Karl Heisenberg

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About

Karl Heisenberg is a supporting villain character from the 2021 video game Resident Evil Village. Following the release of the game, the character gained notable popularity in memes and fan art due to his memorable design and role in the events of the game.

Origin

On June 11th, 2020, the announcement trailer for then-upcoming video game Resident Evil Village premiered.^[1] In the trailer, a grey-haired character in a wide-brimmed hat and round sunglasses first appeared (trailer shown below, left). The character appeared again in the third trailer of the game that premiered on January 21st, 2021, now shown wielding a large sledgehammer (trailer shown below, right).^[2] On the same day, a description for the character was added to the official website,^[3] with the character's name revealed to be Karl Heisenberg.

A genius engineer who holes up in the factory just outside of the village, and one of the four lords who serve Miranda. With his brazen attitude and a giant hammer, he's very intimidating.

Spread

On May 7th, 2021, survival horror Resident Evil was released.^[4] During the weekend following the release, a significant amount of fan art featuring the character was posted on social media, with users also making comments and jokes about his design. In many examples, Karl Heisenberg appeared together with Lady Dimitrescu, another popular character from the game.

On May 10th, 2021, "Heisenberg" trended on Twitter in the United States and other countries.^[5] The name Heisenberg being identical to the alias of character Walter White from the 2008 criminal drama series Breaking Bad led to users making posts that compared the characters (example shown below).