Ilene Andrews
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— Ilene Andrews (Godzilla vs. Kong) |
Ilene Andrews is a scientist who appears in the 2021 Legendary Pictures Godzilla film Godzilla vs. Kong. She returned in the film's 2024 sequel, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
An anthropological linguist working for Monarch, Dr. Andrews worked closely with Kong on Skull Island. She also adopted the orphaned Iwi girl Jia, the only human with whom Kong would communicate. In 2024, she took part in a joint Monarch-Apex Cybernetics expedition to the Hollow Earth, surviving encounters with monsters along the way, including Godzilla.
History
- Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
- Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
Monsterverse
Godzilla vs. Kong
In 2024, anthropological linguist Dr. Ilene Andrews watched Kong throw a tree at the false sky inside Monarch Outpost #236. The rest of Skull Island was now enveloped in the perpetual raging storm that once surrounded it, with her adoptive daughter Jia the only survivor among the Iwi. Another Monarch member commented that the Outpost could no longer contain Kong, but Andrews was resistant to the idea of relocating him, as Godzilla would interpret his leaving the island as a challenge by another Alpha Titan. Jia approached Andrews and signed to her that Kong was angry.
After Godzilla's unexplained attack on an Apex Cybernetics facility in Pensacola, Florida, public opinion turned against him. Apex CEO Walter Simmons and Chief Technology Officer Ren Serizawa sold former Monarch geologist Dr. Nathan Lind on the idea of harnessing an energy source in the Hollow Earth to develop a weapon capable of competing with Godzilla. Lind traveled to Outpost #236 to meet with Dr. Andrews and proposed that Kong could lead them into the Hollow Earth and to the energy source using his genetic memory. Andrews opposed the idea at first due to the threat from Godzilla, but Lind presented the Hollow Earth as a potential new home for Kong and the energy source as the only way to stop Godzilla. Finally, Andrews agreed, but on the condition that she would remain in charge of Kong. Lind agreed ecstatically and kissed Andrews, then apologized and shook her hand.
Kong was loaded onto a ship in chains, escorted by a Naval fleet towards the Hollow Earth entrance in Antarctica. At night, Jia came out onto the deck to comfort Kong. Andrews tried to bring her back inside, believing Kong's low mood was because he didn't understand they were trying to help him; Jia responded that Kong just didn't believe them. When Andrews asked how she could know that, Jia answered that Kong told her. To Andrews' amazement, Kong signed the word "home." Later, Jia explained that she didn't tell her Kong could communicate with humans because he didn't want anyone to know. Lind remarked that Kong's grasp of human language was incredible, and Andrews responded that she had tried to establish communication with him before. Though he showed signs of recognition of some basic commands, she had no idea he actually understood sign language. She resisted Lind's idea for Jia to pass their instructions onto Kong, however, owing to her youth and the Titan's strong will. Jia, feeling vibrations through the ship, ran to Andrews, warning her that Godzilla was coming.
Godzilla wasted little time in capsizing their ship, the military barely slowing him down. As the ship filled with water, Lind released Kong's chains, allowing him to fight back. The Titans grappled underwater, with Kong breaking free, climbing back aboard the ship as it shifted back to its original position, and soon leaping to another ship. Godzilla soon dragged Kong underwater again, this time threatening to drown him. Andrews told the commander of the fleet to fire depth charges to disorient Godzilla, and he gave the order. Her plan worked, allowing Kong to free himself and pull himself back onto the ship. On Lind's advice, the fleet powered down to make Godzilla think he had won, prompting him to swim away. Andrews was unsure what to do next, as Godzilla would return if the fleet became active again.
Lind's solution was a fleet of helicopters and Ospreys airlifting Kong in a net to Antarctica. When he proved reluctant to move towards the entrance to the Hollow Earth, even with Jia's urging, Andrew told her to convey that his family might be there. At this, he immediately charged through the entry point, and the expedition members pursued him in three of Apex's Hollow Earth Aerial Vehicles (HEAVs). Andrews, Jia, and Lind rode with Maia Simmons, Walter's daughter and an Apex executive. Their group was quickly attacked by a pair of serpent-like Warbats, one of which destroyed a HEAV, but Kong killed both creatures with an assist from Andrews's HEAV.
Kong eventually led them to a huge stone temple, where he picked up a gigantic axe and sat upon a giant throne. The humans disembarked from the HEAVs and Maia asked where the energy source was just before Kong's axe began to glow blue. Kong revealed it by placing his axe in a depression in the ground, causing the floor to glow and pulse with energy, forming a design resembling Godzilla. Apex released a drone to harvest the energy, but Andrews protested, saying Apex couldn't simply take the find of the millennium. Maia had her guards aim their guns at the Monarch members, angering Kong. The drone sent the data to Apex HQ in Hong Kong, where it was used to power Apex's ultimate weapon, a mechanical Titan which Walter sought to use to destroy all of its organic counterparts: Mechagodzilla. Godzilla, having traveled to Hong Kong in response to Mechagodzilla's activation, detected the surge of Hollow Earth energy and fired his atomic breath into the ground towards it. The temple soon began to shake, causing the Hellhawks roosting on the ceiling to become active and attack the humans. Maya and her guards fled on one HEAV, but when Andrews, Lind, and Jia rushed to the other HEAV, a Hellhawk blocked their path. They were inadvertently saved when Godzilla's atomic breath breached the temple, sending the Hellhawk flying. After crushing Maia's HEAV, Kong leapt through the hole created by Godzilla’s atomic breath, then began climbing to Hong Kong.
During Godzilla and Kong's second bout, Lind maneuvered the surviving HEAV through the crater into Hong Kong, narrowly weaving between the two battling Titans. The trio watched Godzilla triumph, leaving Kong for dead, then engage a berserk Mechagodzilla. Lind landed the HEAV, allowing to Jia feel Kong’s heartbeat slowing. Andrews didn't think they could produce a charge sufficient enough to restart Kong’s heart, but Lind recalled Maia's boast to him about the HEAVs' power. He flew the HEAV onto Kong's chest and set it to self-destruct, fleeing before it exploded. The charge revived Kong, and Jia signed to him that Godzilla, struggling mightily against his mechanical double, was not his real enemy. The ape came to Godzilla's rescue, and together they destroyed the machine. Andrews found Lind among the ruins of the city and they sat with Jia, exhausted, among the rubble. Godzilla and Kong made peace, and the King of the Monsters returned to the sea.
Following the battle, Andrews, Lind, and Jia returned to the Hollow Earth, watching Kong from an observation post as he went on his morning walk.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
To be added.
Books
- Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization (2021)
- Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - The Official Movie Novelization (2024)
Comics
- Kingdom Kong (2021)
Kingdom Kong
Ilene Andrews worked on Skull Island for Monarch in 2021, where she translated some hieroglyphs found near the island's Vile Vortex, which spoke of an Iwi legend about a huge storm and a battle against the sun. She later interviewed the Iwi about the legend. After Camazotz, the very Titan that the legend referred to, attacked the island and caused it to be overtaken the perpetual storm surrounding it, veteran Monarch agent Houston Brooks blamed himself for overlooking the hieroglyphics. Preparing to retire for good this time, he handed over command of Monarch's facility on the island to a surprised Andrews, praising her years studying the Iwi and the Titans.
Andrews added that the battle proved her hypothesis that Kong's status as an apex predator made him a target for other Titans, meaning he would inevitably face Godzilla if he ever left the island. Brooks advised to talk to their tech experts about securing Kong so his stay could be prolonged as long as possible. Andrews asked about the Vile Vortex just as Corporal David Lind, the pilot selected for Monarch's Hollow Earth expedition, arrived and greeted Brooks. He apologized to Andrews that his brother Nathan couldn't join them, as he was busy with a book tour. Both Andrews and Brooks warned him of the dangers posed by the now-damaged vortex, but he felt the mission was too important to cancel, citing all the data desired by the U.S. government, NASA, and the United Nations. He then asked Andrews about the flight team that helped defeat Camazotz, saying he wanted to meet the pilot who used a sonic boom to blind him. Andrews asked if he meant Captain Burns, and Brooks informed him that he approved her request for personal leave, as she had something to take care of back in the U.S.
Trivia
- Andrews is the second character in the Monsterverse to be named "Ilene", after Ilene Chen from Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).
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