Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Apologies in advance for the comparison to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but if we’re doing SAT-style analogies, Godzilla Vs. Kong is to the Legendary Entertainment MonsterVerse as Avengers: Infinity War is to the MCU. After years of films that devote their time to one hero or, in this case, monster, eventually worlds must collide, heroes (or monsters) meet, and the result is a backstory-rich film combining elements of everything that came before it.
Legendary Entertainment set out to create this universe when they acquired the rights to Godzilla and King Kong, as well as other monster Titans like Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah, and released the first film in the franchise, 2014’s Godzilla, to kick things off. Unlike the MCU, however, you don’t have to watch 23 films to catch yourself up.
In preparation for the union you’ve been waiting for, here’s a primer on which films are part of the MonsterVerse and what to watch before you see Godzilla Vs. Kong.
Godzilla (2014)
While there have been nearly three dozen Godzilla movies made since 1954, the first Hollywood-made Godzilla came out in 2014, starring the Maximoff twins, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen as husband and wife Ford and Elle Brody. Ford’s father Joe (played by Bryan Cranston) has been living in Japan and, back in 1999, he was the supervisor at a nuclear plant where his wife was killed when the reactor melted down. Joe has been trying to find the cause of the meltdown for 15 years, and when he returns to the nuclear facility to investigate, the facility is destroyed and he is gravely injured by a mysterious winged creature.
Later, Ford meets Dr. Ishirō Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Dr. Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) who work for Project Monarch, and they learn that a giant flying creature dubbed a MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) which had been feeding off of the nuclear reactor for 15 years has disappeared. Ultimately, a battle — in the middle of San Francisco — between MUTOs and Godzilla ensues and, spoiler alert, Godzilla prevails.
Project Monarch has been a running theme throughout the MonsterVerse, starting with Godzilla, and will appear in each of the subsequent films, including Godzilla Vs. Kong.
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Kong: Skull Island proves even further that either there are only a few actors in Hollywood, or that every actor ever has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because the main cast of Skull Island consists of Marvel faves Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, and John C. Reilly. Skull Island is set in 1973, as a team of scientists and soldiers led by Bill Randa (John Goodman), head to Skull Island with Lt. Col Preston Packard (Jackson), James Conrad (Hiddleston) and Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) to investigate the presence of primeval creatures.
They find not only a giant ape, but a World War II pilot named Hank Marlow (Reilly) who has been living on the island since a 1944 dogfight crashed his plane there, where he lives alongside the native Iwi tribe. Marlow reveals that Kong is a peaceful creature who protects the Iwi from the Skullcrawlers, subterranean creatures who have killed off the rest of the giant apes and threaten the Iwi’s existence. While some of the team investigating want to kill Kong, others want to protect him, leading to a fight where Randa and Packard are ultimately killed and the rest of the team escapes, leaving Kong behind.
At the end of the film, Monarch obtains cave paintings featuring other mythical creatures in battle, including Mothra, Rodan, Gozdilla and Gidorah. (END CREDITS FORESHADOWING!)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters stars Millie Bobby Brown and Kyle Chandler, who will both appear in Godzilla Vs. Kong, as well as Sally Hawkins and Ken Watanabe reprising their roles from the first Godzilla film.
Dr. Mark Russell (Chandler) and his ex-wife, Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) are both Monarch scientists. Emma and her daughter Madison (Brown) are kidnapped by eco-terrorists whose goal is to awaken all the various Titans, including Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidarah. Dr. Serizawa and Dr. Graham enlist the help of Mark Russell, to help find the mother and daughter. Meanwhile, the terrorists – including Emma, who is actually one of them – unleash other monsters all over the world. The monsters and their destruction prove too powerful to control and Emma realizes the err of her ways and unsuccessfully tries to get the rest of her team to stop.
The only thing that can overpower all these monsters? Godzilla, of course. Monster battles ensue and Godzilla seemingly defeats Ghidarah, and the rest of the surviving Titans bow to their king. King of the monsters. At the end of the film, all the remaining Titans arrive on Skull Island, and just like in Kong: Skull Island, cave paintings of battles between the Titans are shown, including one between…wait for it… Kong and Godzilla. (EVEN MORE END CREDITS FORESHADOWING!) Which leads us to Godzilla Vs. Kong.
In Godzilla Vs. Kong, Millie Bobby Brown reprises her role as Madison, and her father, Mark Russell (Chandler), makes a cameo, too, but her mother Emma was sacrificed to the Titans in King of the Monsters. While there are references to other characters (Shun Oguri plays Ren Serizawa, son of Dr. Ichiro Serizawa), Brown and Chandler are the only main characters from the other films to reprise their roles.
Per our review of the film, it is helpful to revisit the previous films to understand the who and why of the stories, but not totally necessary if you just want to see some monsters beat the crap out of each other.
Where to watch Godzilla (2014)
