Lance Bean

PFC **Lance Bean** (ランス・ビーン *Ransu Bīn*?) (code name: **Scorpion**) is one of the two main protagonistsof the *Contra* series, along with fellow commando and brother-in-arms, Bill Rizer. He was one of the most renowned members of the "Contra" task force —an elite group of soldiers specializing in guerrilla warfare— and one of the greatest soldiers that ever lived.

Both combatants alone were able to repel numerous invasion attempts on Earth by extraterrestrial forces, mainly carried on by the evil Red Falcon army, and were known as heroes worldwide after successfully defeating them completely during the Alien Wars.

A series of events eventually made them go their separate ways, and at one point even put them fighting against each other.

As part of a well-planned conspiracy, he was murdered by the government's people in power, and his timeless comrade Bill was held responsible for this and other crimes, and put into cryostasis prison.

However, Lance was revived by merging his body with an alien cell, and with the new knowledge obtained from this fusion, he built a new army set to destroy the real perpetrators, along with their nefarious secret plans.

## Background

Lance fought alongside Bill Rizer in the original *Contra*against the terrorist organization known as "Red Falcon", eventually defeating the group, which later resurfaced in *Super Contra*, and the duo were sent to recover the military base from the group and onward into the "Alien Wars" alongside Bill (in the American version both were replaced by Jimbo and Sully, their descendants, to explain the year gap) and ending it by defeating Java and his army, as well as the Black Viperafterward. Later, at an unspecified time he was assigned to a mission with Bill to a satellite array, and the array was fired, wiping out 80% of Earth's population.

During a coverup, Bill was blamed for Lance's "murder", while in fact he was alive leading the "Blood Falcon" organization as its new commanding general and was secretly the main antagonist during the events in *Contra: Shattered Soldier*.

During their final confrontation with his former friend, he injected himself with cells from Red Falcon, although he was ultimately defeated by Bill and Lucia, but not before revealing the truth to his former friend about the government coverup and the real truth behind the Alien Wars. His death later fueled Bill's mission in *Neo Contra*.

## Personal information

* **Age**: 32 (*Contra 3D*)
* **Height**: 194 cm
* **Weight**: 109 kg

## Appearances

### *Contra ReBirth*

*ReBirth* takes place in 1973, when the "Neo-Salamander" force traveled back in time from 2633 in order to take out the Contra force while the Earth defenses were still primitive.

Lance only appears in some cutscenes as a cross-dresser, and later rescues the player on the moon using a helicopter.

### *Contra*

In 2633, the evil Red Falcon organization set a base on the Galuga archipelago near New Zealand in a plot to conquer the world. Lance Bean and Bill Rizer were sent to the island in order to destroy the enemy forces and uncover the true nature of the alien entity controlling them.

Lance is the second player in the game. In the original arcade version, he is shirtless and wears a red bandana while Bill wears a tank top and a blue bandana. In the NES version, he looks identical to Bill Rizer, except he wears red pants.

### *Super Contra*

In 2634, a year after the battle with Red Falcon, Lance was once again sent with Bill on another mission. This time, the alien forces had taken over an allied military base, possessing most of its troops. Both not only had to fight against their former comrades-in-arms, but also a new mutated form of the same alien creatures they fought during their previous mission.

### *Operation C*

In 2635, Lance was sent alone on a mission to stop a terrorist group working for an alien entity only known as "Black Viper".

The details of *Operation C'*s settings vary greatly between supplemental materials, though. In the original Japanese version, the protagonist is actually Bill Rizer (who is in fact portrayed in all promotional artwork for the game) and the story instead revolves around an unnamed hostile nation that was seeking an alien cell in order to produce weapons.

### *Contra: Shattered Soldier*

In 2647, Earth faced yet another threat as a new terrorist organization known as "Blood Falcon" —led by a mysterious commander— began to spread panic over the world. The government decided to take Bill Rizer out of his 10,000 years cryostasis imprisonment, and sent him on a desperate mission in the hope to neutralize them, accompanied by a bionoid called Lucia to keep watch over him.

It was eventually revealed that Lance Bean was still alive, and that he was in fact the commander of Blood Falcon. Lance had survived his previous assassination attempt by merging his body with the alien cellretrieved during previous conflicts. However, this came with a cost; by merging his own cells with those of the alien, he also genetically inherited their most basic instincts at a cellular level, and as a result he was also committed to follow the aliens' primal objectives which could neither be defied or altered. Knowing this, and with no other option, the two former partners were forced to engage in a final confrontation.

Lance was fatally wounded during the struggle, but before passing away, he revealed that the aliens both him and Bill fought in the previous missions were not invaders, they were only guards programmed to retrieve a powerful relic stolen from a sanctuary located in Jupiter, and that the "men of influence" from Earth had stolen by sending the army to get it for them.

After saying these last words, Lance died. With this information, Bill and Lucia set forth to confront the Triumvirate and uncover the secret behind this mysterious alien relic.

## Trivia

* Lance's original design is based upon Sylvester Stallone, in particular on his interpretation of John Rambo from the *Rambo* series of action films.
* His name is a tribute to actors Lance Henriksen and Michael Biehn, who appeared in the movie *Aliens*.
* In the English *Super C* instruction booklet, Lance Bean is referred to as "Corporal Lance", in reference to the "Lance corporal" military rank.

## Gallery

Lance Bean sprites used in Police Jesus: United Defenders, at least in a recolor of Bill Rizer's sprites and has the same shortcomings as Bill Rizer's sprites as the green lines.Other Lance Bean Sprites used in Police Jesus: United Defenders, at least in a recolor of the sprites of Bill Rizer style The Alien Wars and was custom.