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Colonel Leland "Lee" Lafayette Shaw III is a character created by Legendary Pictures who made his first appearance in the 2014 Godzilla graphic novel, Godzilla: Awakening, before making his first live-action and MonsterVerse-canon appearance in the 2023 TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters as a major supporting character.

Personality[]

Lee Shaw is a man driven by a sense of honor and willingness to protect everything he holds dear. Although he does have a cynical sense of humor, he is compassionate and loyal towards those he consider friends and family. As a young man, Lee plays a critical part in the balance between science and military. He can see the importance of the scientific research Keiko and Billy want to conduct, while also understanding the political aspect of Monarch. He often struggles between his duty to the military and his loyalty to Keiko and Billy. After returning from Axis Mundi and losing twenty years, Billy, Hiroshi, and his life's mission, Lee resigns himself to Monarch's retirement facility. He accepts his fate with a depression that lasts over thirty years. When Godzilla and the MUTOs reveal themselves to the world, Lee rebels against Monarch for the first time. He becomes determined to stop the monster attacks and finish his friends' legacy.

Lee's love for Keiko Randa motivates him to honor her in his actions. After he was unsuccessful in rescuing her from the Endoswarmers, he decided to atone for his failures by sealing off the Axis Mundi portals to prevent others from suffering the same fate. However, upon learning that his actions only made things worse, Lee became more aware of his flaw and tried to find another solution. After reuniting with Keiko, Lee decides to risk, and eventually, sacrifice himself so that she can live.

Relationships[]

Keiko Randa[]

Keiko was Lee's assignment and one he took with great difficulty. They made assumptions about the other upon meeting and had to shed their prejudices and stereotypes to form an alliance. Lee was reluctant to believe Keiko's wild theories about massive unidentified terrestrial organisms until he witnessed it first hand. Over the next several years working together, Lee formed a friendship with Keiko. He was unabashedly loyal to her, protective, and they challenged each other at every step. They saw the world from opposite spectrums, but still managed to understand the others motivations. Lee fell in love with Keiko and she shared romantic feelings for him too. However, she knew they could never put the work before a prospective relationship, and the work was more important. They kissed once and never pursued anything after that. Keiko went on to marry William Randa and they formed a family with her son, Hiroshi. Lee indirectly admitted that he only thought about kids when it came to Keiko. When Keiko fell into the rift, Lee was heartbroken. He became determined to seal off the other rifts to prevent other deaths or monsters from coming through. He mourned her for years and formed a kinship with her granddaughter Cate because of Keiko. Cate believed Lee was in love with Keiko. They were reunited in Axis Mundi after fifty years apart. Lee ultimately sacrificed himself to the Ion Dragon so she could return to Earth and finish what she started.

History[]

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters[]

Early Life[]

Leland Lafayette Shaw III was born on August 3, 1924, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Despite his father's drinking habits, Lee followed in his footsteps in joining the United States Army during World War II.

1952[]

Lee is a lieutenant drinking in a bar at Manila when he sees two soldiers harassing a barmaid. Angered by the soldiers' inappropriate actions, Lee proceeds to fight the two soldiers and receive several bruises in the process. He is then summoned by superior, General Puckett, who assigns Lee to act as a security escort for a Japanese scientist named Keiko. Upon meeting Keiko at the Mindanao docks, Lee initially mistook her as the Japanese scientist's daughter before joining her mission of studying strange readings of airborne radioisotopes in the jungle. While unloading their equipment from their jeep, Lee and Keiko run into a cryptozoologist named William Randa who is on the hunt for a massive unidentified terrestrial organism that may have inspired local Filipino folklore about a dragon that carves a path of fire across the sky by emitting radiation.

Lee is unconvinced that Billy is someone who can be trusted, which leads to Keiko dismissing him from her service. Lee is driving back to Mindanao when he notices that the Geiger counter is detecting high levels of radiation before witnessing trails of airborne radioisotopes in the sky. Realizing that Billy is telling the truth, Lee drives back to rescue his two acquaintances. Lee manages to rescue both Billy and Keiko as an Ion Dragon attack them inside the USS Lawton. The trio hide in the jungle as they watch the creature claiming the ship as its own.

1954[]

Lee, Billy, and Keiko managed to discover and create an impression of Godzilla's footprint in Indonesia before they present it to General Puckett in order to gain funding from the United States Army so that Monarch can resume its activities. Although they succeeded in obtaining the funding, they are frustrated to find Puckett to deploy an atomic bomb to lure Godzilla out to the Bikini Atoll. Lee's attempt to convince Puckett to call off the operation falls flat since the latter believes that Godzilla is an existential threat to global security. Lee is then forced to prevent Keiko to from thwarting the bomb's detonation and has doubts whether killing Godzilla was the right thing to do. Back at their headquarters, Lee informs Billy and Keiko that the American government is willing to give Monarch further funding in case of future Titan emergences. Billy and Keiko agree to keep some Monarch secrets with Lee so that they can study the Titans without outside interferences.

1955[]

Lee attends the annual summer military ball in Washington D.C. alongside Keiko, who feels rather uncomfortable wearing a formal dress. General Puckett congratulates Lee for his promotion into captain as he meets up with other military personnel who wish to invest more in Monarch. Lee comforts Keiko for being looked down by the military personnel and compliments her intelligence and resilience. Lee and Keiko then dance together as they start to enjoy each other's company. Lee then tells Keiko his potential plans of settling down in the suburbs when a telegram from Billy arrives. Lee and Keiko learn from Billy in the Monarch Headquarters that there is another potential Titan sighting in Japan and they need to prove its existence to gain more funding from the government. Lee is reluctant since they have to present their budget proposal to the military, only to join the pair since he is not willing to have Keiko or Billy go on a Titan hunt alone.

Lee learns from Billy that he and Keiko have arrived at Hateruma Island where they meet a Japanese scientist named Suzuki who created a Gamma Radiation Simulator that will act as a Titan bait. Lee becomes concerned with Keiko's safety and decides to catch up with his friends. Lee then asks Puckett's permission to join with Billy and Keiko, but the latter warns him that he needs to make the right choice so that he will not suffer the consequences. Lee decides to meet his friends before having a heart-to-heart talk with Keiko about their future. Lee and Keiko share a kiss when the Gamma Radiation Simulator suddenly shuts down and is destroyed by Godzilla. Lee is greatly surprised that the atomic bomb in the Bikini Atoll did not kill or simply injured Godzilla. When they return to the Monarch Headquarters, Lee debates on whether they should update the military on Godzilla's survival. However, he is shocked to learn that he has been demoted for insubordination, which frustrates Keiko.

Lee, Keiko, and Billy present their findings to Lieutenant Hatch, who remained unconvinced if running Monarch is more prioritized over battling communist spies. Lee warns Hatch after the latter starts to make disdainful remarks about Keiko and holds Billy back from accosting the lieutenant. Lee plans to tell General Puckett about Godzilla surviving the atomic bomb, but Keiko disagrees since the military will start to build a more powerful bomb in response. Lee then tells Keiko and Billy to start creating a map that shows where the Titans are hiding in order to have their former positions reinstated and the government's continued funding.

After Keiko and Billy completed their map of Axis Mundi, Lee enters the White House and presented it to General Puckett, along with the fact that Godzilla is alive. He also convinces Puckett to reinstate Keiko and Billy's former positions, as well as prioritizing Monarch over the Red Scare.

1959[]

Lee, now a major, accompanying Billy and Keiko, who are now married and are raising Hiroshi Randa together, on a M.U.T.O. hunt in the Kazakh countryside. During the drive, Lee praises Billy and Keiko for being able to start a family and work for Monarch simultaneously. As they proceed to walk on foot, Lee almost shoots a boy who is wielding a hunting rifle but is stopped when Keiko translates the latter's testament about lack of radiation in the nearby abandoned nuclear power plant. Lee, Billy, and Keiko discard their masks and begin to place seismic charges around the power plant, which culminates in Lee detonating the charges. The trio learn that the bedrock beneath the power plant is hollow and delve deeper before discovering an Endoswarmer nursery. Lee is reluctant to continue on with the mission but relents when Keiko presses on to collect genetic materials. However, the unstable ground slowly awakens the Endoswarmers, prompting both Lee and Keiko to climb back up to Billy. Lee starts to shoot the Endoswarmers that are targeting Keiko and is devastated when the creatures pull Keiko to her death. He eventually requests Keiko's death benefits to Billy.

1962[]

Lee, now a colonel, is preparing for a reconnaissance mission to Axis Mundi called "Operation Hourglass" in Kansas as he and Billy say their goodbyes to Hiroshi. Lee assures Hiroshi that Monarch is doing whatever it can to keep the world safe before he gives the latter his lucky pocketknife for safekeeping. While walking through the launch site, Lee and Billy ponder on how Keiko would love to see how far Monarch had grown. Lee then assures Billy that he is qualified in entering the rift before joining three other operatives in entering the reconnaissance pod. Monarch activated the Gamma Radiation Simulator to temporarily lure a Titan out so that the tift is stable enough for the reconnaissance team to enter. Lee and his colleagues descend to Axis Mundi as they tail the Ion Dragon through the portal. However, the gravitational inversion created a vortex that caused a substantial amount of damage around the test site, which results in the reconnaissance pod crashing into Axis Mundi. Lee and the other two operatives bury their colleague that did not survive the landing before they attempt to make contact with the surface. Moments later, the Ion Dragon attacks the reconnaissance team, which results in Lee being the sole survivor. Around one week later, he is transported back to the surface through an Axis Mundi portal.

1982[]

Lee found himself in the middle of a Japanese forest when he is found by Monarch operatives. Upon waking up in bed, he panics and decides to take a nurse named Emiko hostage so that he can find Billy. Just then, he finds himself speaking to a man who showed him his lucky pocketknife, which causes him to realize that he had come across an adult Hiroshi Randa, and that he was transported 20 years into the future. Overwhelmed, Lee collapses to the floor.

Lee is returned to his room as he speaks to Hiroshi about his experience in Axis Mundi. Lee is devastated to learn that Billy died almost a decade prior to his return to the surface and asks Hiroshi to carry on the family legacy. Hiroshi, however, is rather reluctant to finish what his parents started and informs Lee that the latter will be spending his retirement at the assisted living community of Futaba Resting Home Social Corporation near Mount Fuji under Monarch supervision. He eventually meets and befriends a South Korean pilot named Du-Ho.

2014[]

Lee is watching television with the other residents of his living community when their channel is interrupted by the news of Godzilla battling the male MUTO at Honolulu. Lee is astonished to learn that the Alpha Titan is still alive after 60 years.

2015[]

Lee is pruning a bonsai tree when he is visited by May Olowe-Hewitt and the two children of Hiroshi Randa: Kentaro and Cate. Knowing that the three visitors are being targeted by Monarch, Lee takes them to the garden as they reveal that they have uncovered Billy's old files. He then reveals his ankle monitor to prove that he is a prisoner at the living community and asks the trio to join him in a mission to find out what truly happened to Hiroshi. Lee then dismantles and throws his ankle monitor into a nearby pool before giving May, Kentaro, and Cate about 60 seconds to make up their minds. As security guards begin to arrive, Lee Cate Kate, Kentaro, and May in an escape from the living community that results in them driving out of Japan via a cargo ship on route to South Korea.

During their journey to South Korea, Lee examines the Randa files that May had digitized while describing the Randa family's history with Monarch. He also explains that his friend Du-Ho is in Pohang, and that he will fly them to Alaska on his plane before convincing Kentaro to throw the files into the ocean since they already possess digital copies. At the South Korean customs, the language barrier between Lee and the staff prompts two of the guards to escort him and his group to a nearby truck. However, one of the guards incapacitates and locks the other in the truck before he reveals his identity as Du-Ho, who helps the group in flying to Alaska.

As Lee and his group travel to Alaska, he deduces that Hiroshi was not heading for Barrow due to the flight plan. They eventually reach the area where Hiroshi might be located and Lee takes over as the pilot with Cate as his co-pilot. Using a water bottle as an altitude indicator, Lee and Cate manage to fly and land the plane in one piece after an unusual turbulence through a storm system. Lee and his group discover that Hiroshi safely landed before setting up camp over a nearby hill. However, the investigation takes a darker turn when a Frost Vark destroys the plane and kills Du-Ho before it sets its sight on Lee, Cate, Kentaro, and May. Lee and his group are able to hide from the Frost Vark inside the glacial tunnel, but a new problem emerges when May accidentally falls into a pool of freezing water. As they climb the summit of a mountain, they come across a strange blue glow in the distance. Lee, Cate, and May decide to head for the coast while Kentaro goes off on his own to search for the shining object that he saw earlier. Lee leads the way for Cate and May before they realize that they have returned to the site of Hiroshi's camp. The trio spends the night inside the tent when the Frost Vark returns and devours the flames of the campfire. Lee realizes that the Frost Vark is drawn to heat and intends to create a large fire with Du-Ho's frozen body and aviation fuel from Du-Ho's plane that will distract the creature from pursuing him, Cate, and May. Right when a helicopter with Kentaro inside it approaches, Lee ignites the fuel and makes a run for the helicopter as the Frost Vark feasts. As the helicopter flies away, Lee glimpses on the strange blue light that emanates from a massive crevice leading to Axis Mundi.

The next morning, Lee is frustrated that the Frost Vark froze the laptop from Hiroshi's tent. The helicopter soon lands and Lee is surprised to find Monarch personnel greeting him and his group. Lee is detained at the Monarch Alaskan command post and views an old footage of him, Keiko, and Billy as he is about to be interrogated by Natalia Verdugo regarding his past and recent actions. Lee praises Cate, Kentaro, and May for being a lot tougher than any Monarch operative. He calls Verdugo and the rest of Monarch out for allowing the Titans to battle each other in the middle of San Francisco before asking what would happen if the MUTOs managed to kill Godzilla. Lee then threatens to bury Verdugo someday as he states that Monarch had lost sight of its original purpose long ago. Verdugo than has him escorted back to his holding cell following the interrogation.

Lee is then taken away from the Monarch Alaskan command post when Michelle Duvall arrives to rescue him. After learning about how Michelle's sister Sandra Brody was killed in Janjira, Lee accepts her proposal for an alliance to prepare for another Titan emergence since Monarch would not listen to the warnings that he, Billy, and Hiroshi had been making for years. They then head out for San Francisco to recruit Cate, Kentaro, and May. Lee succeeds in convincing the trio that Duvall is their ally who can help them in finding Hiroshi.

Lee and his group are driving through the Algerian Desert as he praises Cate for being as intelligent as her grandmother. They come across a Monarch camp as he explains the lives they are gambling with. Upon reaching a ridge, they successfully locate Hiroshi. However, Lee notices that Hiroshi is telling them to leave due to the Gamma Radiation Simulator he is using on his truck. Lee and his group are sent tumbling down the ridge when Godzilla responds to the Gamma Radiation Simulator by rising from the ground and inadvertently knocks the Monarch helicopter that is hovering above him. Lee agrees with Cate on how Godzilla observed her before walking away. He approaches the wreckage and claims that no one survived the crash before asking Cate, Kentaro, and May to join him and Michelle in understanding Godzilla's motives. However, the trio decides to part ways with Lee since they came to find Hiroshi.

Lee and Duvall lead a team in taking over Monarch Outpost 88 in Fairbanks Alaska so that they can acquire all of the present detonators and explosives to destroy the nearby Axis Mundi entrance. As Lee and his team plant and detonate the explosives, their activities draw the attention of the Frost Vark. The Frost Vark attempts to attack the helicopter Lee and Michelle are in before it is sucked into the closing Axis Mundi vortex. Lee celebrates that he succeeds in closing the Axis Mundi entrance. However, the radiation eventually travel and intensify in other Axis Mundi portals.

Lee and Duvall then lead their team to Kazakhstan as they intend to destroy the Axis Mundi entrance in the power plant where Keiko was killed by the Endoswarmers. He also warns Michelle that the power plant will not be for the faint of heart. Lee then welcomes Cate, Kentaro, May, and Tim when they arrive before deciding to talk to Cate herself. Lee tells Cate about his experiences in the Axis Mundi and that he is helping the Titan in keeping Axis Mundi and the surface world separate. Lee tries to convince Cate that he is doing what Monarch could not do to atone for his failure of rescuing Keiko. Lee eventually detonates the explosives as an Endopede crawls out from the Axis Mundi portal. After the Endopede pulled Cate down with it, Lee tries to save her before both of them get sucked into the closing Axis Mundi vortex.

Lee finds himself returning to Axis Mundi as he reunites with and rescues May from deadly electrical charges caused by the explosives that he used to close Axis Mundi portals. As the pair search for Cate and trek through the forest, Lee reveals to May of his previous experience in the Axis Mundi that resulted in him being transported to 1982.

Lee and May eventually find Cate, though he hides himself behind a tree when he sees Keiko is alive and hasn't aged since he last saw her. When Keiko reveals that she has been trapped in Axis Mundi for 57 days, Lee corrects her that she has been presumed dead for 56 years before he reveals himself and Billy's fate to her. Lee and Keiko share a tearful, bittersweet hug as the latter learns that Cate is her granddaughter. Lee, Cate, and May then follows Keiko to her camp and he is ecstatic to find the Gamma Radiation Simulator, which Keiko used to send S.O.S. to the surface world.

The group decided to transport the simulator to the reconnaissance pod in a makeshift wooden barrow while taking a few short breaks simultaneously. Lee and Keiko discuss how much Monarch and the world have changed in the past decades before continuing their journey. Upon reaching the reconnaissance pod, Lee and Cate convinced a reluctant Keiko to return to the surface. Lee then activated the reconnaissance pod and the Gamma Radiation Simulator to lure a Titan to stabilize the Axis Mundi portal.

However, an already present Ion Dragon was drawn to their activities and attacked the reconnaissance pod. The Ion Dragon's attack caused the Gamma Radiation Simulator to disconnect. Lee was forced to exit the reconnaissance pod and reconnect the wires. As Lee was about to be devoured by the Ion Dragon, Godzilla arrived and fought the smaller Titan. Lee is knocked away during the chaos and opted into running towards the reconnaissance pod as Godzilla stabilized the portal after he threw the dismembered Ion Dragon into it. Although Keiko held onto Lee with the aid of Cate and May, Lee realized that his weight bore them down. Knowing that the inevitable must happen, Lee thanked Keiko for everything and told her to live. He released his hand from hers and fell to his assumed death.

Comics[]

Godzilla: Awakening[]

In 1946, Lee and Eiji Serizawa are the only survivors of a Shinomura ship attack. Impressed, Lee asks Eiji to work for the U.S. government, which Eiji accepted.

In 1953, Lee meet with Eiji and his son Ishiro before both men depart for a Monarch headquarters. After Shinomura destroyed the Monarch headquarters, Lee allowed Eiji to go on a lone voyage to find Godzilla, the one creature powerful enough to end Shinomura's rampage.

Lee was present in 1954 when General Douglas MacArthur ordered that Godzilla and Shinomura be nuked in an effort to kill them both. He and Eiji watched the detonation from a distance on a sea-faring vessel together.

In 1981, Lee approaches Ishiro after Eiji's funeral with the intent of recruiting him for Monarch. Although Ishiro claims that he is prepared to join Monarch, Lee replies that he is not sure if "anyone's ready for what's coming."

Trivia[]

• Although the same character in both the graphic novel and live-action series, the original version introduced in Godzilla: Awakening was only referred to as Shaw, and was depicted as a former U.S. Navy soldier who encountered Godzilla at various points across the twentieth century before becoming a member of Monarch in the present. For his proper debut in the franchise, the 2023 television series reinvented the character and provided a new name and backstory.

List of appearances[]

Television[]

• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
  • 1. "Aftermath"
  • 2. "Departure"
  • 3. "Secrets and Lies"
  • 4. "Parallels and Interiors"
  • 5. "The Way Out"
  • 6. "Terrifying Miracles"
  • 7. "Will the Real May Please Stand Up?"
  • 8. "Birthright"
  • 9. "Axis Mundi"
  • 10. "Beyond Logic"

Comics[]

• Godzilla: Awakening (First appearance)