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The MonsterVerse is a term used to identify the Godzilla and King Kong crossover film series produced by Legendary Pictures that began in 2014.
The MonsterVerse takes place in an alternate Earth timeline inhabited by "massive unidentified terrestrial organisms" (MUTOs), giant monsters of various shapes, sizes, and forms. Each of the films center around Monarch, a cryptozoological organization dedicated to studying the creatures, and their various encounters with the beasts. Many of the Kaiju present in the MonsterVerse are called Titans.
The MonsterVerse is an American multimedia franchise and shared fictional universe that is centered on a series of monster films featuring Godzilla and King Kong, produced by Legendary Entertainment and co-produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
The first installment was Godzilla (2014), a reboot of the Godzilla franchise, which was followed by Kong: Skull Island (2017), a reboot of the King Kong franchise, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021).
The franchise received generally positive reception and has been commercially successful with a combined gross of $1.950 billion worldwide.
Monarch was first founded in 1946 to investigate the appearance of MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism). In 1954, Monarch, in cooperation with the U.S. military, lured Shinomura and Godzilla to Bikini Atoll, where they attempt to kill them using the Castle Bravo atomic bomb. The attempt fails as only Shimomura is killed and Godzilla goes dormant.
In 1973, just after the Vietnam War, Monarch heads an expedition to the mysterious Skull Island, an uncharted landmass inhabited by many large creatures that have drastically evolved outside of mankind's influence. Among the creatures living there is Kong, a large humanoid ape. Most of the Monarch team perish during the expedition, and the remaining survivors assist Kong in warding off several attacks by Skullcrawlers, a species of reptilian super-predators and Kong's primary adversaries in maintaining the island's natural order.
In 1995, Aaron Brooks, the son of two survivors of the Skull Island expedition, leads a team of five on a secret mission to the island to see whether or not Kong is still alive and keeping control over the creatures there. Once the team is stranded, they encounter new MUTOs including the Death Jackals, Sirenjaw, and Swamp Locust. Led by members of the native Iwi tribe, the team learns about Kong's origins and how he became the last of his kind. After a year, Aaron meets Kong and ends up being the mission's sole survivor. He sends his recordings about the mission out to sea in a Monarch kevlar bag, which is found in 2012 and obtained by his father who learns of his son's fate.
Godzilla resurfaces in 2014 after Monarch unwittingly awakens a pair of parasitic, insectoid MUTOs. He pursues the creatures to San Francisco, where he slays them while military forces obliterate a nest where the MUTOs had been breeding. The incident exposes the existence of giant monsters to the world, and Godzilla returns to the ocean. A few months later, Godzilla returns and defeats MUTO Prime before heading back out to sea. For the next few years, Monarch begins making more proactive attempts to seek out other MUTOs to prevent another catastrophe like the one in San Francisco from happening again. In their efforts, the organization discovers the Titans, a pack of monsters comprising of Godzilla, Kong, Mothra, Rodan, Ghidorah, Behemoth, Methuselah, Mokele-Mbembe, Scylla, Abaddon, Bunyip, Baphomet, Leviathan, Na Kika, Tiamat, Sekhmet, Yamata No Orochi, Typhon, Quetzalcoatl, Amhuluk, and Camazotz.
Five years after the battle in San Francisco, a cadre of eco-terrorists led by the anarchist Alan Jonah unleashes Mothra, Ghidorah, and Rodan with the ORCA, the bioacoustics invention of Dr. Emma Russell to control them and create worldwide terror. Ghidorah, who is considered a rival Alpha to Godzilla due to his immense strength and power, triggers the awakening of the other Titans around the world, threatening unfathomable levels of destruction and the possible extinction of mankind. To stop this, Emma's daughter Madison uses the ORCA to lure Ghidorah into a fight with Godzilla in Boston. With help from Mothra and Monarch, Godzilla destroys Ghidorah and subsequently becomes the Alpha to the other Titans. Two years later, as the world recovers from the apocalyptic catastrophe, Monarch once again returned to Skull Island, were they got attacked by Spirit Tiger, Death Jackal and Mother Longlegs.
Along the way, Kong was also roamed into Skull Island, and discovering cave paitings of the tree. Suddnelly, Camazotz and his minions attacks Kong and Monarch out of no where, that untill Kong defeats Camazotz with one final blow, sending Giant Bat back to the Hollow Earth, leaving Ghidorah's storm takes over the Skull Island. Three years later, since Ghidorah's storm destroys Skull Island, Godzilla suddenly begins to act aggressively towards humans, seemingly without provocation, and attacks numerous facilities developed by Apex Cybernetics.
Agents from Apex hire a Monarch sect led by operatives Nathan Lind and Ilene Andrews to seek out a radiation-based energy source in the Hollow Earth, an ecosystem located beneath the Earth's surface and the alleged birthplace of the Titans. With help from Andrews' adopted daughter Jia, who can communicate with Kong via sign language, they extract Kong from Skull Island to have him lead them there. Once they arrive in the Hollow Earth, Apex reveals its intention to use the power source in conjunction with DNA from one of Ghidorah's skulls to power Mechagodzilla, a powerful automaton designed to exterminate the Titans and ensure human dominance and the cause of Godzilla's sudden hostility. Mechagodzilla becomes self-aware and hostile as a result of Ghidorah's implemented DNA, killing its creators and going on a rampage through Hong Kong. Godzilla and Kong, after concluding their own feud with each other, work together to defeat the robot. After that, Godzilla returns to the sea while Kong returns to the Hollow Earth to make it his new home.
Godzilla (2014 film) [Monsterverse 1]
Introduces Godzilla and giant parasitic creatures, known as "MUTOs".
Kong: Skull Island [Monsterverse 2]
Introduces Kong, the Mother Longlegs, the Sker Buffalo, the Mire Squid, the Leafwing, the Psychovulture, the Spore Mantis, the Skull Devil, and the Skullcrawlers to the MonsterVerse and a post-credits scene introduces Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah to the MonsterVerse.
The Skull Devil was originally trademarked as "Ramarak the Skullcrawler" until it was abandoned in September 2017.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019 film) [Monsterverse 3]
Introduces Scylla, Methuselah, Behemoth, and the Queen MUTO to the MonsterVerse.
Off-screen, the film introduces Baphomet, Typhon, Mokele-Mbembe, Sargon, Tiamat, Abaddon, Leviathan, and Bunyip to the MonsterVerse.
Godzilla vs. Kong (2021 film) [Monsterverse4]
Introduces Mechagodzilla, the Warbat and the Hellhawk to the MonsterVerse.
Books
Godzilla: The Art of Destruction ( May 13, 2014) by Mark Cotta
Godzilla – The Official Movie Novelization (May 20, 2014) by Greg Cox
Kong: Skull Island – The Official Movie Novelization (March 14, 2017) by Tim Lebbon
The Art and Making of Kong: Skull Island (March 21, 2017) by Simon Ward
Godzilla: King of the Monsters – The Official Movie Novelization (May 31, 2019) by Gregory Keyes
The Art of Godzilla: King of the Monsters (June 4, 2019) by Abbie Bernstein
Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization (April 6, 2021) by Gregory Keyes
Godzilla vs. Kong: The Art of the Ultimate Battle Royale (May 21, 2021) by Daniel Wallace
Video games
Godzilla: Crisis Defense (May 7, 2014) Legendary Tie-in web game to Godzilla
Godzilla: Strike Zone (May 15, 2014) Warner Bros. International Enterprises Tie-in mobile game to Godzilla
Godzilla: Smash 3 (May 16, 2014) Rogue Play Pipeworks Tie-in mobile game to Godzilla
In October 2017, Steven S. DeKnight (director and co-writer of Pacific Rim: Uprising) noted that there have been discussions about a cross-over between the MonsterVerse and Pacific Rim franchise, however, he iterated it was all theoretical possibilities.
Guillermo del Toro (director and co-writer of Pacific Rim) had also expressed interest of Pacific Rim crossing over with the Monsterverse.
In March 2019, when asked about the future of the MonsterVerse, producer Alex Garcia stated, "It's one brick at a time, each piece has to be as good as it can be, so right now it's all focused on this [Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong].
But could there be?
Yeah, that's the hope if the movies turn out really well."
In February 2021, Adam Wingard (director of Godzilla vs. Kong) stated, "I know where we could go potentially with future films."
However, he noted that the MonsterVerse was created "to a certain degree" to lead towards Godzilla vs. Kong.
Wingard added that the MonsterVerse is at a "crossroads", stating, "It’s really at the point where audiences have to kind of step forward and vote for more of these things. If this movie is a success obviously they will continue forward."
On April 4, 2021, Legendary's CEO Josh Grode commented on potential sequels, "we have a number of ideas for more movies."
That same month, the hashtag #ContinueTheMonsterverse began trending on Twitter, which garnered support from Jordan Vogt-Roberts (director of Kong: Skull Island) and was acknowledged by Legendary.
On April 27, 2021, The Hollywood Reporter stated that Legendary was "quietly taking steps to stretch the series into one or more installments," while negotiating with Wingard to potentially return to direct.
Various ideas are being considered, with Son of Kong being one potential title.
In August 2021, writer Max Borenstein stated that "there will be some new, interesting installments coming" due to the success of Godzilla vs. Kong.
Borenstein had also expressed interest in seeing Legendary produce a film with minimal human characters, stating, "I think it is possible. It would be very ambitious. I think ambitious in that Mad Max: Fury Road way. I think it’s totally possible to do that with the absolute minimum amount of human characters and really characterize the creatures."
