioweapon threats, notably taking matters regarding East Slavic Civil War in his own hands against their lack of faith knowing better dangers Plaga Type 4 pose to everyone involved in such conflict.
==Abilities==
*Peak Human Condition: Thanks to his training regime from joining Special Expert Agent, Leon attained top physical condition which served him well in combating bio-terrorism.
**Peak-Level Durability: Leon has repeatedly demonstrated phenomenal durability in the face of damage that a normal human could not have survived; his bone and muscle tissues are 10 times denser and more durable than those of normal humans, enabling him to survive countless encounters with zombie monsters, aggressive humans harbored by parasites and their leaders, and complete numerous missions without fail. He can withstand more physical trauma before collapsing or being knocked out than normal humans. For example, falls from high altitudes, high-velocity impacts against walls, bullets, knives, heat & cold, etc.
**Peak-Level Strength: Throughout his appearances, Leon has demonstrated numerous extraordinary physical feats that no ordinary human being can accomplish, and displayed strength unattainable by any training method. These include shattering armoured glass, knocking out multiple people at once, defeating giant monsters and others capable of regenerating their cells, and breaking armoured doors. And defeating a super-soldier armed only with a knife. Leon's strength is astonishingly great: he can propel a person several meters, and demolish the window of a Humvee with nothing but his elbow, these windows being made to withstand attacks from anti-tank ammunition. Leon is also able to effectively combat Chris Redfield, who is strong enough to drive a very large boulder numerous meters into the ground.
**Peak-Level Stamina: Leon was able to continue to fight and try to survive at all costs for several days during the events of RE:6, although he was solicited by several opponents multiple times in very close periods, without being once won over by fatigue or exhaustion. Leon is a very athletic man, able to maintain his athletic fitness for several days while maintaining his Olympic fitness, although he runs, jumps, rolls and fights against zombie hordes who have lost the notion of exertion or exhaustion.
**Peak-Level Endurance: Leon is able to withstand extended periods of fatigue and stress, as well as long periods without food or drink without collapsing, and has managed to carry out a high-risk rescue mission in enemy territory, alone. As well as days without food and water, fighting in every direction.
**Peak-Level Speed: But beyond being super-athletic, Leon is able to run much faster than a normal human being, being fast enough to run faster than a chain explosion that caused a whole street to collapse. Leon is fast enough to anticipate and react accordingly to what's happening in real time, such as machine-gun bullets or the collapse of an entire street or building. In addition to being super-athletic, Leon is able to dodge fists from tyrants and super-tyrants, as well as point-blank explosions and machine gun bullets. As well as dodging Krauser's attacks effortlessly.
**Parasite Resistance: Over the course of his career as U.S. Government agent and later, D.S.O. agent, Leon had been exposed to various parasites and viruses such as Las Plagas and modified strain of T-Virus leading to his body developing resistance to them unlike those in similar situations which immediately succumbed, something which attributed to both his determination and rigorous training regiment.
*Master Martial Artist: Having been trained as a police officer and later a military agent, Leon is a highly skilled hand to hand combatant and martial artist. His fighting style seems to comprise of Systema, Taekwondo, Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Kali, and Krav Maga. He has fought other skilled fighters such as Ada Wong, Jack Krauser, and Chris Redfield. 
**Master Knife Fighter/Thrower: Leon is also a highly skilled knife wielder, with his style seeming to be a mix of Kali and Systema knife fighting. his skin is great enough to match a master knife fighter like Jack Krauser, even managing to wound him. He is also highly skilled at knife throwing such as when he threw his knife into Salazar's hand before he could even react.
**Master Marksman: Leon is highly skilled with various firearms such as pistols, shotguns, sub-machine guns, rifles, and rocket launchers.
*Expert Tactician: León is a skilled military straight and improvised planner.
*Stealth: Leon is skilled at Stealth Tactics to sneak around many enemies.
*Indomitable Will: León possesses a strong will to keep going against impossible odds and even resist Saddler's mind control.
*Bilingualism: Leon can speak his native English as well as Spanish.
==Equipment==
*Silver Ghost: Leon's personal semi-automatic sidearm which comes equipped with a laser sight.
*Combat Knife: Leon carries a combat knife sheathed on his left clavicle. The knife is sharp and durable enough to cut through a padlock.
*Shotguns: Leon has used many types of shotguns including the Remington M1100/P and a Riot Gun.
*Submachine Guns: Leon has used submachine guns such as the MAC11 and a TMP.
*Assault rifles: Leon has used many assault rifles like the Bolt action M1 and the RN assault rifle.
*Flamethrower: Leon has used a flamethrower to takes out multiple zombies in an area.
*grenade Launchers: Leon has used the M203 grenade launcher and a grenade launcher attachment on his assault rifle.
*Rocket Launcher: Leon has used a modified RPG-7 to take down large foes such as Mr. X and Saddler.
*Level 3 Tactical Body Armor: Leon wears this light weight vest to protect from magma pistols and some rifles.
==Live Portrayals==
*In a commercial for Resident Evil 2, he was portrayed by Brad Renfro.
*In the Paul W.S. Anderson film, Resident Evil: Retribution, he was portrayed by Johann Urb, who also played Shady in Breach and Toby Baker in American Siege.
*In a commercial for the remake of Resident Evil 2, he was portrayed by Dan Costello.
*In Welcome to Raccoon City, he was portrayed by Avan Jogia who also played Johnny in Johnny & Clyde.
==Quotes==
==Trivia == 
*The color of his hair in RE2 is dark blond in the artworks, and red in-game. In RE4, his hairstyle was longer, covering his right eye most of the time, and his hair was blond.
*In the novels that were written by , Leon and Claire have a much closer and more intimate relationship, to the point where Leon feels confused about his feelings for her. Although these novels are not canon, Leon's true feelings are not known with certainty.
*In Degeneration, he seems colder and very professional in his mission compared to Resident Evil 4, set a year earlier, where he is seen to be calm and charismatic on most occasions. His "normal" attitude returns in his next chronological appearance. This, of course, could be attributed to finding himself facing exact same threats which changed his life back at Raccoon forever.
*Leon made a report of what he experienced in Resident Evil 4, according to Resident Evil 5 when Chris Redfield mentioned Leon's report because of his relationship to what happened in Kijuju, which also means that some members of the B.S.A.A. read it.
*Leon maintains contact with some protagonists, among them are Claire, Sherry, Chris, and Ark Thomson.
*Leon is the Resident Evil character with the most aliases.
*He's ranked 36th in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition from 2011, ranked 44th on Empire's list of the 50 greatest video game characters, and ranked 11th "most influential and badass" hero in video games by GamesRadar in 2012.
* He was planned to be a playable character in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, but was dropped for unknown reasons.
*Leon doesn't get much down time; often having his vacations interrupted/cancelled by his superiors as seen in Damnation. Because of such, he only has on-the-job friends; making their loss especially traumatizing to Leon, whom has little emotional support off duty. Vendetta shows Leon hit a low point in needing to drink in order to deal with depression; sixteen years of numerous losses since Raccoon City in 1998 had taken its toll.
*Leon appears to share his name with real world Black American actor Leon Issac Kennedy, who is famous for his role as FBI agent Marcus Jackson in the Chuck Norris action movie Lone Wolf McQuade and the boxing movies Penitentiary and Heart and Soul.
*His backstory as a cop from a mob family is similar to character Rick Hunter from the 1980s police drama TV series Hunter.
==External Links==
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