Riviera
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Captain[a] Richard Stine, better known by the codename Riviera, is a major supporting character in IDW Publishing's 2025 ongoing comic series Godzilla. The patriotic commander of G-Force USA's field team, Riviera leads his team into battle against kaiju, driven by an unwavering desire to see the giant monsters ravaging their world perish, none moreso than Godzilla.
Personality
Riviera is a very patriotic person, lamenting how the rise of Godzilla and the other kaiju prevented the United States from attaining the glory he believes it was destined to claim, resulting in an unwavering desire to put an end to the King of the Monsters no matter the cost. He lacks decorum and professionalism, disparaging the European Kaiju Defense Force troops and has a tendency to be rather dismissive of his subordinates.
Despite his faults, he always talks his subordinates through his plans and cooperates well with them in battle. More significantly, after Nuki was abducted by Yacumama, Riviera helped his team members rescue her even though all of them, including Nuki, had just mutinied against him and refused to heed his orders. He proved so fiercely protective of his team that he joined them in destroying the Yacumama remnants despite believing them to be his best chance of killing Godzilla simply because Yacumama had attacked his subordinates.
History
- Godzilla #1–8 (2025–2026)
Godzilla
Godzilla #1
Captain Riviera shared footage of Godzilla's recent attack on Manhattan with his G-Force USA field team, consisting of Nuki, Incense, Dr. Rumi Chiba, and the android Jet Jaguar. The footage depicted a kid named Jacen Braid surviving a direct blast of Godzilla's atomic breath and even delivering a supercharged punch to Godzilla's foot, much to the team's shock. Riviera proceeded to introduce the young man to the team as their latest recruit, revealing him to be a G-Mutant capable of harnessing Kai-Sei energy. Later, the team engaged in a combat training session with their new recruit, during which Braid identified the strengths and weaknesses of his team. After Braid accidentally unleashed a burst of Kai-Sei energy on Incense in anger, Riviera stopped the match to admonish Braid for using Kai-Sei against his fellow Americans and ordered him to save his rage for the kaiju. Just then, the team was interrupted by reports that Anguirus had appeared off the coast of Florida, prompting them to rush off to confront the monster. Upon arrival, Riviera explained his philosophy that tiny targets such as themselves were harder for massive kaiju to focus on, hence their preference for combating kaiju without the use of tanks or jets. As the team engaged Anguirus, Riviera ordered Dr. Chiba to stay back, expressing concerns over her methods of not wanting to kill the kaiju they fight. Riviera joined the rest of his team in fighting Anguirus, and after a brief bout successfully managed to repel the kaiju from the coast. Afterwards, Chiba shared her concerns that something was amiss with Anguirus, only for Riviera to dismiss her and celebrate their victory with drinks on the beach.
Godzilla #2
In the aftermath of the team's battle with Anguirus, Dr. Chiba and Braid encountered giant leeches in Tampa Bay, with Chiba narrowly saving Braid. Back at headquarters, Riviera reprimanded Chiba for running off with their new recruit, but was willing to write off her actions as she brought the corpse of one of the leeches back with them for study. The team determined 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, prompting Chiba to order Nuki and Incense to destroy it. However, Riviera intervened, believing the team could use the leeches to weaken Godzilla. The team set sail on a cargo ship off the coast of Bermuda, hoping to lure Godzilla into a trap. While Riviera was in his quarters, the ship came under attack by pirates, who subdued most of the team. Upon arrival, Riviera identified the pirates' leader as the infamous Captain Carroñero and attempted to bargain with him for the release of the team, though Carroñero believed the team was hiding something more valuable. The pirates unwittingly unleashed the leeches - including a massive, multiheaded one as a result of them self-propagating - upon the vessel, with Carroñero dubbing the creatures Yacumama.
Godzilla #3
As they worked together to fight off the Yacumama, Riviera despaired that they were being forced to kill their best weapon against Godzilla. After killing all of the leeches, the team also subdued the pirates before forcibly docking at Bermuda, with Riviera 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. Determined to find the source of the Yacumama and acquire more, Riviera departed with Nuki and Incense while granting Chiba permission to train Braid with her methods, leaving Jet Jaguar with them.
Godzilla #4
At the Upshot-Knothole test site in Nevada, Riviera infiltrated a secret underground facility alongside Nuki and Incense. While his subordinates bickered over Braid, Riviera soon came across a massive makeshift laboratory before detecting a giant kaiju approaching. As they turned to attack, the kaiju swatted Nuki and Incense away before revealing itself capable of speech as it identified Riviera by name, already aware of who they were and why they had come as it showed Riviera a vat of Yacumama, which it had created. Riviera quickly struck an alliance with the kaiju, Lament, and even helped the monster with its equipment, though Nuki and Incense expressed their reservations at working with a kaiju. As Lament cryptically alluded to its storied past, Jet Jaguar burst into the lab with Braid and Chiba, closely followed by Godzilla. The android struck Lament upon arrival, though Riviera ordered them to stay out of the way, having decided that the Yacumama provided their best chance at killing Godzilla as a massive Yacumama from Lament's lab lunged at the King of the Monsters.
Godzilla #5
Riviera and Chiba traded barbs while Godzilla engaged the giant Yacumama, with Riviera maintaining that his goal was to eliminate Godzilla at all costs. 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, siding with Lament and reminding Braid that Godzilla killed his mother. Braid, however, opted to listen to Chiba and attacked Lament instead as Chiba ordered Jet Jaguar to assist Godzilla against Riviera's orders. Nuki and Incense proceeded to join the mutiny against Riviera, allowing Godzilla to retreat from Yacumama, infuriating their commander. However, after Yacumama grabbed Nuki and bounded after Godzilla down a tunnel, Riviera joined his team's rescue party despite their betrayal. While Godzilla and Braid formed a temporary alliance to break Yacumama apart, the team rescued Nuki, with Riviera joining the assault in retaliation for Yacumama's attack on one of his subordinates. 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, taking their fight to the surface.
Godzilla #6
While Braid battled Godzilla, Jet Jaguar brought the rest of the team to the surface, and they found themselves in Las Vegas. Though Chiba wished to help Godzilla, Riviera decreed their priority was saving the city and questioned Chiba over whether or not they would have to stop Braid by force, but Chiba believed that Braid could be reasoned with. Before they could act, Lament burst from the ground and confronted the team, believing Braid would carry out her wishes to kill Godzilla. The team attacked Lament, and during the fight, the talking kaiju nearly killed Riviera with a blade that took the place of her arm before Chiba saved him by launching a psychic attack against Lament. The team attempted to fight Lament further before she retreated just as Braid destroyed Godzilla's body, though the kaiju merged with its lifeforce with Braid's in the process.
After recovering Braid, Riviera and the rest of the team continued their work of trying to defend the country, though he and Chiba continued to butt heads; she bemoaned that he remained largely unchanged by recent events.
Abilities
Exo-mech suit
Riviera is almost always seen wearing a specialized exo-mech suit that grants him enhanced strength and speed. The suit is also equipped with various weapons, including drills that can extend out of the forearms and is capable of firing projectiles. The suit's strength rivaled that of even the massive Lament, allowing him to stave off her efforts to crush him.
Gallery
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Riviera with G-Force USA -
Riviera and G-Force USA in a training exercise -
Weapons on Riviera's exo-mech suit
Notes
- ↑ The ranks of "captain" and "commander" are used interchangeably throughout the series. Riviera identifies himself as "captain" in the third issue.
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