“ | We're doing this for America! | „ |
~ Adam Kane to his team |
Adam Kane is a brief antagonist encountered during the events of Dead Rising 3 who gains a more prominent role in the DLC Operation Broken Eagle and a subsequent role in the later DLC The Last Agent. Unlike his superior General Hemlock, Kane is troubled by what he is ordered to do, but feels compelled by his strong sense of duty, making him an anti-villain.
Operation Broken Eagle
Kane is sent along with his troops into Los Perdidos in order to find and capture President Sonya Paddock, killing any Illegals they may come across in the process. During their entry via helicopter, Hunter Thibadeuax's biker gang attacks, causing the helicopter to crash and killing most of Kane's team. After retrieving the black box from the destroyed helicopter, Kane continues onwards to a military compound he then clears of zombies and stocks with military weapons. As this goes on, Kane is forced to contend with fellow soldiers and agents working for the President that target him. Even more horrifically, one of Kane's missions is to release zombification-inducing larvae into Safe Zones, which turn several innocent people into more of the undead.
Eventually, Kane captures the President and brings her to the compound. He is then ordered to destroy the black box from the helicopter, which has recorded Kane delivering Hemlock's incriminating orders and stands as evidence of the military's crimes. He sees a soldier bringing in the zombified Paddock and is disgusted by the act his commander-in-chief has committed. Quickly shooting her in the head, Kane orders the soldier to dispose of her and returns to the black box. Despite feeling compelled to follow through with his sense of duty, Kane hides the black box and reports it as destroyed, deciding to follow what's good rather than what's lawful. However, he is then called in to intercept and kill an intruder seeking to free Illegals from the compound.
Dead Rising 3
Kane, referred to in-game as "Commander", appears as Nick makes his way into the compound and destroys its power generators to free his friends. Nick requires a key card to open the front gate and finds that it's in Kane's possession. Given no choice but to follow orders, Kane confronts and battles Nick in a boss fight, armed with his gun and grenades. Nick ultimately defeats Kane and retrieves the key card from him.
The Last Agent
Despite appearing dead in the game proper, Kane turns out to have survived and makes an appearance in the final DLC. However, his time is short as Kane is then attacked and bitten by a zombie in his weakened state. Kane manages to reach the incriminating black box and gives it to the protagonist Brad Park, a ZDC agent seeking justice. The commander provides this last bit of evidence, finally redeeming himself, and commits suicide with his gun to prevent himself from turning into a zombie.
Aspects
Unlike many military personnel featured in the Dead Rising series, Kane demonstrates a conflicted mental state where he questions whether to do what's right, or to follow the orders of his superiors. In this sense, he is an anti-villain for at first blindly follow orders from whose sense of duty is manipulated to contribute to the military's crimes and Hemlock's plot-especially with deplorable acts such as infecting safe zones killing innocent survivors. This sense of duty is also reflected in his "Duty or Death" tattoo, as well as his referral to the soldiers and agents that battle him as "traitors" (albeit in a warped sense, given that Kane is killing those who fight against the corrupt military).
However, Kane ultimately chooses to defy orders when he refuses to destroy the evidence, although he follows the final command that results in his death. Ultimately though, his desire to do what's right wins out showing deep regret and remorse of his actions, as seen with his final gesture of providing the evidence of his superior's wrongdoings to Brad Park.