Every Monsterverse Character Played by Multiple Actors

When it comes to shared cinematic universes, the Monsterverse is one of Hollywood’s most enduring. While it seemed like the universe was over following the box office disappointment of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the franchise has rebounded thanks to hits like Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, as well as critically acclaimed series like Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Since the MonsterVerse is a sprawling epic that spans decades, audiences will see returning characters at different points in their lives.

To show this change in both characters’ perspectives and the natural progression of time, the Monsterverse features various characters played by different actors. This is a change of pace from shared universes like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC Universe, or the Conjuring Universe, where actor continuity is important. Of course, the Monsterverse stars are the monsters themselves. Here are all the characters in the Monsterverse, each played by a different actor.

Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly / Will Brittain)

Kong: Skull Island‘s breakout character was Hank Marlow, played by John C. Reilly. A U.S. Army Air Forces lieutenant of the 45th Pursuit Squadron, Marlow crashed on Skull Island in 1944 alongside Japanese pilot Gunpei Ikari. Marlow is stranded on Skull Island for 29 years until the Monarch mission rescues him. He’s able to safely return home to reunite with his son. Will Brittain plays the young Hank Marlow in the film’s opening World War II prologue and plays the character’s son in the ending scene.

Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins / Joe Morton)

Introduced in Kong: Skull Island, Huston Brooks is a young Monarch scientist who goes to Skull Island alongside his mentor, William “Bill” Randa. Corey Hawkins played him in the movie, and Houston Brooks is one of the few characters who survive the mission. He later reappears in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, played by Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Justice League star Joe Morton. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, he’s located at Monarch Outpost 61 in China and witnesses Mothra emerge from her cocoon.

Bill Randa (Anders Holm / John Goodman)

Introduced in Kong: Skull Island, William “Bill” Randa is a senior Monarch operative and is tasked with leading the Skull Island expedition. Played by John Goodman, the character is killed on the mission, but before he dies, he throws his findings, files, and top-secret Monarch information into the ocean. In 2014, Monarch operatives retrieve these items. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters fleshed out Bill Randa’s character, played by Anders Holm.

Monarch establishes that he was a former sailor for the United States Navy and the sole survivor of the USS Lawton incident, where the ship was destroyed by an Ion Dragon. This later led him down a path to cryptozoology. He, alongside Lee Shaw and Keiko Randa, founded the Monarch organization. Randa married Keiko Randa and adopted her son, Hiroshi Randa.

Hiroshi Randa (Takehiro Hira / Kelton Sakamoto / Hiro Fodi-Nestman)

Born in 1951, Hiroshi Randa is Keiko Randa’s son, whose biological father died when Hiroshi was just a baby, and was later adopted by Will Randa when he and Will married, after Keiko had disappeared. Hiroshi later joins Monarch, following in his parents’ footsteps. Hiroshi marries two different women, Caroline and Emiko, without the other’s knowledge. Horishi has two separate families, with Caroline giving birth to Kate Randa and Emiko giving birth to Kentaro.

In 2014, shortly after Godzilla’s debut to the world, Hiroshi disappears, which leads his two families to discover one another’s existence. In the contemporary set storyline, Hiroshi is played by Takehiro Hira. Actor Kelton Sakamoto plays the ten-year-old Hiroshi, with Hiro Fodi-Nestman playing the three-year-old version of the character.

Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell / Wyatt Russell)

Lee Shaw has quickly become one of the most important characters in the Monsterverse franchise. This is thanks in no small part to the genius idea to cast real-life father and son Kurt and Wyatt Russell to play the character at different moments in his life. Wyatt Russell plays the younger version of the character during the 1950s and 1960s flashback scenes, which explore the history of Monarch and his unspoken love for Keiko Randa and budding friendship with Bill Randa. The veteran Kurt Russell plays the older Lee Shaw in the contemporary set storyline.

Wyatt Russell has often been compared to his father, with his role in Overlord drawing many positive comparisons to Kurt Russell’s Snake Pliskin in Escape from New York. The two actors’ performances give Lee Shaw a swagger and a real sense of connective tissue across the two distinct time periods. It feels like watching the same character at two distinct points in their lives. So, it’s no surprise that AppleTV has ordered a spin-off series about Wyatt Russell’s Lee Shaw, while it appears Kurt Russell will be a continued presence in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Maybe they can find a way to give one of the Russells a cameo in Godzilla x Kong: Supernova.