Fans of Legendary’s Kaiju Universe and the Big G, in general, might just have cause to celebrate, on the way. The director of the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Mike Dougherty, recently took to Twitter, confirming the monster roster for the upcoming film.
Call sheet. Day 6. @GodzillaMovie pic.twitter.com/pnhNhIM98d
— Michael Dougherty (@Mike_Dougherty) June 26, 2017
So the 2019 sequel will include Mothra, Rodan, and arguably Godzilla’s greatest foe, King Ghidorah. That’s right, all of the most iconic kaiju are entering the fray. Well, all but Mecha-Godzilla. But let’s be honest. In this more grounded universe, Mecha-Godzilla would seem a bit… silly. Still, it should be quite the spectacle. This follows criticism of Legendary’s first Godzilla flick, back in 2014. People were understandably upset at how little screen time the title character got. With this cast of hugely important monsters, it’s difficult to imagine the sequel will shy away from showing them. Of course, the climax of the 2014 film was largely satisfying, so with this many monsters, the action shows a lot of promise. But there is still one question to consider.
With the next movie in the series being Godzilla: King of the Monsters, one has to wonder if the title “king” is referring to the Big G, after all. Remember, the original King of the Monsters didn’t actually feature any other monsters. If King Ghidorah is the villain of the movie, as he presumably would be, could the title be referring to him? Might the movie place Godzilla as the underdog to overcome the real king, in this instance? And then there’s Kong’s inclusion to consider.
However poorly Kong: Skull Island was received, Kong is coming. One of the biggest criticisms of the idea of this fight is stature. The Kong we saw in Skull Island was the biggest Kong to date, and he was still barely over a third the size of Godzilla. This is somewhat explained in the movie, itself. Skull Island takes place in the early 70s and, in it, Kong is said to be young. Which could also explain the lack of “King” in the movie title. Fast forward to around 50 years later, when this crossover will presumably take place. It’s reasonable to think he might’ve grown. He may have even earned back his original title – King. And with Godzilla taking up the mantle of King of the Monsters, audiences are gearing up for the mother of all title fights, pitting King against King.
But this reveal leads to other questions as well. What roles will Mothra and Rodan play? Rodan was initially a rival and came to be characterized as a loyal ally. But whose side will he be on, here? Mothra, by contrast, has more or less always been benevolent. Could she still play the role of an ally against King Ghidorah? It’s entirely possible they’ll disregard Mothra and Rodan’s alignments entirely, just to streamline things. It also neatly ties things up by having Godzilla get rid of them, so audiences aren’t wondering where they are when King Kong stomps into the frame in the crossover, however ill-advised that’d be. And spoiler alert: It sounds like that’s going to be the case. But alas, only time will tell.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is set to release in March 2019.
