La Femme Nikita Influences

The book Research on Biohazard 2: Final Edition, a comprehensive guide and behind the scenes look at Resident Evil 2, cites the 1990 French film Nikita as a source of inspiration. However, it is the title CG render of Ada Wong for Seperate Ways that confirms that her character is indeed based on the movie.

Nikita Poster art for the original French film Nikita

Ada Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways Title Screen Render

La Femme Nikita and all of its remakes share the same premise, they are based on the original femme fatale known as Mata Hari. During World War I, Mata Hari worked as a double agent by seducing influential men in multiple countries. She was later executed for her crimes.

The base story of La Femme Nikita is the same for all versions. A beautiful young woman is convicted and sentenced to death for a heinous crime (that she may or may not have committed). Her death is then faked by an organization (such as the government) that takes her in and trains her to become the perfect spy. In most cases it is someone with an influential position in that organization that arranged for her placement (such as a relative, or a man in love with her).

Nikita Poster artwork for the German release of Nikita

Ada Ada as she appears in the Resident Evil 4 mini-game The Mercenaries

It is possible that Ada Wong's history, although unexplained, went something like Nikita's. Both Ada and Nikita are aware of their beauty and have been trained to use it to their advantage in many situations. They both have been ordered to form relationships with men in order to get closer to their objectives. In Ada's case, she became the girlfriend of an Umbrella scientist named John.

For years Nikita is conditioned within the organization's walls into becoming a skilled assassin. She has no way to reach the outside world and is taught to believe that her previous life is over, that the woman she once was is dead. When her training nears its end, she is forced to prove her loyalty, skill, and ability to follow orders without remorse. Only then would she be allowed to do missions outside.

Nikita Nikita looks into the mirror and decides to leave her past behind.

Ada A woman looks into the mirror and tearfully says goodbye to Ada Wong.

When outside, it's shown how the women have undergone a physical metamorphosis as well - or in other words, your typical makeover story. They are transformed from being the convict in rags to looking like a supermodel. They are highly educated and high maintenance, blending into crowds that only know the finer things in life. They're wearing the latest fashions and are constantly changing their appearance (usually through the use of wigs and makeup) as they effortlessly wrap the subjects of their missions around their fingers.

In battle the trained women also have a very specific style of doing their jobs, contrasting with male action heroes who usually use brute force. When fighting they're usually catlike; they always land on their feet and they don't like to get dirty.

Despite the physical changes, Nikita ends up finding love in the form of a good man who she can't understand, because he wants to truly know and understand the woman hidden underneath. In Ada's case, it seems she has been doing missions to prove her loyalty to an organization. During RE2 Ada met Leon while on a mission, a man who only wants to help her.

Nikita & Marco Nikita snuggles close to her fiance Marco, a sensitive romantic.

Ada & Leon Leon, a gentle Raccoon police officer, holds a badly wounded Ada close.

Ada and Nikita share one major weakness that keeps them from being the ultimate killer for their organizations: a conscience. No matter what they are told to think and do, they continue to feel. It's their heart and beauty combined that usually leads to someone within the organization falling in love with them and giving them special treatment. No matter what, the women will never return the feelings.

Bob Nikita's superior, Bob, a man whose cool facade hides a ruthless nature.

Wesker Wesker, Ada's superior whose hairstyle and suit bear an uncanny resemblance to Bob's.

Although it's debatable whether Wesker has any feelings for Ada, it's obvious that he holds her in high regard and values her more than his other subordinates. It's also made obvious that Ada only feels contempt for him. Like in many versions of Nikita's story, both Ada and Nikita are constantly monitored by the superior obsessed with them, and even ordered to kill the man who they fell in love with.

Both Ada and Nikita have their own personal objective, and that is freedom. In both women's cases, they believe the only way to get that freedom is through death. In some stories of Nikita, the woman fakes death to escape the organization. Usually this is motivated by love with a man who represents everything good and pure - something she believes she can never be. In Ada's case, when near death she tells Leon that she wanted to escape from something with him.

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