MonsterVerse - Monarch / Characters

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monarchlogo_8.jpg

Monarch is a secret government agency tasked with discovering, investigating and destroying the Kaiju of the world. They are better at the former two than the latter, due to most members eventually coming to respect and even revere the creatures the government has tasked them to kill.

open/close all folders

In General

Adaptational Backstory Change: The details of Monarch's foundation have been pretty inconsistent. In Godzilla (2014), Dr. Graham says they were founded in 1954 after Godzilla awakened in that year. In the same movie's prequel graphic novel (which has since been rendered non-canon to the wider MonsterVerse), they were founded in 1946 after the emergence of Shinomura. In Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, old Lee Shaw says they were founded in around the late 40s, but the show's 1950s storyline implies that he, Keiko and Randa founded the organization together in 1952-54 and got the funding to recruit other staff and expand Monarch to its contemporary scale just after Godzilla was nuked in Bikini Atoll.
Admiring the Abomination: Although the organization was founded with the explicit mission of killing all Kaiju they find, their staff instead hold the creatures in awe and worthy of study (much to the chagrin of the U.S. military and government). Even the truly dangerous ones, like Ghidorah or the MUTO that caused the Janjira meltdown, Monarch can't really seem to stay away from.
Aesop Amnesia: In the Godzilla vs. Kong novelization at least, although it should be noted that this runs counter to the previous story's film version. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), Monarch are initially repressing many of their findings about the Titans from the government and public eyes, which is implicitly making the world even more distrustful of Monarch, before Monarch publicize their files (including the Hollow Earth's existence) in the wake of King Ghidorah's downfall. But in the Godzilla vs. Kong novelization, Monarch are covering up their proof of the Hollow Earth's existence, reverting right back to the very secrecy which earned them the world's distrust, to begin with.
Alternate Company Equivalent: Think of them as S.H.I.E.L.D., but for a Kaiju universe. The Argo is in many respects their answer to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. They are also similar to H.E.A.T. from Godzilla: The Series except on a much larger scale.
Badass Army: Downplayed. Monarch has several military attachments working directly under them, but their most consistently effective is their air force. That being said, Monarch's military forces tend to fall quite easily, particularly in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), where seemingly all of the G-Team except four of the five distinct members are killed by Jonah's mercs and then by Ghidorah in Antarctica; with the novelization's portrayal of Mokele-Mbembe's awakening showing the latter Titan wiping out all but twenty-one of Monarch's on-site military staff.
Benevolent Conspiracy: They have spent years documenting the history of Earth's Titans and their effects on the world, as well as covering up their existence to try and minimize the chance of a Titan causing destruction and the global freak-out that'll ensue once humanity realizes what kind of universe they really live in.
The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Old Lee Shaw in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters accuses Monarch of inflicting this trope on him, Bill Randa and Hiroshi Randa, shutting them out and labeling them madmen for insisting that Monarch be more proactive about preventing Titan emergences and for perpetuating the Hollow Earth theory respectively.
Covert Group with Mundane Front: Explained in supplementary materials, publicly, the organization is known as "Monarch Industries", with the face of a green energy mega-corporation. Their main base is even disguised as an offshore oil rig, but it's really just an entrance to a massive underwater research facility.
Creature-Hunter Organization: Subverted. The organization was originally formed by the government and military with the explicit end-task of finding ways to exterminate any Titans they discovered; but Monarch's operatives tend to grow to admire and even revere the creatures after studying them up close, plus Monarch recognize Godzilla, Mothra, and Kong as humanity's protectors and most reliable line of defence against the more hostile Titans. Combine this with Monarch's findings that the Titans are essentially crucial antibodies to the Earth's ecosphere which human life can't survive without long-term, and by the start of King of the Monsters, Monarch's top brass are actively opposing The Government's mounting pressure to try and indiscriminately exterminate the creatures.
Curiosity Killed the Cast: Zig-Zagged in Godzilla (2014). Dr. Graham justifies Monarch not trying to kill the pupating Hokmuto because they were concerned that doing so might unleash a radiation cloud on the population, but it's also hinted that Monarch kept Hokmuto alive because they wanted to study a living specimen; which has disastrous consequences once Hokmuto has matured and started massacring anything in his way. Averted with the egg that ultimately hatches Femuto: Monarch removed it from Dagon's grave and analyzed it, but it was only years after they disposed of the egg due to its radioactivity that Femuto hatched for reasons unrelated to Monarch's experimentation. In Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Monarch practically invert the trope, as in the 2015 storyline and its backstory, they've repeatedly denied the Randas', Shaw's and Tim's desires to investigate and learn more about the Titans' origins and the Hollow Earth.
Death by Irony: In King of the Monsters, Dr. Graham and a lot of other Monarch operatives around the world get killed by the very same Titans they were respectively monitoring and containing when King Ghidorah commands the Titans to rise and begin slaughtering the planet in his name. It becomes an even crueller irony when you consider the attitude most Monarch personnel bear towards the Titans- respect and reverence.
Dynamic Entry: The very first sign of Monarch's aerial jets coming to the rescue during Ghidorah's awakening is several aerial missiles exploding in Ghidorah's faces, then we see hide or hair of the cavalry in the sky.
Elites Are More Glamorous: In King of the Monsters, Monarch's military division is headed by an elite team (G-Team) whom are on the frontlines of most of their ground-based military operations. Most of the G-Team's unnamed members are slaughtered, but the core team members who receive decent characterization survive the movie, in contrast to how Monarch's aerial Gold Squadron and implicitly the majority of the entire U.S. military get wiped out by the rampant Titans.
Everyone Has Standards: Despite their reverence for the Titans and belief that they're essential to the world, all of the Monarch key brass are universally horrified by Emma and Jonah's plan to forcibly awaken all of them and let them decimate humanity.
Gas Leak Cover-Up: In Godzilla (2014), Monarch have been keeping Janjira abandoned for the last fifteen years after the male MUTO caused the nuclear power plant meltdown. The world is convinced that Janjira is an irradiated death zone after the catastrophe, when in actuality the MUTO has long since absorbed all the radiation leakage, with Monarch exploiting the cover story to build and maintain a Black Site away from prying eyes so they can monitor the MUTO cocoon.
Godzilla Threshold: They're very reluctant to attempt killing the male MUTO in its cocoon, only doing so when Serizawa gives the order after realizing it's about to hatch. Graham later claims that they hesitated because they didn't know what the cocoon was doing with the absorbed radiation and feared trying to kill the creature could cause a Chernobyl-level global disaster, but the subtle way Serizawa's eyes shift in guilt as Graham says this, and the way every Monarch operative except Whalen looks away in dismay during the kill attempt and Monarch's later behavior, imply another reason: Monarch were reluctant to kill such a magnificent creature without knowing enough about its place in the global ecosphere before they explicitly knew it was a danger.
Golden Mean Fallacy: In King of the Monsters, The Government, and civilians like Mark Russell without the latter's more sensible side, think that humanity should be actively trying to wipe all Titans off the face of the Earth because of how destructive they are, no matter the extremes they would need to go to to accomplish this and no matter the chances of apocalyptic consequences; while the eco-terrorists, noting that humanity have done nothing but screw up the only planet they have for themselves and most other species whereas the Titans' Fertile Feet enable the Titans to do the opposite, think that accelerating the Titans' awakenings and ensuring they reclaim the world is worth terrorism and the slaughter of billions of people. Monarch, well-aware of both sides' valid points regarding the Titans and also aware of how arrogant and short-sighted both parties are in their execution, resolve to keep the Titans in containment for as long as possible and resist both parties without implementing any long-term solutions; which does nothing to stop both the extreme parties from persistently coming for Monarch and the Titans to fulfil their own agendas anyway, with apocalyptic results once the eco-terrorists awaken Ghidorah and the government's Oxygen Destroyer takes out the only Alpha Titan who was preventing Ghidorah from having absolute freedom to destroy the world on its own terms.
Good Is Not Dumb: In Godzilla (2014) and King of the Monsters, they're not regarded very highly by the government or the public because of how their top brass is actively advocating against using manmade means to try and kill all Titans in favor of treating Godzilla in particular like an ally and leaving it up to him – at best, Admiral Stenz respectfully views Monarch's brass as naïve. What the government and public don't realize until after the events of King of the Monsters is that Monarch is advocating for living alongside Titans because they're every bit the Titan experts that they're supposed to be, and they know damn well that trying to control or destroy the Titans on strictly human terms is liable to shoot our civilization in the foot rather than make anything better for anyone in the bigger picture, whereas finding ways to peacefully coexist with Titans can genuinely provide humanity with more solutions than problems.
Gunship Rescue: In King of the Monsters, a squadron of Monarch's military jets arrive in time to save the top brass and Mark Russell from being attacked by Ghidorah, firing missiles at Ghidorah to keep him distracted, until the jets pestering Ghidorah coupled with Godzilla rising back up on Ghidorah's other side prompts Ghidorah to withdraw from the scene while his storm builds up.
Hauled Before A Senate Subcommittee: In King of the Monsters, Monarch's top brass are facing tough questions from the US Government, who are growing increasingly frustrated with Monarch's lack of cooperation with their plan to wipe out the Kaiju before they awaken.
Head-in-the-Sand Management: Zig-Zagged overall.
- The military in the 2014 movie and the government and most of the public in Godzilla: King of the Monsters perceive Monarch as a straight example, because of their refusal to try killing every Titan they find on human terms and their preference to let Godzilla do his thing. In actuality, Monarch are refusing because they know that eradicating the Titans or attempting to eradicate them would shoot humanity in the foot one way or another^note. That being said, Monarch are still often highly indecisive when it comes to finding better solutions to dealing with the genuinely hostile Titans: Serizawa correctly tells Admiral Stenz that Godzilla can destroy the MUTOs for us and will then leave humanity in peace, but he fails to offer any specifics about how to minimize the collateral that that route would entail in order to convince Stenz that such a strategy doesn't equate to the military sitting on their asses while people die. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Monarch are right that The Government's plan would be tantamount to sabotaging ourselves as a civilization, but for all of Serizawa's preachings on finding coexistence, Monarch doesn't seem to be doing anything to make that ideal a reality, instead keeping the Titans contained and maintaining the status quo even while the government get closer to dissolving Monarch and enacting their plan (the Eco-Terrorist Emma Russell calls Monarch out on this).
- In Godzilla vs. Kong, the Humans Are Morons trope is in full effect, and no one in Monarch thinks to investigate Apex Cybernetics, despite the corporation's suspiciously central whereabouts in Godzilla's attacks, until it's too late (in fact, Mark Russell outright dismisses Madison's warnings about Apex out of hand) – this is downplayed in the novelization, where Mark and Director Guillerman are investigating Apex, but are still too slow to stop them completing Mechagodzilla and they still don't call off the Hollow Earth expedition which is ultimately crucial to Apex's success.
- A major plot point in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Lee Shaw views the 21st century iteration of Monarch with absolute, bitter contempt; chiding them that they had decades to prepare for a Titan emergence which could endanger thousands of lives before 2014 came, failed to contain it when it happened, and their only solution was to "let them fight" instead of actively intervening, without any contingencies available if the MUTOs had triumphed over Godzilla and threatened all of humanity. In 2015, Michelle Duvall, Tim and many others in Monarch come to agree with his point that Monarch is too passive, and that it hasn't done nearly enough after G-Day to prevent anything like that from happening again.
"Hell, Yes!" Moment: In King of the Monsters, pretty much all of them get their hopes up and start smiling a little more (or come close to smiling), once Mothra makes Monarch and the military aware that Godzilla is still alive, meaning there's still hope yet of taking their planet back from King Ghidorah before the monster wipes us all out.
Hero with Bad Publicity: At the start of King of the Monsters, the majority of the public is blaming them for the San Francisco incident, and they're consequently on trial by the government. It's implied the backlash is further influenced by Monarch's refusal to reveal what they know about the Titans or how many more there are in the world; but more than that, the government and the public have understandably adopted a "destroy all monsters" mindset in the wake of the devastation Godzilla and the MUTOs caused, and they aren't taking Monarch's arguments that attacking all the Titans is a bad idea seriously. According to the Godzilla vs. Kong novelization, Monarch apparently still have a somewhat controversial rep even after the ending of Godzilla: King of the Monsters vindicated their stance on the Titans. The guidebook of Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure states that Monarch have a mostly positive reputation, but they've been subject to controversy and endless conspiracy theories. In Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, a lot of the 2015 main cast including some of their own members have a dim view of Monarch in the aftermath of G-Day, either mistaking them for a more malevolent conspiracy than they really are (Bill Randa's grandchildren), or viewing them with utter contempt for their apparently utter uselessness at pre-emptively mitigating the damage that Titans can do.
Idiot Ball: In King of the Monsters, all of the top brass are first-hand witnesses to Ghidorah's awakening causing otherworldly lightning-storms, in Antarctica of all climates; yet when their satellites indicate that a giant moving superstorm has formed around Ghidorah as he flew northward, none of them put two and two together, assuming that Ghidorah flew into an ordinary tropical cyclone which caused their satellites to lose track of him. This leads to Monarch re-focusing their attention on the eco-terrorists and on Rodan's imminent awakening.
If It Swims, It Flies: In King of the Monsters, they have drones that can transition from submersible to aerial.
Ignored Expert: Reconstructed in Godzilla (2014), where Graham and Serizawa's advice about letting Godzilla deal with the MUTOs is somewhat speculative and sounds outright esoteric thanks to Serizawa's choice of wording, making the military's (whom are portrayed as fairly level-headed if out-of-their-depth in this movie) dismissal of Graham and Serizawa's idea come across as understandable – the fact Graham and Serizawa couldn't give a direct answer to Stenz' question about how they'd minimize civilian casualties if they let Godzilla attack the MUTOs didn't help their case. Played Straight in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), where Monarch advocate seeking ways to coexist with the Titans due to their essential role in Earth's ecology and due to the likelihood that trying to exterminate the Titans on human terms would backfire catastrophically on humanity, but the government and military only care about trying to kill all the Titans to make humanity's existence (in their eyes) easier. Ultimately, in both movies, the military going with attempting to kill the Titans causes things to go from bad to so much worse. In Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Monarch are ironically now the ones who most often do the "ignoring" part of this trope.
Jurisdiction Friction:
- In King of the Monsters. Admiral Stenz is nice about it, but besides that, the government and the military want to kill the Titans before they pose a threat to the world, and are annoyed by Monarch's unwillingness to play ball (which is due to the latter organization recognizing how misguided the government's plan is and that attempting to wipe out all the Titans would do much more harm than good). It's expanded on in the novelization, which explains how Monarch's G-Team and other hired military forces come into this.
- In the 2015 storyline of Legacy of Monsters, Monarch send an elite team into Kazakhstan off the books, in order to apprehend Lee Shaw and his group. When the Vile Vortex in Kazakhstan collapsing brings the local authorities investigating, the Monarch team get noticed and many of them get apprehended.
Just Think of the Potential!: The King of the Monsters novelization indicates Monarch are dissecting Margygr and the MUTO pair's remains at Castle Bravo for animal gene therapy purposes. Although Monarch is implied to only be interested in the Peaceful Applications version of this trope, Mark is still horrified, and despite Mark's personal bias in the matter it's easy for a Genre Savvy reader to feel he's probably right to be wary.
Kirk Summation: During Emma Russell's Motive Rant about their plan to bring about human-Titan coexistence via radical eco-terrorism, the Monarch brass all take turns calling Emma out over the course of the speech; pointing out Emma is risking severe damage to the world, meddling with forces beyond comprehension or control, and gambling with the lives of billions of people.
Let's You and Him Fight: Serizawa is the main proponent, but by the third act of King of the Monsters, all of the key brass have recognized that letting Godzilla or Kong neutralize hostile Titans, and even lending them as much of a helping hand as humanity's arsenals can, is generally the best option.
Mass "Oh, Crap!": The top Monarch brass and the G-Team have a couple in King of the Monsters:
- When Stanton reports that Godzilla is headed towards, and Jonah and the ORCA are likely in, Antarctica – a.k.a. the place housing the only other Titan on Earth in Godzilla's weight class – all of them go deathly-silent and a little pale-faced.
- All of them seem to almost forget about everything else and leave their grounded Osprey to look on with uncertain dread when Ghidorah fully awakens. And then when Ghidorah starts smashing things with his sheer weight, they all sprint back on the Osprey, hoping to get the hell out of dodge.
Matching Bad Guy Vehicles: In Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Monarch tend to drive matching black ground vehicles, although it should be noted that Monarch in the series are a case of Good Versus Good at best, Hanlon's Razor at worst.
Meaningful Name: The organization’s name is a gender-neutral term for “ruler”, honoring Godzilla’s moniker as “King of the Monsters”. It’s also the name of a species of butterfly, honoring Mothra. Their sigil also reflects this- it can be interpreted as a highly stylized depiction of either a crown or a pair of outstretched lepidopteran wings.
Multinational Team: For a multinational coalition this trope is usually downplayed or averted, with the organization mostly consisting of Americans. King of the Monsters in particular plays this trope nearly straight: Monarch's scientific top brass in this movie consists of an Englishwoman (Vivienne Graham), a Japanese man (Ishirō Serizawa), a Chinese woman (Ilene Chen) and two Americans (one if we exclude Emma Russell and solely count Rick Stanton).
Nuclear Option: In King of the Monsters, they deliver a nuclear warhead to Godzilla in the Hollow Earth and manually detonate it to massively speed up his Healing Factor so he can defeat King Ghidorah.
Oddly Small Organization: In King of the Monsters, Monarch's G-Team don't seem to consist of more than a dozen or two dozen members, with few new soldiers appearing after the G-Team's assault force in Antarctica, which gets whittled down to four. This seems especially egregious for a major global organization like Monarch. With the rest of Monarch's staff, however, this trope is averted across the overall MonsterVerse, with many different scientists, teams, operatives and elite officials whom seemingly have no contact with each-other showing up.
Oppose What You Suffered: In Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Michelle Duvall observes that some of Monarch's operatives joined the organization because they lost people they loved in Titan emergences and are opposed to the same tragedy happening to anyone else.
Poor Communication Kills: A recurring problem is how they handle things, which causes people to get some doubt about them, including their own families.
- In the first film, they might've been able to avoid or mitigate what was coming if they had talked to Joe instead of sticking him in a room for interrogation.
- Certain members have a really poor communication with their military escorts and/or organizations they work for. For example, Bill Randa didn't fully explain what was the purpose for heading to Skull Island, and it causes Packard to see Kong as an enemy.
- In King of the Monsters, it's implied that Monarch's refusal to share more of what they know about the Titans with the government or public is exacerbating the latter two groups' distrust in the organization and the public's calls for Monarch to be shut down.
Private Military Contractors: According to the Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure sourcebook, Monarch hire contractors and mercenaries among their staff stationed on Skull Island.
Properly Paranoid: They are seen as dumbasses in-universe by the government, but their reluctance to attempt to kill the Titans is defensible since human weapons are practically useless against Kaiju, with prior attempts at such, including Monarch's own attempt to kill the male MUTO in its chrysalis, failing utterly; the only times humanity has successfully killed Kaiju required the help of another Kaiju (namely, Godzilla and Kong). Even Mark Russell, who genuinely wants to be rid of them, isn't so stupid as to think humans should pick a fight with the Titans unless they know they can win it. And that's not even getting into the fact The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right nor the other Fridge Horror of the government's Gotta Kill 'Em All plan.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: In King of the Monsters, Emma Russell declares to Monarch their current way of managing the Titans is no less full of risks and dangers that affect everyone on the planet than Emma's Well-Intentioned Extremist plan; in light of the threat of the government taking over Monarch so it can see the Titans (which Monarch all but knows are essential to the planet's ecological balance) killed in their sleep. In fairness, she really has a point there, since compared to her idea of dealing with the problem, Monarch's maintain-the-status-quo response amounts to burying their heads in the sand and hoping nothing will be wrong when they lift them back out.
Revolutionaries Who Don't Do Anything: Downplayed. In King of the Monsters, Monarch are advocating – much to the public's ire – that humanity find ways to cohabit on the planet with Titans instead of trying to exterminate all of them since it's mankind's best shot at survival, whereas the alternatives might actually be more trouble than they're worth in the end. The U.S. Senate, however, don't care to listen to what Monarch is saying at the hearings. And beyond Monarch's private experiments to positively manipulate the Titans' behavior with the ORCA... the organization's board are content to just sit around, make bets on whether Mothra is a good or bad Titan, and let whatever will happen with the government's plans happen. Emma directly calls Serizawa out on Monarch's inaction under his leadership, and nobody has a direct counter-argument. Monarch are also called out by multiple characters in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, including one of their founding members, for not being proactive and pre-emptive enough about combating future Titan threats.
Roswell That Ends Well: They apparently have a base in Roswell, or at least that's what Bernie believes in Godzilla vs. Kong.
Spy Satellites: They own a number of satellites, which they use to scan the world for gamma ray spikes that are actually coming from Vile Vortices in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
Taught by Experience: In the Godzilla vs. Kong novelization, it's confirmed that during the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, several of Monarch's Titan-holding outposts triggered their kill switches when the Titans awakened, but the termination safeguards failed to stop them due to the creatures' Adaptive Ability. A survivor from one of the outposts notes that Monarch was conceited to believe such measures would be enough against the Titans, and the fallout led to them subsequently seeking alternate ways to somewhat contain the Titans, such as the successful tranquillizer used on Kong.
The Team: The key Monarch brass in King of the Monsters are presented as a quirky and relatively close-knit group of scientific think tanks who tackle the world-threatening problem of the movie together. Although all of them except Foster are scientists, they, for the most part, specialize in different fields (mythology for Dr. Chen, zoology for Emma Russell, bio-acoustics detection for Dr. Stanton, etc.).
Too Dumb to Live: In King of the Monsters, their jet escort continues to open fire on Rodan whilst luring him towards Ghidorah's typhoon, even when it's clear their weapons are no match for him.
The World Is Not Ready: The reason why, despite possessing the technology necessary to awaken them, they have kept the Titans in hibernation and away from the public eye. Much as they might admire them, they know firsthand the destruction they are capable of, the inability of humanity to control them, the difficulties in discerning which species of Titan are benevolent and to what degree, the risks involved in somehow accidentally invoking their wrath and in particular the terror and insecurity knowledge of the Titans' existence produces in ordinary people, as seen by the fact that the government wants to kill them all off and many members of the public want them to do so. Indeed, Monarch are very upset to learn that Emma Russell's plan to save the world is to just let all the Titans out, warning her that it's too great a risk to take.
The World's Expert (on Getting Killed): They're the world's top experts on Titans, genuinely knowing their stuff when it comes to predicting the creatures' behavior and understanding their roles in the world, but whenever any Titan other than Godzilla, Mothra or Kong is on a physical collision course with Monarch, you can practically guarantee that Monarch are in for a slaughter. In the 2014 movie, Monarch's attempt to kill Hokmuto just before he hatches from his pupa fails, and all but two of Monarch's top staff at the containment site are subsequently killed in the ensuing havoc. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the awakened Titans Ghidorah and Rodan make a show out of slaughtering Monarch's elite military teams, and lots of Monarch scientists implicitly die in droves when the dozen-plus contained Titans break out of Monarch's containment facilities and try to kill all humans in Ghidorah's name (although Monarch's top thinktank leaders survive to the movie's end). According to the Godzilla vs. Kong novelization, more than half of Monarch's total staff perished during the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
The Xenophile: The majority of their staff admire and are fascinated by the Titans they study; to the point that several of them are outright Married to the Job according to supplementary material, with both the Monarch-employed generations of the Serizawa lineage prioritizing their work over time with their family. Unfortunately, this also means that when Monarch attempts to talk the military out of trying to kill the Titans on strictly human terms, they're erroneously dismissed as being too fascinated by the creatures, with devastating consequences.
Zombie Advocate: Somewhat downplayed in that Monarch doesn't humanize the Titans as people but as wild animals instead of the monstrous freaks of nature that most of the world initially see them as. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Monarch is in a legal battle with the government to stop the latter from having the military take over Monarch's jurisdiction and indiscriminately attempt to exterminate the Titans, due to Monarch's beliefs (vindicated by the movie's end) that the Titans overall are ecologically essentially to mankind's long-term survival and that beneficial coexistence with the creatures is possible. Unfortunately, tensions with the government are running high at the movie's start since most of the public support the government's anti-Titan agenda. Although the MonsterVerse mostly leans towards the positive take on this trope, the negative take is slightly Played With: whilst Monarch are ultimately right about the Titans' benefits and about how humanity trying to get rid of them is much more trouble than it's worth, still, many of Monarch's number are massacred when King Ghidorah awakens the Titans and makes them behave with active hostility towards mankind (the Godzilla vs. Kong novelization states Monarch lost more than half its total staff amid Ghidorah's rampage).

Top Brass

Dr. Ishirō Serizawa

See here.

Dr. Vivienne Graham

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/viviennegraham.jpg

"The top of the primordial ecosystem. A god, for all intents and purposes."

"The organization we work for, Monarch, was established in the wake of this discovery. A multinational coalition formed in secrecy to search for him. Study him. Learn everything we could."

Portrayed By: Sally Hawkins

Appears In: Godzilla | Godzilla Aftershock | Godzilla: King of the Monsters

A senior paleozoologist, and Dr. Ishirō Serizawa's close protégé and assistant. She's also in charge of Monarch's top-secret containment site Outpost 32, monitoring the frozen, three-headed Alpha Titan Monster Zero.

All There in the Manual: The movies largely make her out to be a Satellite Character with barely any independent personality, and much about her real personality and characterization is confined to supplementary materials (the movie novelizations, the Godzilla: Aftershock graphic novel, the Monarch Sciences website).
Beware the Quiet Ones: Subtly implied in the 2014 movie. She's slightly more soft-spoken and timid-seeming than Serizawa, but if you look closely at her body language after Admiral Stenz silently sends her out of the room with a patronizing glare after the admiral has decided to try nuking the Kaiju, it looks like she's fuming with outrage.
Brainy Brunette: A dark-haired top Monarch scientist with a somewhat petite physique and an Oxford PhD who is the protégé of Serizawa himself.
Death by Irony: As if a Xenophile getting killed by one of the Titans she's so fascinated by isn't enough of this trope on its own; supplementary materials reveal Dr. Graham was the Monarch operative placed in charge of Outpost 32 where Ghidorah, the Titan who kills her upon being freed, was contained. With how deliberate Ghidorah's middle head's attack on Graham was, one can be forgiven for thinking it's as if Ghidorah knew she was responsible for building the outpost around his prison and deliberately targeted her out of spite.
Disappeared Dad: Her Monarch Sciences profile reveals her biological father died before she was born, and Serizawa is something of a Parental Substitute to her.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: She returns in Godzilla: King of the Monsters alongside Serizawa as one of the main cast, then during the first 1/3 of the movie, she's devoured whole by Ichi (Ghidorah's middle head). Specifically, whilst Dr. Graham is running across the Antarctic ice amidst Godzilla and Ghidorah's first battle, her looking up and screaming is literally all the warning the audience gets before Ichi suddenly snaps his jaws shut around her, and the scene's dim lighting meant that some viewers didn't realize straight away that Sally Hawkins was the character Ghidorah just ate.
Elite School Means Elite Brain: She's a Ms. Exposition who is considered Dr. Serizawa's equal (which is no small achievement), and her Monarch Sciences bio says that she attended the University of Oxford, which is ranked as one of the best universities in the world as well as one of the oldest that is still in operation.
Expositing the Masquerade: In the 2014 movie, she and Dr. Serizawa give Ford Brody a summarized rundown on Monarch, Godzilla, and the MUTO after the bewildered lieutenant's first-hand experience of the male MUTO's containment breach at Janjira.
Flat Character: The full extent of her personality on the big screen is that she's slightly timider and less stoic than Serizawa, and everything else about her is identical to Serizawa's own personality except without his compelling backstory of having been in the Hiroshima bombing. Supplementary materials however do more to rectify this and flesh Dr. Graham out more.
Forgotten Fallen Friend: Downplayed in Godzilla: King of the Monsters – after she's killed by Ghidorah, in the next scene which is apparently set several hours later, Serizawa is shown visibly mourning her death in front of a monitor listing her newly-deceased status; but apart from that, neither Serizawa nor anyone else among the main cast ever mentions her again, which stands in contrast to Dr. Chen's "For Serizawa" line at the Final Battle. Averted altogether in the novelization of the movie, where Serizawa (for the short remainder of his life), Mark and Coleman all continue dwelling on Vivienne's death; and in the novelization of Godzilla vs. Kong, where Vivienne is mentally listed by Mark as one of three casualties of note alongside Serizawa and Emma Russell.
Hauled Before a Senate Subcommittee: In the second film, she, Serizawa and Stenz are summoned to a Senate meeting, where the former two argue in defence of Monarch despite the lead senator's evident lack of sympathy. It ends with Graham and Serizawa walking out before the hearing is adjourned due to an important phone call. TV footage at the start of the film implies she's been attending these hearings for years following the events of 2014.
Heroic Sacrifice: During the Antarctica battle, Dr. Graham stays behind in the downed Osprey to help Mark when the latter gets trapped under debris whilst everyone else is already evacuating. Though she saves Mark's life, fleeing the Osprey a while after everyone else leaves the two of them vulnerable to being noticed by Ghidorah, and Ichi promptly eats Graham alive.
Honorary Aunt: The King of the Monsters novelization states she's regarded by Madison Russell as being almost an aunt figure, not least due to the stability she provided amidst Madison's parents' divorce. Poetically, Godzilla: Aftershock reveals she was also close to Emma before the latter's betrayal which ultimately gets Vivienne killed.
It Was a Gift: A posthumous case. A scene in the King of the Monsters novelization reveals that one of her possessions in her room at Castle Bravo is a Yapese pendant depicting Godzilla, which Serizawa himself gifted to her.
Jumped at the Call: Her Monarch Sciences profile indicates that when Serizawa first offered her a position in Monarch, Graham, being a lifelong dinosaur and fossil enthusiast, jumped at the chance to study living prehistoric creatures.
Kids Love Dinosaurs: Her Monarch bio says that as a child, she slipped away during a school field trip at a museum to explore the fossils and artefacts for herself, and she wasn't found until the following evening, asleep at the foot of a Brontosaurus skeleton.
Like a Daughter to Me: According to the Manual, this was the nature of her close relationship with Serizawa.
Like Father, Like Daughter: Her passion for dinosaurs and paleobiology is a trait she shares with her deceased biological father.
Married to the Job: According to the King of the Monsters novelization, none of her few romances have ever lasted because she's too committed to her Monarch work, a trait she bonded with Serizawa over.
Ms. Exposition: Across her appearances, she provides a lot of exposition and information, from Expositing the Masquerade and expositing about the MUTOs in the 2014 movie, to expositing about the Phoenician tablets describing Jinshin-Mushi and Monarch's limited knowledge of the then-frozen Monster Zero.
Nerd Glasses: Not in the movies, but in Godzilla Aftershock, she's shown to have a thin-rimmed pair of large, oval-shaped glasses.
Nice Girl: Godzilla: King of the Monsters and its supplementary materials show that Graham was close friends to both Emma and Madison Russell, and she was also good at getting Mark to slightly open up. Serizawa meanwhile considers her the most compassionate person he ever knew. That being said, shots from both her movie appearances subtly show that while Graham isn't outspoken about it more than necessary, she doesn't think much of foolishness, such as when Admiral Stenz decides to nuke Godzilla and the MUTOs, or when she's forced to listen to Mark's ranting in the Castle Bravo briefing room.
No One Gets Left Behind: In King of the Monsters, when the Monarch brass's Osprey is knocked into a crevasse and could topple inside at any moment, and with Godzilla and Ghidorah's catastrophic battle raging around them; Graham stays behind to free Mark of some debris that's pinning him down whilst everyone else is already running for their lives.
Nuclear Weapons Taboo: She's appalled when Admiral Stenz and Captain Hampton are actually planning to try neutralizing the rampant Kaiju by nuking them, calling it crazy. She points out the creatures feed on radiation, and when one combines this with the fact the Bikini Atoll bombings failed to kill even one of the Kaiju, it's very understandable why Graham is so appalled the military would think trying to nuke three Kaiju at once is in any way a remotely good idea.
Number Two: She's Dr. Serizawa's close assistant and protégé and one of the post-2014 Monarch top brass, who is almost always seen by her mentor's side.
Sacrificial Lion: King of the Monsters director Mike Dougherty says she was killed off in the first 45 minutes of the movie with the intention of establishing Ghidorah's thoroughly evil nature in contrast to other antagonists.
Satellite Character: In the movies, she largely just seems like an extension of Dr. Serizawa, with minimal personality or agency of her own on the big screen, and she's almost never seen without her mentor. Supplementary materials however largely avert this trope, doing more to flesh her out.
Say My Name: In King of the Monsters, she screams Mark's name in distress when he's pinned by a collapsing section of ceiling in the downed Osprey.
Spell My Name With An S: In Godzilla Aftershock, her name is misspelled as Vivian.
Student–Master Team: She's Dr. Serizawa's closest friend and confidante despite being three decades younger than him. Supplementary materials reveal she began her career in Monarch as Serizawa's apprentice, and they gradually grew into scientific equals. The King of the Monsters novelization describes her as Serizawa's protégé.
Surprisingly Sudden Death: The only warning before Ghidorah chomps her is her looking up and screaming. She's eaten so quickly in a scene with such low visibility, some viewers didn't know right away that it was Sally Hawkins' character Ghidorah just ate, and they required the sight of Serizawa mourning in front of a monitor listing Vivienne as "Deceased" to clue them in.
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: She's killed off less than a third of the way through the run time of the second movie she appears in.
Swallowed Whole: Ghidorah's middle head snaps his jaws shut around her and eats her whole in Antarctica.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She doesn't seem to be happy about working with Admiral Stenz and the military once they start making stupid-ass decisions – she subtly appears to be fuming when Stenz silently tells her to clear the room with a patronizing glare after he settles on nuking the Kaiju, and after the nuke is stolen by the MUTOs, her body language in the background in her next scene indicates she's very dismayed at what's come of the military's folly which she and Serizawa advised against.
This Cannot Be!: In the 2014 film, she reacts with disbelieving horror and says it's impossible the moment she and Serizawa realize that the second MUTO egg, which they were certain was completely inert, has awakened.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Supplementary materials describe her as a Nice Girl and the most compassionate person Dr. Serizawa ever knew. Whilst she survives the events of the 2014 movie, she's not so lucky King of the Monsters, being spotted and brutally eaten by Ghidorah 1/3 into the movie's runtime. For bonus points, the much more cynical, dysfunctional and Hot-Blooded Mark Russell could have easily been killed instead of her if things had gone even slightly differently at that moment – as it stands, Mark survives the events of both Godzilla: King of the Monsters and the next movie, and he consistently never changes into a better person.
Two First Names: Her last name is also commonly a first name.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Despite being in two movies, she was something of a Satellite Character to Dr. Serizawa with very little character of her own before her untimely demise at Ghidorah's hand (mouth?). Her characterization is expanded on in supplementary materials.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Downplayed. Admiral Stenz regards her and Serizawa as a straight example of this trope because of their overt admiration of Godzilla. In reality, Graham and Serizawa are under no illusions about how dangerous some of the Kaiju they study are, and their advice against nuking the creatures and about Godzilla being key to humanity's survival is NOT stupidity. That being said, the 2014 movie's novelization shows Graham isn't as stoic, grim, or critical of human intervention in nature as Serizawa is before the male MUTO's hatching.
The Xenophile: Has a quasi-religious attitude towards Godzilla in particular, even calling him "a god, for all intents and purposes." Admiral Stenz understandably considers her naïve for this.
You're Insane!: A variation. She's horrified by the fact the military is actually naïve enough to think dropping a nuke on three Kaiju – creatures which feed on radiation and survived the Bikini Atoll tests – is anything other than a suicidally-stupid idea, to the point of exclaiming at Admiral Stenz and Captain Hampton, "This is crazy!"

Deputy Director Natalia Verdugo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monarch_photo_010711.jpg

Portrayed By: Mirelly Taylor

Appears In: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Michelle Duvall's superior, and one of Monarch's head honchos in the aftermath of G-Day in 2015.

Always Second Best: She's implied to be ambitious and resentful over only being deputy director of Monarch, based on her and Lee's wordplay.
Anti-Hero Substitute: She fills in for Drs. Serizawa and Graham in the series as the head of Monarch's global operations who is involved in the series' plot, and she's a mirror to everything Serizawa stood for. Serizawa at least knows when to listen to his experts when they tell him about things he needs to know: Verdugo goes for the opposite direction. While she'll listen to her experts over gamma signals, she immediately dismisses any possibility of a Hollow Earth. Whereas Serizawa cares about multiple lives, including those working under him, Verdugo dismisses the possibility of someone trying to send out a distress call, which drives Tim to his breaking point and leads him to quit Monarch. Whereas scientists and soldiers who work under Serizawa are loyal to him, Verdugo ends up driving people that were loyal to her away, and they decide to break off from the organization.
Blue Is Heroic: Downplayed. She wears a blue jacket in "The Way Out", and although she means well, she's established to be a flawed individual and is implied in this episode to be vain, with the series calling her effectualness into question.
Deal with the Devil: Tim convinces her to make a deal with Brenda Holland of Applied Experimental Technologies (currently being rebranded Apex Cybernetics) in order to free May, who'd been abducted and blackmailed by them. The deal gets May out of her legal trouble with AET at the price of enabling AET/Apex to gain some lucrative influence with Monarch for future use.
Failure Hero: Slightly downplayed. She means well, but in the end, she doesn't accomplish anything in the bigger picture which aids Monarch for the better (which is ironic given her outlook). She ends up alienating Cate and Kentaro from Monarch even more than they already are, making a deal with Apex Cybernetics (albeit only under pressure from Cate) which might have aided their Corporate Conspiracy which leads to Mechagodzilla's rampage in 2024, and driving Tim away from Monarch entirely and driving him, along with the entire Randa family and May, into Apex's hands.
Head-in-the-Sand Management: Tim certainly comes to view her as such by the end of the show's first season. Over the course of the 2015 storyline, multiple characters disparage Monarch under her deputy leadership for seemingly having skewed priorities about the threat of Titans after the tragedy of G-Day, like not doing anything about the homicidal Frost Vark in the Alaskan wilderness. In "Beyond Logic", she refuses to do anything to help the people trapped in the Axis Mundi beyond the Vile Vortices because she's still antsy about the pressure on the Vile Vortices, which has already started calming back down — this is the last straw which leads Tim to quit Monarch.
Mean Boss: She's a cold, stern and job-obsessed higher-up who appears professional (despite her ambitious resentment at being second-best), but she sorely lacks Serizawa's charisma, and after she first catches wind of Tim's unauthorized venture to Tokyo for Bill Randa's files, for the rest of the series, she can't go five minutes around him without at best saying next to nothing positive, or at worst threatening to suspend him. Showing her subordinates praise doesn't seem to be her biggest talent, while being acidic and dismissive comes to her like breathing. It doesn't do her any favors in the lead-up to Tim dismissing her as a Pointy-Haired Boss for her questionable conduct and quitting Monarch.
The Needs of the Many: In "Beyond Logic", she refuses to pool any resources into investigating the distress call originating from the Hollow Earth because she's focused on getting Monarch operational and protecting humanity at large from a possible imminent wave of Titan events, much to Tim's consternation.
Pet the Dog: The one time when she isn't being cold, belligerent or downright acidic is when she takes the time to personally wait at a hospitalized Kentaro's beside with Tim for him to wake up, and when he does, she's sympathetic as she fills him in on his half-sister and friends' apparent deaths.
Pointy-Haired Boss: Shaw blatantly considers her one, and he's not wrong that she tends to focus more on human problems than on pre-emptively preparing the world for future Titan problems, even in the wake of the devastation wrought during G-Day. At the end of the series, Tim comes around to Shaw's view, and he tells Verdugo to her face that Shaw might have been right about Monarch, but he was definitely right about her.
Smug Snake: Though she raises valid points many times, she's not as smart or capable as she thinks she is — her interrogation of Lee, which starts with her feeling she's in complete control and can afford to play the good cop, turns into a Hannibal Lecture with Lee getting under her skin and ending up the victor. By the end of the series, Verdugo's decisions and conduct have driven multiple characters that were once loyal to her away from Monarch into the hands of more proactive-seeming but dangerous groups and organizations, like Shaw's Renegade Splinter Faction and the much more malignant Apex Cybernetics.
Tranquil Fury: She almost never raises her voice above a whisper nor does she physically lash out, even when she's simmering with anger (which is very often), such as when she realizes Tim has triggered a citywide Titan evacuation drill as a fire alarm distraction or when Tim tells her to her face that she's lived down to everything Shaw said Monarch was.

Dr. Ilene Chen

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ilene_chen.jpg

"Myth is our compass."

"Slaying dragons is a Western concept. In the East, they are sacred. Divine creatures who brought wisdom, strength. Even redemption."

Portrayed By: Zhang Ziyi

Appears In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

A senior mythologist and the head of Titan Research and Containment.

Adaptational Mundanity: She and her sister Ling are ultimately an adaptation of the Shobijin from the original Mothra movie and Toho's other Mothra-featuring movies, but instead of being miniature fairies from an unspoiled mystical island, they're humans whose family have worshipped Mothra for generations and have an odd history of Hereditary Twinhood, and who show non-explicit signs of sharing a Psychic Link to their lineage's goddess.
All Myths Are True: She firmly believes "myth is our compass" which can teach mankind how to mend our strained connections with nature and better cohabit the planet with Titans. She almost quotes the trope ad verbatim when she witnesses the Hollow Earth ruins' Titan-worshipping iconography.
Always Identical Twins: Not only does she have an identical twin sister who is distinguishable only by her hair, she has identical twin daughters, and her family has an uncanny history of female Hereditary Twinhood in every generation.
Ambiguously Absent Parent: Ilene's maternal family and female relatives are expanded upon, being a family descended from Mothra's ancient worshippers, who seem to consist solely of sets of identical twin girls in every generation. On the other hand, her and Ling's father, their grandfathers, and the father of Ilene's own daughters are all completely unknown, and they're conspicuously absent from the Chen family picture which only shows the female relatives; in a gender inversion of Lineage Comes from the Father.
And This Is for...: A variation. When Godzilla, Mothra and the US Air Force arrive in Boston for the Final Battle, looking to take their planet back from King Ghidorah, Ilene says "For Serizawa" (who gave his life in a Heroic Sacrifice beforehand) before the Argo fires on Ghidorah to disorient him.
Appeal to Familial Wisdom: She quotes a lesson that her mother used to teach her, "myth is our compass"; using it to explain why she looks to mythology as a guide on understanding the Titans. Ilene and her mother both believed that understanding the Titans through analyzing ancient peoples' recordings on them is the key to finding coexistence with them and mending mankind's relationship with nature.
Asian and Nerdy: A Chinese woman who is Monarch's chief mythographer, as well as a Ms. Exposition. For extra points, being a Monarch mythographer is an occupation which has run in her family since her grandmother and great-aunt's generation.
Canon Character All Along: A subtle example. It turns out roughly halfway through the film when her twin sister Ling is introduced, and when Ilene afterwards shows Mark pictures of her family who uncannily consist of sets of identical twins, that Ilene and her sister are an adaptation of the Shobijin. This is further downplayed in the novelization, where Ling is introduced earlier on than in the film.
Convenient Replacement Character: Played With. She makes her first (movie) appearance in the same movie where Dr. Graham is killed off (and in its prequel tie-in graphic novel), and she takes over Graham's role as the non-American, female Monarch scientist who reveres and exposits about the Titans.
Death Glare: When Mark makes a rude snip at her about Monarch's failure to make adequate preparations for a Titan mass awakening such as the eco-terrorists are trying to instigate, Ilene can only glare silently at him.
Doing Research: After Godzilla is seemingly killed and Ghidorah usurps Godzilla's dominance of the other Titans, Ilene delves into mythological research to work out Ghidorah's true nature, discovering by piecing texts together that Ghidorah is apparently an extraterrestrial invasive species rather than an Earth-native Titan.
Elite School Means Elite Brain: She's Monarch's top mythographer, and her bio says that she attended Tsinghua University, which has been consistently ranked as one of the best universities in the world.
Friendly Rivalry: With Rick Stanton concerning matters like Mothra's moral alignment and the Hollow Earth theory.
Hereditary Twinhood: She not only has a twin sister, but also identical twin daughters, and her mother and aunt are identical twins as are her grandmother and great-aunt. It's heavily implied this has something to do with their family's generations-spanning Psychic Link to Mothra, and Word of God confirms it's meant to set the Chens up as the MonsterVerse incarnation of the Shobijin.invoked
Heroic Lineage: She and her twin sister are both third-generation Monarch operatives in their family, after their mother and grandmother Mei before them; and their family is noted for making some of mankind's greatest evolutionary discoveries. Furthermore, the novelization outright confirms the Chens are descended from a lineage of Mothra-worshipping priestesses and have kept the stories about their goddess alive into the modern day.
Identical Grandson: She shows some pictures of her family at one point, chronicling their history with Monarch. Not only does she have an identical twin sister, but her daughters, mother/aunt and grandmother/great aunt are also identical twins.
Lineage Comes from the Father: Gender-Inverted. Her mother and grandmother were all Monarch operatives before her, and it's furthermore implied that they're all descended from Mothra-worshipping priestesses; whilst Ilene's father (and her own daughters' father and her mother and aunt's father) are all ambiguously absent.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The movie drops some subtle hints that she and her sister Ling have a Psychic Link to Mothra due to being an Adaptational Mundanity take on the Shobijin, but there's nothing solid to confirm this. It also seems pretty uncanny that at least four generations of their family (explicitly confirmed in the novelization to be descended from a lineage of Mothra-worshipping priestesses) have consisted of identical female twins. Is this all due to Mothra's influence or just a coincidence? The novelization explicitly all but confirms without a doubt that Ling does indeed have a telepathic link to Mothra.
Ms. Exposition: Justified given her role as Monarch's senior mythologist. She knows a lot about the monsters and provides information on them (particularly from a mythographic standpoint), taking over Dr. Graham's role of expositing on twists and reveals about the creatures after Graham's death.
Mythology Gag: That Ilene has a twin sister who is present during Mothra coming out of her cocoon might be a shout out to the "Shobijin" twins from previous Mothra films. Michael Dougherty has said in an interview that this was intentional, and that Ilene and her twin are very much the Shobijin — something made more explicit in the novelization. Further, there was a planned credits scene where the adult twins would enter a temple where Ilene's five-year-old twin daughters would be singing to the new Mothra egg mentioned in the credits.invoked
Precision F-Strike: After Emma Russell finishes giving Mark and Monarch her manifesto for releasing the Titans to "save the world", there's a moment of silence before Ilene breaks it with her timeless delivery.
"That bitch!"
Sore Loser: Downplayed, but her hilarious response to Rick being proven right about the Hollow Earth is three sore words:
"Shut up, Rick."
Visual Pun: For the role, Zhang Ziyi wears her hair very short, in what is sometimes known as a "Pixie Cut." It's an allusion to the Shobijin, Mothra's heralds in the Toho movies, whom Ilene and her family are based on. You know, because a "pixie" is a kind of fairy.

Dr. Ling Chen

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monsterversedrling.jpg

...

Portrayed By: Zhang Ziyi

Appears In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

The twin sister of Dr. Ilene Chen.

Adaptational Mundanity: Alongside her sister. See the above folder for details.
Always Identical Twins: See Ilene's folder for details.
Ambiguously Absent Parent: See Ilene's folder for details.
First-Name Basis: She's referred to as Dr. Ling instead of Dr. Chen, likely to distinguish her from her sister.
Flat Character: She's a One-Scene Wonder in the movie proper, and despite getting an extra scene in the novelization, she doesn't display much of a personality that's distinct from her sister.
Heroic Lineage: Like her sister, she is a third-generation Monarch operative and she's descended from an ancient lineage of Mothra-worshipping priestesses.
Identical Grandson: She and her sister are identical twins like their mother, aunt, grandmother, great-aunt, etc.
Identical Twin ID Tag: Her hair is much longer than her sister's and it's done up in a Motherly Side Plait - rather appropriate for the twin who gets to witness Mothra's rebirth.
Lineage Comes from the Father: Gender-Inverted. See her sister's folder above for details.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: See Ilene's folder for details.
The Voiceless: She doesn't say a word during her single appearance onscreen, notably even when Dr. Brooks is calling out for her attention. She would've had a speaking role in a deleted post-credits scene that was storyboarded but ultimately wasn't used.

Dr. Rick Stanton

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bradley_whitford_godzilla.jpg

"Oh, yeah, sure. Let's bring him in for a beer. You out of your goddamn mind?!"

Portrayed By: Bradley Whitford

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Monarch's crypto-sonographer, early warning specialist and resident cynic.

Agent Mulder: He openly believes in Dr. Brooks' Hollow Earth theory, something even the other Monarch top brass around him such as Dr. Chen are clearly sceptical of, and he seems to be somewhat alienated because of it before he's proven right. His Monarch Sciences profile also reveals he was a member of SETI before joining Monarch.
The Alcoholic: Implied. He has a coffee mug with the label "NOT YOURS" and he carries around a flask.
Bearer of Bad News: Throughout the film, he reports unfortunate and negative turns of events to the rest of the cast. Notably examples include telling everyone that they've lost track of Godzilla (apologetically saying in advance that he hates to crash the party), and solemnly reporting Godzilla's apparent death after the Oxygen Destroyer's blast which has, in turn, left Ghidorah free to take Godzilla's office.
Captain Ersatz: According to Word of God, the character is loosely based on Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty.invoked
Comical Coffee Cup: In his first scene, he's drinking from a mug with a label saying "NOT YOURS" taped on the side.
Communications Officer: He has shades of this when most of The Team's members are gathered on the Argo's bridge; being the one who tries to track the eco-terrorists' video call, who remotely discovers that the Argo's hangar doors are jammed, and who receives and screens Admiral Stenz' video call, all from his work-station.
The Cuckoolander Was Right: He's regarded as the Covert Group's equivalent to a conspiracy theorist for espousing Dr. Brooks' theory about the Hollow Earth, which even the rest of the top brass think is just silly. He's quite ecstatic to be proven right.
The Cynic: A highly sarcastic man, Stanton at the start of the movie doesn't have positive expectations of the Titans, even if he isn't near-frothing with rage at them like Mark is, and he furthermore seems to lack The Government's fixation on exterminating the Titans and overconfidence that they can succeed. After Mothra cocoons, he bets against Chen that the imago form will be violent once it comes out, he expresses reservations about Castle Bravo exposing themselves to an agitated Godzilla in an attempt to calm the latter down and later about launching a nuke at Godzilla to revive him even with King Ghidorah destroying the world in Godzilla's absence, and he makes it clear during the shared Kirk Summation against Emma Russell that he believes the Titans awakening will result in nothing but "a dead, charred world overrun by monsters" regardless of Monarch's initial findings about the creatures' Fertile Feet. He's also often the Bearer of Bad News. He seems to get slightly more optimistic by the movie's end after Godzilla's victory against Ghidorah and the confirmation that Godzilla is on humanity's side, with the Creative Closing Credits describing the aftermath further confirming his initial expectations of the Titans were wrong.
Deadpan Snarker: Rick responds to just about everything with a sarcastic quip. He calls King Ghidorah "Moe, Larry and Curly", and he jokes that he wants kids who won't have flippers from the radiation in Godzilla's lair.
Elite School Means Elite Brain: He's Monarch's top crypto-sonographer, in charge of monitoring acoustics to track Godzilla worldwide, and his Monarch Sciences bio says that he graduated from the University of Michigan; a university which is ranked prestigiously and is compared to the Ivy League.
Exact Time to Failure: He counts down the time to Godzilla going thermonuclear during the Final Battle.
Friendly Rivalry: Played With. He seems to have a bit of a rivalry with Dr. Chen. They bet over whether or not Mothra will prove to be aggressive in her imago form; and Stanton is quite happy to be proven right about the Hollow Earth being real (a theory which Dr. Chen was visibly exasperated hearing him talk about earlier), rubbing it in a sore Dr. Chen's face.
Functional Addict: Downplayed. He's implied to be The Alcoholic who has no issue drinking on the job, yet he constantly appears functional and relatively sound-minded.
Gadgeteer Genius: He's in charge of using Monarch's satellites and bio-acoustics to monitor Titans' global passages. His profile on the official Monarch site reveals that he was previously a SETI communications engineer and a Landsat satellite-mapping technician.
Glad He's On Our Side: He quotes the trope nearly ad verbatim after watching Godzilla unlock his Burning mode and violently obliterate King Ghidorah piece-by-piece.
Insufferable Genius: He's very acerbic, cynical and bitterly sarcastic, but he's a very smart guy who's good at tracking the Titans' bio-acoustics.
It Has Been an Honor: Inverted. Rick says this almost ad verbatim to Serizawa before the latter departs to make a Heroic Suicide.
I've Never Seen Anything Like This Before: He says this almost word-for-word when commenting on Ghidorah's Hydra Problem-level Healing Factor, saying it "violates everything we know about the natural order" even by Titans' standards.
Jumped at the Call: His Monarch Sciences bio says that joining Monarch and studying real-life Kaiju sounded like a "dream job opportunity" to him when Serizawa first offered him a job, not least due to Rick's previous work for SETI and interest in the rumors about Skull Island.
Knew It All Along: He's not exactly humble when his theory about how Godzilla is able to travel around the world so fast is proven correct.
Married to the Job: His profile explicitly says that his work for Monarch has taken a toll on his personal life and led to three divorces; he's truly happier in a relationship with his job than with any actual woman.
The Medic: Downplayed. Although it apparently isn't his official job, Stanton takes on the role of a medic when treating an injured Lauren Griffin at the film's end. He also sees roughly the same amount of action as the other top brass does on average.
Nerd Glasses: He's a Monarch brainiac who wears classic chunky black plastic glasses. Lauren Griffin even passingly calls him and the other key Monarch brass nerds at one point.
Obligatory Joke: When Stanton and Mark spy Godzilla in the Hollow Earth whilst seeking the latter's aid to save the world from King Ghidorah, they say this:
Mark Russell: Oh, my God.
Rick: -zilla!
Oh, Crap!: Aside from being the Bearer of Bad News who kicks off the top brass's Mass "Oh, Crap!" over Godzilla approaching Monster Zero; the first thing that Rick says later in the movie when he sees a supercharged Godzilla is on a countdown to exploding like an atom bomb is to exclaim, "Oh, boy!"
One-Steve Limit: The King of the Monsters novelization features a second, unrelated Rick who lives near the Monarch outpost containing Scylla.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Somewhat downplayed example, but the more grave things immediately get, the more soft-spoken and less snarky Stanton acts. In particular, he's nothing but solemn and respectful when saying goodbye to Serizawa before the latter's Heroic Suicide.
Plucky Comic Relief: A lot of his role in the film not involving exposition or Techno Babble is to make jokes which lighten the mood, more so than the rest of the main human cast.
Serial Spouse: He's middle-aged and according to his Monarch Sciences profile, he's been thrice divorced, and allegedly the fault is in himself.
This Cannot Be!: This trope is his response when Coleman reports that the giant typhoon in which Monster Zero disappeared has abruptly changed direction, commenting that no storm is that fast; at which point Ilene realizes:
Ilene: Unless it's not a storm.

Colonel Diane Foster

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/diane_foster.jpg

"Is there another creature that might stand a chance against him?"

Portrayed By: Aisha Hinds

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

A decorated colonel who's the leader of the G-Team.

Alternate Company Equivalent: Going along with Monarch being one to S.H.I.E.L.D., she's a Colonel Badass headquartered on an Airborne Aircraft Carrier, like Nick Fury.
Bald of Authority: She's a tough-as-nails colonel who leads the military forces aiding Monarch.
Bald Head of Toughness: A bald, no-nonsense, tough-as-nails Colonel Badass and Front Line General, who is handy with a sniper rifle.
Black Boss Lady: An African-American female commanding officer in Monarch's military forces, who is constantly dressed in military camos and goes into multiple battles with the troops under her command. According to her Monarch Sciences bio, Foster is also a wife and a mother.
Cold Sniper: She has sniping skills as Asher learns the hard way along with having a no-nonsense attitude.
Colonel Badass: A stoic, tough-as-nails colonel who leads Monarch's G-Team, seems to be in her late 30s to early 40s, and has some impressive sniping skills. She's apparently somewhat familiar with Admiral Stenz, and though a deleted scene indicates they respect each other, Foster still seems somewhat distrustful of the Admiral based on how she looks to confirm Stenz wasn't lying about the Oxygen Destroyer after the Admiral's video call (implicitly because Stenz leans toward following The Government's orders to try killing Titans with manmade means whereas Foster puts a little more faith in what Serizawa says). Adding more to the trope, Foster is one of the most unforgiving of Emma Russell's betrayal before the latter's Motive Rant. Foster's Monarch profile notes she has a highly decorative military career and chooses only the best soldiers to train under her.
Commander Contrarian: Averted. When Godzilla aggressively approaches Castle Bravo, Foster heeds Serizawa's insistence on standing down instead of making him an Ignored Expert, despite her strong reservations.
Distaff Counterpart: To Admiral William Stenz. Besides being a Foil to him in King of the Monsters, she takes over his role as the military leader among the human experts.
Foil: To Admiral Stenz. Both are high-ranking and decorated military officers who are charged with protecting human lives from the Kaiju and cooperating with Monarch in that capacity, and one is a Caucasian-American male while the other is an African-American female. However, Foster's relations with Monarch are considerably less strained as she's more likely to follow through with their advice than Stenz. Foster is portrayed as a Front Line General whereas Stenz is primarily portrayed as an officer who operates from mission control.
Front Line General: A colonel would typically be a bit more in the back, but Foster leads the charge on foot during the Antarctica skirmish, to a lesser extent she's on the USS Argo when it oversees the Washington D.C. battle whilst her troops are participating in the battle onboard an Osprey, and she pilots an Osprey to rescue the Russells and the rest of the G-Team from a Titan-ravaged Boston during the Final Battle. Her Monarch profile mentions she's had "tactical leadership on the world's most dangerous frontlines" before joining Monarch.
Mission Briefing: She and Dr. Graham command the briefing on Jonah's raid on Outpost 61, before Mark interrupts to say that going to the outpost (as Foster is initially planning to) is likely a decoy Jonah expects them to take. Later, she's conducting the briefing preceding the military assault on King Ghidorah's roost in Washington D.C. in the wake of the global apocalypse.
Sequel Non-Entity: Despite her pivotal role in Monarch as the G-Team leader, Foster (and her team) are completely absent from Godzilla vs. Kong; and even in the novelization, they don't get so much as a mention.

Sam Coleman

"Is it just me or has he been working out?"

Portrayed By: Thomas Middleditch

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Monarch's director of technology and communications liaison with the U.S. government.

As You Know: When he, Graham and Serizawa first approach Mark, Coleman gives Mark a rundown on what the ORCA is and what it does even though Mark is one of the original device's co-inventors, prompting Mark to lampshade this trope and chide him.
Mark: I know what the hell it is, I helped build the prototype!
Brainy Brunette: He has curly, light-brown hair married with a distinctly stuttery disposition, and he's Monarch's director of technology who earned his bachelor's degree when he was only fourteen.
Child Prodigy: According to his Monarch Sciences profile, Sam taught himself how to refurbish old arcade games and successfully re-sell them when he was a child, and he took up speedcubing as a mental relaxation technique.
Cynic–Idealist Duo: Played With. He wants to form one with the far more cynical, Titan-hating, and outright unreciprocative Mark Russell from the moment they meet. Mark only starts to warm up to Coleman after he eats his Humble Pie, and even then, Mark and Coleman are only seldom in the same room.
Deadpan Snarker: Sam makes several quips about things such as Godzilla's physical appearance and Ghidorah's name.
Elite School Means Elite Brain: He's one of Monarch's top brains, and according to his Monarch Sciences bio, he's their director of technology who graduated from McGill and Harvard, both of which are among the world's best-ranked universities.
The Engineer: The Chief Engineer variety. According to his Monarch Sciences bio, as the (unusually mousy) Director of Technology, Sam's in charge of overseeing all of Monarch's new proto-tech; from weapons to communications to networking.
Et Tu, Brute?: Of all the Monarch top brass in the film, not including Mark, Sam is arguably the most dismayed once he realizes what Emma has done; to the point where he's at first in denial.
Gadgeteer Genius: His official profile states that he's a lifelong tech whiz, having invented his first self-learning computer when he was just 15, and he oversees all of Monarch's latest tech.
Hauled Before a Senate Subcommittee: He attends the senate hearing at the start of the film alongside Graham and Serizawa concerning the matter of the Titans, and provides what Senator Willis is admittedly partly right to call a "fifth-grade history lesson" on Titans. He's also the only member of Monarch present who takes pacifying the senators seriously even though they admittedly have a very anti-Titan bias and aren't taking Monarch nearly as seriously as they should. Coleman's Monarch Sciences profile states he's called to attend government hearings on Monarch's behalf quite frequently.
Hidden Depths: Of all the team Sam is the staunchest at defending Emma when they believe she has gone rogue. It's not until Mark himself confirms it does he relent.
Jock Dad, Nerd Son: According to Sam's Monarch profile, his father Michael Coleman was apparently a loud man who used to openly hope that his son would grow up to be a professional hockey player. A stark contrast to the man Sam grew into, a Gadgeteer Genius who has speaking problems and looks like he lives on pure rabbit food.
Mission Control: Once both Serizawa and Graham have passed away, Coleman is coordinating Mark and the G-Team's search-and-rescue mission from onboard the Argo during the Final Battle in Boston.
Nice Guy: He's an incredibly friendly guy who sees the best in almost everything and everyone – from the Titans generally to people who aren't eco-terrorists – and it's difficult to imagine that Coleman would ever hurt a fly unless his life depended on it. He even wants to be friends with Mark Russell for some reason. Coleman can be stuttering and awkward in social interactions, but he apparently gets by well enough to routinely represent Monarch in front of the United States Senate.
One-Steve Limit: He has the same first name as the Brody child in Godzilla (2014).
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man:
- He's the Sensitive Guy to Mark Russell's Manly Man, and he tries to befriend Mark during the movie. Sam is a skinny nerd who at first can barely speak up around other people without stuttering and stumbling his own words, and he's mainly involved in technology and indoor work compared to Mark's zoology and photography. Sam is more openly compassionate, idealistic and thoughtful about others than the bitter, cynical and emotionally egocentric Mark is. Sam's Monarch Sciences profile furthermore indicates he's more used to working remotely over participating in fieldwork, another contrast to Mark.
- It's revealed on the Monarch Sciences website that Sam and his father Michael are a case of Jock Dad, Nerd Son.
Sequel Non-Entity: He doesn't appear in Godzilla vs. Kong at all, despite being one of Monarch's top brass in the previous movie. Nor does he get mentioned in the novelization at all.
The Social Expert: Zig-Zagged. According to his bio, he was a self-taught retro gaming entrepreneur in his childhood, and the fact that he's regularly called on to represent Monarch in front of the U.S. Senate has got to say something. However, he's shown to also be quite a timid guy who struggles not to stutter nor stumble over his own words in a face-to-face meeting.
Teen Genius: On top of being a Child Prodigy, his bio says that he was just 14 when he earned his bachelor's degree, and he created his first self-learning computer program just a year later.
That Came Out Wrong: He calls himself a big fan of Mark's wife... then clarifies he meant Emma's work, and then just keeps making it worse.

Director Guillerman

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monsterverseguillerman_4.jpg

Portrayed By: Lance Reddick

Appeared In: Godzilla vs. Kong

A high-ranking Monarch director who advises Mark Russell during Godzilla's 2024 rampage.

Adaptational Dumbass: In the novelization, he and to a lesser extent Mark have a moment of what can only be described as incompetent sheer idiocy which isn't present in the movie, when Guillerman asks whether they should be rooting for Godzilla or Mechagodzilla following the latter's emergence. Guillerman asks this after the Mecha's emergence has effectively confirmed his suspicions that Apex are indeed responsible for provoking Godzilla (who Monarch knows doesn't act aggressively unless provoked and who is essential to humanity's defence against hostile Titans), after the Mecha's emergence has effectively confirmed Apex are responsible for putting eight million people in mortal danger, and just after Guillerman has watched the Mecha intentionally raze half of Hong Kong without provocation.
The Cameo: For Lance Reddick. Originally, he was supposed to have a larger role, but most of his scenes were cut.
Demoted to Extra: Thanks to most of his scenes being cut, he shows up for only one scene in the final film.
Nerves of Steel: He doesn't show any sign of panic while in the radius of one of Godzilla's rampages.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He remains completely calm while Godzilla rampages through Hong Kong, simply suggesting to Mark that they start evacuating the city with no sign of fear. In the novelization, he's higher ranking than Mark, and he demands that the latter join him at Castle Bravo after Godzilla's first attack because Mark noticed the warning signs before anyone else. Encouraging Mark to contribute his thoughts and ideas on the situation, Guillerman distrusts Apex's involvement in Godzilla's rampage, but he refuses to jump to conclusions about them without any sufficient evidence, and he's quite alacritous to turns of events in Hong Kong.

Founders and Early Members

Eiji Serizawa

Appears In: Godzilla Awakening

^{Click here to see him as an old man}

A character in the (now non-canon) prequel graphic novel Godzilla: Awakening, who was also referenced in the movies' official novelizations by Greg Keyes. He's the father of Dr. Ishirō Serizawa and the grandfather of Ren. He's a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing and a sailor who became one of the original members of Monarch, as well as the first Monarch operative to believe Godzilla was real.

'50s Hair: In the 40s and 50s, he had a conservative-looking haircut that matched the times.
Admiring the Abomination: He seems to admire the Shinomura while acknowledging that it's a danger to humanity that must be neutralized.
Agent Mulder: Somewhat. He wholeheartedly believed that references to the same sea monster across multiple cultures around the world indicated they were all inspired by the same saurian Titan, at a time when the rest of Monarch believed it was just a myth and thought Eiji's beliefs to be a wild goose chase. And to be fair to the sceptics, the fledgling Monarch (who did not yet fully understand the power discrepancy between humanity and the Titans) had previously attempted locating Godzilla and they'd had about as much luck as locating the Loch Ness Monster would bring.
Death by Origin Story: His death is more benign than in most examples of this trope, as he implicitly passed away peacefully. It was at Eiji's funeral that Ishirō decided he was ready to follow in his father's footsteps by joining Monarch.
Ignored Expert: He ends up being this at least twice (thrice if we count his Agent Mulder above as another case). His account of witnessing a part of the Shinomura survive and escape the creature's clash with Godzilla is dismissed by his colleagues, despite him being a direct eyewitness to the battle; and directly following that, he's dismissed as having "spent too much time amongst the natives" when he says Monarch should let Godzilla try killing the Shinomura instead of trying to nuke both creatures (although in frankness, the latter option did end up solving the Shinomura problem permanently without killing Godzilla, whereas Godzilla working on his own had failed to do anything more than chase Shinomura off towards its next target).
Nerd Glasses: He had browline glasses as a young man, and he grew obsessed with studying and tracking Godzilla to a point where even the rest of the fledgling Monarch regarded him as eccentric.
Papa Wolf: Right after the devastating blast which forever changed the world on August 6, 1945, the first thing he did was rush to find his baby son.
Stoic Spectacles: In his old age, he's traded his Nerd Glasses for a pair of thin-rimmed spectacles which give off this impression.
A Storm Is Coming: Discussed. He says this word-for-word while comparing and contrasting the upcoming nuclear tests in Bikini Atoll to a storm in order to convince a local woman to heed the military's efforts to make her leave.
When You Coming Home, Dad?: Despite his love for his son, Eiji was often absent for long periods throughout Ishirō's childhood due to his work for Monarch; to Ishirō's dismay, the latter didn't know that the organization his father worked for was anything other than a cargo company until Eiji was an elderly man.
The Xenophile: Besides Admiring the Abomination when it comes to Shinomura, Eiji was the first person in Monarch to deduce that Godzilla was as real as Shinomura, and he developed a particular fixation on finding the creature.

Colonel Leland Lafayette "Lee" Shaw III

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mlom_shawkurtrussell_3.jpg

^{Click here to see him when he was younger}

^{Click here to see his original appearance in Godzilla: Awakening}

Portrayed By: Kurt Russell (old, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters), Wyatt Russell (young, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters)

Appeared In: Godzilla Awakening | Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

A U.S. Army officer in the 1950s and an early member of Monarch, who was close friends and colleagues with William "Bill" Randa and Dr. Keiko Randa-Miura throughout most of the decade, before being retired by the present day.

Ace Pilot: Du-Ho describes Lee as the best pilot he knows when it comes to "flying by [the] seat of the pants". Indeed, Lee successfully pilots an antiquated plane through a violent storm, which implicitly brought down Hiroshi Randa's more modern plane, in one piece.
Action Hero: Prefers to solve his problems by shooting it or blowing it up. Best exemplified during the flashback to Kazakhstan - when the trio are held at gunpoint by a small child, Lee immediately reaches for his weapon whereas Bill and Keiko try and talk the kid down.
Adaptational Backstory Change: The Godzilla: Awakening graphic novel depicts him as a founding member of Monarch who was in on the existence of Titans in 1946, and who recruited Ishirō's father Eiji in that time. In Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Lee was apparently an ordinary Army lieutenant who was unaware of Titans and unaffiliated with Monarch as late as 1952 until his encounter with the Ion Dragon. His role and presence in the Castle Bravo atomic bombing are also markedly different in the series' depiction than the Awakening depiction, firmly retconning the latter from the MonsterVerse's canon.
Age Cut: Inverted in "Secrets and Lies", which features a dissolving match cut from Old Shaw's face in 2015 to Young Shaw's face when transitioning to a 1954 flashback. Played Straight in Young Shaw's very last scene in "Birthright", where the camera cuts from a doped-out Young Shaw having just been placed in the retirement home to an old Shaw watching TV in 2014 with a Body Wipe.
Alcoholic Parent: Not him, but it's implied that his father was one. When Puckett laments what his father would think of the mess his bar brawl caused, Lee snarks that they could find out if they sober him up long enough to ask.
Anti-Villain: He's technically the villain of the last few episodes, seeking to destroy all the portals to the Hollow Earth - something the audience knows would be a disaster. However, his goals are noble in that he's trying to stop another catastrophe like G-Day from ever happening again. Further, when Shaw and his friends end up marooned in Axis Mundi, his main concern is Cate and May's safety.
The Atoner: He admits more than once that he views his campaign to close all the Vile Vortices as atonement for him failing to do enough to save his friends and prepare the world for another Titan emergence.
The Bus Came Back: After his debut as a Monarch figure and mentor figure to Serizawa's father in Godzilla: Awakening, he wasn't seen or heard from for another nine years (out-of-universe), four new MonsterVerse motion picture works, and another four graphic novels, before the character was announced to be returning in the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters TV series.
Cassandra Truth: He tries to tell now-adult Hiroshi what he encountered in Hollow Earth, but Hiroshi dismisses his claims and returns his pocket knife. As Lee tells Michelle decades later, he's been trying to tell Monarch for years, and they don't listen to him because they think he's crazy. Despite the fact that he hadn't aged a day in the 20 years he was missing.
The Complainer Is Always Wrong: In 2015, he firmly thinks that the more he tried to talk sense into Monarch's perceived Head-in-the-Sand Management for being negligent to the threat of future Titan emergences, the more Monarch tried to shut him up and keep him locked away.
Connected All Along: After Shaw's first appearance in Godzilla: Awakening, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters reveals that he was close friends and colleagues with the same William "Bill" Randa who featured in Kong: Skull Island and set off that movie's plot, implicitly since just before Bill entered Monarch. The first episode even shows how they all met: In 1952, Lee was assigned to guard Dr. Keiko Miura—a Japanese scientist working for the recently-established Monarch, who was tracking strange radiation patterns—as punishment for getting into a bar fight with some other soldiers. While trekking through the jungle, they ran into Bill Randa—who was tracking those same patterns based on local myths and legends. Despite Lee's skepticism, Keiko and Bill found the wreck of the USS Lawton and a Titan dubbed the Ion Dragon. Following this, Bill joined Monarch and with Lee's help secured funding from the US government.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: He's the closest thing that the 2015 Monarch: Legacy of Monsters storyline has to a main human antagonist.
- He's a Contrasting Prequel Antagonist to Apex Cybernetics from the preceding live-action instalment, Godzilla vs. Kong. Like Apex, Shaw is initially an ally to the main human cast, but he has his own plans for "saving the world" from the threat that Titans pose to humanity, and they involve illegal operations and involve him accidentally causing an even bigger apocalyptic threat instead of fixing anything. However, Apex actively wanted to murder and usurp Godzilla to take his place as the Alpha Titan on Earth, then exterminate or enslave the other Titans for their own purposes; whereas Shaw recognizes that Godzilla is mankind's ally, and instead seeks to cut the other Titans off from the Earth's surface via closing the Vile Vortexes. Apex were an extremely wealthy, powerful, futuristic, techy and brazen corporate conspiracy with a lot of resources and influence, whereas Shaw leads a smaller, guerrilla Renegade Splinter Faction of Monarch with limited resources that they steal. Apex were unscrupulous not-so-well-intentioned extremists whom were ultimately motivated by power and ambition, and they didn't think twice about endangering millions of lives for their own ends, whereas Shaw is a true Anti-Villain with firm moral standards who abhors the loss of human lives. Whereas Apex were purely using the main cast of Godzilla vs. Kong as pawns and were happy to dispose of them when their usefulness ended, Shaw's affection for the main 2015 cast is genuine, and he goes back trying to save them after they've split off.
- He also contrasts Irene from the preceding overall instalment, Skull Island (2023). Both are morally gray, noble characters with standards, who have lost the people they loved most including someone who was not really dead, they both lead an armed group who don't exactly operate inside the law, and they're both happy to work with their respective works' main heroes so long as they're not in the way. However, Irene was a botanist who had no interactions with nor awareness of Monarch, and her chief motivations were to get her long-lost missing child back off Skull Island. Shaw on the other hand is an elderly retired Army colonel who is intrinsically tied to Monarch's history, has a beef with their questionable conduct, and is concerned with the bigger picture of safeguarding humanity against future Titan threats.
Cool Old Guy: When we meet him again in the retirement home, he's still fairly spry and handsome (with a full head of silver hair, no less) for a man in his nineties. When Cate, Kentaro and May show up, he shows basically no hesitation in getting back into the action. The characters in 2015 point out that for him to be a military officer in the 1950s (as he appears in the flashback timeline), he has to be in his early 90s, but looks like he's in his early 70s (and a spry one at that, as he's played by the 72 year old Kurt Russell). He shrugs this off as "good genes". This is eventually revealed as the result of a botched expedition to Hollow Earth leaving him time displaced upon his return.
The Cuckoolander Was Right: Hiroshi and Monarch dismissed his post-Operation Hourglass account of what really happened and his warnings about preparing for future Titan emergences, for years. G-Day proved him right about the Titans coming, and his account of the Axis Mundi is also true. The fact that Monarch ignored him to the point of denial is a major factor in why he's lost all trust and faith in the organization's present day iteration.
Cunning Linguist: It's revealed in "Terrifying Miracles" that he understands French, and he's an intelligent and capable military man even in his old age who manages to outsmart and stay one step ahead of Monarch.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: When he first meets Keiko in 1952, it takes him quite some time to wrap his head around the notion that the respected and qualified doctor he's been assigned as security detail for is a Japanese woman. This was quite a normal attitude for his time.
Did Not Get the Girl: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters reveals that Lee and Dr. Keiko Miura fell in love with each other by 1955, but after he skipped an important military conference to pursue her and Bill Randa on a Titan-hunting expedition, General Puckett—who'd made it clear that if Lee attended the conference he'd be given control of Monarch to run as he saw fit, but if he didn't there would be unpleasant consequences—passed military oversight of Monarch to Lieutenant Hatch instead. Lt. Hatch proceeded to gut Monarch's funding, insult Keiko to her face for being Japanese while having the FBI dig up her past as an Imperial Japanese Navy officer, and say that the threat Monarch should really be hunting was Communist spies infiltrating American society instead of giant monsters. As a result, Keiko was furious at Lee for having screwed the organization she helped establish over out of jealousy, and she and Bill Randa grew closer until they fell in love and got married, leaving Lee initially bitter and alone.
Doesn't Trust Those Guys: In the present, he doesn't trust Monarch at all after they refused to believe him about the Hollow Earth, and after he spent decades watching them sit behind their desks and do absolutely nothing to proactively and preemptively prepare humanity for a Titan emergence like G-Day.
Establishing Character Moment: His chronological first appearance has him hauled in front of Puckett for starting a bar fight after objecting to other soldiers making unwelcome advances on a Filipino bar girl - firmly establishing him as a man of action with strong morals who doesn't necessarily think of the consequences of his actions.
Fatal Flaw: Passion. Shaw is deeply driven by his emotions over reason, which clouds his vision of the bigger picture and gets him into avoidable trouble. In 1955, he blows off an extremely important meeting that would have seen him put in charge of Monarch so that he can join his friends on a field mission, particularly Keiko who he's fallen in love with, and this leads to Lieutenant Hatch, who wants to sabotage Monarch for his own purposes, being put in charge instead. In 2015, Shaw blows off Cate's warnings to him that his plan to seal off the Hollow Earth is risking annihilating the world if he continues it once he hears that the data came from Monarch, whose history of being non-proactive to preventing Titan threats before they begin he has a chip on his shoulder towards, and to some degree because he feels a need to atone for his own past failings with his plan — this sets off a chain of events which get him, Cate and May stranded in Axis Mundi and lead to his possible death there.
Fish out of Temporal Water: This is revealed to be a key part of his backstory, and the true reason why he's older than he looks. During the disastrous venture to Hollow Earth as part of Operation Hourglass in 1962, he's stranded in the Hollow Earth's Axis Mundi for little over a week, but due to the realm's time distortion, it's 1982 on Earth's surface when he returns. He's confused by the sight of a color TV and a broadcast of a shuttle launch, and that's before he discovers his honorary nephew is now a cold young man, or that Billy is long dead.
Go Out with a Smile: Although his death falling behind in the Axis Mundi is an Uncertain Doom, nevertheless, Shaw grins at Keiko as he thanks her for everything and pries his hand loose from hers in a Heroic Sacrifice.
His Story Repeats Itself: He's haunted by his failure to save Keiko from falling to her supposed death in the Kazakhstan power plant's reactor when he tried to take her hand, which is a secondary factor in his present day self's crusade to forcibly seal off the Hollow Earth. Near the series' end, Cate almost falls in the very same spot where her grandmother did — this time, Lee grabs her hand just in time.
Honorary Uncle: To Hiroshi, even being addressed as "Uncle" by him. Towards the series' end, Hiroshi's children refer to him as their uncle too.
Ignored Expert: He's not a scientist, but he's been trying to warn Monarch how unprepared they've been for the Titans emerging for decades, to no avail. He rightfully calls out Monarch for not preparing the inevitable, which led to the disaster in 2014. Duvall ends up seeing his point and joins his side.
It Has Been an Honor: He tells Keiko as much in his old age, thanking her "for everything" before he commits a Heroic Sacrifice ensuring she makes it out of the Hollow Earth.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His younger self in the 50s segments of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is shown to be sardonic and somewhat aggressive, and he doesn't get off to a good start with Bill or Keiko in '52, plus he initially has some deliberate values dissonance when he first meets Keiko; but he's still a good and loyal man who cares a lot about his two colleagues' lives. Before meeting Keiko and Bill, Lee in '52 got into a nasty bar fight with a pair of soldiers because he was outraged that they were drunkenly sexually harassing a Filipino barmaid, describing them as "bullies" for their behavior when he's explaining himself to a superior officer.
Last Request: His very last word to Keiko as he apparently sacrifices himself ensuring that she escapes Axis Mundi and returns to Earth (bearing in mind that Keiko had earlier intended to stay behind in Axis Mundi out of despair):
"LIVE!"
Love Triangle: He and Billy both quickly become attracted to Keiko upon meeting her, and eventually both men fall in love with her. She first falls for Shaw and reciprocates his feelings, but when he blows off a meeting that would've given him operational command of Monarch so he could stay by her side, it drives a wedge between them. After that, she grows closer to Billy and falls for him, and they marry, leaving Shaw alone.
Mentor Archetype: Downplayed. In his original appearance in the now-canon discontinuity Godzilla: Awakening, he's responsible for recruiting Eiji Serizawa into Monarch and subsequently becomes an old friend, though it evidently wasn't from Shaw that Eiji or his son gained their defining passion for Godzilla.
Military Maverick: Deconstructed.
- In the 1950s storyline, General Puckett sees great things in Shaw in the 1950s storyline, and Shaw is a man who's very loyal to his friends, has a selfless streak of wanting to be helping on the frontline instead of from behind, and is in-tune with his feelings. However, Shaw's personality traits and cowboy attitude lead him to make a very short-sighted and costly poor decision despite Puckett's cautions based on his own personal feelings; when he blows off his promotion to becoming Monarch's head because he's unnerved by the idea of leading Monarch from behind a desk and not being in the thick of it with his friends anymore (particularly Keiko, who he's fallen in love with). This leads to Puckett being forced to put Lieutenant Hatch in charge of Monarch instead of Shaw, and Hatch then nearly destroys the organization that Lee and his friends have spent years building.
- In the 2015 storyline, whilst Shaw is more successful and competent at making progress than Monarch is when he goes rogue and founds a Renegade Splinter Faction to close the Vile Vortices, his highly emotion-driven personality and motivations render him completely blind to the mounting evidence that his plan, if it succeeds, will do much more harm than good to the world.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Subverted in 1954 in "Secrets and Lies". Shaw and his friends reveal their evidence of Godzilla's existence to the military, and they request a huge amount of uranium from General Puckett with which to lure Godzilla out, but Puckett interprets the request to mean the military should pour the uranium into trying to kill Godzilla with an atomic bomb, which they do. However, not only does the bomb fail to kill Godzilla, as the group discovers in 1955, but immediately after the kill attempt against Godzilla, Puckett is scared enough by the prospect of more Titans threatening humanity that he gives Shaw and the young Monarch unlimited government funding.
- Played Straight in "Terrifying Miracles", when Shaw blows off an important meeting so that he can join Bill and Keiko in the field, much to Keiko's consternation. This poor decision prevents General Puckett from giving Shaw full jurisdiction over Monarch to run it as he sees fit, and instead, Puckett is forced to put Lieutenant Hatch in charge. Hatch proceeds to gut Monarch's funding and tries to get it shut down for his own ends.
- Shaw attempts to save the world from future Hollow Earth incursions by forcibly sealing all the Vile Vortices, not realizing that with every vortex he seals, the radiation pressure on the remaining vortexes increases, meaning his actions are likely to explode the Earth's entire crust if they go far enough.
Nice, Mean, and In-Between: The mean to Bill's nice and Keiko's in-between.
Obi-Wan Moment: In "Beyond Logic", during the escape from Axis Mundi, he realizes that he can't escape with Keiko, Cate and May when their pod is caught in the exit rift's suction with him hanging onto the exterior by Keiko's hand, threatening to pull her out with him or weigh the pod down before it reaches the rift. He reassures Keiko that it's alright and tells her to live as he pries his hand out of hers, falling behind the pod to his possible death amid the chaos of the rift's suction.
Older Than He Looks: If he was thirty-something in the 1950s, that'd make him over 90 years old by 2015, but he looks a good two decades younger^note. This is lampshaded repeatedly by different characters. In casual conversation, Lee attributes it to good genes, but the truth is — classified even to Monarch's most valuable agents — that he led a recon mission to the Hollow Earth in 1962, and was inside Axis Mundi for what he thought was a "week or so", only to discover once he escaped that 20 years of real time had passed. He really is only in his 70s.
Parental Substitute: A subdued case, but the opening of "Axis Mundi" indicates that he served as a surrogate father to Hiroshi inbetween Keiko's fall in '59 and the onset of Lee's own disappearance in 1962, while Bill was becoming withdrawn and distant. Lee admits in his old age that he in turn saw Hiro as a son.
Politically Incorrect Hero: He automatically assumes that Keiko is Dr. Miura's assistant after making a pass at her, and he's initially incredulous of her abilities as a scientist. Downplayed, as he gets over it quickly and is otherwise fairly progressive for a white man from the 1950s - he fights two other soldiers who were sexually harassing a Filipino barmaid.
Pride: Like Admiral Stenz, Emma Russell, Apex Cybernetics and many other antagonists, Shaw makes the mistake of assuming nature will do just what he wants it to if he tries to force it. He's trying to save the world from future hostile Titan incursions via forcibly sealing every Hollow Earth passageway on the surface, unaware that doing so is implicitly increasing pressure on the remaining rifts and could potentially explode the planet's crust.
The Promise: In the 1982 flashback of "Axis Mundi", Hiroshi recalls that Lee had promised him he'd come back just before he disappeared and was presumed dead. Lee did make it back to Hiroshi eventually, but he was twenty years late due to the slower flow of time inside the Axis Mundi.
Rank Up: In 1952 when he has his first Titan encounter, he's a lieutenant, but he gets promoted over the course of his Monarch career several times. In 1955, he's promoted to captain; in 1959, he's a major; and finally, he's a colonel by the time of his fateful Operation Hourglass mission in 1962 which leads to his forced retirement upon his return.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He trusts Serizawa and his judgment, looking to him for information, and he's not straight-up dismissive of Eiji's beliefs about Godzilla like the rest of the fledgling Monarch were. He refuses to support Eiji's pursuit of Godzilla because there's no evidence of the creature's existence and because it goes against the top brass's decision, but he doesn't stop Eiji from looking for Godzilla by himself. Shaw also admits he wishes he could believe Eiji when the latter protests the Nuclear Option being used against Godzilla and Shinomura, but he refuses to try and counter the measure solely because Eiji has a hunch while Godzilla is heading towards a population center^note.
Reluctant Retiree: Monarch forcibly retired him to a Gilded Cage in 1982 despite his objections, after he came back from Axis Mundi twenty years younger than he should have been.
Same Character, But Different: While he is ostensibly the same character first introduced in Godzilla: Awakening, he has an almost completely different backstory.
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: While he's not actively using them, it's implied Puckett makes him Keiko's bodyguard to get him away from the shitstorm his bar brawl created (instead of disciplinary action) because his father was an old friend of his.
Sealed Badass in a Can: In the 21st century, he's been locked away by Monarch in a comfortable but very security-heavy "retirement home" since 1982, against his own protests and efforts to escape or at least warn Monarch that they aren't doing enough to prepare for the Titans emerging. Until in 2015, when Cate, Kentaro and May visit Shaw and help him break out of the retirement home to help their search for Hiroshi, and Shaw rapidly proves that despite ostensibly being in his 90s (actually in his 70s due to the effects of Axis Mundi), he's still a very capable and dangerous ex-military man.
Sole Survivor: He was the only survivor of Operation Hourglass when he landed in Hollow Earth. When he returned back to the surface, 20 years had passed while he'd been inside Axis Mundi, and his nephew was an adult man.
Take My Hand!:
- The Monarch: Legacy of Monsters trailer shows him standing on a ledge, desperately shouting and reaching out his hand to take Keiko's when she's dangling by a rope over a pit filled with insectoid monsters. In the series proper, she falls to her presumed death before she can reach his hand, and Shaw doesn't truly get over this for decades.
- In "Birthright", decades later, Shaw finds himself in the same position again when Cate is about to fall into the Hollow Earth — this time, Shaw is able to grab her hand.
Time-Shifted Actor: In Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, he's portrayed by father-son actors Wyatt Russell and Kurt Russell as a young man and an old man respectively across the show's two main time periods.
Tracking Device: He's forced to wear a remote security anklet at the Monarch "retirement home" to keep him under constant surveillance. He cuts it off and throws it in a pond when he gives May, Cate and Kentaro the option of busting out with him, commenting that they have about sixty seconds to make their decision.
Uncertain Doom: He lets go of Keiko's hands while his ship is being thrown back to the Hollow Earth rift, falling behind amid the dust cloud and chaos of the rift's suction tearing at the terrain around him. Considering Keiko survived under the same circumstances, Shaw may yet still be alive in Axis Mundi.
You Remind Me of X: Cate reminds him a lot of her grandmother Keiko, something he briefly admits to her in Algeria. Which becomes a plot-point when they confront each-other in Kazakhstan.

William "Bill" Randa

See MonsterVerse - Skull Island Expeditions

Dr. Keiko Randa (née Miura)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mlom_keiko.jpg

Portrayed By: Mari Yamamoto

Appeared In: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

A Monarch scientist in the 1950s who investigates Titans alongside Lee Shaw and Bill Randa. She's the wife of Bill, the mother of Hiroshi Randa, and the posthumous paternal grandmother of paternal half-siblings Cate and Kentaro Randa.

Admiring the Abomination: She expresses awe of the "dragon" Titan in the Philippines after it tried to kill her and Bill as it had done to numerous other people.
Affectionate Nickname: Shaw affectionately calls her Kei for short.
Asian and Nerdy: A Japanese scientist and the brains within her, Randa and Shaw's trio.
Big Damn Heroes: She saves her granddaughter Cate from a Titan with an arrow.
Cunning Linguist: She's fluent in Japanese, English and Russian.
Death by Irony: Per Monarch standard, she's a xenophile who's unpleasantly killed by the very creatures that she studies and is awed by. Except she survived.
Determinator: Her friends and family describe her as someone who goes after what she wants and never gives up, and it's stated multiple times that Hiroshi takes after her in that way.
Disney Death: That fall that supposedly killed her? She lived through it, and has been surviving on her own.
Distress Call: She's been using an old Monarch device to beam gamma rays coded to form a distress signal to Earth's surface via the Vile Vortices in the time that she's been trapped in the Axis Mundi.
Dramatic Irony: When she first sees Godzilla, she begins to see him as a fellow victim a nuclear weapon test, and reacts very badly when it does go off on him. Despite this, she is completely unaware that Godzilla would survive the attempt on his life no worse for wear.
Drives Like Crazy: She's a speed demon when she's behind the wheel. A bemused Shaw even had to brace himself when she speeds up.
Fish out of Temporal Water: Thanks to being in the Axis Mundi's Year Outside, Hour Inside effect after her seeming Disney Death in 1959, she's still alive in the 2010s. She makes it back to Earth's surface, and to her now middle-aged son, in the year 2017.
Hates Wearing Dresses: Being a scientist used to work all the time on the field, she hates the idea of wearing dresses and high heels and dolling up for male gaze.
Holding Hands:
- She and Bill hold hands after Bill discovers the truth about Hiroshi and admits his feelings to Keiko.
- In "Beyond Logic", Keiko and Shaw hold each-other's hands when they're inside the pod and preparing to go home. Later, Cate makes a point of grasping both Keiko and May's hands on either side of her as they're hurtling inside the pod towards the rift.
The Lost Lenore: Her death is what causes Randa to turn from the cheerful and good-hearted researcher into a bitter cynic who tried to have Kong killed despite having shown no hostility. Subverted in that she survived, but Bill ends up being hers.
Missing Mom: Her and Bill's son would have been no older than seven at the very most when she apparently died, and it's stated that he was only a small boy when it happened.
Mum Looks Like a Sister: As of the final episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Keiko is physically over a decade younger than her son Hiroshi due to the temporal distortions of Axis Mundi, and could pass for being his little sister or even daughter.
Nice, Mean, and In-Between: In the '50s trio in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, she's the In-Between. Snarkier and less sweet than Bill, but gentler and less sour than Shaw.
Older Than They Look: Given that she was most likely in her early 30s when she fell into the Hollow Earth wormhole, Keiko would have been in her late 80s-early 90s in physical age while she's biologically in her 30s like Lee was when he briefly entered Hollow Earth, only to enter Japan 20 years later.
The Promise: Hiroshi states in the ninth episode that she promised him just before her doom in 1959 that she would come back. What saves this from being an Empty Promise is that she did eventually come back to her son, over half a century late after being caught in the Axis Mundi's slower time flow, and she mutters apologies to him for it.
Shared Family Quirks:
- Lee thinks that her and Bill's son Hiroshi took after her, commenting that both Keiko and Hiroshi went after whatever they wanted and wouldn't let anything get in their way.
- In "Axis Mundi", her granddaughter Cate delivers a speech which reminds Shaw of Keiko:
  Cate: You still have work to do up there. And we need you. Now let’s move our asses and get out of here.
  Shaw: She's [Keiko's] granddaughter.
Supernaturally Young Parent: By the time she returns to the surface, she looks younger than her own son Hiroshi.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Although she and her organization frequently liaise with General Puckett, she admits that she privately despises the man and considers him an asshole.
Trauma Conga Line: After falling into Axis Mundi and spending roughly 57 days from her perspective down there, alone and fighting for survival; she discovers that over half a century has passed her by on the surface world due to the time dilation, her husband is long-dead, Lee is now an old man who's spent decades believing she was dead, and her infant son is now a middle-aged man who grew up without her. And then just hours after she gets Lee back, she loses him again, seemingly for good, amid the chaos of their escape from Axis Mundi.
The Xenophile: Per Monarch's future standard, she's scientifically fascinated by Titans and Sub-Titans. She's so awed by Godzilla that she not only protests to nuking him before they've had a chance to understand him, she reacts with profound distress and emotional devastation when she believes he's been killed. Then shown to be happy that he survived.

Scientists

Dr. Houston Brooks

See MonsterVerse - Skull Island Expeditions

San Lin

See MonsterVerse - Skull Island Expeditions

Dr. Emma Russell

See here.

Dr. Mark Russell

See here.

Dr. Nathan Lind

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvtropes_nathanlind.jpg

Portrayed By: Alexander Skarsgård

Appeared In: Godzilla vs. Kong

A geologist and Monarch's chief cartographer, who plans to access the Hollow Earth for manned expeditions. He works closely with Kong.

Beard of Sorrow: He's sporting one early in the movie because of his brother's death which sent him into a years-long Heroic BSoD. He shaves it after Walter Simmons and Ren Serizawa offer him the HEAVs and bring him out of his funk.
Brainy Brunette: He has light-brown hair, and although he's a little bit of a Cowardly Lion at first, he is very smart, as befits a high-ranking Monarch operative. On top of being part of the first attempt to launch a manned expedition to the Hollow Earth, Nathan tentatively understands what went wrong with the gravity inversion and what it'll feel like on the Apex-backed second go, he has the idea to get Kong to lead the expedition into the Hollow Earth, he works out how to make Godzilla stop attacking the naval fleet. And, before all of that, he was able to land a job teaching college classes after he'd been ousted from the scientific community.
Cathartic Exhalation: In the novelization, Nathan takes a breath after Kong kills the Warbats that ambushed and nearly killed Team Kong, at which point it really sinks in for Nathan that they've truly made it to the Hollow Earth alive.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He doesn't appear in Godzilla x Kong despite bonding with Dr. Andrews and Jia.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Mark Russell in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. They’re both ex-Monarch scientific Scrap Heap Heroes whom quit and went into isolation with a mundane job before the main story's start (wildlife photography for Mark, university lecturing for Nathan), because they both suffered the premature death of a family-member which still haunts them for most of the story until they confront and make peace with the same thing which caused the casualty. However, Mark was a snide, self-righteous Jerk with a Heart of Gold who was often ungrateful and was not afraid to speak up, but was more than willing to risk his own life. Nathan is by contrast gracious, mild-mannered, and kindly, but is quite cowardly and anxious. Whereas Mark specializes in understanding the Titans' behavior and had an intrinsic connection to Godzilla, Nathan specializes in understanding the physics of the Hollow Earth and he has little to no intrinsic understanding of Kong. Mark was cynical and believed to the point of pessimism that the Titans should be left alone as much as possible out of fear of human meddling backfiring: Nathan however is idealistic-minded and slightly radical about breaching the Titans' point of origin, yet he tends to be blinded by these traits to warning signs and missing steps when he pursues a goal.
Cowardly Lion: The token one among Team Kong. He's notably timid of Kong, and the novelization even notes he freezes up during Godzilla's attack on the fleet – Jia subtly judges him as a coward after meeting him. However, Nathan proves his bravery over the movie, not hesitating to draw a Hellhawk's attention in order to save Jia and Dr. Andrews, and nearly dying twice trying to save Kong.
Crazy Enough to Work: Briefly discussed by him and Walter Simmons. Nathan cautions Simmons that the idea he's just had to get Kong to lead them to the Hollow Earth energy source is crazy. Simmons is all for it.
Death by Origin Story: His brother David died attempting to enter the Hollow Earth years before the events of Godzilla vs. Kong, which is a big source of confidence issues for Nathan in the present.
Deep Breath Reveals Tension: When Simmons is talking to Nathan about the latter's late brother, Nathan calmly thanks Simmons for the condolence, then hisses in the air and pauses notably before exhaling – the novelization of this scene notes that Nathan is actually on the verge of breaking down at this moment.
Deer in the Headlights: The novelization notes that he initially freezes up in shock during Godzilla's attack on the fleet to the point that he can't issue any commands, and it takes him a while to snap out of it.
Didn't Think This Through: In the novelization, Dr. Andrews observes that Nathan has a bad habit of "go[ing] very far out on very thin limbs" when he sets his mind on an end goal, which is partly what led to the failure of the Linds' first effort to access the Hollow Earth. In the novel, whereas most other members of the non-Team Godzilla cast at least suggest (however half-heartedly) that Monarch should try to work out why Godzilla is acting so aggressively, Nathan explicitly dismisses that as dilly-dallying and jumps straight to working out how to neutralize Godzilla, oblivious to the possibility there's an even bigger threat agitating Godzilla (which there is).
Fatal Flaw: The novelization notes he tends to go "very far out on very thin limbs". This was a factor in the disastrous first attempt to access the Hollow Earth which caused his brother's death, and it also makes Nathan completely overlook the necessity of working out why a Titan like Godzilla (which is only aggressive when provoked and generally fights in defence of Earth's natural order) is suddenly attacking human population centers with no rival Titan in sight; which in turn only makes Nathan all the more perfect Unwitting Pawn for Apex's plan to access the Hollow Earth. In the novel, everyone makes at least some half-hearted suggestion that Monarch should be working out the cause of Godzilla's rampage, except for Nathan who dismisses that as dilly-dallying and jumps ahead to the matter of taking Godzilla down.
Heroic BSoD: When the movie starts, Nathan has spent the last couple of years languishing in a dead-end college tutor job after his brother's death and the destruction of his reputation within the scientific community, even growing a Beard of Sorrow. He comes out of it quickly when Simmons and Ren approach him to seek his help with accessing the Hollow Earth.
His Story Repeats Itself: He's a Scrap Heap Hero because the first attempt to access the Hollow Earth went spectacularly wrong and led to his brother's death, taking a lot out of Nathan. In the present, Nathan is trying to reach the Hollow Earth again, this time successfully – it's subtly implied that for Nathan, succeeding in this endeavour is just as much about moving on from his past failure and his brother's death as it is about trying to stop Godzilla's rampage.
Horrible Judge of Character: Particularly in the novelization. The novel emphasizes that whereas most people in Monarch (including Dr. Andrews) have at least some suspicions about Apex's role in the Hollow Earth expedition and/or misgivings about their shady past with the Oxygen Destroyer, Nathan has nothing but high regard for Walter Simmons based purely on the latter's celebrity status and his company's reputation for inventiveness. This, combined with Nathan's aforementioned Fatal Flaw, makes him a very adequate Unwitting Pawn for Simmons' Evil Plan.
I Let Gwen Stacy Die: It's hinted in the movie, and confirmed in the novelization, that Nathan blames himself for the deaths of his brother and the rest of the crew during the original expedition attempt because Nathan didn't see the miscalculation coming, leading him to ultimately become a Scrap Heap Hero.
Indy Ploy: Nathan is very quick on his feet. During Godzilla's attack on Kong's escort fleet, Nathan orders the ship to cut all power to make Godzilla believe he's won - it's a gamble at best, but it fortunately pays off.
The Leader: Of Team Kong. Nathan is very levelheaded through the journey despite the dangers that both Godzilla and Hollow Earth offer. Despite being called a coward by Jia, Nathan proves to be very brave, putting his life on the line a few times to save others over the course of the movie.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: In the novelization, Nathan's spaceman figurine was in his brother David's possession for a long time and was considered by David a good luck charm – David gives the figurine away to Nathan right before David's fateful mission into Skull Island's Vile Vortex. Years later, Nathan is holding onto the figurine when he attempts to enter the Hollow Earth himself, and Nathan ultimately survives this later, more successful effort.
My Greatest Failure: It's hinted in the film, and more explicitly confirmed in the novelization, that he considers the first attempted Hollow Earth entry to be his worst mistake, not least because him jumping ahead and ignoring hurdles got several people killed (not least among them was his own brother). In the present, Nathan is a Scrap Heap Hero trying to achieve what he and his brother failed to do the first time around, and his past failure weighs on him subtly.
My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: In the novelization's version of the epilogue, David has taken up learning sign language with Jia, but... his command of it is still a bit nostril, thanks in no small part to Jia's mischief.
Papa Wolf: Nathan throws a rock at a Hellhawk to distract it from attacking Jia.
Past Experience Nightmare: In the novelization, he frequently dreams back to the day that his and David's mission went horribly wrong and his brother died
Plagued by Nightmares: The novelization states he has a recurring nightmare almost every night, where he's back at his and David's disastrous attempt to access the Hollow Earth and he tries to change it at the last minute.
Pragmatic Hero: When Kong initially doesn't enter Hollow Earth, he immediately suggests that Jia tells him that there are others like him down there. While Ilene correctly protests that they don't know that, he also correctly points out that there's no way back to Skull Island for Kong.
Precious Photo: He carries a worn photo of himself and his brother, who died attempting to enter the Hollow Earth before the film's time frame.
Scrap Heap Hero: At the movie's start, he's a washout from Monarch and the scientific community who's languishing in a dead-end college tutor job after his first attempt to access the Hollow Earth went disastrously wrong – the novelization notes that Nathan at first tried to fight the nuclear fallout on his scientific career, but he just didn't have the energy for it with accidentally getting his brother killed. Once Walter Simmons and Ren Serizawa convince Nathan that they can help him succeed where he originally failed, Nathan shaves his beard and rejoins Monarch with reinvigorated spirits, and this time he does succeed.
Strong Family Resemblance: The novelization states he and David were often mistaken for twins in their youth.
Supporting Protagonist: He more or less fills this role in the film. He is the leader of Team Kong and it’s his expedition that gets focused for the most part. But Kong is ultimately the true protagonist of Team Kong. Kong would have died twice if Nathan had not saved him.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: His role in Godzilla vs. Kong is similar to Mark Russell's role in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): a member of Monarch who left after the tragic death of a family member years ago, who is presently called on to return to Monarch's side and has to confront the very same kind of thing which caused his lost loved one's death.
They Called Me Mad!: Despite the end credits of Godzilla: King of the Monsters explicitly confirming that the Hollow Earth's existence was revealed to the public in 2019, Nathan was laughed out of the non-Monarch scientific community as a crackpot for espousing that the Hollow Earth was real more recently; a crackpot who got multiple people killed after his attempt to access the Hollow Earth ended in disaster with many dead. Combine that with Nathan's Heroic BSoD over his brother being among the casualties of his failed venture, and he was reduced to a dead-end job as a college tutor after he quit Monarch.
Tragic Keepsake: He holds onto a toy figurine that his late brother originally held as a good luck charm.
Unwitting Pawn: To Apex. Walter convinces Nathan to lead a team to the Hollow Earth and find an energy source powerful enough to take on Godzilla, however, Apex is only using Nathan and his team to extract a sample of the energy to fully activate Mechagodzilla. The novelization notes Nathan was the only non-villainous human on the main cast who neither thought suspiciously of Apex in any way nor remotely entertained the idea of working out why Godzilla is attacking, which made Nathan all the more malleable; and it was through Nathan approaching Dr. Andrews that Apex obtained the Monarch assistance and expertise they needed for their plan.
What Is Going On?: He asks this question when rushing onto the scene beside Andrews and Jia in front of an ailing Kong, who Andrews explains is going into deadly arrhythmia.

Dr. Ilene Andrews

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvtropes_ireneandrews.jpg

Her appearance in The New Empire ^here

Portrayed By: Rebecca Hall

Appeared In: Godzilla vs. Kong | Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

An anthropological linguist who is studying Kong on Skull Island, and Jia's human guardian.

Brainy Brunette: She's a dark-haired linguist who can fluently communicate with Jia and has been attempting to teach Kong. She also understands that just because Kong can be manipulated doesn't mean he can be controlled, and she's right that Godzilla would invariably hunt Kong down and would beat him in a fight if Kong enters Godzilla's territory.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Emma Russell in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Both are respected and renowned Monarch scientists who specialize in bridging human-Titan communication, and they're characterized by their respective movies as maternal figures. Emma specialized in using an artificial device to communicate with the Titans generally in their own bio-acoustic language, whereas Andrews is invested in using sign language to communicate with Kong specifically. Both characters work with their native movies' human antagonists to combat a perceived threat to the world, but Emma works with Alan Jonah and his eco-terrorists to champion the Titans reclaiming the world from humanity, and she’s knowingly committing evil actions to that end; whereas Andrews is working with Apex Cybernetics in part because she believes they're checking a rampaging Alpha Titan that threatens human lives, and she's an unwitting pawn who has no idea of Apex's evil humanocentric plans to endanger millions and activate Mechagodzilla. Whereas Emma is driven by grief over the loss of her son to a Titan disaster and is protective of her remaining daughter, Andrews is driven by protectiveness of both Kong and the female ward that she adopted after said ward lost her own family to a Titan disaster. Whereas Emma ultimately champions Godzilla after mistakenly championing Ghidorah, Andrews primarily champions Kong after mistakenly championing Mechagodzilla's creation.
Good Parents: Ilene loves Jia as her own daughter, and also does her best to preserve Jia's Iwi culture.
Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The Light Feminine to Maia's Dark Feminine on the Hollow Earth expedition. Andrews is a casually-dressed and maternal figure who is Jia's Parental Substitute and is concerned for Kong's well-being, and she's the second most grounded and cautious member of the team when it comes to manipulating Kong and meddling with the Hollow Earth's energy.
Mama Bear: She's been Jia's guardian since the rest of the Iwi were wiped out, and she's highly protective of the girl; worrying about her getting too close to Kong and getting hurt, and overall looking out for her in a motherly fashion throughout the movie.
Must Make Amends: In the novelization, she tells Nathan that she feels guilty for Skull Island's destruction because she did nothing to stop Dr. Brooks' efforts to force open the island's Vile Vortex just before Camazotz' invasion, and she admits that salvaging a new home for Kong is her effort at atonement.
Nothing Is the Same Anymore: In the novelization, destroying the bio-dome to extract Kong, which in turn sentences the last fragment of Skull Island's ecosystem to death, causes Dr. Andrews to weep as it sinks in how irrevocable this action is and how Skull Island's ecosystem is now gone forever.
One-Steve Limit: She has the same first name as fellow Monarch scientist Dr. Chen from Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).
Parental Substitute: She's Jia's human guardian, having made a promise she'd look after the girl after she was orphaned. She looks out for Jia throughout the movie, and next to Kong, Andrews seems to be the second most closely-trusted being in Jia's life. The novelization notes Andrews' maternal feelings towards the girl are likely strengthened by the fact Andrews never had kids of her own.
Parents as People: She hides it well enough, but it's hard to deny that Dr. Andrews feels like she might not be enough of a parent to Jia due to Jia being from a culture Ilene has observed but hasn't lived, with budding super-senses only further complicating things.
Team Mom: To Team Kong, being Jia's Parental Substitute and guardian, and chiding Nathan and later Maia upon the latter's betrayal for their recklessness.
Underestimating Badassery: She suspects Kong is intelligent (admitting that she's been attempting to communicate with him through sign language and seeing possible signs of recognition), but not only is she shocked to learn how far along Kong really is with understanding it, she initially underestimates how strong Kong's bond with Jia is. She also understands better than Nathan that humans can't rein Kong or force him to do anything; at most, we can only manipulate him. Dr. Andrews is certain that if Kong were to leave Skull Island, Godzilla would invariably defeat him and kill him – she's proven right about the defeat part, although it should be noted that Kong would have expired from heart failure after Godzilla was finished beating him down if not for human intervention.
You Are in Command Now: The prequel graphic novel Kingdom Kong depicts Dr. Brooks standing down from his chief managerial role over Monarch's operations on Skull Island and informing Dr. Andrews that he's transferring all responsibilities to her, much to her surprise; leading into Andrews' role in Godzilla vs. Kong.

Dr. Barnes

Portrayed By: Jess Salgueiro

Appeared In: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

A Monarch scientist based at the low-maintenance Outpost 47 in Utah, who detects a radiation signature that's normally only found inside black holes.

"Eureka!" Moment: In "Axis Mundi", she has a sudden realization while examining the gamma rays emitting from the Vile Vortices; throwing up her arms and shouting "It's a signal" as she realizes the rays are actually an artificial signal which someone stranded in Hollow Earth must be broadcasting.
One-Steve Limit: Averted. She shares a name with Monarch G-Team soldier Jackson Barnes in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Dr. Tim Mancini

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kotm_mancini.jpg

Portrayed By: Randy Havens

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

A Monarch entomologist studying Mothra in China's Yunnan rainforest alongside Emma Russell.

Admiring the Abomination: As much as he admires Mothra and doesn't want to make an attempt on her life, Mancini doesn't hesitate to try and activate the termination protocol when Mothra turns aggressive, and Emma has to stop him from pressing the Big Red Button.
Boom, Headshot!: Jonah kills him by popping a cap, point blank, which goes all the way through Mancini's skull and shatters the display window behind him.
Friend to Bugs: He's completely in awe when Mothra's larval form hatches. The novelization outright states he's an entomologist.
Sleep Deprivation: He and Emma have the following conversation during Mothra's hatching. Bear in mind, this is occurring less than an hour In-Universe after Emma and Madison got out of bed in the morning.
Emma: You know, I can take it from here. Why don't you get some rest?
Mancini: No way. Sleep or no sleep, I'm not missing this.
When He Smiles: The novelization states that Madison doesn't see him smiling often (partly because he apparently doesn't like kids such as her very much), but when he does choose to show his smile off, it's considered an endearing sight. In the film, Mancini has a sincere grin on his face when Mothra is born and after the ORCA has calmed her.
The Xenophile: He enthusiastically foregoes an opportunity to catch up on clearly-postponed sleep so that he can witness the birth of the Titan he's studying, and the awe that's written all over his face is second only to Emma and Madison's.

Ben

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cc9c9569_9d7e_432b_a90e_5ed52fc5bc74.jpeg

Portrayed By: Chris Chalk

Appeared In: Godzilla vs. Kong

A Monarch scientist studying Kong on Skull Island.

Black and Nerdy: A black scientist with Nerd Glasses who briefly exposits how the bio-dome can't hold Kong for much longer.
Nerd Glasses: He has classic, chunky glasses, albeit with lighter-colored frames than usual.
What Happened to the Mouse?: He disappears from the film after Kong is transported off Skull Island.

G-Team and Other Security

Jackson Barnes

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monsterversebarnes.jpg

"Sometimes I think this is Godzilla's world. We just live in it."

Portrayed By: O'Shea Jackson Jr.

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

A chief warrant officer and G-Team's expert on heavy explosives and munitions.

Demolitions Expert: His official profile describes him as a trained heavy explosives and munitions expert.
Face Death with Dignity: Subverted. In the novelization, Barnes is serene and he's at peace with the fact he's likely about to die when Ghidorah is closing in on the Argo, only regretting that the rescued Isla de Mara locals who never asked to be devastated by Titans have to die like this. Fortunately, Godzilla shows up before Ghidorah can start tearing into the ship.
Held Gaze: The novelization includes an extra scene where Barnes catches Master Sergeant Hendricks' gaze in the Platonic version of this trope, telling Hendricks that he understands how he feels about Titans but none of them can afford to be military mavericks during the upcoming mission.
"Hell, Yes!" Moment: In the novelization, Barnes has this to say when he sees Godzilla getting up and approaching his Burning mode:
"Fucking A."
Jumped at the Call: His Monarch Sciences bio states he's a lifelong monster enthusiast, and the profile almost quotes the trope name when describing Barnes' eager reaction to the chance to try out for Monarch's G-Team.
Mauve Shirt: He's one of a small handful of soldiers to get a name, is often allowed to pass comment on specific situations, and gets to live to see the final number.
Mistaken for Romance: He assumes that Mothra and Godzilla's relationship is Interspecies Romantic and is squicked out, prompting Coleman to correct him that the relationship is likely symbiotic.
Nightmare Fetishist: His Monarch Sciences bio says that he loved monster movies as a child, and whereas most of the world understandably feared and hated the Titans after their existence was revealed in 2014, Barnes just really wants to catch a glimpse of Godzilla at the ocean one day. Safe to say, Barnes gets his wish during the movie.
Ocean Awe: His profile says that spending much of his military career at sea has given Barnes a fascination for the ocean, not least the contemplation of what lies beneath the waves.
Plucky Comic Relief: He has shades of this among the G-Team; mistaking Godzilla and Mothra's symbiotic relationship for romance and then being squicked out, and passing comment on how he doesn't envy Madison for having Emma and Mark for parents while he's in the back of a Humvee amidst an apocalyptic city-destroying Titan battle.
Precision F-Strike: He gets King of the Monsters' single allowed uncensored "Fuck" when Ghidorah emerges from the Antarctic ice. This was edited out in the trailers.
You gotta be fucking kidding me!
Sequel Non-Entity: Like the rest of the G-Team, he's completely absent from Godzilla vs. Kong without explanation nor so much as a mention.
Those Two Guys: Alongside Martinez after the death of Hendricks.
The Xenophile: His Monarch profile reveals he had a lifelong love of monster movies, and when he was serving out at sea, he requested night patrols in the hopes that he'd catch a glimpse of Godzilla's blue light.
You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: He says this almost word-for-word, as transcribed under Precision F-Strike, when Ghidorah rises and Barnes realizes that the Titan is physically a 521-foot dragon straight out of myth with two extra heads.

Lauren Griffin

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monsterversegriffin.jpg

Portrayed By: Elizabeth Ludlow

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

A first lieutenant who serves as G-Team's resident Osprey pilot and the pilot of Monarch's sky fortress, the USS Argo.

Ace Pilot: Makes a straight-up hard landing when her vehicle has a damaged rotor while dodging a discarded aircraft and cargo doors.
Boyish Short Hair: She has short hair, and she's a tough-as-nails Ace Pilot known for skillfully pulling off vicious flight maneuvers.
The Cynic: Downplayed. Her Monarch Sciences bio reveals she thinks that Serizawa and his colleagues' notions of humans and Titans cohabiting the planet is little more than a pipe dream, although she's a lot more respectful in her disagreement than Mark Russell is. That having been said, Griffin otherwise has a fairly positive personality all-round.
Cynicism Catalyst: Her profile reveals that the reason why she doesn't share the Monarch scientists' optimism on Titans is that she witnessed the sheer carnage that the MUTOs and their battle against Godzilla wrought in 2014.
Sequel Non-Entity: Like the rest of the G-Team, she's completely absent from Godzilla vs. Kong without explanation and isn't mentioned at all, as if she never existed.
Worst Aid: After she gets injured in the leg by shrapnel, the sheer heat and chaos of Godzilla, Ghidorah, Mothra and Rodan battling forces her fellow soldiers to move her promptly while the shrapnel is still stuck in her. And then Barnes has to treat Griffin in an environment that's anything but stable: the back of a Humvee that's constantly swerving frantically for all occupants' lives around the rubble, explosions and falling aircraft.

Anthony Martinez

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monsterversemartinez.jpg

Portrayed By: Anthony Ramos

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

A G-Team staff sergeant who is close friends with Barnes.

Beware the Nice Ones: Mark thinks as much of him in the novelization when first meeting him^note.
Oh, Crap!: He has one in the novelization's expanded version of the Washington D.C. battle when Rodan disappears amid some cloud cover.
"Oh, shit!" Martinez yelped. "Above us, nine o'clock!" Barnes glanced up to see the monster, filling half the sky, wings folded at its sides, diving straight toward them.
One-Steve Limit: He has the same last name as a female analyst officer who was aboard the USS Saratoga In Godzilla (2014).
Sequel Non-Entity: Like the rest of the G-Team, he's completely absent from Godzilla vs. Kong without explanation and isn't mentioned at all, as if he never existed.
Those Two Guys: Alongside Barnes after the death of Hendricks.
Token Religious Teammate: He crosses himself when preparing to enter the apocalyptic hellscape that Ghidorah and Godzilla's battle is turning Boston into. The novelization makes his distinct religiousness among the G-Team more explicit.
Upbringing Makes the Hero: Martinez's Monarch Sciences website profile states that his willingness to run into life-threatening danger in order to help others stems from being raised by parents who instilled a strong community value in him.

Master Sergeant Hendricks

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kotmhendricks.jpg

"What's with the light show?"

Portrayed By: T.C. Matherne

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

A member of G-Team who is killed by Ghidorah in Antarctica.

C-List Fodder: Downplayed. He doesn't get as much characterization as the other four named members of G-Team (although he's still not quite a personality-free mook, in the novelization), and he dies with all the G-Team's unnamed members alongside Dr. Graham when Ghidorah awakens.
Curse Cut Short: His Profane Last Words are cut short when Ghidorah fires his Gravity Beams at Hendricks.
Held Gaze: In the novelization, Barnes catches his gaze whilst sternly but gently telling Hendricks that he knows how he feels about the Titans, but he needs to operate by-the-book or stay back.
Hot-Blooded: He's the soldier who gives the firing order when he and several others turn around and start firing guns at Ghidorah (to predictable lack of effect); plus Hendricks is seen bellowing like a maniac during the shooting. Expanded on and downplayed in the novelization: Hendricks is itching for an excuse to throw whatever toys the G-Team has at a Titan, but he's no loose cannon, plus the novel reveals that firing on Ghidorah was at least in part an intentional Heroic Sacrifice on Hendricks' end.
Killed Mid-Sentence: Married to Profane Last Words.
"Oh, shi-" [gets vaporized by Gravity Beams]
Military Maverick: Defied in the novelization. He's itching for a chance to try and fry a Titan after his father's death, and Barnes is concerned that he might go off the deep end in the field, but Hendricks assures Barnes that he's no loose cannon.
Not Enough to Bury: He gets blasted to scorched ashes by Ghidorah's Gravity Beams.
Oh, Crap!: His last words when he sees Ghidorah charging up his Gravity Beams to fire on Hendricks and his men:
"Oh, shi-!"
Profane Last Words: Profane Last Words Cut Short, as described under Oh, Crap!.
Red Shirt: In the movie, he's there solely to establish the mentality of Ghidorah when Hendricks and several soldiers hail Ghidorah with gunfire to no effect, which prompts the monster to use his Breath Weapon to gleefully blast Hendricks and his compatriots into oblivion with a slasher smile; and also to establish that people are gonna die to Ghidorah and his Titan army, in what has remained the MonsterVerse's most apocalyptic and high-stakes movie so far as of 2023.
Senseless Sacrifice: Whereas the movie makes it seem like Hendricks and several other soldiers are being Too Dumb to Live when they stop and fire on Ghidorah (which prompts Ghidorah to kill them); in the novelization, Hendricks has a few last words with Barnes which make it clear that he's trying to keep Ghidorah's attention on him and his men in the hopes it'll buy Barnes, Foster and the Monarch brass time to escape. Of course, it doesn't count for much, as the static mega-surge Ghidorah causes when obliterating Hendricks and his men disables the others' escape craft, and Ghidorah proceeds toward menacing them moments later while they can't fly anywhere.
Too Dumb to Live: He and several other soldiers, after barely escaping being crushed by debris when Ghidorah emerges, decide to stop and open fire on the 521-foot Titan. Predictably, it only makes San/Kevin curious about them before all three heads blast them into oblivion.
Tragic Bigot: The novelization reveals he's all but itching to kill a Titan (or try to), because his father was among the casualties of Godzilla and the male MUTO's Hawaii battle. That being said, he's no Military Maverick.

Tarkan Çavusgolu

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_173.jpg

Miles Atherton: And what is it, exactly, that you do for Monarch?
Tarkan: Clean up the trash.

Appeared In: Godzilla Aftershock

A member of Monarch's crisis response unit, assigned to act as a bodyguard for Emma Russell during her search for answers on the true nature of Jinshin-Mushi.

Deadpan Snarker: When the kannushi on Kyushu immediately expresses relief at Emma Russell surviving the cave-in which both she and Tarkan just escaped, Tarkan simply waves and gives him a flat "Hi" to say, 'I was in there too, thank you very much'.
Escort Mission: He's assigned to protect Emma Russell during her trek around the world investigating the MUTO Prime's origins and how to stop it, and his services are certainly needed due to Emma's Fearless Fool tendencies.
Humans Are Flawed: Discussed by him during a plane ride with Emma.
Tarkan: Funny, isn't it? How much the world has changed. Everything that used to be so important — land, resources. Overpopulation, religion. Those things that once divided us all seem so petty now. Maybe humans are at our best when we're facing a common threat. I don't know. What do you think?
Emma Russell: I don't think anything's changed. Nothing at all.
Pragmatic Hero: To capture Alan Jonah and get him off the team's backs for good, Tarkan readily uses Emma as bait without her knowledge.

Mikael

Portrayed By: Alex Ferns

Appear In: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

The security and defense officer during the Hollow Earth expedition in Godzilla x Kong.

Asshole Victim: After spending all of his screentime being a loud, obnoxious control freak, Mikael is eaten alive by a tree-mimic. Nobody's particularly sad to see him go.
The Big Guy: Mikael pilots the team's aircraft and is the only team member that's fully armed. He's also the first to die.
Fat Bastard: A heavyset man with a short temper and a desperate need to be in charge.
The World's Expert (on Getting Killed): He declars he's the expert on the threats of the Hollow Earth and insists he knows what's safe immediately before walking into range of a tree-mimic.

Others

USS Argo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kotm_argo.jpg

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Monarch's armed command ship. Also functions as its secondary, aerial command centre that transports the top brass anywhere in the world in a short time.

Airborne Aircraft Carrier: It's a massive delta-wing aircraft that serves as a mobile base of operations and a helipad for smaller, VTOL aircraft.
The Big Board: It has a giant, interactive table screen which displays images the Monarch top brass need while while they exposit around it. Images it brings up include mythography, Titan X-rays, and a global satellite map.
The Bridge: It has a very spacious main bridge with a wide view of the ship's bow through the nose windshields, perimeter-based work stations, and a stage with a Big Board in the center. The access point is a wide open corridor at the bridge's rear. The bridge does have seatbelts for when the Argo is forced to go on the defensive and get versatile in the air, not that everyone on the bridge uses them. This area is where The Team often gather to talk, plan, examine readouts on screens, remotely issue orders to other aircraft and teams in the field, or pilot the ship to maneuvre around destructive Titans and other obstacles.
Cool Plane: It continues the proud Heisei tradition of a Godzilla-centered organization using super-technology to create sci-fi planes, and it has other, smaller cool Osprey VTOL planes.
Signature Team Transport: Played With. In King of the Monsters, the Argo is The Team's main mobile operations base with which they travel around the world after leaving Castle Bravo and take the fight to Ghidorah in Washington D.C. and Boston. The vehicle is absent in Godzilla vs. Kong but reappears in the novelization's extra scenes, transporting Mark Russell to Hong Kong.
Unnecessarily Large Interior: The interior was clearly shot inside a regular building set full of lavishly-sized corridors, rooms and ceilings. Its bridge alone is larger than your average apartment. It's unlikely that any Real Life utilitarian aircraft, and military ones in particular, would waste so much space on creature comforts.

Hiroshi Randa

See MonsterVerse - Families

Tim

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mlom_tim.jpg

"Those files belong to us, and they are more important than you can possibly imagine."

Portrayed By: Joe Tippett

Appeared In: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

An eccentric Monarch "office drone" who comes into conflict with the Randas while trying to apprehend Bill Randa's classified Monarch files from them.

Ascended Fanboy: He's clearly in awe of the legacy of the Randas, and seems equally geekish about Shaw's role in Monach. Hiroshi himself admits he always appreciated Tim's "fidelity" to his family.
Broken Pedestal: Tim starts out the series firmly agreeing with Monarch's ideals, but once Verdugo won't help May, Cate, and Lee despite evidence to their survival, he immediately agrees with Lee's claims that Monarch doesn't actually try to solve problems and quits.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's eccentric and socially awkward to say the least, but he is very knowledgeable about Hiroshi Randa, his family's legacy in Monarch and what Monarch is searching for in regards to the Titans. Best seen when he uses a combination of the above to puzzle out where Shaw and the Randas will be heading after Monarch loses track of them, accurately predicting their location in Algeria.
Butt-Monkey: He has a comically tough time. After getting chewed out by Verdugo for cowboying off to Tokyo and spectacularly failing; Tim is the sole survivor after his chopper in Algeria crashes due to Godzilla, and then he has to make his way across several miles of desert without water or aid, and the moment he gets back to civilization, he's accosted by an angry Cate and Kentaro for a transgression he didn't commit. Later, whilst he does survive the Kazakh power plant collapse, he comes out of it on crutches.
Didn't Think This Through: His going after the Randa files without permission leads to not only the Randa kids disappearing with said files, but Lee Shaw escaping with them. If not for Duvall speaking up for him to Verdugo, he would have been exiles back to his dead end job at best, fired at worst.
Enemy Mine: Forms an alliance with the Randas after Godzilla appears, promising to help them find May if they help him puzzle out what Shaw's after.
Friendless Background: Verdugo snarkily tells him that he doesn't have non-internet friends and he needs to get some, in "Terrifying Miracles".
Hero Antagonist: He's a well-meaning guy, but the methods he was using does not help. To the point that Cate's PTSD triggers, and he's been chasing after her.
Hazy-Feel Turn: Leaves Monarch after Verdugo essentially writes off Cate, May and Shaw as lost in the Hollow Earth. He ends up forming an alliance with Kentaro, Hiroshi and Apex Cybernetics to get them back.
Hypocrite: He's appalled in the fifth episode that the introduction of Bill and Keiko Randa's grandchildren into Monarch consists of Monarch locking them up in cells and interrogating them, even though, as Verdugo snarkily points out, Tim tried to kidnap Cate off the street in a black car first.
I Just Want to Be Special: It's hinted he desires to matter to Monarch in the same way Bill Randa and the other legendary founders of Monarch did instead of a dead end basement job. He's alarmingly quick to charge off in pursuit of the Randa files without any official sanction, and many of his interactions with Verdugo strongly hint that he's looking for her official approval - best seen when he looks like he's fishing for some sort of approval after he figures out the Randas are heading to Algeria, and looks disappointed when she immediately goes on the phone to initiate a pursuit.
No Social Skills: Tries to make small talk with Cate, and the awkwardness comes from his end and Cate was already through with her own father's secrets. His spiel to the rest of Monarch in episode 4 makes clear he's a social outcast there, too.
Not Helping Your Case: He tries to come off as a friendly Nice Guy to Cate when she's trying to leave Japan, but he keeps aggressively grabbing her arm, and takes her to his car. It doesn't help at all when he has her blindfolded, and Cate ends up having an episodic panic attack that caused their car to flip over.
One-Steve Limit: Averted. He shares a first name with Dr. Mancini, the Monarch scientist who was shot by Alan Jonah at the start of Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).
Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Gender-Inverted. He's the Energetic Guy to Duvall's Savvy Girl. Tim is an eccentric, socially-awkward passionate and impulsive but big-hearted man, who goes cowboying to Tokyo without authorization at the series' start, and quits Monarch in angry protest over Verdugo's leadership at the series' end.
Secretly Selfish: Deputy Director Verdugo tells him point-blank that he was being this and instead of informing Ishiro Serizawa about the data leak, he went to Japan with Duvall to "talk" to Cate.
Sole Survivor: When he and a team of armed mooks are sent out by helicopter into the Algerian Desert, Tim is the only survivor of the ensuing crash when the chopper flies too close to Godzilla.
Take This Job and Shove It: He eventually quits Monarch in outrage over their constant inaction which Lee called them out on.
Trash of the Titans: Downplayed, but in "Birthright", it's stated that he never threw away any of the old files, research and junk in the old Monarch office that he inherited from Bill Randa, preserving stuff that could be important in ways he couldn't predict further down the line at the price of his office's contents being very time-costly to sort through.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His incredibly heavy-handed and menacing attempts to get Bill Randa's files only brings the full weight of Monarch down on the Randa siblings - and gets them desperate enough to turn to Lee Shaw for help.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He doesn't like insects, being grossed out by the Endoswarmers' shed shells when he goes to the Kazakhstan abandoned power plant.
The Xenophile: Per the Monarch norm, he speaks of the reality that humanity is actually nothing more than the Earth's insect kingdom and that there are far bigger and vaster creatures out there, with awe. It's probably part of why he idolizes the Randa family.

Michelle Duvall

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monarch_photo_010606.jpg

Portrayed By: Elisa Lasowski

Appeared In: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

A cold, seasoned Monarch operative who comes into conflict with Cate Randa over her investigation into her family's history with Monarch.

Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite her cold demeanor which her partner Tim is not exempt from, she looks out for his well-being, even after she breaks away from mainstream Monarch. She defends him to Verdugo after his cowboy approach to the Randas lands him in hot water, and she finally goes out of her way to save Tim from getting hurt or arrested in Kazakhstan after she's joined Shaw's Renegade Splinter Faction in opposing Monarch.
Captain Ersatz: Monarch agent Michelle Duvall, a cold, dark-clad, French woman who is clearly among the most competent individuals in the show? They might as well have named her Monique Dupré
Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: She for the most part keeps her comparatively more eccentric and motor-mouthed partner under control when his quirks start interfering with the immediate task at hand; like when he starts rambling during a video call to Monarch's command.
Connected All Along: She's related to the Brodys, with Sandra being her sister. She joined Monarch because of Sandra's death when the male MUTO attacked the power plant.
Cunning Linguist: She's fluent in both English and Japanese, and she's the brains between herself and Tim. When Tim leads them to Kentaro and Emiko's apartment, Duvall has the smarts to try and talk Emiko into handing Randa's files over by claiming that Kentaro stole government property, in contrast to Tim's ineffectual attempts and strongarming.
Deadpan Snarker: Despite being the more serious operative relative to Tim, she can be very snarky and sarcastic when she wants to be; revealing that she knows May isn't who she says she is in a fairly drawn-out and sarcastic manner, and sardonically making air quotes when she states Kentaro's occupation as an artist.
Evil Wears Black: Downplayed. She's a Hero Antagonist more than anything else, but her all-black attire in contrast to everyone else's clothing doesn't do her any favors in appearing non-evil to the show's protagonists.
Hazy-Feel Turn: She defects from the morally light-gray Monarch, over to the morally light but misguided and ultimately criminal Lee Shaw, persuaded by his arguments that Monarch is too passive and ineffectual to prevent more tragedies like the death of her sister and G-Day from occurring again.
Hero Antagonist: Like with Tim, she's a well-meaning woman trying to help, but their methods cause an episode for Cate, which causes their car to flip over. Then they spend the rest of the episode going after her.
Heroic Lineage: She's revealed to be related to Joe Brody (who played a part in saving tens of thousands of people from radiation contamination at great personal cost in Janjira, and whose later work was instrumental in countering the MUTOs), and Ford Brody (a brave EOD specialist who helped combat the Titans in the lead-up to G-Day and who was key in Godzilla's victory over the MUTOs).
Manly Tears: Gender-Inverted. Whenever her grief over her sister's death comes to the surface, her stony face doesn't change but her eyes turn wet and are screaming.
Not So Stoic: She's always in control of her emotions... but whenever her late sister Sandra Brody, whose death motivated her to join Monarch, comes up, her eyes turn visibly wet.
Oppose What You Suffered: Duvall reveals that she joined Monarch with the aim of preventing another Titan emergence like the one that killed her sister in 1999 from ever happening to anyone else again. This influences her decision to rebel with Shaw after Monarch failed to prevent G-Day from happening.
Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Gender-Inverted. She's the Savvy Girl to Tim's Energetic Guy. She's a cold, calculating, quieter professional Monarch spook, who saves Tim from facing worse repercussions for his cowboying via smooth talking and cunning, is much more analytical when she deduces May is using a fake identity, but Duvall is just ruthless enough to side with Lee Shaw's faction in essentially committing terrorism against Monarch when persuaded that they can save more people.
Spotting the Thread: Duvall notices that from the way in which May swept her apartment, she knows how to disappear, cluing her in that May isn't who she says she is and that she's disappeared herself before.
What Happened to the Mouse?: She disappears from the show after saving Tim and the Kazakhstan power plant collapses.

The Randa Nurse (*Spoilers*)

Emiko Randa (née Matsumoto)

See here.

Dr. Gregory Whelan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monsterversewhelan.jpg

Portrayed By: Brian Markinson

Appeared In: Godzilla

The chief scientist in charge of the Janjira site containing the MUTO's cocoon.

Adaptation Personality Change: In the film proper, he's portrayed as quite a calm man and is the only one who doesn't look away in dismay when Monarch is trying to fry the MUTO cocoon to death. The novelization instead portrays him as an exuberant Wide-Eyed Idealist who thinks the MUTO is the key to solving the world's energy crisis.
Heroic Sacrifice: Type 1. The novelization states that he died due to staying at his post amidst the male MUTO's escape to try and ensure everyone else made it out alive.
Monster Munch: He's first introduced monitoring the containment site holding Hokmuto's cocoon on the night that Hokmuto breaks out, and he's among the many casualties who die amid the destruction the creature causes just by forcing its way out to freedom, establishing how not even a decades-old Benevolent Conspiracy is prepared to come close to combating the Kaiju once they start to emerge.
Stoic Spectacles: He wears a pair of thin-rimmed, narrow, glasses, and he's especially calm when Monarch reluctantly attempt to kill the MUTO cocoon; being the only operative who doesn't avert his gaze in dismay. Notably, he puts the glasses back on his face when he gives the order for someone to confirm the MUTO's death.
We Hardly Knew Ye: He's one of Serizawa and Graham's colleagues, and he and the others at the Janjira containment site get maybe five minutes of screentime before they're all killed during the male MUTO's escape.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: In the novelization at least. Whelan in particular believes they can harness the MUTO's cocoon to solve the worldwide energy crisis, only for the MUTO's devastating awakening to prove just how far beyond human control it is.

Jainway

Portrayed By: Ty Olsson

Appeared In: Godzilla

The lead technician at the Janjira containment site monitoring the readings coming from the MUTO's cocoon.

Labcoat of Science and Medicine: He's wearing a Hollywood lab coat, even though he's only seen monitoring the MUTO's vitals and the variations in its energy emissions from a sealed control room away from any contaminants.
Monster Munch: He's first introduced monitoring the containment site holding Hokmuto's cocoon on the night that Hokmuto breaks out, and he's among the many casualties who die amid the destruction the creature causes just by forcing its way out to freedom, establishing how not even a decades-old Benevolent Conspiracy is prepared to come close to combating the Kaiju once they start to emerge.

Trapper

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_1479_0.png

Portrayed By: Dan Stevens

Appeared In: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

All There in the Manual: According to the novelisation, his real name is Travis Beasley.
AM/FM Characterization: Trapper always marks his entrance with some feel-good rock music, showing that he treats his job like a big rollicking adventure regardless of the apocalyptic consequences that are present at every turn.
Amicable Exes: Trapper and Dr. Andrews had a relationship back in university and fondly reminisce about the good times, but he seems content to just stay friends now.
Awesome Aussie: Trapper has a noticeable Australian accent, he is also very comfortable and unfazed around skyscraper-sized super-powered animals and even playfully tells Bernie not to swallow his tongue as they follow Kong down into a hollow earth portal.
Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: Even though he's a competent member of Monarch, his Hawaiian shirt and general attitude shows he's a lot more easygoing than most other members.
Ignored Expert: Despite being an expert on Titan physiology and accustomed to working with wildlife, Mikael ignores Trapper's warnings due to despising him for his personality. Mikael dies as a result.
Kindly Vet: Trapper is a Titan-Veterinarian. Indeed, his very first scene sees him treating Kong for an infected tooth and replacing it with an artificial one.
Nature Lover: It’s clear that Trapper has a admiration and respect for the natural world.
New-Age Retro Hippie: He gives off shades of this on occasion.
Nice Guy: In addition to treating Titans like Kong for their injuries, Trapper's generally a jovial, easygoing fellow who gets along with just about everyone.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's clearly meant to be the kaiju equivalent to the late-Steve Irwin (AKA, the Crocodile Hunter), another Awesome Aussie with a blonde moptop and upbeat love for wildlife.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: There's a few instances where Trapper's accent fluctuates between Australian and New Zealander.
Strange Minds Think Alike: Trapper and Bernie quickly become friends over their mutual excitement at exploring Hollow Earth.

Characters / MonsterVerse - Monarch

Edit Locked

Top Brass

Portrayed By: Sally Hawkins

Appears In: Godzilla | Godzilla Aftershock | Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Portrayed By: Mirelly Taylor

Appears In: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Portrayed By: Zhang Ziyi

Appears In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Portrayed By: Zhang Ziyi

Appears In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Portrayed By: Bradley Whitford

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Portrayed By: Aisha Hinds

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Portrayed By: Thomas Middleditch

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Portrayed By: Lance Reddick

Appeared In: Godzilla vs. Kong

Founders and Early Members

Appears In: Godzilla Awakening

Portrayed By: Kurt Russell (old, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters), Wyatt Russell (young, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters)

Appeared In: Godzilla Awakening | Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Portrayed By: Mari Yamamoto

Appeared In: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Scientists

Portrayed By: Alexander Skarsgård

Appeared In: Godzilla vs. Kong

Portrayed By: Rebecca Hall

Appeared In: Godzilla vs. Kong | Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Portrayed By: Jess Salgueiro

Appeared In: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Portrayed By: Randy Havens

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Portrayed By: Chris Chalk

Appeared In: Godzilla vs. Kong

G-Team and Other Security

Portrayed By: O'Shea Jackson Jr.

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Portrayed By: Elizabeth Ludlow

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Portrayed By: Anthony Ramos

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Portrayed By: T.C. Matherne

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Appeared In: Godzilla Aftershock

Portrayed By: Alex Ferns

Appear In: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Others

Appeared In: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Portrayed By: Joe Tippett

Appeared In: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Portrayed By: Elisa Lasowski

Appeared In: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Emiko Randa (née Matsumoto)

Portrayed By: Brian Markinson

Appeared In: Godzilla

Portrayed By: Ty Olsson

Appeared In: Godzilla

Portrayed By: Dan Stevens

Appeared In: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Previous

Index

Next