General Sergei Kushnirov (voiced by Robert Middleton) was a supporting character in the animated film War of the Worlds: Goliath. A Russian soldier from St. Petersburg, he was a survivor of the first Martian invasion in 1899, during which he lost his wife and daughter. Some time after the first war, Sergei and his surviving son Dimitri emigrated to the United States of America.
By 1914, General Kushnirov had become one of the commanding members of the Allied Resistance Earth Squadron (A.R.E.S.), an advanced military force comprised of soldiers from every major national army across the Earth. Utilising reverse-engineered Martian technology, A.R.E.S. was to act as Earth's greatest defence in the event that the Martians ever returned, which they would. Barely a day after astronomers had detected flares spurting from Mars' surface, the invaders had landed and were targeting A.R.E.S. directly.
As the conflict escalated, General Kushnirov commanded the bulk of A.R.E.S.' forces from his Dreadnought-class Zeppelin, the Leviathan. When the Martians attacked A.R.E.S. Headquarters in New York City, Kushnirov headed the defence as a giant wing-shaped Martian airship rose from the Hudson River and attacked.
Death[]
When the Martians revealed their giant airship, Kushnirov commanded his crew to attack it. The Leviathan was supported by two other Zeppelins, but these were shot down by the alien ship's heat-ray cannons. The Leviathan was also struck, with most of the crew being killed, including General Kushnirov's son Dimitri. The General, alone on the bridge, took the helm and veered it directly toward the Martian wing. The Leviathan crashed head-on into the wing's control centre, destroying both vessels. Kushnirov's sacrifice had won A.R.E.S. the battle, but the war was far from over.