Lif
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- Lif: “I had it in my sights. This could all be over.”
- Ayan: “You cornered a scared little creature. How brave.”
- ― Lif and Ayan in Starship Godzilla #1
Lif is a character who appears in the 2025 IDW Publishing ongoing comic series Starship Godzilla. A Simian, Lif is a crewmember aboard the spacefaring S.S. Mechagodzilla and close ally to his captain, Rohan.
Design
As a Simian, Lif resembles a humanoid ape with green skin and black fur, adhering closely to the race's onscreen counterparts from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). Even his jumpsuit is nearly identical in design, complete with zippered pockets on the chest, though it is sleeveless and red instead of silver. He has a generic square belt buckle as opposed to the ape-like ornament seen in the film.
Personality
Lif is a gruff and pragmatic individual. He sought to kill the newborn baby kaiju wreaking havoc on the ship simply to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, unconcerned with whether or not it was truly hostile; he even pondered the possibility of selling its corpse for a profit. He is also an avid gambler, showing great interest in unique betting games around the galaxy and often let his greed get the best of him.
Despite his vices, Lif had lines he would not cross, exemplified by his decision to stand with Ayan against the Xilien Empire after the Xiliens threatened to wipe out an anti-Xilien rebel base, feeling that the blood of innocents would be on their hands if they did not try to stop the Xiliens from razing the rebel base.
History
- Starship Godzilla #1–3, 5–6 (2025–2026)
Starship Godzilla
"Chapter One: Comet Salt"
After a baby kaiju hatched and began wreaking havoc aboard the S.S. Mechagodzilla, Captain Rohan called upon Simian crewmember Lif to help hunt the beast down. Lif's desire to take out the hatchling as quickly as possible ran contrary to Ayan, who believed the monster was merely scared and sought to protect it. Following a confrontation with the kaiju that resulted in a hull breach that nearly caused Lif, Rohan, and Ayan to be sucked out of the ship, Lif cornered the baby creature and prepared to execute it with his gun, only to be knocked off his feet by Ayan, allowing it to escape.
Shortly thereafter, Lif, Rohan, and Ayan boarded an elevator to search a lower level on the ship when Ilsa informed the trio that the baby kaiju had breached the flight deck. Knowing Rohan agreed with Lif on executing the beast, Ayan escaped the elevator in a desperate bid to outrace them through the inner workings of the ship to the flight deck. Despite Rohan and Lif's best efforts to get to the kaiju first, Ayan beat them to it and successfully pacified it, proving her intuition right all along.
Starship Godzilla #2
After crash-landing on a gambling planet, Ayan's grandmother, Gen, tasked Rohan with placing bets for her on a high-stakes game called fishing while she and Ayan sought to repair the S.S. Mechagodzilla. As an enthusiast of the game, Lif explained the rules of fishing to inquisitive crewmate Ickblob, detailing that participants had to retrieve a cannonball launched into space that released pulses to attract nearby space kaiju such as boro eels or Trilopods, but occasionally lured much greater kaiju. Lif was excited to witness the arrival of one such powerful kaiju, King Ghidorah, whose presence tripled all bets. After Ayan sent a distress call to Rohan to inform him that she was being targeted by the three-headed dragon while seeking parts for the ship, Rohan ordered Lif to create a distraction, prompting the Simian to start a fight with another gambler, allowing Rohan to breach the control station and fire another projectile at King Ghidorah to lure it away. Once repairs to the ship were complete, the crew departed the planet without further incident.
"Chapter Three: First Date"
On an Xilien-controlled mining planet, Rohan ordered the rest of his crew not to leave the ship as he left to deliver kaiju eggs to their client; Lif and Ickblob obliged and continued their betting game.
"Chapter Five: Return of the King, Part Two"
After Ayan discovered that Rohan was working for the Xiliens, he shot her with a stun in efforts to keep her quiet. The S.S. Mechagodzilla was later intercepted and forcibly boarded by the Xiliens. When Ayan came too, she was greeted by Lif, who assured her everything was okay and tried to get her to relax. However, Ayan promptly punched the Simian in the nose and fled into the bowels of the ship, at which point he contacted Rohan to inform him of her escape. Despite her efforts to resist the Xiliens, Ayan was soon stopped and captured.
Lif and the rest of the crew were brought before Admiral Elvira, the leader of the Xilien fleet, on her vessel. Elvira then offered them enough cash to keep their ship running for years to come as her thanks for their help in allowing her to locate the base of anti-Xilien rebels after the Mechagodzilla crew rescued rebel leader Frey and her crewmates. Lif was stunned by the offer, unable to contain his excitement over seeing so much cash, though Ayan was much less enticed by the offer and lunged at Elvira, only to be shot in the arm. Rohan meekly accepted Elvira's payment to prevent further bloodshed, at which point the crew was allowed to return to their ship before the Xilien fleet departed for Tama 7. As Gen cauterized Ayan's wound, Ayan maintained her desire to fight back. Despite his earlier greed, Lif surprisingly sided with Ayan, admitting that he did not want the blood of all those rebels on his hands. The reluctant Gen warned her that if they crossed the Xiliens again, they would forever remain enemies of the Xilien Empire and would be on the run for the rest of their lives, but Ayan remained resolute, ultimately convincing Gen and Lif to stand with her as Lif declared he wasn't going to allow the Xiliens to use him.
Gallery
Concept art
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Starship Godzilla character sheet by Oliver Ono
Trivia
- Lif sports a cap with the logo of More Inc., the antagonistic corporation featured in the 2024 graphic novel Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp, which was illustrated by Starship Godzilla artist Oliver Ono.
Comments
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