Jacen Braid
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Hey, I'm Jacen Braid. I'm gonna kill Godzilla.
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Jacen Braid is a young man who serves as the main protagonist of IDW Publishing's 2025 ongoing comic series Godzilla.
Described as "a boy with the power of Godzilla", Braid is a powerful G-Mutant who possesses the unique ability to harness Kai-Sei energy, the same energy that gave Godzilla its powers. Having experienced multiple losses at Godzilla's hands, Braid became determined to take the monster down at any cost and was recruited by G-Force USA.
Personality
Braid initially appears primarily overconfident and cocky. He is a capable fighter despite his youth, showcasing keen analytical skills in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents. That being said, he does display a short temper whenever he or others are mocked or mistreated. Under all his bravado, though, Braid is a compassionate individual who shows concern for others' safety before his own, and is still racked with immense grief over the death of his mother, coping with the loss through morbid humor and a desire to kill as many kaiju as possible. He also shows unease over his powers, fearing the chance he may be unable to control the destructive potential of his Kai-Sei energy.
Despite his anger towards Godzilla, Braid demonstrated surprising emotional maturity in his early days with G-Force USA, initially coming to understand Dr. Rumi Chiba's view that the tragedies Godzilla brought upon his life were not personal. He was even willing to form a temporary alliance with Godzilla to destroy Yacumama. However, Lament's revelations concerning her origins and unexpected connection to Braid proved too much for the young man to handle, causing him to lash out at Godzilla in a wild, uncontrollable fury, proving that his anger could still get the better of him in spite of his development.
History
- Godzilla #1–11 (2025–2026)
Godzilla
Godzilla #1
When Godzilla attacked New York City in 2025, Braid picked a fight with another student at Gravesend Charter Academy who had been shoving their classmates out of his way during the evacuation. Upon noticing the behemoth looming over him, Braid pushed his opponent out of the way before Godzilla unleashed his atomic breath. To Godzilla's surprise and fear, Braid leapt out of the smoldering crater seemingly unharmed and landed an energized punch to the kaiju's foot, though Godzilla quickly incapacitated the human with a tail swipe. G-Force USA caught the sequence of events on camera, and some time later recruited Braid after discovering he was the strongest G-Mutant they had ever seen, one who could control Kai-Sei energy like Godzilla. After introducing himself to the rest of the field team, boldly claiming that he would kill Godzilla, Nuki led him to his living quarters, to be shared with science officer Marco Petithomme. Petithomme offered to bring Braid to a mixer at the facility's lab, but the teenager turned him down due to combat training. In a game of kemari proposed by Dr. Rumi Chiba, Braid faced off against his fellow officers to learn their strengths and weaknesses. He managed to evade Jet Jaguar and Commander Riviera attacks, taunting them about their age. He then faced off against Nuki, dodging her long-range laser barrage and pausing to flirt with her. He was then interrupted by a blast from Incense, who mocked him for his crush, infuriating Braid into punching the pyrotechnician across the room. After being scolded by Riviera for recklessly using his powers against a fellow Americans, the match was interrupted by an alert: Anguirus had been sighted off the coast of Florida. As they boarded a S.A.M., Chiba tried to explain to Braid that Japan's philosophy regarding kaiju was different from the U.S.: minimizing conflict and putting anger and power to better use. He coldly responded that she should tell that to his parents.
The field team, minus Chiba, drove off Anguirus before he could make landfall, with Riviera encouraging Braid to unleash his rage against the kaiju with energized punches. While Riviera, Incense, and Nuki all relaxed on the beach with drinks after the battle, Braid stowed away on Chiba's boat as she tried to determine why Anguirus suddenly deviated from his usual migration route. He threw up his drink on the boat, revealing himself, and while Chiba initially scolded him, he blearily explained that he hates when people leave him ever since his mother went to run some errands right before dying in a Godzilla attack. He was quick to slip back into his self-confident persona, however, when the two discussed Anguirus, claiming the kaiju fled because of him. Before the two could continue their search, however, Braid was pulled off the boat by a giant leech and dragged beneath the waves by the creature and its swarm.
Godzilla #2
Despite his best efforts to fight off the leeches, Braid found his Kai-Sei powers completely ineffective and was swarmed by them. After witnessing Chiba diving in after him and using her kogai blade to fight off the leeches, Braid lost consciousness and later awoke back at headquarters, where he was evaluated by Petithomme and given the all-clear. The team then inspected the corpse of one of the leeches that Chiba had brought back with them for study, discovering that the leeches fed on Kai-Sei energy and had previously drained Anguirus of its energy, explaining how they were able to fight the monster back with such ease. As Riviera inspected the leech, two more burst forth from its stomach as it was revealed to reproduce asexually and immediately leapt at Petithomme and Braid. Braid knocked Petithomme out of the way before being saved by Jet Jaguar, who caught the leeches in his enlarged fist. Before the others could destroy the leeches, however, Riviera intervened, believing the team could use them to weaken Godzilla. The team set sail on a cargo ship off the coast of Bermuda, hoping to lure Godzilla into a trap. En route, Braid and Chiba spoke about Japan's methods of dealing with kaiju, with Chiba likening them to forces of nature. However, Braid could not help but believe that Godzilla's attacks were personal, recalling when he first encountered Godzilla as a child who killed his teacher in front of him and attacked the facility where his mother worked. Feeling sympathy for the boy, Chiba promised him they would stick together in a moment Nuki mistook for a romantic gesture.
The ship later came under attack by pirates led by the infamous Captain Carroñero, who subdued Nuki and Jet Jaguar. Braid engaged Carroñero, but was overpowered and held at knifepoint. Riviera arrived to bargain with Carroñero for the release of the team, though Carroñero believed the team was hiding something more valuable and defeated them as well. The pirates then unwittingly unleashed the leeches - including a massive, multiheaded one as a result of them self-propagating - upon the vessel, with Braid narrowly pushing Carroñero out of the way before the latter dubbed the creatures Yacumama.
Godzilla #3
Forming a reluctant truce with Carroñero, Braid was unable to use his powers against the Yacumama, requiring the assistance of the rest of his team. Nuki quickly engaged the Yacumama in battle to protect Braid, telling him that recent events had her recalling her experiences as a Deadzone border patrol agent, sorrowfully reminiscing that all she ever witnessed in the Deadzone were starving, helpless people suffering from neglect. After Incense prematurely celebrated killing the largest of the Yacumama, he and Nuki were nearly ambushed by a smaller leech until Braid saved them by punching it into the sea. With all the leeches defeated, the team also subdued the pirates before forcibly docking at Bermuda, ignoring the demands of the European Kaiju Defense Force. There, Riviera was contacted by G-Force's science division and informed that the Yacumama were synthetic lifeforms created by an unknown intelligence at a test site in Nevada before also learning that Godzilla appeared in Atlanta, having used Anguirus's tunnels to travel underground. Concerned for the cities caught in Godzilla's path, Chiba expressed her desire to train Braid to fight Godzilla with her nonlethal methods, with Riviera granting her permission to do so before departing with Nuki and Incense to locate the source of the Yacumama and acquire more. At Chiba's orders, Jet Jaguar grew to Godzilla's size and took her and Braid in his hands. As they traveled underwater, Chiba shared more details about her previous G-Force Japan team and their methods for dealing with kaiju. While the rest of her team would bombard attacking kaiju like Godzilla with light, sound, and pheromone-based attacks, she would use her kogai blade to strike pressure points, allowing them to direct kaiju away from populated areas. She explained that, because kaiju are so large, their bodies contain many nerve clusters to compensate for the distances their brain impulses had to travel. Braid was fascinated by this, likening her methods to acupuncture as she offered to teach him what to do and where he had to strike.
Godzilla #4
While teaching Braid her methods, Chiba offered words of encouragement after the young man expressed doubt over his self-control, with Chiba believing he was capable of not giving into his rage and desire for retribution the way Godzilla had always given into its own anger. After arriving in Kansas City, they found that Godzilla had already surfaced, prompting Jet Jaguar to engage the monster while Braid and Chiba watched from a bridge. However, despite Braid's confidence that Jet Jaguar could fight Godzilla back, Chiba knew the robot was not enough to stop Godzilla, at which point Braid entered the fray. Braid immediately leapt at Godzilla and punched the monster in the face, knocking the King of the Monsters back. As Godzilla recovered, Chiba informed Braid through her telepathy that Godzilla recognized him before striking the first pressure point. Godzilla promptly sent Braid flying with a retaliatory blast of his atomic breath, knocking him into the water. Though he initially struggled to contain his feelings and started giving into his rage after the attack, Braid was able to calm himself underwater before being rescued by Jet Jaguar. Reentering the fight, Braid successfully enacted Chiba's plan of attacking specific pressure points on Godzilla in a specific sequence, sending Godzilla back into Anguirus's tunnels. Chiba and Braid then resumed their pursuit with Jet Jaguar, with Braid hoping that they would be able to guide Godzilla right out of the United States. Later, the trio got ahead of Godzilla and breached an underground facility, which they found to be the very same location that Riviera, Nuki, and Incense had been investigating. However, as Godzilla also arrived, Riviera merely ordered them to stand aside, having acquired more Yacumama from their creator, a talking kaiju known as Lament.
Godzilla #5
Braid reunited with his teammates while Godzilla engaged a giant Yacumama. Chiba subsequently experienced an intense psychic episode in which she learned of Lament's origins in a catastrophic experiment where scientists attempted and failed to contain and exploit the Earth's natural Kai-Sei energies, giving rise to Lament, who she described as the "Anti-Kai Sei". Riviera nevertheless attempted to goad Braid into attacking the weakened Godzilla while Chiba pleaded with Braid not to give into his anger. Braid ultimately sided with Chiba and attacked Lament, punching her across the room and setting the stage for the rest of his team to follow suit and mutiny against the orders of their leader. Thanks to the team's intervention, Godzilla was able to escape Yacumama and retreat down a tunnel, only for Yacumama to grab Nuki and bound down the tunnel in pursuit. Desperate to save her, Braid raced down the tunnel, surprised to learn that he possessed the ability to fly in the process. Braid soon located the heavily wounded Nuki, who attempted to warn him that he had fallen into Yacumama's trap just as the creature attacked him from behind.
Unable to use his powers to fight back, Braid could do nothing as Yacumama attempted to kill him. Fortunately, Godzilla returned and saved Braid, prompting the young man to form a temporary alliance with Godzilla as they worked to break Yacumama apart while the rest of the team arrived to rescue Nuki. Working together, Godzilla and G-Force USA destroyed all of the Yacumama, only to be confronted by Lament, whose taunts over knowing Braid's past piqued Riviera's interest. Lament went on to detail her own origins as the formerly-human head of the disastrous Kai-Sei experiment Chiba spoke of until Godzilla detected this and destroyed the facility in an act Lament framed as Godzilla's unwillingness to share its Kai-Sei power with humanity. Lament proceeded to identify herself as Braid's mother, horribly deformed and changed by the accident Godzilla caused, enraging Braid into violently attacking Godzilla despite Chiba's efforts to calm him as he delivered a supercharged uppercut to Godzilla and took their fight to the surface.
Godzilla #6
Braid used his Kai-Sei abilities to repeatedly pummel the weakened Godzilla, though the King of the Monsters was able to bat him away. During this moment, Chiba briefly reconvened with Braid and unsuccessfully attempted to dissuade him from continuing his fight, but Braid had become convinced that Godzilla's attacks against him had always been personal after all. As the rest of the team contended against Lament, Braid continued his relentless assault against Godzilla, attacking the monster's face and eyes while venting his rage in a tirade. Godzilla eventually headbutted Braid away and stomped on him, but the energized Braid was unfazed and knocked Godzilla off its feet. Braid proceeded to employ Chiba's techniques against Godzilla with more force than their previous bout, no longer holding back as he struck key points on Godzilla's body. Soon, Godzilla's body began deteriorating from Braid's constant barrage. After sending Lament into retreat, Chiba used her abilities to link Godzilla and Braid's minds, insisting that they did not have to be enemies, but "brothers of rage". Godzilla's Kai-Sei lifeforce then merged into Braid's body, encasing him in a charred cocoon. The team managed to recover Braid.
Some time later, as the rest of the team continued their work defending the country from kaiju, Chiba attempted to comfort the despondent Braid in the aftermath of his battle with Godzilla, assuring him that they would stick together.
Abilities
Physical abilities
Jacen Braid's strength is amplified by Kai-Sei, the same energy that powers Godzilla, giving him the ability to potentially match the physical might of some kaiju. He shattered one of Anguirus' spines with a single punch and knocked the creature's head back with the help of his teammates in Godzilla #1. He would exhibit greater strength later on in his fights against Godzilla, knocking the King of Monsters clean through a ceiling of bedrock in Godzilla #5 and ultimately destroying the kaiju's physical body in Godzilla #6.
Pyrokinesis
Braid can also use Kai-Sei energy to produce excess heat, as demonstrated when he unleashed a small amount to instantaneously cook a box of popcorn in the first issue. He is also able to use the heat generated to propel himself through the air, as seen in Godzilla #5 when chasing after Yacumama.
Agility
Braid possesses keen reflexes and great athletic ability, able to effortlessly dodge physical strikes from both Jet Jaguar and Riviera, as well as Nuki's laser barrage and Incense's incendiary blasts.
Durability
Braid withstood the full force of Godzilla's atomic breath and a powerful tail whip without suffering any major injuries, although he was unable to continue the fight after the second blow.
Weaknessess
While Braid is seemingly impervious to Godzilla's Kai-Sei powered atomic breath, he is still susceptible to physical attacks and conventional bladed weapons.
Gallery
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Braid meets G-Force USA -
Braid with G-Force USA in a training exercise -
Braid's Kai-Sei powers -
Braid vs. Godzilla
Trivia
- Jacen Braid's abilities and occupation recall Shinichi Ozaki from Godzilla Final Wars, a Mutant soldier who worked for the M-Organization division of the Earth Defense Force.
Comments
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