The attack on APEX was all it took for Mark Russell to turn against the Titan alpha in Godzilla vs. Kong. Despite having seen he could be a force for good when he defeated Ghidorah in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Mark (Kyle Chandler) argued with Madison in the new MonsterVerse movie about Godzilla being a threat. Mark’s story in King of the Monsters began with him hating all Titans, particularly Godzilla. Apparently, stomping through San Francisco to get to the MUTOs in 2014’s Godzilla took the life of Mark’s son, Andrew.
It was for this reason it took Mark a while to develop a different, more positive opinion of the Titan. After seeing that Godzilla really was their best hope against King Ghidorah, Mark even advocated saving him with nukes. However, Mark’s attitude toward him changed again at the beginning of Godzilla vs. Kong when the Titan launched an attack on an APEX facility in Pensacola, Florida that killed eight people. After that, Mark went back to his earlier belief Godzilla was an enemy of humanity.
Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) never lost faith in Godzilla, but Mark didn’t share her confidence in him. During their argument in Pensacola, he explained that just like humans, Titans are capable of change. He didn’t think that just because Godzilla helped them before he would always be on their side. The Godzilla vs. Kong novelization expanded a bit on Mark’s thoughts, by revealing that before the APEX attack, Mark was already worried about something like this happening. Knowing that innocents were often unintentional casualties of Godzilla’s actions, Mark felt that humans were just “collateral damage” to him.
Before Godzilla hit Pensacola, Mark compared the Titan to his wife, Emma (Vera Farmiga). In King of the Monsters, Emma and Jonah (Charles Dance) schemed to unleash the Titans on the Earth, believing these monsters could rejuvenate the planet. Though Mark was willing to admit Emma was right about this plan being helpful for Earth’s ecosystems, he believed it was wrong for her to sacrifice the lives of so many people for her cause. Mark feared that in a way, Godzilla was just like her. He knew from King of the Monsters that Godzilla’s interests were in protecting the planet, but he came to believe Godzilla might go as far as Emma did to pursue that goal.
Mark wasn’t able to comprehend what Godzilla was up to when he attacked APEX, but what he did understand was that once again, people were dead because of him. And for Mark, that was enough for him to turn on Godzilla a second time. Due to his decisions, he was sidelined for most of the story, with Madison being forced to solve the APEX mystery in Godzilla vs. Kong without his aid. But hopefully, if the Russells return in a future MonsterVerse movie, Mark will realize his mistakes and not be so quick to point the finger at the alpha the next time things go wrong.