Ford Brody

Ford Brody is a fictional United States Navy Lieutenant who serves as the main protagonist of the 2014 Legendary Pictures film Godzilla.

Godzilla
In 1999, Ford was enrolled at a school neighboring the Janjira Nuclear Power Plant. The same day he tried to give his father Joe a surprise for his birthday, the power plant suffered a catastrophic accident that took the life of his mother Sandra and rendered the city of Janjira supposedly contaminated with radiation. In the following years, Ford and his father grew estranged due to Joe's inability to let what happened at Janjira go and his insistence there was a cover-up about the real cause of the accident.

Fifteen years later, Ford grew up to become a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, as an E.O.D. (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) technician, and was returning home from a tour of duty to reunite with his wife and son, Elle and Sam. The night of his return, however, he was informed that his father had been arrested for trespassing into the Janjira quarantine zone. At Elle's insistence, he left for Japan to retrieve him. Ford, seeing how his father was obsessing over the past due to feeling responsible for Sandra's death, was able to get Joe to agree to come home to America with him. However, when a contact of Joseph gave them a chance to explore the Janjira exclusion zone, Ford reluctantly agreed. They discovered the area was not radioactive at all, and explored their old home. Discovered and arrested by Japanese authorities working with Monarch, they were taken to the still-operating power planet, which had been refit as a containment facility for a massive cocoon.

As Monarch questioned Joe, Ford was kept locked up inside a van when the cocoon becomes active. Despite Monarch's attempts to terminate the creature that was the true cause of the Janjira meltdown over a decade ago, the male MUTO burst free and severely damaged the facility in his escape. Ford was freed when the creature's foot clips his van and sent it spiraling. He could only watch his father fall from a walkway the MUTO collapsed in his departure, before watching the beast spread his wings and fly off into the night sky.

With the United States military taking control of the situation, Monarch scientists Ishiro Serizawa and Vivienne Graham authorized the extraction of both Brodys as consultants. Unfortunately, Joe succumbed to his injuries on the flight to the USS Saratoga, after telling his son to go home to his family. Dr. Serizawa and Graham debriefed Ford about Monarch as an organization, the nuclear tests in 1954 meant to try and kill a massive creature called Godzilla, and their attempted containment of the MUTO. When asked if his father told him anything else of note, Ford told them about his hypothesis the MUTO was emitting long-range pulses as a means of communicating with something else. The military dropped him off in Honolulu to get back home on a plane.

On a tram to his flight terminal, a young boy named Akio took an interest in an action figure Ford recovered from his home and was accidentally separated from his parents. Ford quickly assured Akio and the boys' parents that he would reunite them. He gifted the child his memento and comforted him when the power suddenly went out across the monorail. Unbeknownst to either of them, the male MUTO had landed on the island to feed on the payload of a Russian nuclear submarine he had dragged from the ocean and had let out an EMP pulse upon being startled by the attacking military. The creature made his way to the airport just as the power was restored, attacking the monorail Ford was in and biting it in half while destroying the track. After saving Akio from falling out of the car, Ford got himself and the boy to safety as a second creature, the very same Godzilla that Dr. Serizawa and Graham had spoken of, made landfall and attacked the MUTO. The battle between the two damaged much of Honolulu before the smaller, winged monster retreated with Godzilla giving chase by sea. After making sure Akio was reunited with his parents the following morning, Lt. Brody joined a military detachment heading off in pursuit of the creatures as they approached the U.S. mainland.

Joseph Brody's warning about the MUTO communicating with something else proved true, as an even larger female of the species burst free of the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Depository in Nevada and made her way to intercept the male near San Fransisco. Ford called Elle to warn his wife to get herself and their son out of the city as fast as possible. The U.S. military formed a plan to draw the MUTOs and Godzilla together at sea with a high-yield nuclear warhead, and then detonate it to kill the creatures with the sheer force of the blast. As the MUTOs emit electromagnetic pulses that disable electronics, the warheads were refit with clockwork analog controls and transported by train.

Citing his knowledge of such devices working as an E.O.D. and the worry his family might be in danger if they fail, Brody convinces the master sergeant in charge of the warheads' escorts. The mission became imperiled when the female MUTO ambushed the train convoy at night and caused it to go up in flames. Ford was forced to jump from a railway bridge to escape and fell unconscious. A recovery expedition to reclaim the only warhead the MUTO left behind discovered him the next morning.

Recovering from the event, Ford discovers that the plan with the surviving warhead has hit an unexpected complication. The male MUTO intercepted the ship carrying it just after the military started the countdown timer and delivered the nuclear device to the female, who brought it to her nest. Shortly thereafter, Godzilla made landfall and engaged the male MUTO once more. Joining an extraction mission to disable or remove the bomb with instruction from Dr. Serizawa on where to look for the nest, Ford executed a H.A.L.O. (High Altitude Low Opening) drop alongside a squad of soldiers.

Falling past the battling Godzilla and male MUTO, Lt. Brody landed in the city and glimpsed Godzilla stalking the streets in the darkness. Joining with the surviving soldiers, they make their way to Chinatown, where the female MUTO has made her nest. After getting briefly caught in a stand-off between the now-battling Godzilla and MUTO pair, the soldiers found the warhead and MUTO eggs. Unable to stop the countdown clock, they had no choice but to physically remove the warhead from the city. Ford held up a blockage of debris so the other solders could carry the bomb, but stops when he saw the sheer number of developed MUTO eggs. Knowing the damage just two of the monsters could make, he stayed behind to flood the nest with gasoline before igniting it.

The detonation sent Ford catapulting through the air. Dazed, he crawled to the side of the street. Both MUTOs, having gained the upper hand against Godzilla, were distracted by the explosion. The female MUTO grieved for her lost offspring before noticing the injured Ford. Deducing that he was the cause of the explosion, she prepared to kill him, but paused when a blue light igniting the dark night. Godzilla rejoined the battle with a blast of atomic breath. The female MUTO collapsed, incapacitated, as Ford limped his way to the harbor with the goal of rejoining the other soldiers. Some time later, he paused when an enormous hand touched down on the street adjacent to him. A tired Godzilla had managed to kill the male MUTO, but collapsed when a skyscraper fell on top of him. Panting from exhaustion, Godzilla noticed Brody and looked upon him peacefully. Brody shared a gaze with the Titan with a mix of curiosity and awe. Godzilla sank into the dust and smoke out of sight, and Ford redoubled his efforts to get to the harbor.

The female MUTO had recovered from the atomic breath attack and, sensing the soldiers taking away the warhead, pursued the group to the harbor and went on the attack. Ford staggered as fast as he could to a whale tour boat the warhead had been loaded onto as the other soldiers gave their lives to distract the enraged kaiju. Ford managed to get the boat off the dock and on an autopilot course out to sea, only for the engine to go dead due to an EMP. The female MUTO had stopped it dead in the water. Recognizing Ford, the enormous beast snarled and leaned in slowly as Brody defiantly pulled out his pistol. The MUTO painfully flinched, briefly confusing Ford before the true cause was revealed. Godzilla had recovered and ambushed the rival predator from behind, dragging her away from the boat and decapitating her by firing his atomic breath down her throat.

With the final MUTO dead, the boat's power was restored and it resumed a course out to sea with the still-ticking warhead onboard. Exhausted, Ford collapsed onto the deck and watched Godzilla similarly collapse on the shoreline. Thankfully, an extraction helicopter discovered the ship and pulled Ford free as the boat continued to carry the warhead out to sea. Ford lost consciousness watching the nuclear warhead explode safely away from the city.

The next day, Ford limped through a stadium in San Fransisco in a pair of crutches with his son Sam in his company. As other survivors streamed in, father and son were joyfully reunited with Elle and watched as Godzilla recovered from his injuries and peacefully departed back out to sea.