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For other uses, see Lance (disambiguation).

Together with Bill, his former partner, he once again teams up to form the ultimate duo.
Despite his collected appearance, he despises warfare more than anyone.
~ Contra 3D official profile description

PFC Lance Bean (ランス・ビーン Ransu Bīn?), code name: Scorpion, is one of the two main protagonists of 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 out 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.

History

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 Viper afterward. 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

In Contra: Shattered Soldier, Lance's dog tag is shown, revealing the following information:

BEAN LANCE
UN. NAVY / Contra-0539
BLOOD TYPE / ABRH (+)
NP

Office of Official Records

  • Name: Bean, Lance
  • Age: 32
  • Affiliation: Earth Marine Corps
  • Unit: Contra
  • Rank: Major
In addition to having a strong mind and body, Major Lance Bean is an expert marksman and skilled with machinery. Was active as a █████████████ ████████ before being recruited into the Earth Marine Corps by Bill Rizer. Despite rarely showing emotions during missions, he is a family man with an adopted son named ██████████████████.

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

Main article: Lance Bean/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 all 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 named 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 cell retrieved 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 nor altered. Knowing this, and with no other option, the two former brothers-in-arms 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 by the humans from a sanctuary located in Jupiter, and which 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.

Quotes

  • "Let's greet them with style!"
  • "Let's attack aggressively!!"

Gallery

Screenshots

Sprites and models

Artworks

Other

Trivia

Arnold Schwarzenegger & Lance Bean - 01

Comparison image of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lance Bean.

  • The pose how Lance appears on the cover of the NES port of Contra is based on a promotional photo of Austrian-American actor Arnold Schwarzenegger in his interpretation of Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer in the 1987 guerrilla/science fiction-themed action film Predator.
  • His name is a tribute to actors Lance Henriksen and Michael Biehn, who appeared in the movie Aliens, a franchise which the Contra series often takes inspiration from.
  • In the English instruction booklet for Super C (NES), Lance Bean is referred to as "Corporal Lance", in reference to the "Lance corporal" military rank.
  • In a cutscene of Shattered Soldier, Lance's dog tag is shown, which shows that he was working under the Contra division of the UN Navy. However, in the Famicom version of Contra, it is stated that both he and Bill were under orders from the Contra division led by the Earth Marine Corps.

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Bill Rizer and Lance Bean were the protagonists in the original Japanese version of Contra III: The Alien Wars. They were changed to Jimbo and Sully in the American release of the game in order to keep consistency with the lore already established there from prior games.
  2. Bill Rizer was the protagonist in the original Japanese version of Operation C. He was changed to Lance Bean in the American release of the game. In the "Museum" option of Contra 4, the player character's identity was changed once more to Mad Dog and/or Scorpion.
  3. Contra: Rogue Corps by Tony Washington at ArtStation.
Contra
Organizations
Contra
Bill RizerLance BeanRD008RC011
Red Falcon
Defense WallGarmakilmaGromaidesGodomugaGuldafDograGordeaFinal Gate (NES) • Emperor Demon Dragon God JavaGomeramos King
Stages
JungleBaseWaterfallBase 2Snow FieldEnergy ZoneHangar ZoneAlien's Lair
Soundtrack
Contra Original Video Game Soundtrack
Super Contra/Super C
Organizations
Contra
Bill RizerLance BeanRD008RC011
Red Falcon
Bosses
Arcade
Entrance SecurityMagnusDethgerbisMetal AlienEmperor Demon Gava
NES
Great HeliMagnusSensorLaser ChandelierGiralalEmperor Demon GavaDethgerbisKimkoh
Minibosses
Arcade
M4A4 TankGreat HeliGiralalSuspicious Face
NES
TuckerSpidalSuspicious Face
Stages
Arcade
Ruins of the Federal Military BaseInside the Federal Military BaseDeep JungleAlien 1Alien 2
NES
Base Area 1Base Area 2JungleBase Area 3Base Area 4Alien Area 1Alien Area 2Alien Area 3
Soundtrack
Music from Super Contra & A-Jax
Operation C
Organizations
Contra
Bill RizerLance BeanMad DogScorpion
Unnamed enemy nation's army
NoueiTuckerGoochieKirgeyKazart 408 + Reinforced PartsKazart 408GiwalaHayanos 614Black Viper
Stages
Area 1Area 2Area 3Area 4Area 5
Soundtrack
Contra III: The Alien Wars
Organizations
Contra
Bill RizerLance BeanJimboSullyRD008RC011
Red Falcon
Bosses
Slave Beast TakaBosco SpiderBig FuzzAnti-Contra Battleship DodriguezAnthellEmperor Demon GavaLiving Brain Organism SearleSix Men Feromedos
Minibosses
Middle FortressMagnus Mk.2Dome DefenderTri-Transforming Wall WalkerGarth BaseBrother Robots Kenny 1 & 2High Speed Tank BoobyTetranduckerSensor ArmFierce CannonRocket Ninja SasakiOggie GeneratorJavaGomeramos KingKimkohMetal Alien
Stages
Occupied City StreetDestroyed HighwayFactory ZoneAir BattleSheer CliffAlien's Main Base
Soundtrack
Contra III: The Alien Wars Original Video Game Soundtrack
Contra: Shattered Soldier
Organizations
Contra
Bill RizerLucia
Blood Falcon
Bosses
TakaYokozunaCrawler TankJinmen GyoEmperor-Demon GyabaVital GonadGrotesque Chimera
Minibosses
BikerMagnusFactory Demolition MachineSnow WormFlying SubmarineTrain Plasma CannonZweihanderFloating Bird Nest Garth BaseMince WormGluttonous UgougoBurstrick RiderBig PinheadCochlear Armored CarWallLance BeanGomeramos KingTissue HelminthKimkohPresshandMr. Heli-RoboUltimate BeingCelestial FrogCelestial JellyfishCelestial Atomic Cell
Other characters
Enemy Commander
Earth Federation Government
Triumvirate • (Gaius, Nero, Commodus)
Moirai
Stages
FortressTrainCitySeabedArchipelagoSanctuaryStage 7
Soundtrack
Shin Contra Original SoundtrackContra: Shattered Soldier
Contra 4
Organizations
Contra
Canon
Bill RizerLance BeanMad DogScorpion
Non-canon
JimboSullySheena EtranziLuciaProbotectorSolomon Caesar
Red Falcon
Bosses
Defense WallGromaidesGodomugaMissile Hugger 3000 (gigantic form) • Barracuda
Big FuzzCrustacean CruiserGomeramos KingBlack Viper (final form)
Minibosses
NoueiMissile Hugger 3000 (normal form) • ReaperMagnusArachnidBlack Viper
Stages
JungleLaboratoryBaseHarborOceanFactoryCityAlien HiveHarvest Yard
Soundtrack
Contra Dual Spirits Original SoundtrackContra Chronicle Vol.1 coupling with Hard Corps: Uprising
Contra ReBirth
Organizations
Contra
Playable
Bill Rizer (clone) • JaguarNewt PlisskenBR-W9
Other characters
Galactic PresidentLance Bean
Neo-Salamander Force
Bosses
Space CentipedeGiant GolemFat ManAnimate StatueGavaZelos Force
Minibosses
Power LoaderDefense WallRocket Ninja SasakiGiant Stone HeadGomeramos King
Stages
Satellite WarzoneDystopian MetropolisArmageddon HighwayHollow NetherworldRed Falcon MegalithLunar Ultimatum
Soundtrack
Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth & Contra ReBirth Original Soundtrack
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