Madison Russell

**Madison Russell** is the daughter of Monarch scientists Drs. Emma and Mark Russell, and Andrew Russell's younger sister. She first appeared in the 2019 MonsterVerse graphic comic, *Godzilla: Aftershock*, before appearing in the 2019 *Godzilla* film, *Godzilla: King of the Monsters*, as a reluctant antagonist and eventual secondary human protagonist. Two years later, she reappeared in the 2021 film *Godzilla vs. Kong* as the human lead of the Godzilla plotline.

## History

### Madison's early life

Born in 2007, Madison spent much of her childhood living in Boston and traveling the world with her mother on field assignments. Through her mother and Monarch Field Tutor, Madison gained extensive knowledge on Titans, and others noted her for being academically gifted like her parents.

At an unknown point, the family moved to San Francisco after Emma accepted a job offer. However, during the battle between Godzilla and the MUTOs in 2014, Madison's older brother Andrew died from rubble crushing him. The grieving family moved back to Boston, and Mark and Emma destroyed their prototype of the ORCA, a unique device that releases sonar pulses only understood by Titans. Losing Andrew became too much for Madison's parents to deal with as her father started drinking to cope, and her mother poured herself into rebuilding the ORCA to ensure Andrew's death wasn't meaningless. Madison often found herself in the middle of her parents' disputes and tried to help them stay together, but Mark and Emma eventually separated. After her father left, Madison chose to stay with her mother and help her heal. Since then, Madison has continued traveling around with Emma to follow in her mother's footsteps.

### *Godzilla: Aftershock*

While Emma is working at Monarch Outpost 14 in the Philippines, Madison surprises her mother after Vivienne Graham told Mark that seeing Maddie would help ease Emma of the stress she's been suffering recently. However, Madison's reunion with her mother is cut short by Dr. Graham telling Emma about MUTO Prime's recent attack. Then they watch a live video feed of Godzilla returning to the ocean after his latest fight with the creature, and Madison tells her mother how injured Godzilla looks.
After Godzilla kills the MUTO Prime, back in Boston, Emma tells Madison the world will experience some enormous changes soon; things might get scary for a while, but sometimes matters must worsen to get better. Then Emma promises to always be beside Madison and keep her safe. Madison tells Emma that Godzilla was called a hero on the news, something Emma credits to the accounts left behind by the ancient Phoenicians. Madison asks what happened to them, and Emma replies she doesn't know but expresses how much she admires those who have the guts to venture into the unknown alone.

### *Between* Aftershock *and* King of the Monsters

Despite becoming distant from her father over the next five years, the now 12-year-old Madison keeps in contact with him regularly and spends some time with him now and then. Madison and Emma are currently at Monarch Outpost 61 - The Temple of the Moth in the jungle of China's Yunnan province. Maddie spends her free time studying the insects in the ecosystem as Emma forbids her from having containment access. However, as she is entering her teenage years and desiring normalcy, Madison spends her evenings taking up common interests like a normal kid.

### *Godzilla: King of the Monsters*

Madison is listening to music and watching videos online on her laptop. She receives an email from her father, Mark, who is away in the Colorado wilderness studying wolves. Madison types a quick reply about missing him and wanting to talk to him about growing concerned for her mother, but before she can send it, Madison hears the smoke alarm go off as she makes breakfast for her mother and herself and burns the bacon. Madison lies to her mom about looking for recipes, but her mother isn't convinced, so Madison admits to answering her father's emails. She asks if her dad will be okay, and Emma says Mark is safe where he is and reveals she finished rebuilding the ORCA.

hen Madison and Emma witness the hatching of Mothra, a prehistoric moth-like Titan. The larva quickly becomes agitated after Monarch personnel begin firing electrical pulses at it to calm it. Emma rushes into the containment chamber with the ORCA. Madison swipes Dr. Mancini's ID badge and runs into the room to protect her mother but is helpless as the large larva prepares to strike down on them. Emma manages to find the right frequency and calms the worm, which leans downwards and allows Madison to touch her. Soon after, eco-terrorists and their leader, Alan Jonah, raid the facility, executing all Monarch personnel except Madison and Emma. The mercenaries fail to capture Mothra, who retreats behind a nearby waterfall and seals herself in a cocoon.

With a Monarch Osprey, the eco-terrorists take Madison and Emma to the Monarch outpost in Antarctica, killing all personnel stationed there as they did in China, with Madison visibly shaken. The terrorists then escort Madison and Emma down into the depths of the containment facility, where they intend to awaken a three-headed, dragon-like Titan dubbed Monster Zero. Madison marvels at the sight of Monster Zero, frozen under hundreds of feet of ice. She runs her hand across the ice as Monster Zero's massive silhouette towers over her, frozen in the same position as he was in many millennia ago. Jonah has his men drill large holes in the ice and place charges in them to aid Monster Zero in waking up, but Monarch reinforcements soon arrive, along with Mark Russell.

During an intense standoff between Jonah and G-Team, Mark tells Madison and Emma to come towards him. Madison begins walking to him slowly, but Emma calls her back. Madison reluctantly backs away from Mark and escapes with Emma and the terrorists after her mother detonates the charges. Reboarding their Osprey, Madison tells her mother they can't leave Mark behind before watching Emma use the ORCA to awaken Monster Zero, who rises from the shattered ice and begins terrorizing her father and the trapped Monarch personnel below. Fearing for her father's life, Madison snatches the ORCA out of Emma's hands and sends out sonar pulses to distract Monster Zero. Emma and Jonah quickly pull Madison away from it, and Jonah restrains her so Emma can turn off the ORCA to prevent Monster Zero from killing them. Then Madison watches somberly as Monster Zero closes in on her father, trapped in a damaged Osprey below, before flying off.

Jonah takes Madison and Emma to a Monarch bunker just outside of Boston, which the eco-terrorists have taken over to use as a hideout. From there, Emma contacts Mark and Monarch via video feed from the control room. Relieved that her father is alive, Madison apologizes to him for what happened before. Then she listens to Emma as she reveals that she and Jonah are working together to "save the world" by freeing the Titans before her parents argue about Emma's reasoning stemming from Andrew's death. Then Jonah orders Emma to wake up another Titan, a massive pteranodon-like creature dubbed Rodan, located in Isla de Mara, Mexico. After hearing what her father said, Madison begs Emma to reconsider and let the village near Rodan's volcano outpost evacuate. Then Jonah interjects and mockingly asks Madison if Emma sold her on the idea to release the Titans by promising humans and monsters living together in peace. Madison still begs her mother to let the islanders find shelter first, but the disheartened Emma proceeds to wake Rodan anyway. Rodan creates a massive cyclonic drift stream and wipes out the village and many of its inhabitants by merely flying overhead before decimating a jet squadron.

Soon after, the military fires a prototype missile called an "Oxygen Destroyer" at Monster Zero and Godzilla as they fight in the ocean in Mexico. Godzilla appears to die while Monster Zero survives; he regrows the head Godzilla previously tore off during the fight, perches atop Rodan's volcano, and gives out a roar that awakens the remaining Titans around the world. Horrified by the needless death and destruction, and disenchanted with her mother's beliefs, a teary Madison calls her a monster. Later, Madison storms down a corridor, followed by her mother. She angrily confronts Emma about the plan to gradually release the Titans and restore balance to the world, as her mother told her she would be careful. Then Madison says Emma told her they were doing it in Andrew's memory and asks if Andrew would approve of what they've done before locking herself in an old radio room.

The Titans continue ravaging the planet under Monster Zero's leadership, now known as Ghidorah, who usurped the Alpha Titan's position from Godzilla. Overhearing Emma and Jonah discuss the chance of using the ORCA to broadcast a signal from the Fenway Park stadium, Madison decides to carry out her mother's plan herself. Hence, she steals the ORCA, escapes the bunker undetected, and heads into the city, reaching the stadium just as the last evacuations finish. Madison goes into the broadcast booth and uses the ORCA to blast sonar pulses through Fenway's speakers, effectively distracting the Titans worldwide, including Ghidorah.

hidorah eventually arrives at Fenway, slamming down into the stadium and searching for the sonar pulses' source. He destroys the speakers but continues hearing the ORCA; Madison tries disabling it, but Ghidorah spots her and attempts to kill her with his gravity beams. Madison escapes the stadium but comes face-to-face with Ghidorah on the field. She throws the ORCA at him, which he stomps on and destroys. Madison braces herself with nowhere left to run or hide as Ghidorah charges up his gravity beams, ready to kill her. Suddenly, the three-headed beast is thrown back by a blast of energy. Godzilla arrives from the ocean with an entourage of jets and naval vessels, ready to face Ghidorah again. The two Titans proceed to battle each other viciously while Madison escapes. Meanwhile, Mothra and Rodan also arrive and begin fighting each other. Madison runs to her family's old house on Beacon Street and screams in terror as the very Earth shakes due to the battle between the colossal beasts.

Emma and Mark eventually find Madison in the bathtub of their old house, buried under some rubble unconscious. Upon reviving Madison, the family shares an emotional reunion and watches as Ghidorah lifts Godzilla thousands of feet into the air and drops him. Mothra, who just barely defeated Rodan, attempts to defend Godzilla but Ghidorah obliterates her. Madison's parents repair the ORCA as Ghidorah begins draining Godzilla's remaining energy, and an Osprey arrives with Monarch. Saying her final goodbyes to Madison and Mark, Emma takes the repaired ORCA. She drives off into the city, grabbing Ghidorah's attention and allowing her family to escape with Monarch safely. Madison tearfully watches as Ghidorah closes in on Emma and blasts her with his gravity beams. Before Ghidorah can finish Emma off, Godzilla enters the scene, glowing orange and melting everything around him. Godzilla incinerates Ghidorah and secures his position as Alpha once again, and Madison somberly watches as she flies off with Mark and Monarch in the Osprey.

## External Links

* Madison Russell on the "Gojipedia" wiki page
* Madison Russell on the "Heroes Wiki" page
* Madison Russell on the "Near Pure Good Wiki" page