Hiroshi Randa
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- Hiroshi: “You want to spare others the pain we feel? You want to find a way for the human species to survive? Help me. Work with me. We can solve this. Together.”
- Kentaro: “Solve what?”
- Hiroshi: “The secret of coexistence.”
- ― Hiroshi and Kentaro ("Beyond Logic")
Dr. Hiroshi Randa is a supporting character in the 2023 Monsterverse television series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
The son of Monarch pioneers Keiko and Bill Randa, Hiroshi followed in his parents' footsteps and joined their monster-hunting organization. He also lived a double life, having families in both the United States and Japan while keeping the true nature of his work hidden from his daughter, Cate, and his son, Kentaro. After his children discovered his secrets in the wake of his apparent death in 2014, they embarked on a quest for answers.
History
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (TV 2023–2026) [episodes 1–13; photos in episode 2; flashbacks in episode 4–5, 8; mentioned in 3, 7]
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
Hiroshi Randa was born in Japan after World War II. His mother, Keiko Miura, moved to the United States in the hopes of providing her young son with more opportunities in life, though she was initially unable to bring him or her mother with her. However, by 1955, Hiroshi was able to join his mother in the U.S. thanks to her work at Monarch researching Titans, though she concealed his existence from her colleagues; many already looked down upon her for being a Japanese woman, and she feared the derision of her peers would only be worse if they knew she was a widowed mother as well. One night, Keiko was unexpectedly visited by her close friend Bill Randa, who woke Hiroshi one night while excitedly sharing a recent revelation he had with Keiko. Unable to hide Hiroshi anymore, Keiko detailed the situation to Bill and how she was raising a child by herself, though Bill assured her that she did not have to do it alone. "Birthright"
In the years that followed, Bill married Keiko and adopted Hiroshi. However, in 1959, Keiko was presumed dead in the wake of a disastrous mission with Bill and another close friend, Lee Shaw, leaving Bill to raise Hiroshi alone. "Aftermath"
In 1962, Shaw, who Hiroshi referred to as his uncle, was set to depart on a dangerous mission, Operation Hourglass, to enter and explore a theoretical mysterious world beneath the Earth. In Bill's trailer, Bill and Shaw said their goodbyes to Hiroshi. Shaw admitted to the young boy that he was about to do something dangerous, but it was for the good of the world, and he promised to be back soon. He loaned Hiroshi his lucky pocketknife to keep safe until he returned. However, despite his assurances, the mission went awry shortly after Shaw entered the rift, and Shaw was presumed lost. Bill, deeply affected by the losses of both his wife and best friend, grew distant from Hiroshi and allowed his research to consume him. "Axis Mundi"
In 1973, Bill left on a secret expedition that ultimately claimed his life and orphaned Hiroshi. Bill left his son a message during the expedition, apologizing for his mistakes, though he hoped to leave a legacy behind with his discoveries on that mission. "Aftermath"
By 1982, Hiroshi had followed in his parents' footsteps and joined Monarch, which had been saved thanks to Bill's mission, though Hiroshi came to resent his father nevertheless. Hiroshi was informed that Lee Shaw had been discovered alive in Japan near a previously-undiscovered rift and was brought to a Monarch medical facility. After Shaw's requests to see Bill went unheeded, he took a nurse hostage, demanding to see Bill. Hiroshi arrived and attempted to diffuse the situation as he spoke to Shaw, who appeared unaged despite having been missing for 20 years. Hiroshi informed him that Bill was dead and that, while Shaw believed he had only been gone in the Titans' realm for roughly a week, Hiroshi disclosed that 20 years had passed since Shaw disappeared. He held up Shaw's knife, revealing his identity to the disbelieving Shaw as he welcomed Shaw home. Overwhelmed and anguished, Shaw collapsed against a wall.
Later, Hiroshi apologized to the nurse Shaw took hostage, Emiko, and offered her flowers. She was sympathetic to Shaw's desperation, given his circumstances. Hiroshi admitted that he was reluctant to talk to Shaw, who he felt abandoned by and had already mourned. She replied with a smile that Shaw kept his promise to return. Hiroshi then went to visit a recovering Shaw in his isolation tent, who asked why Monarch was treating him like a prisoner. Hiroshi responded that they had to be sure he was not contagious or radioactive; they also wanted to know how he survived the past 20 years without aging. Shaw proceeded to recount what his experience in the Titans' realm before reassuring Hiroshi that Bill was right about everything, but Hiroshi scoffed, telling him that Bill "lost himself" after Operation Hourglass. He added that Monarch would be moving Shaw to a facsimile retirement home for observation and study. Shaw tried to convince Hiroshi to help him plan a return to Hollow Earth, but he refused, believing Shaw and his parents erred in disturbing Titans who otherwise seemed content to leave humanity alone. Shaw persisted, describing Monarch as Hiroshi's legacy, but he viewed it instead as "the madness that devoured my childhood," and if it wasn't madness, it was a choice, which may have been worse. "Axis Mundi"
In the ensuing years, Hiroshi met a woman named Caroline in the United States and married her, with Caroline giving birth to their daughter, Cate. However, he also started a relationship with Emiko in Japan, eventually starting a second family with her as she gave birth to a son, Kentaro. Hiroshi sought to ensure that both of his families would never find out about each other as he divided his time between the US and Japan, though between that and his work, Hiroshi was not often there for either of his kids. He also hid the true nature of his work to his families, who were led to believe he merely programmed software for satellites. "Aftermath"
Hiroshi was a quiet but incredibly dedicated Monarch agent who brilliance was respected by his peers, including coworker Tim. However, he was eventually exiled from Monarch for illegally retargeted deep-space satellites to inspect locations on Earth in search of gamma rays. Nevertheless, he feverishly continued his work. "Terrifying Miracles"
In 2014, a Titan, Godzilla, appeared and battled the MUTOs in San Francisco in an event that would become known as G-Day. Cate, having had a traumatic firsthand experience in the event, desperately attempted to contact her father, who also worked in the city. She eventually located him in a camp for survivors, only for Hiroshi to hand her bus passes, telling her to head east to Reno with Caroline. Despite her protests, he insisted that he had to leave immediately, refusing to elaborate on what he was doing before departing. Sometime thereafter, the Randas were informed that Hiroshi's plane was lost in a storm in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he was presumed dead. Cate ventured to Japan to settle his affairs, at which point Hiroshi's double life and work for Monarch were finally exposed. "Aftermath"
Unbeknownst to his families, Hiroshi had in fact survived the incident in Alaska. He next traveled to the Algerian Desert after detecting a Titan there, hoping to awaken it with a gamma radiation simulator. Meanwhile, Hiroshi's children embarked on their own mission to retrace his steps with help from Shaw and another friend of theirs, May Olowe-Hewitt. There, Cate and Kentaro finally spotted their father in the distance and discovered that he was still alive just after Hiroshi had activated the beacon to awaken the slumbering Titan. Horrified, Hiroshi attempted to wave them off before getting back in his truck and speeding away, but it was too late, as the Titan–Godzilla–awoke and followed Hiroshi away. "Terrifying Miracles"
Much later, having failed his mission, Hiroshi finally reemerged and returned to his Tokyo office where he found Kentaro already inside rifling through his papers, though his son was less than enthused to see him given that he made no efforts to reach out to them after the incident in the desert to see if they had survived. Hiroshi explained that something went wrong in the desert and asked how they found him, with Kentaro simply telling him that they had been searching for him after having been led to believe he died. Kentaro then tearfully revealed that Cate died in their search for answers, having fallen into a rift. Hiroshi refused to believe it until finally collapsing in grief while Kentaro angrily blamed him for setting into motion the events that led to her death with his double life. "Axis Mundi"
Later, Hiroshi finally disclosed the details of his mission, telling Kentaro that he had become fixated on proving the existence of the Hollow Earth to vindicate his parents, whose integral contributions to Monarch had long been dismissed. He went to the desert to draw out a Titan in the hopes of opening a rift, although he didn't know it would specifically be Godzilla. He detailed his belief that if Monarch put more faith into Keiko and Bill's work, then G-Day and Cate's death may have been prevented; concerned for the fate of humanity, he became determined to learn how Titans and humans could coexist, finally divulging why the weight of his work had consumed him. He asked for Kentaro's help, but after being unable to explain his double life, Kentaro opted to leave instead. Hiroshi's families fell apart in the wake of these revelations, with both Caroline and Emiko leaving him. After retrieving his belongings from his Tokyo apartment, Emiko told him that no matter what he did to her, Kentaro deserved a relationship with his father. He travelled to San Francisco to settle his divorce there. At a later point, Kentaro visited Hiroshi with his old coworker Tim, who shared printouts of a signal they detected emanating from a rift, which he believed to be proof that Cate was still alive. Hiroshi was skeptical, fearful of getting his hopes up, but Kentaro offered to help him with his research if Hiroshi helped him find his sister first. After Hiroshi pointed out that Monarch wouldn't help them, Tim revealed he resigned from Monarch, but their former organization wasn't the only one with the resources they need.
In the following years, Hiroshi, Kentaro, and Tim began working with Apex Cybernetics to secure funding and resources for their work. In 2017, Hiroshi was present at Apex's facility on Skull Island when a Monarch capsule used by Shaw in Operation Hourglass returned to the surface. Cate and May were among the individuals who emerged from the capsule, and Cate shared an emotional reunion with her father. Hiroshi was then stunned to notice the third individual that had emerged with them–none other than his mother, Keiko, who had not aged due to time dilation; to her, she had only been gone for a matter of weeks rather than over half a century on the surface world. The overwhelmed Hiroshi hugged his mother as Keiko tearfully and repeatedly apologized for having left Hiroshi for so long. The Randa family reunion was cut short when sirens began to blare as they were ushered into the facility due to an approaching Titan: Kong, the ruler of Skull Island. "Beyond Logic"
Comics
- Monarch: The Lost Adventures (2026)
Family tree
| Hiroshi's father | Keiko Randa | Bill Randa | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Caroline Randa | Hiroshi Randa | Emiko Randa | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cate Randa | Kentaro Randa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes
- ↑ According to the end credits of "Birthright," the toddler Hiroshi played by Hiro Fodi-Nestman in a 1955 segment is 3 years old. This would make him between 62 and 63 years old by 2015.
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