Robert Everton was one of the main characters of the sci-fi thriller film Virus. A grizzled sea captain who cared for little else other than money, he captained the tugboat Sea Star, often taking on jobs handling less-than-legal cargo. Bitter and opportunistic, he led his crew into trying to salvage the Akademik Vladislav Volkov in the middle of a typhoon. He was portrayed by Donald Sutherland.
History[]
In the midst of a typhoon, Captain Everton lost a large cargo haul which he had levied everything he owned against. Though he and his ship and crew survived and made it into the eye of the storm, he became severely depressed. He was contemplating suicide just as the Sea Star came across the Russian research vessel Akademik Vladislav Volkov. When the ship didn't respond to hails, Everton and his crew boarded to find the vessel seemingly empty. He saw this as an opportunity to claim the ship by maritime salvage rights and estimated the Volkov's value at $300 million, meaning that he and his crew would gain 10% of that figure in salvage.
As the crew explored their catch, they found that they were not entirely alone. One survivor remained - Nadia Vinogradova - who warned the others that the ship's electronics had been seized by an alien life-form comprised entirely of electricity. This entity was using the ship's machine shops and robotics labs to build bio-mechanical drones, using advanced machinery and fusing it with human flesh from the Volkov's crew. At first, Everton didn't believe Nadia's story, but just then he saw one of the bio-mechanoids which Richie and Woods had encountered below decks.
Later, Everton and the others went below decks to find their missing shipmate Squeaky. When they found him, he had been turned into a cyborg drone and attacked his former friends, killing Woods. As the crew hid, Everton seemed to find amusement in his crew's efforts to communicate with the electrical being and still showed no concern for anything other than salvaging the ship. Kit Foster became enraged by her captain's attitude and punched him, stating that he was no longer in charge.
When Foster and the others left to find a way of sinking the ship, the embittered Everton used a computer console to try to communicate with the alien. He stated that he was the "dominant life-form" and could help the alien, and the alien invited the captain to its inner sanctum, a machine shop where it had housed the ship's main computer.
Fate[]
The electrical life-form accepted Captain Everton's offer of assistance and converted him into a bio-mechanoid. Unlike the other bio-mechanoids, Everton retained his mental faculties. After being rebuilt, he went in search of his crew and found them on the bridge. He attacked them, but Foster and Steve were able to kill him by knocking him over and throwing a thermite grenade at him. The thermite burnt right through the deck as well as Everton, sending his remains plummeting below decks.