After the dust settled from the awesome, long awaited clash betwixt a large lizard and a massive monkey, you could have been forgiven for thinking that Legendary Studio’s Monsterverse had run its course. If it had, it would have been a good (if somewhat bumpy), ride but after Godzilla Vs Kong did impressive box office numbers for a film released during the peak of COVID restrictions, word finally broke that not only would the Monsterverse continue in the form of a TV series on Apple+, but we’d be getting a feature film too from GVK director Adam Wingard.
The word is already out that the Monsterverse show will deal with the global Kaiju hunting agency Monach after the events of the first Godzilla as they discover more Titans lurking around the world, but the movie – which shoots this year in Australia – is still swathed in secrecy, so let’s take this opportunity to throw out some possible scenarios that the fifth entry could possibly hurl at us.
5) Hero In A Whole Shell
While the thought of an official poster for something called Godzilla Vs. Kong. Vs Gamera is perversely thrilling, by far the most unlikely scenario would be the arrival of massive, child loving, flame breathing turtle, Gamera thanks to the one towering foe not even Gamera, Godzilla or Kong could possibly hope to beat – studio rights. While Big G, Mothra, Rodan and Mechagodzilla are all property of Toho, the scaly Guardian of the Universe resides with the Kadokawa Corporation (formerly Daiei) and to bring him into this larger universe who no doubt come with a laundry list of rules.
Still, the sight of Godzilla and Gamera butting heads has actually been set up already (eagle eyed viewers of Godzilla: King Of The Monsters would have already spotted a Gamera carcass outside Godzilla’s temple) and the concept of them tearing into one another like two drunken thugs while Kong tries to unsucessfully stand between them like a peace keeping designated driver is one that would cause Kaiju fans around the world to freak out.
File under hugely unlikely.
4) Invasion Of The Astro Bastards
A familiar plot of many a classic Kaiju movie from Invasion Of The Astro Monster to Godzilla: Final Wars; having invading aliens control huge monsters to take over the world may be a good way to set up an extraterrestrial Hydra to Monarch’s S.H.I.E.L.D. and for those of you thinking that introducing conquerors from a far away galaxy may somehow be a step too far for a franchise that features a signing monkey the size of a building, let’s not forget that King Ghidorah himself is actually a creature from beyond the stars.
Should Legendary choose to go down this road, Toho has various, marauding intergalactic races to choose from such as the Xiliens, the half-ape Simians, the glitzy Kilaaks or the cockroach people of M Space Hunter Nebula (rolls right off the tongue, that last one, doesn’t it) and they could be a neat way to literally open up the universe to introduce more other worldly foes and any intergalactic Kaiju they may have up their impractical sleeves.
3) Going Through A Moth Phase
Despite debuting in a solo movie back in the 60’s and even having their very own trilogy during 90’s, would it be so far fetched for Mothra, the Queen of the Monsters to make yet another appearance after her apparent death during the climax of King Of The Monsters? After all, if one Kaiju and its surrounding mythology could benefit from the extra air time, it’s the fluttery Titan herself as the introduction of the primordial world of the Hollow Earth in Godzilla Vs. Kong would be a perfect place to find another larvae spawing Mothra egg and the Monarch TV show (rumoured to be set between the 2014 and 2019 movies) could delve more into the character of Ziyi Zhang’s Dr Ilene Cheng and her mysterious twin sister which heavily references the Shobijin, tiny, twin, Mothra priestesses from the original Toho movies.
More screen time for the benevolent, big, bug could also shed more light on what exactly her relationship with Godzilla is and also even show off some of her more battle-ready shape shifting seen in the 90’s trilogy which would change up her power set to simply more than just dying a lot…
2) Deploy All Monsters!
Since Gareth Edwards’ Spielbergian franchise starter back in 2014 desided to limit the screentime of its city destroying lead in order to increase his impact, the Monsterverse has gotten progressively less-subtle with every new movie, with Kong: Skull Island channeling a strong, anime visual streak and Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, for better or worse hurling virtual non-stop Kaiju action at us until we relented in exhaustion. But should the Monsterverse stop there and just focus on single monsters going one on one, or should it go bigger?
Creating an overarching big-bad for everyone to team up and fight with has worked for other franchises in the past, so maybe the Monsterverse needs a skyscraper-sized Thanos in the mix to get all the usual suspects (Godzilla, Kong, Mothra, Rodan), plus some Monsterverse originals (Methusaleh, Scylla, Behemoth) to band together to save the day. I would personally suggest either an army of Gigan’s (Christ, I love that robot chicken looking bastard) or, better yet, Destoroyah, a huge, horned, shapeshifing creature spawned by the pollution cause by the Oxygen Destroyer weapon deployed in King Of The Monsters.
Of course, the Monarch TV show could also shed some light on the human cast the movies simply didn’t have time to show us. Charles Dance’s villainous Alan Jonah could use some more fleshing out beyond the usual bout of withering sarcasm, more could be made about Dr Ishirõ (Ken Wantanabe) Serizawa’s unexplored relationship with his estranged son Ren who was a villain in Godzilla Vs. Kong and how about bringing in the older versions of Tom Hiddleston’s James Conrad and Brie Larson’s Mason Weaver from Kong: Skull Island?
1) Creepy Hollow
Surely the odds on favorite of all the theories so far is the one that continues to explore Kong’s journey into becoming king of the Hollow Earth after gaining Godzilla’s respect after his world class ass-whupping. This is down to a number or reasons, but chiefly because a Kong-only movie means the Monsterverse could conceivably continue without the say-so of Toho as they only own the rights to Godzilla and his more classic cronies.
Already rumours of a Son Of Kong storyline are floating around which could mean that Kong could have settled down after searching this underground world, finally finding a mate to get to have his gigantic end away with and have a kid – and then have a monster punching, child rearing adventure that pulls out all the stops as he protects his family and his kingdom like a 300-foot Liam Neeson from Taken. However, while a Godzilla-less Monsterverse entry may seem like a step back after the rock and roll carnage of Godzillla Vs Kong, the franchise is admittedly in dire need of something new to refresh it’s storylines while another “Vs” movie might just feel like more of the same, giving Kong an army of adolescent Kongs to lead against a new field woukf be pretty badass…
However, just because there’s a chance Godzilla could not show up, that doesn’t mean other Toho icons couldn’t have a look in. I’ve already suggested that the Hollow Earth would be a perfect place to find a new Mothra, or maybe Kong and his family have to protect an attack from humans or aliens who hope to drain the Hollow Earth of its mysterious energies using a team of Mechagodzillas or Gigans (yes, him again). There’s also plenty of subterranean Toho creatures that could make cameos like Megalon, Baragon or Kumonga, so the possibilities are pretty much endless.
Whatever happens, one thing is for sure: the Monsterverse isn’t done yet and as we await this two-pronged Kaiju assault on different mediums (I guess I’m gonna have to get Apple+ then…), time will tell which giant creature will destroy home insurance premiums next.
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Would love to see more Mothra but kicking ass and not dying
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