Robert Neville

Lt. Col. Dr. Robert Neville is the main protagonist of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend, the 1971 film adaptation The Omega Man, and the 2007 film adaptation of the same name.
In the 1971 film he was portrayed by Charlton Heston, who also portrayed Moses in The Ten Commandments, and in the 2007 film he was portrayed by Will Smith, who also portrayed Agent J in the Men in Black franchise, a fictional version of himself in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Mike Lowrey in the Bad Boys franchise, Steven Hiller in Independence Day, Deadshot in Suicide Squad, Henry Brogan in Gemini Man, Oscar in Shark Tale, Lance Sterling in Spies in Disguise, Genie in the 2019 live-action remake of Aladdin, and Jim West in Wild Wild West.
== Bio ==
In 2012, Dr. Neville, a virologist employed to the United States military, is the last non-infected human in New York City, and possibly the last human on Earth, after a genetically-engineered variant of the measles virus created by Dr. Alice Krippin originally designed to cure cancer mutated into a deadly virus three years previously, killing 90% of humanity and mutating surviving humans into predatory, cannibalistic creatures known as "Darkseekers". His wife and daughter were killed during the chaotic evacuation of New York City just before the virus wiped out billions of people.
Neville's daily routine includes experimenting on infected rats to find a cure for the virus and trips through a decaying Manhattan to collect supplies or hunt for deer. He keeps vigil each day for a response to his continuous recorded AM radio broadcasts, which instruct any survivors to meet him at midday at the South Street Seaport. Neville's isolation is broken only by the companionship of his German Shepherd Sam and interaction with mannequins he has set up as patrons of a video store.
When one of his rat experiments shows a promising treatment, Neville sets a snare trap and captures an infected woman. An enraged Darkseeker alpha male attempts to rescue her, but is driven back by the sunlight. In the laboratory in his heavily fortified Washington Square Park home, Neville tries the new serum on the infected woman, seemingly without success.
The next day, after finding one of his mannequins ("Fred") out in the street in front of Grand Central Terminal, he is caught in a snare trap and passes out. He regains consciousness at dusk and frees himself, but he is attacked by a pack of infected dogs. Although Neville and Sam kill the dogs, one of the infected dogs bites Sam during the fight. Neville brings Sam home and attempts to save the dog by injecting a strand of his serum, but it is too late; a heartbroken Neville is forced to kill his only companion.
Overcome by grief and rage, Neville attacks a group of the infected on the seaport the following night with his UV light equipped SUV, intent on killing them and himself. He manages to kill several Darkseekers, but they overwhelm and nearly kill him before he is rescued by a pair of immune humans, a woman named Anna (Alice Braga) and a boy named Ethan (Charlie Tahan), who followed his radio broadcasts. Anna and Ethan take him back to his home. Anna explains that they are making their way to a survivors' camp in Bethel, Vermont. Neville disputes that such a camp exists, and expresses his doubt when Anna says God told her about it.
The following night, the alpha male leads a horde of Darkseekers in an attack on the house. Anna, who was unaware of Neville's precautions in covering his scent outside the house, inadvertently allowed the Darkseekers to follow their trail. When the Darkseekers charge the house, Neville stops the first wave of Darkseekers with claymore mines, but finds himself defenseless against the second wave. As Neville tries to find Anna and Ethan, a Darkseeker enters and attacks him. The Darkseeker retreats upstairs and begins tearing a hole in the roof so other infected can get in.
After Neville saves Anna and Ethan, they retreat into the basement laboratory. They seal themselves in a reinforced plexiglass room with the infected woman, and they discover that Neville's treatment is now working: the subject looks much more human. The infected break in and the alpha male starts throwing himself against the plexiglass, cracking the material. Realizing that the last treatment had been successful, Neville draws a vial of the infected woman's blood and gives it to Anna before shutting them inside a coal chute in the back of the lab. He uses an M67 hand grenade to wipe out the attackers at the cost of his own life. Anna and Ethan are later seen stopping at the gated entrance to the survivors' colony, where Anna hands over the cure. In a voice-over, Anna claims that the survivors are Neville's legacy, as his fight for a cure became legend.
== Trivia ==
* In the film's alternate ending, the alpha male draws a heart on the glass, reminiscent of a heart tattoo on the infected woman's arm; Neville suddenly understands that the alpha male does not want to kill him, but merely wants his mate back. Neville lets the alpha male take the woman and leave, and then he, Anna, and Ethan travel to the sanctuary with the cure.
*A different version of the character, Robert Morgan, was portrayed by the late Vincent Price in the 1964 film The Last Man on Earth.
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