Directed by Adam Wingard, the fourth installment in the MonsterVerse will pit the King of the Monsters against the King of Skull Island. Though both monsters have been pop culture icons for more than half of a century, this will only be their second big-screen meeting. The first happened in Toho’s 1962 crossover, King Kong vs. Godzilla, which had an ending that leaned in Kong’s favor. Like the original fight, Kong will get a size boost to pose a physical challenge to Godzilla. However, the fight could play out quite differently this time. Sadly, not a whole lot has been revealed. A snippet of footage reveals Kong apparently in chains, and toys could tease the return of the Skullcrawler.
Godzilla has one iconic power that his MonsterVerse counterpart lacks and that would be the spiral heat ray. This ability wasn’t in the 1954 original or in any other film in the Showa series, but it was an important weapon for him in the Heisei era movies, such as Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, and more. It also made an appearance in 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars. One noteworthy power from Toho’s movies that the MonsterVerse’s Godzilla has yet to demonstrate is the spiral heat ray, which was first used in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Against Ghidorah, Godzilla fired a blue beam of energy wrapped up in a lightning-bolt-shaped spiral. In surprising news, Warner Bros. has moved up Godzilla vs. Kong’s release date. Previously set for May 21, 2021, the kaiju showdown will now hit theaters and HBO Max on March 26, 2021. That means the grand showdown is just a little over two months away now.
The credits of Godzilla: King of the Monsters strongly suggests Skull Island will be central to the story. That’s where the Titans are headed, its Hollow Earth entrance will be the starting point for Monarch’s investigation into the origin of the Titans, Monarch already has an outpost there, and perhaps most importantly, it’s where Kong is based in the MonsterVerse. With the film coming unexpectedly sooner, that means marketing is going to have to commence soon. Hopefully, the companies are able to successfully build momentum in a short amount of time. Interestingly, Godzilla: King of the Monsters received a sizeable marketing campaign but underwhelmed at the box office. Godzilla vs. Kong should do well on streaming, but the big question is how well it will do in theaters in the current climate. It will also be interesting seeing how well the film does overseas. A fascinating two months is coming up as marketing presumably starts to build for Godzilla vs. Kong.
Given that it destroyed one of Ghidorah’s heads, it appeared to be more powerful than the standard atomic breath he typically uses. Later, the blue spiral heat ray was replaced by the much powerful, red spiral heat ray. When powered up, Godzilla has unleashed devastating pain on adversaries like Destoroyah, SpaceGodzilla, and Mechagodzilla with this attack. It even killed SpaceGodzilla and left Destoroyah on his last leg. With this in mind, it makes sense that even though Godzilla’s burning from Godzilla’s burning form in King of the Monsters was only a temporary upgrade, some residual energy left over from Mothra’s power transfer could still exist somewhere within his body. Perhaps in the heat of battle, it could be activated. If that happens, he could use it to land a knockout blow on an enemy Titan at some point in the MonsterVerse’s future.
The Titan they share the island with, Kong, would most assuredly be their greatest threat. To carry out their conspiracy, they’d first have to deal with him. One way that might work is by deploying enough gas to knock him out. That’s what the humans did in the 1933 original, so it could be that this tactic will be repeated in the MonsterVerse. A more drastic way of getting him out of the way of their mission is to send Mechagodzilla after him. So far, very little is known about the circumstances leading up to their fight or why the two will come to blows, especially since Warner Bros. is still holding on to the trailer. But, a few seconds of footage that was recently shown off at CCXP provides a hint of what to expect from Kong’s story in the new movie.
Kong was briefly glimpsed with a metal collar around his neck, so for some reason, the MonsterVerse will at least partially recreate the sequence in the 1933 King Kong which saw the monster put in chains by humans.
