Madison Russell

Madison Russell Species Human Nationality American Age 12GKotM Related to Mark Russell (father) Emma Russell (mother) Andrew Russell (brother, deceased) George Russell (paternal grandfather) Gene Williams (maternal grandfather) Josephine Williams (maternal grandmother) First appearance Latest appearance Godzilla: King of the Monsters Godzilla vs. Kong Played by Millie Bobby Brown, Alexandra Rabe (younger), Mana Ashida (voice, Japanese dubs)

“	You're a monster.	„
	— Madison to her mother (Godzilla: King of the Monsters)

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

Madison is courageous, conscientious and head-strong, and she feels a profound connection to Titans such as Godzilla and Mothra which she inherited from her parents. She possesses both her parents' intellectual and instinctive gifts without either of their flaws, and she is willing to be a hero regardless of the cost to herself when she realizes no one else is going to do what needs to be done.

History

• Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
• Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
• Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) [name]

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

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Madison tried to convince her father that Godzilla had some justified reason to attack Pensacola. After that failed, she met with her friend, Josh Valentine, and set off to find the creator of the Titan Truth Podcast, Bernie Hayes. After traveling to Chinatown, they successfully found him and made plans to uncover the secret behind Godzilla's strange actions. They determined that the destroyed Apex facility in Pensacola was the best starting point. After some snooping around, they found a functional elevator and rode it down. After getting out, they quickly took cover inside of a transport pod, and quickly discovered that it was full of Skullcrawlers. The pod was suddenly activated and started flying to its destination, Hong Kong. Once they finally arrived at the Hong Kong Apex facility, the trio stumbled into an arena, and discovered the reason behind Godzilla's irrational behavior, Mechagodzilla. Suddenly, one of the many large doors surrounding the arena opened, releasing a Skullcrawler. The creature lunged at Madison but was caught by Mechagodzilla and cut in half with the mech's proton scream. After some more snooping, the trio discovered Ghidorah's skull and found out that they were using it to control Mechagodzilla through a neural link, eventually they were caught by security guards and taken to Walter Simmons.

After acquiring the energy source needed to fully power his machine, Simmons sent the order to start up Mechagodzilla for battle. He then proceeded to monologue, only to be abruptly killed by a possessed Mechagodzilla. The trio managed to survive this and watched as the two Godzillas and later Kong went into battle. Josh tried to hack into the mech's systems but couldn't get through, with some quick thinking he decided to pour Bernie's flask of whiskey onto the control boards causing them and Mechagodzilla to go haywire. After Godzilla and Kong destroyed the machine, the trio managed to escape the ruined building safely. Madison reunited with her father and watched as Godzilla and Kong parted ways.

Comics

Godzilla: Aftershock

Several months after Godzilla killed the MUTOs in San Francisco, Dr. Vivienne Graham brought Madison from Boston to Monarch's outpost in the Philippines, explaining that she felt Emma "needed a hug from this little rascal," given the stress of recent events. Watching footage of Godzilla following a battle with the MUTOs' parent, MUTO Prime, Madison commented, "He's hurt, Mom. He's really hurt." After Godzilla killed MUTO Prime with the help of Emma and her prototype ORCA, Emma spoke with Madison in Boston, promising to keep her safe in a rapidly-changing world.

Family tree

George Russell

Gene Williams

Josephine Williams

Mark Russell

Emma Russell

Madison Russell

Andrew Russell

Gallery

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  Madison is stalked by King Ghidorah

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Trivia

• The previsualization team for Godzilla: King of the Monsters based Madison Russell's face on Millie Bobby Brown's before she was cast. According to director Michael Dougherty, "We got so used to seeing her face that we just kind of said, 'Well... why don't we make her the offer?'"
• Madison's Family Dependent Clearance File on monarchsciences.com notes that she is "remarkably academically gifted," eager to study Mothra up-close, and has "several security violations and residential infractions" on her record since moving to Outpost 61.
• In Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization:
  • Madison has few friends outside of Monarch.
  • She knows calculus and learned to count to ten in the Chuukese language.
  • One of Jonah's men catches Madison stealing the ORCA, only for her to knock him out with a stun gun. Embarrassed that a little girl bested him, he tries to find her on his own, giving her more time to make her escape. Earlier, she unsuccessfully tries to contact Monarch using a radio inside the bunker, a scene included in trailers for the film but ultimately cut.
• In a moment filmed for Godzilla: King of the Monsters but ultimately cut from both the film and the novelization, Madison accidentally backs into one of Ghidorah's teeth while trying to escape from him in Fenway Park.
• Mana Ashida, who voiced Madison in the Japanese dubs of Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong, also played a young Mako Mori in Pacific Rim.

References

This is a list of references for Madison Russell. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

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