Madison Russell

**Madison "Maddie" Russell** is a character who appears in the Legendary Pictures films *Godzilla: King of the Monsters* and *Godzilla vs. Kong*.

The daughter of Monarch scientists Mark and Emma Russell, Madison has grown up traveling the world with her mother on field assignments following the death of her older brother Andrew during Godzilla's battle with the MUTOs in 2014. At the start of *Godzilla: King of the Monsters*, she was living in Monarch Outpost 61 in China's Yunnan Province, where her mother was studying the Titan known as *Titanus Mosura*. She maintained a distant relationship with Mark, who resigned from Monarch and separated from Emma in 2014, though she contacted him several times a week. In 2019, she witnessed Mothra's emergence from her egg up-close, only to be abducted by the eco-terrorist Alan Jonah along with Emma. After Emma and Jonah's plan to awaken Titans around the world resulted in King Ghidorah using the Titans to devastate the world's ecosystems, Madison stole her mother's sonar device, the ORCA. Using Fenway Park's speakers, she managed to halt most of the Titans' rampages, while summoning Ghidorah and Rodan to Boston for a final confrontation with Godzilla and Mothra.

## Personality

Like her parents, Madison is academically gifted in science. However, she takes after her outdoors man father and prefers hands-on experience in the field instead of learning in a classroom. Madison has gained vast knowledge of the Titans from accompanying her mother on assignments when permitted. Madison possesses a natural scientific curiosity, particularly fascinated by insect entomology, largely those found in the family's Boston home backyard when she was a child. Due to her mother denying her access to containment units at outposts, Madison got several security violations and residential infractions whenever she tried to satisfy her curiosity. From often traveling with her mother on assignments, Madison doesn't have many friends outside of her parents and Monarch employees. In the end, all Madison truly wants is ordinary life and to spend her days playing video games, watching YouTube videos, and making and listening to music playlists. Additionally, she has a flippant sense of humor, as when Alan Jonah gave her a false smile in Outpost 32's elevator, she subtly flipped him off while using the said finger to "scratch" an itch on her face.

Madison cares about both of her parents, but like most children caught between warring parents, she feels trapped, needing to please them both to try and keep their family intact. Despite her father leaving her and her mother after Andrew's death, Madison still loves Mark and doesn't want him to come to harm, but she's now slightly wary of him after her mom claimed he abandoned them. Living with her mother after her parents split, Madison wants to be a good daughter and support her. However, during their time with Jonah carrying out Emma's plan to restore nature's balance, Madison's loyalty to Emma gets tested; Madison's faith begins to waver as she realizes that she no longer knows her mother.

Convinced by Emma to take part in the plan under the premise of helping people and saving the world, Madison soon becomes distraught and disillusioned with Emma after seeing her mother endanger her father and friends. Madison's disenchantment with Emma grows after listening to Mark confront her mother for believing she now has the right to decide everyone's fate. Seeing the truth in her father's words, Madison realizes Emma was wrong about him. She also understands that her mother gave up on humanity after Andrew died and kept her in the dark about certain things, like Jonah's true murderous nature and the number of casualties that would occur despite Emma telling Madison they would be careful. Overwhelmed with guilt for her complicity in the death and destruction caused, Madison beats herself up for blindly believing and trusting Emma without question for so long. After watching the horrors that happen around her from the sidelines and letting her mother make all the decisions for her, Madison takes it upon herself to forsake her mother's plan and save the world by helping Monarch and her father.

According to the *Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization*, Madison suffers PTSD from her ordeals with Jonah and Ghidorah. She also suffers bullying at school for her mother's legacy and her obsession with Godzilla and the Titans.

## History

### MonsterVerse

#### *Godzilla: King of the Monsters*

Madison received an email from her estranged father, Mark, asking to catch up. Upon reading it, Madison initially hesitated before beginning to type a response stating that she was worried about her mother. However, the smoke detector began to go off as Madison realized the bacon she was cooking was burning. Emma entered the kitchen and tried to turn the alarm off and asked her daughter what was going on. Madison responded that she was trying to make breakfast, but accidentally overcooked the bacon. Madison closed her laptop before Emma could see it, and said that her father had been contacting her. Emma asked if she had responded, and she replied that she hadn't yet. Emma then informed Madison that she had finally finished her sonar device: the ORCA. Suddenly, their apartment was shaken by a deafening screeching noise. Emma was contacted and told that she needed to go to the containment area immediately, prompting her to grab the ORCA and leave the apartment with Madison. Their apartment was actually in the middle of China's Yunnan rainforest, just outside of Monarch Outpost 61: the Temple of the Moth. As Emma and Madison entered the temple, adorned with ornate carvings of a huge moth, they were greeted by Monarch entomologist Dr. Tim Mancini, who informed them that the Titan housed there has suddenly become incredibly active after sleeping peacefully previously. As they entered an observation room overlooking a large chamber, they gazed upon a giant glowing blue egg. As the egg began pulsating and glowing brighter, it became clear that the Titan inside was about to hatch. Soon, a gigantic mass broke through the egg. As the hatchling shed the amniotic fluid covering it, it revealed itself as a giant larva. Dr. Mancini introduced it as *Titanus Mosura*, better known as Mothra. A containment field was activated around the colossal larva, but inexplicably deactivates shortly afterward. Dr. Mancini informed Emma that it seemed some outside party was interfering with their systems. As Mothra saw the armed men standing around her, she became agitated and lashed out. The men tried to stun her with electrical rifles but she proceeded to spit silk at them and thrash about the chamber. Mancini prepared to activate a protocol to kill Mothra, but Emma begged him not to. She ran into the chamber holding the ORCA and gently set it down in front of Mothra. As Emma tried to set the ORCA to the correct frequency, she only enraged Mothra further. Madison rushed to her mother's side, and just as Mothra bore down upon them both, Emma activated the ORCA and successfully pacified Mothra. Mothra's red bioluminescent glow was replaced with the soft blue color she emitted when she hatched, and she backed down. Madison reached out her hand and touched Mothra's face, with the creature releasing a strong blast of air through her nostrils. The peaceful moment was interrupted by a bomb explosion that struck the observation room. Armed assailants entered the room and promptly gunned down most of the Monarch personnel. Dr. Mancini got to his feet and surrendered to the attackers, but was promptly shot in the head by their leader, Alan Jonah

Jonah's terrorist mercenaries commandeered a stolen Monarch Osprey and flew it to the off-the-books Outpost 32 in Antarctica. Upon landing, Jonah and his men exited calmly before opening fire and killing all of the Monarch guards, while Emma and Madison listened in horror from inside the Osprey. Jonah came aboard and told them both to disembark, and they all entered the Outpost. Inside, they were faced with a wall of ice containing what looked like frozen serpents. Madison immediately recognized this Titan as "Monster Zero." Jonah's men began using machines to drill into the ice while Emma calibrated the ORCA to Monster Zero's frequency. Godzilla began to swim towards Antarctica, pursued by Monarch's flying flagship, the USS *Argo*. Mark was among those aboard, due to his extensive knowledge of the ORCA and obvious investment in rescuing his family. Once the *Argo* reached Antarctica, it deployed two Ospreys to Outpost 32. G-Team disembarked and found the fatalities Jonah's men left behind. The team entered the Outpost and searched through the long passageway inside, but could find nothing until the terrorists ambushed them and opened fire. G-Team engaged in a firefight with the terrorists as Emma and Madison were escorted out by Jonah and some of his men. Upon seeing a video feed of Emma and Madison inside the outpost, Mark exited his Osprey and grabbed a gun from one of the bodies before charging in himself. He fought his way to a catwalk where he came face to face with Emma and Madison, aiming his gun at Jonah. Col. Diane Foster managed to shoot one of the terrorists, Asher, who was carrying a detonator. To Mark's shock, rather than run to him, Emma and Madison stayed with Jonah. Emma grabbed the detonator and apologized to Mark before telling him to run. She pressed the detonator, setting off charges planted in the ice and causing it to crack open. Jonah fled with Emma and Madison and got back into his Osprey, while Mark paused to help G-Team escape. Aboard Jonah's Osprey, Madison exclaimed that they needed to go back for her father, but was held back. Jonah told Emma to wake Monster Zero, and she obliged. Emma activated the ORCA and emitted a sonar that awakened the long-frozen creature. As Monster Zero began to massacre G-Team, Madison briefly wrested control of the ORCA from Emma, using it to temporarily distract Monster Zero before he could attack the Osprey, but was overpowered. Godzilla soon arrived to battle Monster Zero while Jonah's Osprey withdrew.

As the *Argo* flew to Outpost 56 on Isla de Mara, Mexico, which they believed was Jonah's next target, it received a transmission from Emma, who showed Madison to Mark to prove she hadn't been harmed before explaining her actions. Human activity has damaged the environment to the point a mass extinction is inevitable, she explained. She believed the Titans were essential to saving the world from the apocalypse mankind has created, but the U.S. government was intent on exterminating them all instead. So, she took matters into her own hands and was awakening them herself before this could happen. In the bunker where they were holed up with Jonah and his men, Madison begged her mother to stop proceeding with this plan. Jonah was infuriated, stating that Emma knew exactly what was going to happen because she approached him, and ordered her to activate the ORCA. Emma tried to ask Jonah to give civilians more time to evacuate, but she was informed that they needed to act immediately. Emma apologized to Madison and activated the ORCA, with the sonar being broadcast through speakers at Outpost 56. The terrified civilians in the village below witnessed the volcano begin to erupt, after which a huge flaming creature emerged from the crater: Rodan, the Fire Demon. Rodan soon challenged Monster Zero, but was easily subdued. Godzilla attacked the three-headed dragon next, leaping from the ocean and dragging him underwater. As they battled, the U.S. military launches an Oxygen Destroyer at them both, seemingly killing Godzilla but leaving Monster Zero unharmed. Climbing atop Isla de Mara, he shrieked out to the heavens, his call serving as a mass awakening for all of Earth's Titans, who began to destroy cities around the globe. Aboard the *Argo*, Dr. Chen determined from further mythological research that Monster Zero may not be part of the natural order at all. She said that ancient legends called him "Ghidorah, the One Who is Many." A dragon that fell from the stars, Ghidorah seemingly fought Godzilla in the ancient past as evidenced by cave paintings of the two locked in battle. Monarch concluded that Ghidorah must be an alien creature, and as such had no inclination to return the world to a more natural state.

Madison came to grasp the horror of what her mother unleashed, and took it upon herself to set things right. After overhearing her mother discuss with Jonah the potential to use the ORCA to control the Titans, she stole it and escaped the bunker where they were hiding in Boston. She made her way to Fenway Park, where civilians were being evacuated, and attached the ORCA to the stadium's sound system. Upon activating it, the Titans around the world suddenly ceased their rampage. Ghidorah, however, was alerted to the disturbance and made his way from Washington D.C. to Boston. He was accompanied by a massive storm that swept through the city before he landed at the ballpark and searched for the source of the signal. Ghidorah bit down on the loudspeakers and destroyed them, then peered into the pressbox to see Madison inside. He charged his gravity beams and fired them, with Madison barely being able to evade the blasts. Madison fled into the center of the stadium but was knocked down by a nearby blast from Ghidorah. She defiantly threw the ORCA at Ghidorah, who looked down at Madison and prepared to finish her with his gravity beams before being knocked off his feet by a blast of atomic breath. Smiling, Madison turned to see Godzilla triumphantly march into the city, revived by Monarch with a nuclear warhead. The fully-grown Mothra arrived to back him up, but ended up tangling with Rodan instead. As the monsters razed the city, Madison returned to her childhood home to seek refuge. Mark and Emma reunited in Fenway Park while trying to find her, and G-Team member Jackson Barnes inadvertently pointed them in the right direction. The house was in ruins by the time they reached it, but they found Madison still alive inside, having crawled into the bathtub.

As Ghidorah killed Mothra and began to gain the upper hand over Godzilla, Emma and Mark raced to repair the ORCA. Mark, G-Team, and Madison boarded an Osprey as Emma stayed behind to finish calibrating the ORCA. Once it was activated, Ghidorah released Godzilla and began making his way in the humans' direction. As Ghidorah drew near the Osprey, Emma realized that it wouldn't be able to escape him with the ORCA aboard. She took the ORCA and enters the Humvee she commandeered from Jonah's forces, causing Ghidorah to chase after her while the Osprey escaped. Madison cried out after her mother, but was held back by Mark. Ghidorah pursued Emma furiously before destroying the jeep with a gravity beam. Emma was thrown from the vehicle and landed on the ground mortally wounded as a distraught Madison could only watch. Supercharged by the nuclear warhead and Mothra's sacrifice, Godzilla subsequently destroyed Ghidorah along with much of Boston. Once Godzilla emerged triumphantly from the ruins of the city, Madison pointed out several Titans approaching him. She witnessed the Titans submit one by one to Godzilla, the new King of the Monsters.

#### *Godzilla vs. Kong*

Madison became a fan of Bernie Hayes's podcasts and is surprised when she hears Godzilla attacked innocent people, unaware that he destroyed the Apex base because it tried reviving King Ghidorah. She tries to convince her dad that Godzilla knew something they didn't, but Mark tells her that like people, animals like Godzilla can change. So, she and Josh Valentine drive to Bernie's place and convince him to help them uncover why Godzilla went rogue. They go to the wrecked Apex base to uncover secrets the public may have missed but accidentally end up in an underground transport vehicle that's shipping Skullcrawler eggs to another Apex base in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, they find themselves in a room doing tests on Mechagodzilla. When Number 10 is released, Madison, Josh, and Bernie seek refuge in a bunker while Mechagodzilla slices Number 10 in half using his proton scream. Later, security apprehends the three for trying to foil Apex's plan to use Mechagodzilla to destroy the titans. Unbeknownst to them, King Ghidorah's consciousness had taken control of Mechagodzilla, and (possibly) kills Ren Serizawa and kills Walter Simmons with a swipe of its hand. After Mechagodzilla's demise to Kong and Godzilla, Madison introduces Bernie to Mark. Bernie asks for Mark's permission to mention him on his podcast, but this is interrupted with Godzilla roaring at Kong. Then the two titans end their many millenniums of conflict and part ways peacefully.