Yacumama
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I heard the tales in Peru when I was a boy. She is the mother of waters and drinker of the blood of men. To resist her is to give her power. She truly is Yacumama.
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— Captain Carroñero (Godzilla #2) |
Yacumama is a species of leech-like kaiju which appears in the 2025 IDW Publishing comic Godzilla.
Created by the talking kaiju known as Lament, the self-propagating Yacumama feed on Kai-Sei energy, causing G-Force USA to identify them as a potential weapon against Godzilla. Though their initial plan to lure Godzilla into a trap went awry, the King of the Monsters nevertheless came under attack by the leeches as all parties raced to their place of origin. There, G-Force USA's loyalties and goals were tested as a giant Yacumama was unleashed against Godzilla in Lament's bid to eradicate the monster once and for all.
Name
Yacumama's name is taken from that of a giant mythical serpent said to dwell in the Amazon rainforest.
Design
Yacumama initially appear as simple, leech-like creatures with large toothy mouths resembling those of lampreys. After multiple were left alone and contained for hours, they grew dramatically and combined, sprouting red fleshy tendrils and growths all over their bodies, and gaining deeper jaws containing more rows of teeth.
The giant Yacumama that Godzilla battles in Lament's lab appears similar to a starfish as a giant mass with multiple tendril-like limbs stemming from its core and a large mouth in its center.
Origins
Yacumama were created by Lament, who regards them as her children, at the Upshot–Knothole Test Site in Nevada; each has a bioplastic carapace, blood made of saline, and a limited neural net. Their ability to absorb Kai-Sei energy likely serves Lament's goal of "tak[ing] the seed of my brethren" to have further children.
History
- Godzilla #1–8 (2025–2026) [mentioned in #6–8]
Godzilla
Issue #1
Dr. Rumi Chiba of G-Force USA took a boat out into Tampa Bay to investigate the spot where Anguirus, recently repelled by G-Force, had decided to turn inland. Shortly after fellow G-Force member and G-Mutant Jacen Braid revealed he had stowed aboard, he was seized by a small leech and pulled underwater. Chiba dove in after him as more of the creatures converged on them.
Issue #2
Braid's Kai-Sei powers proved ineffective against the leeches, forcing Chiba to slice into the monsters with her kogai blade, which quickly caused them to disperse. Braid regained consciousness at G-Force USA headquarters and recounted his experience to scientist Marco Petithomme and the rest of the team. Chiba summarized G-Force's findings on the seemingly-dead leech they recovered, describing them as similar to roundworms, being simple organisms despite their size. More notably, they discovered that the leeches contained the blood of Anguirus, having drained the monster of its Kai-Sei energy, which also explained why Anguirus deviated from its migration path as well as G-Force's easy victory against the beast. As Commander Riviera tapped the leech's corpse, he was sprayed by its blood as two smaller creatures burst from its body. Petithomme realized the roundworm wasn't dead and was merely conserving energy to asexually reproduce. Braid shielded the scientist as the newborn leeches lunged, but Jet Jaguar struck them first by enlarging his fist. Chiba ordered Nuki and Incense to finish them off, but Riviera intervened, hoping to harness their Kai-Sei-draining abilities and use them against Godzilla.
Seventeen hours later, the team was aboard a cargo ship off the coast of Bermuda, trying to draw out Godzilla. Pirates led by Captain Carroñero reached them first, swiftly defeating the team and opening the hold containing the leeches. All present were stunned when a giant roundworm, sporting three main heads and countless smaller ones, emerged. Chiba concluded that the creature's offspring could quickly bond with it to increase its size. Braid tackled Carroñero out of the way of a smaller maw. When he explained that the roundworms absorbed his Kai-Sei energy, an awed Carroñero named the kaiju "Yacumama" after a creature of Peruvian legend.
A mysterious kaiju watched the battle from her monitors. She deemed the name "Yacumama" fitting, even if she wished she could have named it herself, before reaching into a tower full of bubbling green liquid and grabbing a handful of smaller Yacumama. As the larger Yacumama reached the deck of the cargo ship, now in flames, Godzilla fought off smaller roundworms underwater.
Issue #3
Chiba ordered Braid not to use his powers against the kaiju; as he wondered what to do instead, Nuki and Carroñero came to his defense. Nuki in particular brutally dispatched every roundworm near her with her shoulder cannons and pistols. Slicing apart a roundworm with her sword, Rumi observed that Yacumama seemed to instinctually fuse together to conserve energy. Incense unleashed a fire blast to incinerate the largest Yacumama, then posed for a selfie with Nuki, failing to notice a smaller creature charging at them from behind. Fortunately, Braid punched it into the sea to save them. After the team forcibly docked in Bermuda, Petithomme contacted Riviera, telling the Science Division's chemical analysis has found that Yacumama are synthetic lifeforms, created by an unknown intelligence at the Upshot-Knothole test site in Nevada. Riviera recognized this as the location of the last major U.S. weapons test before Godzilla emerged—and Godzilla's next destination, as the team learned that Godzilla had recently surfaced in Atlanta, Georgia as it was being pursued by the Yacumama. He commandeered a British aircraft and departed for the site with Incense and Nuki, determined to recover more Yacumama before Godzilla could reach them.
Issue #4
After arriving at the Upshot-Knothole test site, Riviera, Nuki, and Incense were discovered by the talking kaiju Lament, who identified herself as the creator of the Yacumama as she showed Riviera a vat of the leeches. Meanwhile, Chiba, Braid, and Jet Jaguar followed Godzilla through an underwater tunnel system created by Anguirus until the King of the Monsters emerged in Kansas City, Missouri, covered in Yacumama. As Godzilla tore the leeches from its body, Chiba used her telepathic abilities to report Godzilla's rage over the Yacumama stealing its blood. Jet Jaguar and Braid fought Godzilla, forcing the monster back into the tunnel system. Jet Jaguar, Chiba, and Braid later breached Lament's lab just ahead of Godzilla, only for Riviera to order them to stand back as a massive Yacumama ambushed Godzilla.
Issue #5
Godzilla grappled with the giant Yacumama and several smaller leeches, struggling to fend them off alone as even its atomic breath failed to stop the vampiric creatures. Experiencing a psychic episode, Chiba warned the others that Godzilla had not been fleeing the Yacumama, but had been racing to stop Lament and the Yacumama from killing the planet, though Lament countered that Godzilla had taken power from humanity and the Yacumama were merely taking it back. Despite the efforts of Lament and Riviera, Braid reluctantly decided to help Godzilla as Chiba ordered Jet Jaguar to help wrestle the giant Yacumama away from Godzilla. Defying Riviera's orders, Jet Jaguar, Nuki, and Incense attacked the Yacumama, punching and blasting pieces of its body away until Godzilla was able to throw its body across the lab and attempted to retreat down another tunnel. In retaliation, the giant Yacumama enveloped Nuki, tackled Jet Jaguar, and bounded down the tunnel after Godzilla.
Despite Chiba's warnings that they needed to starve the Yacumama of Kai-Sei energy, Braid nevertheless raced after Nuki, though as he caught up to her, he was ambushed by the giant Yacumama. Unable to fight back without giving it what it wanted, Braid could do nothing but take the Yacumama's hits until Godzilla returned and attacked the Yacumama. Forming a temporary alliance, Godzilla and Braid worked together to break the Yacumama into smaller pieces, allowing the rest of G-Force USA to destroy the leftovers. Together, Godzilla and G-Force USA managed to destroy all of the remaining Yacumama, with Braid allowing Godzilla the honor of destroying the final leech as Chiba used her powers to conclude that they had eradicated the last of the Yacumama.
Issue #6
Chiba recounted Braid and Godzilla's temporary alliance to destroy the Yacumama, though this alliance was violently shattered by the revelation that Lament was actually Braid's mother. Already heavily weakened by the Yacumama, Godzilla's physical body deteriorated entirely in the subsequent battle between it and Braid, at which point Braid absorbed Godzilla's life force into his own body.
Abilities
Self-propagation
Yacumama are able to reproduce asexually and fuse together to grow in size and power. Dr. Rumi Chiba theorized that this allowed them to conserve energy as well.
Kai-Sei absorption
Like leeches, Yacumama feed on the blood of Kai-Sei–infused organisms, such as kaiju and G-Mutants, to absorb the energy therein and fuel their propagation.
Durability
Even small Yacumama are extremely durable, with one surviving a deep cut to its head from Dr. Rumi Chiba's kogai blade. Others were largely unaffected by Jacen Braid's Kai-Sei attacks, although he did managed to send one smaller roundworm flying into the sea with a charged punch. Newborn offspring were only bloodied by a punch from Jet Jaguar's enlarged fist.
Weaknessess
Though durable and immune to Kai-Sei-based attacks, the Yacumama's bodies were rather easily sliced through by Chiba's kogai blade, blasted apart by Nuki's shoulder cannons and laser pistols, and incinerated by Incense. Jet Jaguar, Godzilla, and Braid managed to break down the body of the largest Yacumama through repeated blunt attacks, kicking and punching the monster to small pieces that the rest of the team was able to dispatch with relative ease.
Gallery
Scans
Godzilla
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The small Yacumama leech recovered by G-Force USA -
Rumi Chiba vs. a Yacumama leech -
Godzilla covered in small Yacumama -
Godzilla vs. the giant Yacumama in Lament's lab
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