SPOILER WARNING: This section may contain major plot and/or ending details. Proceed at your own discretion.

Cate Randa is a character created by Legendary Pictures who made her first appearance within the 2023 MonsterVerse series, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, where she serves as its main protagonist.

Personality[]

Cate is a quick-witted young woman whose life is changed forever when she witnesses Godzilla attacking San Francisco in 2014. This event traumatizes her and she suffers from PTSD.

Relationships[]

Kentaro Randa[]

Cate was initially uncertain on what to think of her paternal half-brother Kentaro. But during the search for their father Hiroshi, she began to warm up to him and started to care for him as a sibling. They grew to care for one another and realized they had more in common then they thought. They came to regard one another as siblings. Kentaro was determined to bring Cate home from Axis Mundi.

May Olowe-Hewitt[]

May and Cate are best friends and have an incredibly close relationship. Their friendship started off rocky because they didn't trust each other. Through the triumphs and defeats of their search for Hiroshi, the women grew close. Cate kept May alive and oriented during their Alaska expedition. May centered and calmed Cate during a panic attack in San Francisco. Their relationship is so close, in fact, that May ran toward an exploding building to save Cate. This led May to fall through a rift, and one of her first coherent thoughts were for Cate's safety. When Cate also fell through the rift, she was hysterical over needing to find May and Lee. The women have grown to trust, respect, and care for each other.

Lee Shaw[]

Lee and Cate had a bickering relationship and one that began out of necessity. Lee had an affinity for Cate because of her relation to Keiko. He saw Cate specifically as Keiko's heir and thought she could be the future of Monarch alongside him. Cate, however, didn't want a life with monsters. She wanted to find her father, and their paths eventually diverted. Ultimately, Lee showed great care for Cate and her wellbeing, though he didn't put it above his own desire to prove the existence of Axis Mundi. He tried to save her from falling through a rift, but he wasn't strong enough. They both fell through and worked hard to find each other. Lee later sacrificed himself so Cate, May, and Keiko could escape Axis Mundi.

Dani[]

Dani is Cate's former colleague and ex-girlfriend. Although they deeply cared for one another, Cate became uncertain of truly continuing to the relationship when Dani asked her to start living in the same place together. On the day the Titans were converging on San Francisco, Cate realized that she could not become a committing partner and ended her relationship with Dani.

Evin[]

Evin was Cate's lover, but it is unknown whether they started seeing each other before or after the latter entered a relationship with Dani.

History[]

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters[]

Pre-2014[]

Cate was born to Hiroshi Randa and his wife Caroline. They lived a quiet life together and he built her a playground in their backyard when she was five. They spoke Japanese to one another and called it their secret language. However, Hiroshi's mysterious work kept him away from the family often.^[1] At some point in her adult life, Cate became a science teacher and started a romantic relationship with her colleague Dani. Unbeknownst to Dani, however, Cate was also having a secret affair with another woman named Evin.

2014[]

Cate was teaching when Godzilla attacked San Francisco on what would become known as G-Day. She had to choose between going underground with her girlfriend Dani and other faculty, or on a school bus to escort other students to safety. Cate chose to board the bus.^[2] They were in the heart of the destruction as Godzilla destroyed Golden Gate Bridge, took out helicopters, and shattered the ground. Cate narrowly escaped the school bus through the emergency exit. She helped several students escape before the bus fell into the hole created by Godzilla. The fall killed the remaining students and bus driver. In the aftermath of G-Day, FEMA and other rescue organizations arrived in San Francisco. Cate and her mother Caroline were relocated to a camp. Five days after G-Day, Cate's father, Hiroshi, found her by a tent. He refused to go back to the tent with Cate and instead, presented her with two bus passes to Reno for her and her mother. He had things to take care of and had to leave.^[1]

2015[]

Cate flew to Tokyo to investigate her late father's mysterious apartment. She was shocked to find the apartment belonged to her father's second family - a son Kentaro and wife Emiko. She was horrified and went to leave when the city alarmed for an early Godzilla sighting. Kentaro and Emiko led Cate underground where they waited for the all-clear sound. Being forced into the situation cause Cate to flashback to the 2014 attack, though Emiko provided comfort. After the all-clear was given, Kentaro convinced Cate to follow him back to their father's office where he hoped to show her a different side of Hiroshi. She found a safe hidden behind a satellite map. Inside was a bag of data that belonged to Monarch employee Randa, W.J. Kentaro recruited the help of coder May Olowe-Hewitt to decrypt the information and they unknowingly alerted Monarch to their efforts. Cate recognized a photograph her and Kentaro's grandmother Keiko standing in a giant monster print.^[1]

Cate planned to leave Tokyo immediately, but was intercepted at the train station by Tim and Michelle Duvall, two Monarch operatives. She misunderstood their intentions as kidnapping. Cate had a panic attack when Tim covered her face with a black bag. She flailed in the car and kicked Duvall in the face, which caused a car accident. She narrowly escaped the scene. After a failed visit to local authorities, Cate made her way to May's, but found Tim and Duvall there. May took Cate to a restaurant where she had a go-bag packed. They met up with Kentaro who didn't want to flee like May or hand over the files like Cate suggested. Instead, he took them to a senior living facility to see his father's Uncle, Lee Shaw. After a conversation, Lee revealed the facility was Monarch's version of secure asset management. He didn't believe Hiroshi disappeared without a trace. He offered to help them get out of there and learn what happened to their father. They had one minute to make a choice.^[3]

Shaw led Cate, Kenatro, and May out of the Monarch retirement home where he drove Kentaro's rental van through the front gate to escape. They boarded a ship to Korea where they planned to meet Shaw's friend who could get them to Alaska. Cate wasn't thrilled with the idea of finding her father, or the fact Monarch is her allegedly her family business. She viewed it as the family curse. The group arrived in Pohang South Korea where Shaw got them detained by two guards. One of the guards, Du-Ho, was a friend of Shaw's who overtook the other guard and helped the group get to an aircraft. Unbeknownst to them, their tryst was spotted by Monarch. May used the digitized files to deduce that Hiroshi was headed to Barrow when his plane crashed. Du-Ho and Shaw flew them to Alaska. Du-Ho and Cate bonded on the way as they both had seen people die before. He had a different perspective on life, one that he shared with her. They hit turbulence and the meters inside went crazy. Shaw managed to land the plane, though not gracefully. Once landed, Kentaro found the wreckage of Hiroshi's plane, though only one body was inside. Several feet from the crash was a tent. Cate found a map with handwriting that she and Kentaro recognized as their fathers. They realized he survived and hugged. Meanwhile, Du-Ho investigated the wreckage and realized the plane landed safely but was destroyed after the crash. He screamed for everyone to get back to the plane, though moments before they could reach it, a Frost Vark erupted from the ground. It murdered Du-Ho when it used its freezing breath to turn the whole plane into ice.^[4]

They hid from the Titan in an ice cave. May's leg went through the ice and her risk of hypothermia rose. The group tried to find a civilization. Kentaro insisted he saw a building in the distance. Lee wanted to continue to the bright light in the distance, which he thought could be a town or oil rig. Cate and May agreed with Lee's ideas. Ultimately, Kentaro left the group to find the building he saw by himself. Cate wasn't happy with his departure, but stayed with Lee and May. She tried to keep May awake and alert with hopeful messages of impending warmth. They were disheartened to end up back at Hiroshi's tent - having walked in circles. Lee wasn't surprised as a Titan can manipulate their environment. They sought shelter in the tent. Cate helped May warm up by the fire. May wanted Cate to call her sister Lyra if things didn't work out well for her. She believed that she wouldn't survive, and that Cate would have to leave her behind. She wanted Cate to leave Lee behind too, if the time came. One of them had to make it out alive. The fire attracted the Frost Vark and they narrowly escaped another attack. Armed with the knowledge that heat was its fuel, Lee decided to turn Du-Ho's corpse into a funeral pyre. His plan barely worked as the Titan attacked once again. Luckily, Kentaro had made it to an outpost and used a communications system to radio for help. Lee, Cate, and May narrowly escaped onto the helicopter. They landed and were stunned to arrive at a Monarch outpost - greeted by Tim.^[5]

Now apprehended by Monarch, Cate and her friends are split-up and put in cells. Their stay is brief and Tim drove them to the airport with a warning that he can't protect them again. Cate and Kentaro want to continue their search for Hiroshi. May initially refused, but Cate insisted they stick together as they needed each other. They flew to San Francisco to search Hiroshi's office. Caroline's work friend James picked them up from the airport and took them back to the Randa's home. Cate reunited with her mother but didn't waste time in telling her who Kentaro was. After an emotionally charged conversation, Cate convinced Caroline to take her, Kentaro, and May into the red zone so they could go through Hiroshi's office. The journey through the wreckage of San Francisco proved to be fraught for Cate. She suffered flashbacks and PTSD. May and Kentaro did their best to support her as they hid from police, navigated rubble, and sang cheesy commercials. When Cate's panic attack in the tunnels made her mistake Kentaro for Hiroshi, the younger Randa went to find an escape route. May consoled Kate and helped her with breathing exercises. Kentaro ultimately found a way out. Once they reached Hiroshi's office, things seemed pointless until Kentaro figured out the wall map could only be completed with a projected image. He put a piece of paper, that he holed using a map file from May's tablet, on the window. It shined points on the wall map. They realized each point was the path Hiroshi took - San Francisco to Alaska to Africa. Once back at Caroline's, Cate told her mom that Hiroshi was alive, worked for a Godzilla agency, and that she planned to find him.^[2]

Lee and Duvall arrived at Cate's house with news that Duvall was no longer loyal to Monarch. Lee convinced Cate to let Duvall help them find Hiroshi, who knew of impending emergence. The group traveled to the Algerian desert where they connected with a group of ex-Monarch operatives who believe in Duvall and Lee's cause. Cate, Kentaro, May, Lee, Duvall, and another operative followed Hiroshi's map to a ridge. They spotted Hiroshi several yards away with a truck and a gamma ray device. Cate was thrilled to see her father and shouted to him with Kentaro and Lee. When Lee looked through the binoculars, he noticed Hiroshi wasn't waving back, but waving them away. Lee insisted they all run, but it was too late. A Monarch helicopter arrived with Tim inside. They planned to land until the ground shattered beneath them. A shrill roar ripped through the air as Kentaro, Lee, Cate, Duvall, and May tumbled down a cliff. Cate recognized the shrill sound - it's Godzilla. The creature stood up after it made eye contact with Cate. He knocked the helicopter out of the way. He then turned and marched away as Cate realized Godzilla saw her. Lee wanted to follow Godzilla while Cate wanted to follow her father. Lee refused to give her back and the map. He wasn't trying to stop Godzilla like Cate thought, he wanted to help the Titan. Cate, Kentaro, and May left Duvall and Lee so they could pursue Hiroshi. On the way back to civilization, May revealed her secret alliance with Duvall and Monarch. She had led Monarch to them after Alaska because she wanted to go back to her real life, not the one she made up in Japan. Cate was furious with her betrayal and stormed away.^[6]

While in the airport with plans to go home, Cate realized May hadn't come back from the bathroom and went to look for her. She found May's belongings and believed she was kidnapped, though Kentaro didn't fully believe that. She told him to help her as she was the older sibling, after all. She spotted Tim, who survived the plane crash, and after a confrontation, discussion, and bargain, the trio decided to work together. Cate promised that she and Kentaro would help Tim find Godzilla if Tim and Monarch helped them rescue May. Tim revealed that May's real name was Corah Mateo. Their search for May brought them to her childhood home in Tacoma, Washington, where they met her sister Lyra and mother. Lyra knew more than she originally let on, and tricked the trio into a parking garage, where she forced them to reveal who their true identities and relation to Corah. Kentaro got Lyra to trust him as he knew personality traits and hobbies about May that only someone close to her would know. Lyra revealed that Corah worked for Advanced Experimental Technologies three years ago. She burned the company and had to go on the run. Tim, Cate, and Kentaro used Monarch's M.U.T.O. alert system to put everyone in a panic so they could infiltrate AET seemingly undetected. May, who didn't want to betray her friends again, forced them to leave her so she could face the consequences of her actions alone. They left the building but were apprehended by Verdugo, who had plans to put them all on a plane to find Shaw, who had broken into a Monarch outpost in Alaska. Cate reminded Verdugo that she and Kentaro found their father's map, their father, and Godzilla without the help of Monarch. She leveraged their abilities to once again make a deal - if Verdugo helped them free May from her troubles with AET, then she and Kentaro would help Verdugo find Shaw. Verdugo made a call and got May released from AET's custody. Cate and Kentaro planned to leave Washington to hold up their end of the deal. May waited for them outside their hotel and asked to come along on their latest mission. Cate hugged May and agreed to her joining them.^[7]

Their journey took them to Monarch's headquarters, where they poured over Tim's paperwork. Cate found the file about Keiko's death and Tim remembered that Kazakhstan was on Hiroshi's map. The group convinced Verdugo to let them go after Shaw instead of armed operatives. Cate thought they could get through to Shaw because he loved their grandmother. Kentaro believed Shaw wanted them to take over the "family business". Once at the power plant, Shaw agreed to speak only to Cate. He revealed that the Titans come from another world that is beneath Earth. The reactor explosion created a portal, which led to another world. He knew because he had been there. She tried to reason with him about the dangers of exploding the portal, but he didn't listen. Cate tried to flee the building. She watched May, who had tried to find Cate after the explosion, fall into portal. but was attacked by Endopedes who dragged her to the portal. Lee tried to save her, but the building was too unstable. Lee and Cate fell into the portal.^[8]

She woke up in the other world and was disoriented from the fall. She quickly came face-to-face with a Brambleboar that wanted to kill her. She crawled away but couldn't get far. Moments before the creature could attack, an arrow was shot through its eye, which scared it off. Cate turn to see her savior - her grandmother, Keiko Randa.^[9] Keiko assumed Cate was part of a rescue mission sent by Monarch, though Cate admitted she didn't know anything about Keiko's signal for help.

The women navigated Axis Mundi together while Cate worried about the others who fell through the rift with her. They eventually reunited with May and Lee, though Lee refused to show himself to Keiko until she understood how much time had passed since she fell through the rift. Keiko was heartbroken to learn how long it had been, that her husband was dead, her son grown, and Cate her granddaughter.

The group followed Keiko to her campsite where Lee came up with a plan to carry the pod Keiko used for the gamma ray signal to power the ship he left behind 33 years ago. Keiko asked Cate about Hiroshi, and Cate explained he was a family man who followed in his mother's footsteps. When Monarch wouldn't let him do the work, he did it on his own. He didn't know when to stop. The group then got to work as they transported the heavy pod through Axis Mundi. They tried not to think about how much time had already passed back home. Cate asked why the world looked like Earth if they were in the realm of the Titans. Keiko didn't think they were in the Titans world at all, but a place between the two worlds. She called it Axis Mundi. Cate recognized it as meaning "between Heaven and Earth." The group arrived at Lee's landing site. He and Keiko worked together to hook the pod up to the ship. Keiko finally admitted her plan to stay behind, as the world out there wasn't hers anymore. Cate refused to let that happen. The monsters had taken everything from Cate already. She wouldn't let them take Keiko too. The curse was broken with them. Cate insisted that Keiko still had work to do up there and she needed her to come back. Moved by her granddaughters speech, Keiko agreed to come with them. As they prepared for takeoff, an Ion Dragon attacked the ship and disconnected the cables. Lee left the ship to reattach them but struggled. Godzilla came through the rift and fought the Ion Dragon. The ship, once connected, was drawn to the rift and Lee ran to catch it. Keiko grabbed his hand and refused to let go. May and Cate held her legs inside the ship. Lee knew it was too much weight and forced her to let him go. The trio were forced to leave Axis Mundi without Lee.^[10]

2017[]

They were thrown out of the rift and shocked at the arrival of agents dressed in black. Cate reunited with Kentaro and her father. She then facilitated Hiroshi's reunion with an emotional Keiko. Cate explained to Kentaro that the woman was their grandmother. The family moment was cut short when Brenda Holland arrived. She funded the expedition and worked alongside Tim now. Cate and May were confused by the situation. Kentaro revealed a lot had changed in the past two years. An alarm blared and everyone ran into the Apex Cybernetics research center as Kong stomped through the woods of Skull Island.^[10]

List of appearances[]

Television[]

• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
  • "Aftermath" (First appearance)
  • "Departure"
  • "Secrets and Lies"
  • "Parallels and Interiors"
  • "The Way Out"
  • "Terrifying Miracles"
  • "Will the Real May Please Stand Up?"
  • "Birthright"
  • "Axis Mundi"
  • "Beyond Logic"

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

• Cate Randa, along with Dani and Evin, are the only characters in the Godzilla franchise to be LGBTQIA+. She is confirmed to be a Sapphic.

References[]